The Impact of Leadership Styles on Job Satisfaction of Government Employees in Divisional Secretariats in Trincomalee District

Human Resource Management

Leadership is defined as a process by which an individual attempts to influence other group members towards achieving group goals. Leadership is also viewed as a process which people use to bring out the best in themselves and others. National culture is said to play a pivotal role in determining the effectiveness of leadership styles. Literature on leadership identifies transformational leadership, transactional leadership and laissez-faire leadership as the three common leadership styles in the current climate, with transformational leadership and transactional leadership being the most dominant. Literature suggests that an employee’s job satisfaction is strongly influenced by leadership style. Current leadership styles are related to job satisfaction by varying degrees. Several studies have indicated that transformational leadership results in higher levels of job satisfaction than transactional or laissez-faire leadership. The overall aim of the study was to investigate the impact of leadership styles on employee job satisfaction of government employees in divisional secretariats in Trincomalee District. A quantitative study was conducted to accomplish the objectives of the study. Questionnaires were administered to employees within the selected target population in divisional secretariats in Trincomalee District. The data received were analysed using statistical packages. The results of the study show that there are statistically significant impact of transactional leadership and transformational leadership on job satisfaction, overall transformational leadership and transactional leadership in divisional secretariats in Trincomalee District is moderate level. Job satisfaction of employees’ also moderate level. However, two attributes of transformational leadership best explain job satisfaction. Intellectual stimulation contributed most to explaining job satisfaction, followed by individualized consideration. The remaining attributes of transformational leadership, and transactional leadership made substantial contribution to job satisfaction.

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