Leadership Style and Job Satisfaction of Greek Banking Institutions

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between Greek Banks' leadership style and their employee's satisfaction with their job. Leadership is considered to be an integral part of an organization's structure, policies and strategies, and overall function. Therefore, it affects employees' everyday life, interpersonal relationships, problem-solving strategies and internal feeling of competence and effectiveness. In the frame of the current study, leadership style was measured with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (M. L. Q. – 5x), a tool created by Avolio and Bass (2004). The questionnaire measures different styles of leadership: 1) Transformational, 2) Transactional 3) Passive/ Laissez-faire. For the measurement of job satisfaction, the Employee Satisfaction Inventory (E. S. I.) was used, a tool created by Koustelios (1991). It includes 24 items which measure six dimensions of job satisfaction: 1. Working conditions, 2. Salary, 3. Promotions, 4. Work itself, 5. Immediate superior and 6. The organization as a whole. The results showed that the levels of job satisfaction among Greek bank employees range from moderate to high, confirming previous findings for the Greek population. In addition, job satisfaction is correlated and can be predicted by leadership style. In particular, the transformational leadership style appeared to be the most highly and positively correlated with key aspects of job satisfaction.