Navigating the Complex Link Between Leadership Styles and Job Satisfaction: Any Advice?

I am writing a thesis about the relationship between leadership style and job satisfaction. However, when I proposed this idea to my instructor, he said that:

- The frontier among leadership styles is blurred, i.e., a leader may be half transformational and half laissez-faire style.
- Measuring the correlation between leadership style and job satisfaction is a very difficult task too. We may be satisfied with the job but dislike the boss; however, in general, we are satisfied. During the survey, we might encounter someone who has a transformational-style boss, a transactional-style boss, and a laissez-faire boss, and they all dislike their bosses regardless of the style.

I would appreciate it if you could provide me with some recommendations regarding this.

Your supervisor/guide is right. Leadership is only one of the variables that affect job satisfaction. Please see the study on the relationship between managers' leadership style and employees' job satisfaction found at Emerald | Leadership in Health Services available on Google.

A number of full papers are available to download on page 2 of Google above.

Have a nice day.

Regards,
Simhan
A retired academic in the UK

I believe the correlation would be stronger in the long term. So, if you are willing to conduct your study for a period greater than two average lifespans of employees, you might get better results.