The Effect of Servant Leadership Style on Teachers' Job Satisfaction

Servant leadership is one of the most important forms of leadership and some authors and experts even consider servant leaders to be among the best leaders. The purpose of this quantitative research study is to examine the relation between teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ servant leadership style and teacher job satisfaction. The target population of the study was teachers in the Al-Salama 2 district in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There are eight public schools in this district; all are similar with respect to the school buildings, curricula, number of teachers and students, and their socioeconomic status. Two separate survey instruments were used for this study: Liden et al.’s (2008) Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ), which is a validated survey instrument that identifies seven dimensions of servant leadership characteristics. Mohrman et al.’s (1977) Mohrman–Cooke–Mohrman job satisfaction survey (MCMJSS) also was administered to measure the teachers’ job satisfaction. The data was formatted using Qualtrics survey software and all data were analyzed in SPSS v. 24. The results from the data analysis indicated that teachers do perceive their school leaders’ behavior reflects servant leadership characteristics and also showed a significant positive correlation between teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ servant leadership and their job satisfaction. The findings of this study indicate that the positive correlation between servant leadership and job satisfaction exists in Saudi Arabia. This field of research can continue to examine if this relationship exists as an embedded part of specific cultures or if it is inherently true that those who lead through service contribute to a greater sense of job satisfaction despite any differences in job category, pay scales, or cultural differences. Moreover, the results were consistent with the theoretical framework with respect to servant leadership theory and job satisfaction, and with the results of previous research.