The relationship between employee personality traits and preferred leadership style

Abstract

Abstract : The purpose of this study is to examine how employee personality traits are related to a preferred leadership style and how the differences between preferred and actual leadership style relate to employee perceptions of leader satisfaction and effectiveness. Respondents completed a survey questionnaire that consisted of the commonly used Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X to assess employee leadership preferences and the NEO-FFI to identify personality traits. The relationship between employee personality traits and their preferred leadership style is significant to leaders who believe that it is possible to adjust a leadership approach to improve organizational performance. Agreeableness is positively related and age is negatively related to a transformational leadership preference. The results also indicate a negative relationship between the difference between preferred and actual leadership and ratings of employee satisfaction and ratings of leader effectiveness. Last, employee satisfaction is positively related to ratings of leader effectiveness.