Leadership Styles and Employee Satisfaction: A Correlation Study

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to determine the extent to which leadership style preferences correlate with employee satisfaction with supervision among employees and leaders of some companies. This study measured preferences for each of five common leadership styles and examined correlations with measures of employee satisfaction. The styles studied were transactional leadership, transformational leadership, autocratic leadership, charismatic leadership, and situational leadership. Results indicated that each of the five leadership styles has a positive correlation with employee satisfaction, suggesting that the situational leadership style may be the most appropriate style for leaders in some companies.