The relationship between leadership styles and teachers' job satisfaction

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between the three leadership styles; transformational, transactional and laissez-faire, and 73 Elementary I female teachers’ job satisfaction in 10 schools (5 private and 5 public) in Lebanon. The instruments used were the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire, Fifth Edition, Short Form (MLQ-5X Short, the Job Descriptive Index (JDI, 2009 revised) and Job in General Scale. Correlation and descriptive analysis (one-way ANOVA) were used to analyze data. The results revealed that both transformational and transactional leadership were positively and significantly correlated with job satisfaction while laissez-faire leadership was negatively and significantly correlated with job satisfaction. It was also found that both transformational and transactional leadership were positively correlated with the five facets of job satisfaction which are: supervision, promotion, people on the present job, pay and work. While Laissez-faire leadership was negatively correlated with the five facets of job satisfaction listed above. Moreover, the results indicated that no significant difference existed between the demographic variables (age, education and experience) and job satisfaction while they indicated that female teachers working in public schools are more satisfied that those working in private schools. It was recommended that principals encourage teachers to develop and improve as well as take the JDI and JIG yearly to stay up-to-date with their level of satisfaction. Moreover, principals should be well trained to use a combination of transactional and transformational leadership.