The Relationship between Leadership Behaviors and Job Satisfaction: The Case of Athens Municipal Sector

摘要

Background: Effective leaders act in ways that have animpact on their subordinates and the organization as a whole. They are able tosee the results of their actions, make a difference and be confident in theirown abilities. A basic premise is that the leader’s way of thinking, acting,and personality characteristics are critical factors affecting the employees’level of satisfaction, motivation, and performance. The objective of the studyis to explore the relationship between leadership behaviors and job satisfaction.Methods: Data were collected from 21 departmentmanagers and 229 employees in the City of Athens Cultural, Sports, and YouthOrganization, 126 of them were women and 124 men aged from 29 to 63 years old.The results: The results indicated that department managers and employees adopted atransformational, rather than a transactional leadership behavior, withsignificant differences in terms of gender, work experience, and tenure.Concerning job satisfaction, employees reported a moderate level of jobsatisfaction regarding the nature of work and the relationship with co-workers,being the most important dimensions. Job satisfaction was found to be affectedby gender, age, educational background, marital status, and tenure. Inaddition, findings revealed a significant positive relationship betweentransformational and transactional leadership behaviors and job satisfaction.Conclusions: The findings add new knowledge that can beused to improve organizational practices for the retention of high committedand satisfied staff members in the municipal service sector.