The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between leadership styles and employee job performance in the Malaysian private industry. The independent variables of this study are transformational and transactional leadership whereas the dependent variable is employee job performance. The research design of this study employs a quantitative and cross-sectional approach. An online survey questionnaire was used to collect data and yielded 384 responses. The findings of this study revealed that transformational and transactional leadership were significantly related to employee job performance. This research can provide practical implications to the organizations’ leaders and managers to exhibit appropriate leadership styles by the employee performance outcomes in the Malaysian private industry.
Abbas, Q., and Yaqoob, S. (2009). Effect of Leadership Development on Employee Performance in Pakistan. Pakistan Economic and Social Review, 47(2), 269–292.
Afshari, L., and Gibson, P. (2016). How to increase organizational commitment through transactional leadership. Leadership & Org Development J, 37(4), 507–519.
Arokiasamy, A. R. A. (2013). A Qualitative Study on Causes and Effects of Employee Turnover in the Private Sector in Malaysia. Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research, 16(11), 1532–1541.
Asrar-ul-Haq, M., and Kuchinke, K. P. (2016). Impact of leadership styles on employees’ attitude towards their leader and performance: Empirical evidence from Pakistani banks. Future Business Journal, 2(1), vol. 2, 54–64.
Bass, B. M., and Avolio, B. J. (1997). Full range leadership development: manual for the multifactor leadership questionnaire. Palo Alto, Calif.: Mind Garden.
Buil, I., Martínez, E., and Matute, J. (2019). Transformational leadership and employee performance: The role of identification, engagement and proactive personality. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 77, 64–75.
DOSM. (2019). Principal Statistics of labor force, Malaysia, 2018. Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal. Retrieved from
https://dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=126&bul_id=ekU0SG1yQk1wcExKUDhvN2RHTlhjZz09&menu_id=U3VPMldoYUxzVzFaYmNkWXZteGduZz09.
Hater, J. J., and Bass, B. M. (1988). Superiors’ evaluations and subordinates’ perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73(4), 695–702.
Hee, O. C., Ibrahim, R., Kowang, T. O., Fei, G. C. (2018). Employee engagement as a mediator between transformational leadership and employee performance. Asian Journal of Scientific Research, 11(3), 441-448.
Krejcie, R. V., and Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610.
MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M., and Rich, G. A. (2001). Transformational and transactional leadership and salesperson performance. Journal of the Academic of Marketing Science, 29(2), 115-134.
Motowidlo, S. J., and Kell, H. J. (2012). Job Performance. Handbook of Psychology, Second Edition, I. Weiner, Ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Muchinsky, P. M. (2003). Psychology Applied to Work. (7th ed. ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Nguyen, H. N., and Mohamed, S. (2011). Leadership behaviors, organizational culture and knowledge management practices: An empirical investigation. Journal of Management Development, 30(2), 206–221.
Obasan, K., and Banjo, H. (2014). A Test of the Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Performance: A Study of Department of Petroleum Resources. International Journal of Management Sciences, 2(3), 149–160.
Paracha, M. U., Qamar, A., and Mirza, A. (2012). Impact of Leadership Style (Transformational & Transactional Leadership) On Employee Performance & Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction’ Study of Private School (Educator) In Pakistan. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 12(4), 55–64.
Robbins, S. P., and Judge, T. A. (2009). Organizational Behavior, 12th Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Salfi, N. A. (2011). Successful Leadership Practices of Head Teachers for School Improvement: Some Evidence from Pakistan. Journal of Educational Administration, 49(4), 414–432.
Tavakol, M., and Dennick, R. (2011). Making Sense of Cronbach’s Alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2, 53–55.
Wen, T. B., Theresa, C. F. H., Kelana, B. W. Y., Othman, R., and Syed, O. R. (2019). Leadership Styles in Influencing Employees’ Job Performances. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(9), 55-65.
