Optimal Leadership Styles for Teacher Satisfaction: a Meta-analysis of the Correlation Between Leadership Styles and Teacher Job Satisfaction

Principal leadership significantly influences teacher job satisfaction, yet a conclusive consensus remains elusive. A meta-analysis was undertaken to investigate diverse leadership styles’ impact on teacher satisfaction, guided by the Two-factor Theory. Examining 98 papers with 148 effect sizes and 740,477 participants, the results unveiled positive correlations (1) between leadership styles like transactional, instructional, authentic, transformational, distributed, paternalistic, servant, ethical, and teacher job satisfaction. Ethical leadership yielded the highest influence, followed by servant leadership. (2) Cultural context, leadership measurement, job satisfaction assessment, and publication language partially moderated the relationship. (3) These findings substantiate theoretical assumptions, resolve research debates, and offer a foundation for principals to enhance teacher job satisfaction.