The relationship between leadership styles and employees’ job satisfaction in the Tanzanian local private companies a case of Dar es Salaam Region

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between leadership styles and employees’ job satisfaction in the Tanzanian local private companies located in Dar es Salaam region. The study was pragmatic in nature as both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. The explanatory research design was applied and a sample of 152 employees were randomly selected and 8 managers were selected using judgmental sampling technique. The data from employees were collected using questionnaires whereas interview was used as the data collection method for managers. Data were analyzed using a multiple regression technique to show the relationship between leadership styles and employees’ job satisfaction. The findings of the study revealed the positive relationship between both transformational leadership and transactional leadership and employees’ job satisfaction. However, transformational leadership indicated more influence on employees’ job satisfaction than transactional leadership. Specifically, the study revealed that two attributes of transformational leadership (idealized influence and intellectual stimulation) showed a positive and significant relationship while the rest were insignificant. Meanwhile, contingent rewards and MBE-Active were significant and positively related to employees’ job satisfaction while MBE-Passive was insignificant. The study concludes that managers of the local private companies in Tanzania should use both transactional and transactional leadership styles with more focus on idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, contingent rewards and MBE-Active. The study finally recommended that further studies can be conducted in a specific industry.