Transformational leadership and employee satisfaction

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper was to carry out an empirical research on whether transformational leadership, in comparison to other contemporary leadership styles, contributes to higher employee satisfaction levels. In total, 399 respondents took part in this research, which was conducted in companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany. This was the starting point to identify the dominant leadership style in each of the two countries. Using a nonparametric Mann-Whitney test, it was proved that there is a statistically significant difference in employee satisfaction under transformational leadership as opposed to the transactional and charismatic styles. After a detailed research of the literature, it became apparent that research on this subject is scarce. Accordingly, presenting transformational leadership and its influence on employee satisfaction was a particular challenge.

Keywords

• transformational leadership
• transactional leadership
• charismatic leadership
• employee satisfaction