Abstract Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of supportive and directive leadership style on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted positivism research philosophy to guide the study and limited itself to descriptive correlational research design to analyze and provide responses to the research questions. The research design was preferred because it allows description and comparison of characteristics of populations based on data collected from samples through questionnaires. The target population of the study was 15,030 employees in all the 43 commercial banks licensed to operate in Kenya as of June 2018. Using stratified sampling technique, the study drew a sample size of 386 employees reporting to middle level managers. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, which included factor analysis, correlational analysis, chi-square, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and Windows’ Microsoft excel programs. Results: From the findings of multiple linear regression analysis, it was established that directive leadership style had a positive and significant relationship with employee job satisfaction, R2 = .228, F(1, 362) = 53.396, p < .05; β = .454, p < .05. The results from multiple linear regression analysis also showed that supportive leadership style positively and significantly predicted employee job satisfaction, R2 = .603, F(1, 366) = 278.269, p < .05; β = .716, p < .05. In addition, the study tested the moderating influence of environmental contingency factors and was confirmed that environmental contingency factors significantly moderated the relationship between path-goal leadership style and employee job satisfaction, R2=0.090, F(5,364) = 35.04, p < .05; β= 0.229, p<.05. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study makes a contribution to the literature of the influence of directive and supportive leadership styles from Kenyan commercial banks’ perspective and adds an impetus to employees, management and policymakers to address issues that are impeding employee job satisfaction. The future researchers should include all bank employees in their study to determine the influence of directive leadership style and supportive leadership style on employee job satisfaction.

This study examined the influence of supportive and participative path-goal leadership styles, and the moderating role of task structure on employee performance of coffee trading companies in Kenya. The study was guided by the positivism philosophy and used a descriptive correlational research design. The population comprised 180 senior managers of coffee trading companies in Kenya, and a sample size of 139 was determined using stratified random sampling.  Primary data was collected using questionnaires. The response rate was 84%. The descriptive statistics were means and standard deviations while the inferential analysis included factor analysis, correlational analysis, chi-square, and regression analysis. Results of multiple linear regression analysis revealed that supportive leadership style did not significantly predict employee performance, R2= 0.001, F(1, 110) = 0.118,  p≤ .05, β = -0.040, p ≤ .05 but that participative leadership style significantly predicted employee performance, R2= 0.865, F(1, 115) = 735.111, p ≤.05, β = 0.943, p≤05.  Task structure was found to moderate the relationship between path-goal leadership styles and employee performance, R2= 0.094, F(5, 101) = 6.92, p ≤.05, β = 0.208,  p≤ .05.  The study recommends that leaders of coffee trading companies should apply a participative leadership style with their employees with constant communication and consultation in order to achieve optimal performance.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which supportive and participative path-goal leadership styles influence employee performance of coffee trading companies in Kenya. Methodology: The study was guided by the positivism philosophy and used a descriptive correlational research design. The population for the study was 180 senior managers of coffee trading companies in Kenya. Using stratified random sampling technique, a sample size of 139 was determined from the total population and structured questionnaires were administered to collect primary data. Out of 139 questionnaires administered, 117 were successfully completed and returned. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The descriptive statistics were mean and standard deviation while the inferential analysis included factor analysis, correlational analysis, chi-square and regression analysis. Results: Results of multiple linear regression analysis revealed that supportive leadership style did not significantly

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of idealized influence and inspirational motivation of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on the performance of senior managers in the private sector in Kenya.Methodology: The study adopted the positivism research philosophy and descriptive correlational research design. The target population consisted of 984 senior managers reporting to the CEOs of 183 private sector companies under the umbrella of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). A sample size of 284 was drawn using stratified random sampling, and data was collected using structured questionnaires. A response rate of 92% was realized. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics namely frequencies, means, and standard deviation.  Inferential statistics were also used in the analysis which included Pearson’s correlation, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple linear regression.Results: Results of the multiple linear regression showed that the CEO’s idealized influence significantly predicted performance of senior managers R2= .505, F (1, 260) = 264.042, p < .05; β = .711, t (260) = 16.249, p <.05. Further, multiple linear regression results indicated that inspirational motivation of the CEO significantly predicted the performance of senior managers, R2= .564, F (1, 260) = 335.141, p < .05, β = .751, t (260) = 18.307, p<.05. Testing the influence of goal orientation as a moderating variable showed that goal orientation significantly predicted the relationship between idealized influence and inspirational motivation of the CEO and performance of senior managers R2= .839, F (2, 5) = 265.099, p < .05, β = .111, t = 3.900, p<.05. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study provides a unique contribution to the theory and practice of transformational leadership in a new context in terms how trаnsformаtionаl leadership behavior associated with the dimensions of idealized influence and inspirational motivation, affect performance of senior managers in private sector organizations. The findings are useful for private sector organizations and policy makers in explaining effective leadership behaviors that can be applied by the CEO for improving performance of senior managers. These will be useful in enhancing performance improvement strategies. Researchers and academicians will also find the study useful in defining new research dimensions by using the research results to expand related arguments in future.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which idealized influence and inspirational motivation influence job satisfaction among employees in commercial banks in Kenya.Methodology: The study adopted a positivism research philosophy and a descriptive correlation research design. The target population consisted of 10,310 managerial employees in the commercial banks in Kenya. A sample of 424 employees was obtained from the population using stratified random sampling technique. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. A response rate of 82% was obtained. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Inferential statistical methods used to analyze the data were Chi-square, Pearson’s correlation, ANOVA, and multiple linear regressions. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) tool version 22 was used to analyze the data. Findings: Correlation analysis found that idealized influence, inspirational motivation and job security were positively and significantly correlated to job satisfaction r (346) =.496, p<.05, r (347) =.587, p<.05, r (347) =.697, p<.05 respectively. Multiple linear regression results showed that idealized influence significantly influenced job satisfaction of the employees (R2 = .246, F(1, 97.750) = 112.421, p< .05).Similarly, multiple linear regression results showed that inspirational motivation significantly influenced job satisfaction of the employees (R2 = .344, F(1, 126.302) = 180.980, p < .05).Job security was found to significantly moderate the relationships between idealized influence, inspirational motivation and job satisfaction (R2 = .431, F (3, 44.688) = 86.330, p<.05).Unique contribution to the theory, practice and policy: Previous studies on transformational leadership have focused mainly on transformational leadership and employee performance. The unique contribution of this study is the advancement of transformational leadership theory dimensions – idealized influence and inspirational motivation - and job satisfaction among employees in commercial Banks in Kenya. The recommendations of this study contribute to practice of leadership in the commercial banks in Kenya by providing tools that enhance job satisfaction. Lastly, the findings inform organizational polices touching on leadership and job satisfaction.