Influence of Leadership styles on Teachers job satisfaction: A case of selected Primary Schools in Songea and Morogoro Districts, Tanzania

Abstract

This study reports on the kind of school leadership style that best suits for promoting teachers' job satisfaction in primary schools in Tanzania. The study employed cross sectional research design with samples of 200 teachers from 20 selected primary schools in Songea and Morogoro districts. Interviews, documentary analysis and questionnaires were used to collect data. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively using tables, frequencies and percentages. It was found that the democratic leadership style was the most dominant in best performing primary schools. It is therefore suggested that there is much to be learnt with democratic leadership style as a copying strategy in least performing primary schools. Moreover, level of teachers' job satisfaction was reportedly high in best performing schools compared to least performing schools. The findings commended that democratic leadership style is the one which promotes high teachers' job satisfaction among teachers in primary schools.

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Vol. 6(4), pp. 53-61, April 2014
DOI: 10.5897/IJEAPS12.036
ISSN 2141-6656
Copyright © 2014
Author(s) retain the copyright of this article
http://www.academicjournals.org/IJEAPS
International Journal of Educational
Administration and Policy Studies
Full Length Research Paper
Influence of Leadership styles on Teachers’ job
satisfaction: A case of selected Primary Schools in
Songea and Morogoro Districts, Tanzania
Haruni J. Machumu1* and Mafwimbo M. Kaitila2
1Department of Education Foundations and Teaching Management, Faculty of Social Sciences,
Mzumbe University, Tanzania.
2Assistant Regional Education Officer, Geita Regional Administrative Office, Tanzania.
Received 18th August 2012; Accepted 19th February 2014; Published April 2014
This study reports on the kind of school leadership style that best suits for promoting teachers’ job
satisfaction in primary schools in Tanzania. The study employed cross sectional research design with
samples of 200 teachers from 20 selected primary schools in Songea and Morogoro districts.
Interviews, documentary analysis and questionnaires were used to collect data. The data were analyzed
both qualitatively and quantitatively using tables, frequencies and percentages. It was found that the
democratic leadership style was the most dominant in best performing primary schools. It is therefore
suggested that there is much to be learnt with democratic leadership style as a copying strategy in
least performing primary schools. Moreover, level of teachers’ job satisfaction was reportedly high in
best performing schools compared to least performing schools. The findings commended that
democratic leadership style is the one which promotes high teachers’ job satisfaction among teachers
in primary schools.
Keywords: Leadership, leadership styles, primary schools, teachers and job satisfaction.
INTRODUCTION
Tanzania has increased enrolment in almost all levels of
education; however, much of it is witnessed at primary
and secondary schools. Considerable attention is paid to
education for sustainable development, peace and
stability. Such recognition makes education an indis-
pensable means for effective participation not only in the
socio-economic development, but also in the on-going
rapid globalization. Despite this truth, the role of head
teachers at school level is a critical factor in determining
successful implementation of a school based
management and satisfaction of teachers. In support of
this understanding, the Commonwealth Secretariat
(1996) comments that, one of the key factors influencing
school effectiveness is the nature and quality of the
leadership style and management provided by each
school.
Good school - based management requires effective
school leadership whereby school head teachers are able
to handle both external operations as well as the school
environment interaction (Lambert et al., 2001). This is
E-mail: Ojosunny2001@yahoo.com
Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 International License

54 Int. J. Educ. Admin. Pol. Stud.
because leadership involves interpersonal influence
exercised on others through communication process
towards the attainment of certain goal (Akerele, 2007).
For instance, Greenleaf (1977) pinpoints that a servant-
leader enriches the lives of individuals, builds better
organizations and ultimately creates a more just and
caring society. That is to say, a servant-leader is servant
first; who is eagerly to serve first; who naturally think
about serving other by employing democratic foundations
for passing decision and how to implement them.
Numerous studies of organization and management in
respect to leadership have consistently indicated that
leadership style is a critical factor in organizational
performance and effectiveness; affecting positively and/or
negatively organizational process and structure, patterns
of social interaction, members’ beliefs, attitudes and job
behaviors (Shum and Cheng, 1997). In this regard,
schools need effective leadership style to give intended
results and bring job satisfaction to teachers. Head
teachers leadership style can be categorized into
autocratic, democratic, dictatorship and laissez faire.
Background of the Study
Educational institutions are critical places where the next
generation is educated, and school leaders bear a heavy
burden of responsibility for their institutions. Leaders in
educational institutions are the same as leaders in other
organizations, and inevitably face the challenge of main-
taining the goals of institutions (Northouse, 2010). School
leadership is a process of encouraging and helping
teachers and learners to work enthusiastically toward
realization of school objectives (educational objectives).
Leadership style and job satisfaction seem to go hand in
hand with fulfilling their roles and functions towards
teachers’ job satisfaction, head teachers adopt various
leadership styles or they exhibit various behavior
patterns. Hallinger and Heck (1998) found that a school
leader’s leadership style is the main factor that greatly
influences school effectiveness and should be under-
scored. Leadership is a process of interaction between
leaders and followers where the leader attempts to
influence followers to achieve a common goal.
In addition to a school leader’s leadership style, teacher
job satisfaction is another critical factor affecting school
effectiveness. Northouse (2010) believed that “a teachers’
job satisfaction may serve to influence their morale,
motivation and general willingness to maximize their
teaching potential”. Teachers who are not satisfied with
their jobs may result in bad teaching or learning process,
and school effectiveness will consequently be negatively
impacted. Spector (1985) found that if the employees find
their job fulfilling and rewarding, they tend to be more
satisfied with their jobs. To this end, good school leader-
ship is essential to turning around the nation’s failing
schools.
Schools leaders (head of schools, principals, managers)
are suppose to possess ability of influencing their staffs,
parents and other stakeholders of education to make
sure their schools successfully attain its pre-intended
objectives by making sure that teachers perform well their
responsibilities and learners perform well in their acade-
mic as anticipated. However, appropriate leadership
styles that influence teachers’ job satisfaction and
performance should be employed if we attain academic
excellence in most of our schools. Much of the existing
research on leadership styles and its effects on employee
work attitudes and behavior have been more confined to
the western world than in developing world, Tanzania
exclusively (Öner, 2012); Leithwood et al., 2004; Bass,
1999). It is therefore appropriate to confirm the different
effects of the dimensions of leadership styles on teachers’
job satisfaction, work attitudes, performance and beha-
vior in a non-western society like Tanzania.
Theoretical and empirical support for the influence
leadership styles and job satisfaction has been reported
in a number of studies undertaken in different countries
across the world including Tanzania, and in a variety of
organisational contexts, among both non-educational and
educational organizations. In general a number of
scholars (Greenleaf, 1977; Podsakoff et al, 1990; Davis,
2003; Yukl, 2002) pointed out that research on leadership
style have generated empirical results that have verified
the impact of leadership style on employee attitude, effort,
and in-role performance.
However, in spite of the extensive research and
accumulated evidence on the effects of leadership style
on performance and job satisfaction similar stream of
research has been very limited in educational settings
(Leithwood et al., 1999). The situation appears to show
that a reasonable large corps of evidence by social
science standards is available but it is quite uneven in
quality and distribution across many different types of
outcomes. In this regard, therefore, Edwards and Gill
(2012) have strongly argued that more research is
needed to understand the effects of leadership styles on
teachers’ job satisfaction in school settings. The study
expects to add more knowledge and understanding of the
effects of leadership styles on teachers’ job satisfaction in
school settings. In this paper, job satisfaction means the
overall summary evaluation a person makes regarding
his/her work environment. It has been linked to teachers’
higher levels of motivation, performance and productivity.
Head of schools on the other hand, are supposed to
possess the ability of influencing their staffs, students,
parents and other education stakeholders to make sure
that their schools successfully attain the pre-intended
objectives through influencing teachers to performs well
their responsibilities and learners perform well in their
academic as anticipated. Rugg (2005) explain that nume-
rous studies have indicated that leadership can make
difference in organizational performance as well as
individual satisfaction.

In school contexts, previous researchers have esta-
blished that schools with satisfied teachers are more
productive than schools with dissatisfied teachers. For
example, Ostroff (1992) measured the job satisfaction
levels of 13, 808 high-school and junior school teachers
throughout the USA and Canada and collected various
indices of performance of the 298 schools in which they
worked (percentage of students graduating, academic
performance levels, and vandalism expenditures). She
found that most measures of school performance were
significantly linked to teachers’ job satisfaction. From the
trend of the results, she concluded that schools with more
satisfied teachers were more effective than those with
less satisfied ones. Against this background it would be
very interesting to find out the type of leadership style
that goes with effective job satisfaction among teachers
in some selected primary schools in Songea district,
Tanzania.
Statement of the Problem
Leadership style employed in any organization influence
two major things: job satisfaction and organization
performance. To determine the kind of leadership style
that goes with teachers’ job satisfaction in educational
setting (institutions) has remained a problem in many
countries the world over, including Africa. Yet most
primary schools in Tanzania, particularly government -
owned primary schools, are facing the problems of
leadership due to limited professional development
opportunities, and inadequate teachers’ professional sup-
port and supervision (Bennell and Mukyanuzi, 2005).
Most primary schools in Songea and Morogoro districts
that are facing the problem of leadership would appear to
find themselves in a corner with regards to deciding
which one of the leadership styles is best and more
acceptable or which one causes problems to primary
schools teachers in relation to their job satisfaction.
Differences in leadership styles used by head teachers
have been raised in performance of schools in which
some perform better while others perform poorly. Fre-
quently, conflicts between teachers and head teachers,
poor attendance of teachers, teachers’ truancy without
apparent reason, teachers’ persistence behavior in drink-
ing alcohol during working hours are said to be related to
head teachers’ leadership style. Most of research con-
ducted in the field of leadership styles and job satisfaction
were based on transformation and transactional leader-
ship (Nguni, 2005). In Tanzania, the issue has been
researched on the effects of transformational leadership
on teachers’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment
and organizational citizenship behavior in Tanzanian pri-
mary and secondary schools (Goldberg et al., 2008). This
study, therefore, took up the task of filling the existing gap
through an empirical investigation of the leadership styles
used by head teachers in primary schools in Songea and
Morogoro districts, Tanzania.
Machumu and Kaitila 55
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to investigate the standard
leadership styles used by head teachers in primary
schools is the best and more acceptable and which one
problem with regard to cause teachers’ job satisfaction.
Specifically, the study sought to examine the dominant
leadership style in use by head teachers in primary
schools; investigate the current level of job satisfaction
among the teachers in primary schools and finally, to
identify the type of leadership styles that promote high
teachers job satisfaction among the teachers in primary
schools in Songea and Morogoro Districts.
Research questions
This study was guided by the following research
questions;
1. What is the dominant leadership style that influences
high job satisfaction among teachers in primary
schools?
2. Which type of leadership style promotes high teachers
job satisfaction in primary schools?
METHODOLOGY
This study employed cross-sectional survey design with qualitative
and quantitative research approaches (to provide a holistic picture
and in-depth understanding of the problem) since the design entails
the collection of data on more than one case and at a single point in
time, in order to collect a body of quantitative or quantifiable data in
connection with two or more variables, which are then examined to
detect patterns of associations (Bryman, 2001; Cohen and Morrison,
2002). Questionnaires, documentary review and semi-structured
interviews were used as a research instruments in the process of
data collection. The study focused on public primary (ten best
performing and ten least performing) schools. National standard
seven examinations results and teachers performance districts wise
(Songea and Morogoro) was employed as inclusion and exclusion
factors. The sample involved 20 primary schools and 200 teachers
(20 head teachers, 20 deputy head teachers and 80 classroom
teachers).
The study employed purposive sampling techniques and stratified
random sampling to obtain appropriate sample. Purposive sampling
was used to select head teachers and their deputies while stratified
random sampling was used to select classroom teachers and
primary schools, According to Krishnaswami and Ranganatham
(2009) the power of purposeful sampling lies in selecting information
rich cases for in-depth analysis related to the central issues being
studied. In order to assure reliability and validity of instrument in this
study, multiple data collection techniques known as triangulation
were applied. In order to test validity and reliability of instruments,
pilot studies were conducted at Wino primary school (Songea) and
Mwere and Bungo primary schools (Morogoro) taken as best
performing school and Makambi primary school (Songea) and
Mkundi and Kingolwira (Morogoro) taken as least performing
schools. The aim was to test the validit of instruments in generating
necessary information before embarking in data collection. In so
doing, ambiguities and unclear questioning were identified and
necessary modifications were made. The data were analyzed and
processed in both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The

56 Int. J. Educ. Admin. Pol. Stud.
Best
performing
schools
67%
Least
performing
schools
33%
Figure 1. Percentages of Democratic
Leadership Style in use of best and
poor performing school.
Source: Research Field data, 2013.
quantitative data presented in the form of numbers, summarized in
tabular form where pie chart and percentages of data derived from
documents and questionnaires calculated to facilitate under-
standing. Out of 160 respondents who were supplied with question-
naires only 159 respondents filled and returned the questionnaires.
One teacher from one of best performing schools was asked to
volunteer for interview. However, Software Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) was used to process quantitative data.
Content analysis was used to process qualitative information. It
enabled researchers to organize a large amount of materials. This
was done by developing appropriate categories/ratings or scores
that the researchers used for subsequent comparison and analysis
which based on identifying themes and patterns. Some of the data
presentation was given in the form of descriptive analysis. However,
categorizations of related topics where major concepts or themes
identified and analyzed were done.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Presentation of findings is in both descriptive and inferen-
tial statistics. Presentation of inferential statistics follows
the sequence of the research questions investigated. The
presentation is done by using figures. The participants
were selected from 20 out of 91 primary schools in both
districts based on best performing schools and least
performing schools. Both male and female teachers
participated in the study. Each selected primary school in
studied areas had ten teachers consisting of eight
teachers, deputy head teachers and head teachers.
Because 20 primary schools were studied, 40 head
teachers and their deputies; 160 classroom teachers
participated in the study. These results are presented and
discussed hereunder in respect of research questions.
Research question 1: What is the dominant
leadership style that influences high job satisfaction
among teachers in primary schools?
To answer this question, respondents from both best per-
forming and least performing schools were supplied with
questions requested to provide their general responses
Democratic
lea dership
style
50%
Autocra tic
lea dership
style
25%
Leissez
faire
lea dership
style
25%
Figure 2. The general dominant leadership
style in use in both school categories.
Source: Research Field data, 2013.
whether YES or NO according to their knowledge. The
aim was to gauge respondents perceptions on which
were dominant leadership style that influences high job
satisfaction among teachers in selected primary schools.
The findings obtained from heads of schools and their
deputies, as well as teachers. The findings indicated that
the use of democratic leadership style in Songea and
Morogoro districts differed according to school performing
category. Best performing schools use more democratic
leadership style as identified in Figure 1 and 2.
Data in figure 1 indicates that best performing schools
use more democratic leadership style (67%) compared to
least performing schools (33%) in Morogoro and Songea
districts. This implies that head teachers’ in the study area
should emulate and foster use of democratic leadership
style as a means to influence teachers’ job satisfaction.
On the other hand, response from interview with head
teachers from best performing school in both Songea and
Morogoro districts primary schools revealed that teachers
like any other human being need someone who care,
share, help, and engage with them not only at school but
also in social issues. A head teacher from best perfor-
ming school in Morogoro district said with such
experience, “…teachers in my school are involved in all
issues in such a way that they feel they are doing their
own work… for example nowadays we do offer remedial
classes to standard seven as to prepare them for final
exams…I do serve, lead and teach the same as my
teachers do…” (Head teacher, March, 2013).
On the overall, the data on this current study reveal that
democratic leadership style can be used to accelerate
teachers’ job satisfaction as they likely to be engaged,
cared and valued for their contribution hence good
performance.
Information in figure 2 indicates that leissez faire
leadership style (25%), autocratic leadership style (25%)
and democratic leadership style (50%) in Songea and
Morogoro districts indicates that the dominant leadership
style in primary schools in both studied districts differed
according to school performance category. Yet, head

Figure 3. The percentage distribution of
respondents showing leadership style encourages
low teacher job satisfaction.
Source: Research Field data, 2013.
three types of leadership styles. The trend however
revealed that democratic leadership style is dominant in
best performing schools while autocratic leadership style
is dominant in poor performing schools. During interview,
a teacher from one of least performing school in
Morogoro districts had the following to say:
“…I have been in this school for ten years now, but a
head teacher in this school is not easy well understood in
terms of leadership style, he is like chameleon…today
you found him like servant-leader…tomorrow like
autocratic leader…another day democratic leader…”
(Classroom teacher, March, 2013).”
The finding concur with what was observed in Songea
district as presented in figure 2, that almost all head tea-
chers were found practicing all three types of leadership
style but in different perspectives.
Data in figure 3 indicates that autocratic leadership
style encourages low teachers job satisfaction in primary
schools in Songea and Morogoro districts (89%)
compared to democratic leadership style (1%), Leissez
faire (6%) and the all styles depend the situation (4%).
Questionnaires were distributed to 159 respondents to
gauge their perception on how autocratic leadership style
encourages low job satisfaction in primary schools as
compared to other leadership styles such democratic
leadership style which promotes high teachers’ job
satisfaction. These results are summarized in table 1.
Table 1 shows that the standard deviation of
relationship between autocratic leadership style and
teachers job satisfaction in primary schools in Songea
and Morogoro districts is low (1.90115) compared to
democratic leadership style (5.40531), and Leissez faire
(2.21839) respectively. The study finding is in line with
the findings made by Bryman (1992) who asserts that
democratic leadership prevails in high performing schools
whereby teachers in schools need to be involved in the
school’s administration and in the implementation of
Machumu and Kaitila 57
teachers in all primary schools were noted to practice all
decisions because these affect them directly. School
head teachers contended that democracy was the best
leadership strategy for school environments because
schools are systems with parts that are interrelated. The
head teachers, for example, have to motivate the
teachers to participate in decision-making because
academic progress depends on the quality of teaching
exhibited. In one of the best performing schools from S
district that were studied, A head teacher had this to say:
“ …I always involve my teachers in all issues done in my
school, though are involved only in good things that leads
to the achievement of school objectives and those brings
good achievement to my school. Things those are not
good, I must decide myself not involving teachers and I
am always a last decision maker to all issues that does
not bring success to my school…” (Head teacher, March,
2013).
This finding further corroborates with the findings made
by Griffith (2005), who observed that head teachers
‘democratic leadership skills significantly related to highly
teachers’ job satisfaction since democratic leadership in
school reduces teachers isolation, use bureaucratic
mechanism to support cultural changes, share leadership
skills with others by delegating power and actively com-
municating the school norms and beliefs. Rugg (2005)
has an opinion that criteria underpinning democratic
leader is likely to be same as servant-leader who shares
power care subordinates, focus on growth and well-being
of people as well as puts the needs of others first and
helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.
This implies that head teachers in best performing
schools do the right things, share power, focus on person
well-being, demonstrating high moral and ethical behavior
and therefore do not use their position and abilities to
achieve personal interest but make efforts to achieve the
aims of their schools for good society build up. As a result
these leaders were likely to have teachers who expe-
rience higher levels of satisfaction.
This finding concur with the findings by Evan (1998)
and Ijaiya (2000) who assert that the more head teachers
practiced democratic leadership style the more they were
likely to report job satisfaction in primary schools. In other
words, teachers’ job satisfaction in best performing
primary schools in Songea and Morogoro districts was
explained by the prevailing democratic style of leader-
ship, which related with the previous research by
Goldberg et al. (2008) who argued that there was a
significant relationship between democratic leadership
style and high job satisfaction of teachers in high perfor-
ming schools. This is in agreement with the common
sense view, that leaders are essential and have an
impact on the performance of the organization. In
addition to that school departments were empowered to
lay strategies in order to improve teaching and learning
as well as teachers’ job satisfaction in the school. The

58 Int. J. Educ. Admin. Pol. Stud.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics on how autocratic leadership style encourages low job satisfaction as compared
to other leadership styles.
Type of Leadership style Mean Std. Deviation N
Democratic Leadership Style 11.8113 5.40531 159
Autocratic Leadership Style 3.1761 1.90115 159
Leissez Faire Leadership Style 2.2013 2.21839 159
Total Job satisfaction 15.2390 9.68652 159
Source: Research Field data, 2013.
study revealed that good leadership was associated with
a caring environment in the high performing schools and
this kind of caring environment is sometimes associated
with good leadership and may lead to teachers’ job
satisfaction. This seems to be in agreement with Wing’s
(2003) view that the feeling that no one cares is
pervasive and corrosive. Real working is difficult to
sustain in an atmosphere rife with mistrust.
It was discovered to that in best performing schools
used dispersed or distributed leadership associated with
overall school improvement and all teachers were asso-
ciated in the planning process whereby the planning
process was collaborative, ownership and sustainable.
This eventually had an effect on the overall teachers’ job
satisfaction in most of the best performing schools
investigated. This finding agreed with the finding by Bass
(1985) who revealed that the supervisors ability to
associate subordinates in planning process, demon-
strating trust and confidence in teachers, ability to talk
one-to-one and ability to show personal in others are
strongly correlated to high job satisfaction together with
democratic leadership style and leaders efforts to
motivate subordinates.
The current study in Songea and Morogoro district has
surprisingly proved that poor performing schools were
dominated by use of autocratic leadership style. In the
light of these findings poor performing schools can be
suspected to have coercive leaders who often create a
reign of terror, bullying and demeaning their subor-
dinates, roaring with displeasure at the slightest problem.
Under such kind of circumstances, teachers get
intimidated and stop bringing bad news or any news in
fear of getting bashed or blamed for it, and the morale of
the workers plummets, leading to low job satisfaction on
the part of the teachers. Therefore, the greater use of
autocratic style, the lower the teachers’ job satisfaction.
In support of that, one head teacher from one of poor
performing school during the interview clarified that:
“… in my school when a teacher make any mistake, I
have to reprimand him/her orally, and if the same mistake
repeated then I tell a teacher to write a note to make an
apology on the same…, but at the same time I have to
note down as my reference in note book... also in my
school I do report lazy teachers to the district Education
office so that they can be punished for their blunders
otherwise things will not go as planned…” (Head
teacher, March, 2013).
This finding concur with the findings by Akelele (2007)
who found no significant relationship between head
teachers’ autocratic leadership style and teachers’ job
satisfaction in primary schools. This interpretation is
similar to the comment given by Siskin (1994) and Gronn
(2000) who assert that School leaders who use the
authoritarian leadership style lead to poor job satisfaction,
because they adopt harsh leadership styles, which are
highly resented by their subordinates. From the study, it
was discovered that one of the used approach to
leadership was the situational leadership. School head
teachers have, thorough experience, come to terms with
the fact that the adoption of a particularly relevant style in
a specific situation leads to school effectiveness and
teachers’ job satisfaction, rather than relying on a single
style of one’s choice. The participants revealed that
leadership is dictated by environmental changes within
and outside the school. This study finding agreed with the
study by Cheng and Mullins (2002) who asserted that the
relationship between school teachers’ job satisfaction and
leadership style is moderated by the situational factors.
Consequently, the conclusion of the study to the
research question under review is that the dominant lea-
dership style in primary schools in Songea and Morogoro
districts differed according to school performance cate-
gory whereby democratic leadership style is dominant in
best performing schools while autocratic leadership style
is dominant in poor performing schools. The directional
hypotheses tested, confirmed these conclusions.
Research question 2: Which type of leadership style
promotes high teachers job satisfaction in primary
schools?
When respondents were asked which type of leadership
style promotes high teachers job satisfaction in primary
schools, their responses are summarised in Table 1 and
Figure 2 respectively.
Decision range is 55%. This means that 55% - 100% =
High job satisfaction and < 55% = Low job satisfaction.

Machumu and Kaitila 59
Table 2. Leadership Style Promotes High teacher Job Satisfaction.
Type of Leadership style Frequency Percent Decision Valid
percent Cumulative
percent
Valid
Democratic Leadership 147 92.5 High 92.5 92.5
Autocratic Leadership 00 00 Low 00 00
Leissez-Faire Leadership 00 00 Low 00 00
All of the above depending on the situation 12 7.5 Low 7.5 100.0
Total 159 100.0 100.0
Source: Research Field data, 2013.
Figure 4. Distribution of percentage showing leadership style promotes high teacher job
satisfaction.
Source: Research Field data, 2013.
Data in Table 2 shows that democratic leadership style
promotes high teachers job satisfaction in primary
schools in Songea and Morogoro districts (92.5%)
compared to autocratic leadership style (0%), leissez-
faire (0%) and the all styles depending on the situation
(8%) as also indicated in Figures 3 that depict the same
results.
Figure 4 shows that majority of respondents (92%)
answered positively that democratic leadership style
promotes high teachers job satisfaction in primary
schools in Songea and Morogoro districts followed by
other leadership styles; all leadership styles depending
on the situation (8%), autocratic and Leissez faire (0%)
respectively. Based on the data, the current study found
that democratic leadership style promotes high teachers
job satisfaction.
The results implies that the more the head teachers
practiced democratic leadership style the more teachers
were likely to report high job satisfaction. In other words,
democratic leadership style is the type of leadership
promotes high teachers job satisfaction in primary
schools. This also supported by Spillane (2006) who
found that democratic leadership has contributed to a
sustainable improvement of schools in terms of achieving
higher levels of teachers’ job satisfaction, attainment and
achievements. Democratic leadership recognizes indivi-
duals teachers in formal and informal positions to take
responsibility for leadership activities by a network of
interactions in schools. In this context, democratic leader-
ship was characterized by a form of collective leadership
in which teachers developed expertise by working toge-
ther, concluding that engaging many people in leadership
activity was the core of democratic leadership in action.
The general implication to be drawn from the study
when viewing democratic leadership style in relation to
promote teachers job satisfaction is that when exercising
this type of leadership behavior, head of schools would
necessary support followers as they try new approaches
and develop innovative and proactive ways of dealing
with issues in the school. Democratic leadership style
promotes in followers the practice of thinking out their
own and engaging in careful problem solving. The leader
provides a flow of ideas, questions, and assumptions and
creates a broad, imaginative picture and encourages
followers to come up with their own structures and solu-
tions to the problems. In the same vein, Avolio and Bass
(1997) argue that in order for a leader to be successful,
he/she has to create an environment that persuades
followers to evaluate their attitudes and values as well as
the way they approach problems. Head of schools, who

60 Int. J. Educ. Admin. Pol. Stud.
are identified as encouraging teachers to consider new
ways of thinking and helping them identify new solutions,
are therefore likely to increase confidence of followers
and strengthen their job satisfaction.
Findings of this study equally revealed that teachers
whose head teachers practiced democratic leadership
style by involving them in decision-making concerning
school matters were found to be satisfied with their
promotion of job satisfaction. The finding is consistent
with some previous studies whose results revealed that
teachers’ participation in decision-making was a deter-
minant of promoting their job satisfaction (Swender,
1988). This study also demonstrates that teachers whose
head teachers created opportunities for them to develop
their teaching skills were found to be more satisfied with
their job. The results of this study were compatible with
those of Patterson et al., (2003), which propounded that
teacher who had the opportunity to develop their skills,
were more satisfied than those who had not the oppor-
tunity to do so. Consequently, the conclusion of present
study to the research question under review is that the
Democratic leadership style is the one which pro-motes
high teachers job satisfaction in primary schools. There is
a significant correlation between democratic leadership
style and high teachers’ job satisfaction. And that demo-
cratic leadership style is dominant in best performing
schools while Autocratic leadership style is dominant in
poor performing schools. In regard to perfor-mance, the
study demonstrated that in best performing schools the
current level of teachers’ job satisfaction is high while in
poor performing schools the current level of teachers’ job
satisfaction is low.
These results are consistent with previous research
results that doing in this field. Based on these results,
numerous studies in several countries showed that there
is a positive correlation between leadership styles and
the job satisfaction in primary schools (Mulford, 2003;
Packard and Kauppi, 1999; Rezvan et al., 2013). Shum
(1997) stated that among determinants of teachers’ job
satisfaction, leadership is viewed as an important predic-
tor and plays a central role. Leadership is a management
function, which is mostly directed towards people and
social interaction, as well as the process of influencing
people so that they will achieve the goals of the
organization.
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The findings of this study therefore, leads to the con-
clusion that, head teachers’ leadership style is a critical
variable in teachers’ job satisfaction in primary schools.
As a result, the current teachers’ job satisfaction is high in
best performing schools and low in least performing
schools since democratic leadership style promotes high
teacher’s job satisfaction. It also concluded that demo-
cratic leadership style is the best style of leadership that
could enhance high teachers’ job satisfaction in primary
schools. Based on the findings and conclusion attained
the following implications are made:- First, poor per-
forming schools can be suspected to have coercive
leaders who often create a reign of terror, bullying and
demeaning their subordinates, roaring with displeasure at
the slightest problem. Second, the study assumes that in
poor performing schools teachers were lacking psycho-
logical and guidance services, no social workers or sup-
port services to assist them with students, this contributes
to their low levels of job satisfaction. Third, most of
teachers were not satisfied with their salary/remuneration
package; the amount of salary they get as teachers was
not equal to the amount of work they do that leads to their
low job satisfaction. Fourth, democratic leadership style
in relation to promotion of teachers’ job satisfaction is that
when exercising this type of leadership behavior, head of
schools would necessary support followers as they try
new approaches and develop innovative and proactive
ways of dealing with issues in the school.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the implications of the findings, the
following recommendations are made
1. This study recommends that school head teachers
should imbibe more of democratic than autocratic or
leissez faire leadership styles in their school admini-
stration in order to enhance high teachers’ job satisfaction
among teachers.
2. School authorities based on Regional Education office
and District Education office need to develop strategies to
deal with the needs of those teachers who experience
less job satisfaction. Proactive attention to this should
demonstrate preparedness on side of school administra-
tors to address teacher and thereby reduce ineffective
among teachers.
3. School head teachers should avoid much use of
autocratic leadership style in the management of primary
schools.
4. The head teachers of primary schools in particular can
be encouraged to use democratic leadership style in the
management of primary schools since most of head
teachers would improve job satisfaction of their teachers
by becoming more collaborative and more democratic.
5. There is a need to give head teachers management
and leadership skills
6. Head teachers should get involved in decision making,
as key stakeholders, in formulating school vision, mission
and strategic plans, so that there could be ownership and
shared understanding of the school developed missions
and plans.
Conflict of Interests
The author(s) have not declared any conflict of interests.

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