PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP STYLES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH TEACHERS’ JOB SATISFACTION IN SIAYA, KISUMU AND KAJIADO COUNTIES, KENYA

Abstract

While there is a general agreement the world over, that the principal’s leadership style has a remarkable effect on teachers’ job satisfaction, little is known about Kenya, particularly in the area of full-range leadership. The purpose of this study was to examine principals’ leadership styles and their relationship with teachers’ job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Siaya, Kisumu, and Kajiado counties, Kenya. The study was guided by the Full Range Leadership theory and Herzberg’s two-factor theory. The study adopted a correlation research design. The target population comprised of all the 397 principals, 389 deputy principals, 1,190 heads of departments, and 2,208 teachers in public secondary schools in Siaya, Kisumu, and Kajiado counties who had served for at least two years in the same school. Proportional stratified and simple random sampling was used to sample 39 secondary school principals, 35 deputy principals, 97 heads of departments, and 181 secondary school teachers giving a total of 352 respondents. The data for this study was collected using Teacher Job Satisfaction Survey Questionnaire which assessed the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of job satisfaction. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X was used to classify the leadership styles of principals as laissez-faire, transformational and transactional. The data was condensed and summarized before being analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The findings of the study established a positive and significant correlation between transformational leadership style and teachers’ job satisfaction, no significant correlation between transactional leadership style and teachers’ job satisfaction, and a negative significant correlation between laissez-faire leadership style and teachers’ job satisfaction. The study concluded that the leadership style practiced by a principal has a significant effect on teachers’ job satisfaction. It was recommended that Teachers’ Service Commission should organize regular teacher professional development programs to train principals on the importance of using transformational leadership styles as opposed to transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles. Article visualizations: