Leadership Style Adaptability as a Theoretical Framework for Understanding Job Satisfaction

Abstract

In the modern world, leadership styles play an important role in company performance and employee performance. This research examines how the transformational and transactional leadership styles affect job satisfaction among the employees of both the public and the private sectors in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Data became available through a survey which was sent to 89 employees via Google Forms and was analyzed with statistical program SPSS version 26. Frequencies, percentages and means of the scores were used in descriptive analysis and correlation and regression analysis were done to understand the relationship between leadership styles and job satisfaction. The results showed that both transformational and transactional leadership styles have a positive relationship with job satisfaction and both leadership styles significantly influence staff satisfaction. Notably, transformational leadership had more of an effect. The study highlights the role of effective leadership in boosting the employee satisfaction and performance of an organization. Through the prism of the leadership adaptability and social exchange theory, the research creates an integrative conceptual framework that connects leadership behaviors and employee outcomes in different environments, and the theoretical contribution to the literature of HRD and leadership practice, especially in emerging markets.