Leadership, trust, and job satisfaction in the public sector: A study of US federal employees

Abstract

This study employs survey data on US federal employees to investigate whether employee perceptions of trust in leaders mediate the relationship between employee perceptions of transaction a land transformational leadership behaviors and employee perceptions of job satisfaction. The findings suggest that both transactional and transformational leadership behaviors and employee trust in leaders are positively related to employee job satisfaction. Also, while trust marginally mediates the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership and job satisfaction, it plays a more significant role in the relationship between individualized consideration and job satisfaction. Further, the study finds that transformational leadership and individualized consideration have a significantly larger positive impact on satisfaction compared to transactional leadership. Thus, the study suggests that public organizations, especially those managed by transactional leaders, need to focus on developing the transformational and individualized consideration leadership competencies of their leaders to build a more satisfied and productive workforce for serving the public.