A Correlational Study of Transformational Leadership and Job Satisfaction among Government Employees During Reorganization

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate what, if any, relationship exists between the supervisor’s leadership style and employee job satisfaction related to attracting, recruiting, and retaining exceptionally skilled workers within U.S. government organizations undergoing reorganization.

METHODOLOGY
The population selected for this research consisted of organizational employees in non-leadership positions over the age of 18 in one government agency in the Department of Defense in Virginia. The population sample consisted of military forces and full and part-time government employees. Participants (N=136) completed the Leadership Practices Inventory (Observer) and the Job in General Questionnaire (Bowling Green State University, 1997). The typical respondent was between the ages of 33 and 62 years of age (86%), male (73%), Caucasian (83%), holding a Bachelor’s degree or higher (84%), and with less than 10 years with the agency (81%). Cronbach’s alpha for each leadership practice were: (a) Model the Way .933; (b) Inspire a Shared Vision .954; (c) Challenge the Process .933; (d) Enable Others to Act .951; and, (e) Encourage the Heart .967.

KEY FINDINGS
Enable was the leadership practice with the highest mean score, followed by Model, then Encourage, then Challenge, and then Inspire. A strong direct significant correlation was found between job satisfaction and Model and Enable, and moderate direct significant correlations were found between job satisfaction and Inspire, Challenge, and Encourage. Multiple regression found that Inspire, Challenge, Enable and Encourage could account for 27 percent of the variance in Job Satisfaction (Model was excluded in the equation due to multicollinearity), although only Enable was a significant predictor of job satisfaction.

The author concludes:

The research results suggest that supervisors’ transformational leadership practices have a direct relationship of moderate to strong influence on the satisfaction of government employees. Transformational leaders provide levels of success for the organization and viability of job satisfaction. By improving transformational leadership behaviors, supervisors could mitigate some of the stress on employees, increase job satisfaction and retain employees during and after the reorganization.

The results of the analysis data indicated that transformational leadership practices and job satisfaction for government employees provide evidence of the variability of the independent variables as predictors in terms of supervisor’s transformational leadership behavior having a positive influence on employee’s job satisfaction. To increase job satisfaction, supervisors must consider the influence of transformational leadership practices on the aspect of job satisfaction and organization’s success during reorganization. The greater the presence of supervisor’s transformational leadership practices the more improved employees’ satisfaction may become. The results of the research study may provide supervisors, in the government environment, with relevant information to understand the significant employees’ job satisfaction. Government leaders may use the information to develop strategies methods for improving job satisfaction among government employees during reorganization (p. 136).