The effect of leadership styles on employees’ job satisfaction in non-governmental organizations: Empirical evidence from a developing country

This research was undertaken to examine the impact of leadership styles (transformational, transactional and laissez faire leadership) on employees’ job satisfaction in the NGO sector of a developing country. The research involved five NGOs, which were willing to participate in the study. The study will narrow the theoretical and empirical gaps on the subject of leadership in the NGO sector of the developing world.

Quantitative research approach was used in this study. Data were collected using standard questionnaires. The total number of questionnaires distributed was 168 of which 150 were filled and returned and used for analysis. The collected date was then analyzed using descriptive and interferential statistics.

The results of correlation analysis revealed that a positive and significant relationship exists between transformational leadership components (i.e., idealized attribute, idealized behavior, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation) as well as the transactional leadership component (i.e., management by exception/active) and job satisfaction. Whereas management by exception (passive) and laissez faire had negative and significant relation with job satisfaction, Individualized Consideration had a negative and statistically insignificant relation with job satisfaction. Besides, contingent reward (which is the other component of transactional leadership) has a positive but insignificant relationship with job satisfaction The multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the model explains 79.5% of variance in the dependent variable.

This study differs from other studies as its focuses on examining the effect of leadership styles in less explored sectors and regions - the NGOs sector and the developing world respectively.