Transformational Leadership and Job Satisfaction in the Federal Government

Since 2002, the federal government has disseminated surveys to all of its federal agencies to obtain employees\u27 views on the federal agencies\u27 work environments. This study examined the relationship between employees\u27 perception of their leaders\u27 transformational leadership skills and employee job satisfaction. This study was conducted in a metropolitan area in the midwestern United States using 12 federal agencies, totaling approximately 33,000 employees. The theoretical framework for this study was transformational leadership theory. The 5 constructs published by House and Burns were used in multifactor leadership questionnaire surveys by scholarly and peer-reviewed studies and represent the primary leadership skills. The study used the job satisfaction survey to gather information on federal employees\u27 work environments. Data were collected from a random selection of participants from agency employee rosters. The data analysis revealed a relationship between transformational leadership constructs and job satisfaction with intellectual stimulation receiving the highest correlation. All variables have a high correlation to each other with F (5, 86) =.968, p = .44, R2 (.053). The R2 value of .053 indicated that approximately 5.3% of variations in job satisfaction are accounted for by the linear combination of the predictor variables. The variables are idealized attributes and behaviors, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and individual considerations. The findings may contribute to positive social change by providing federal government leaders with an understanding of transformational leadership skills and job satisfaction