Author

Pinky G. Comendador*
Cebu Technological University-Danao Campus, Danao City, Cebu, Philippines

Abstract

This descriptive-correlational study examined the relationship between school heads’ leadership styles and teachers’ job satisfaction in District 9, Danao City Division, for the 2025-2026 school year. Utilizing the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), it involved five (5) school heads and one hundred thirty (130) teachers. Findings revealed that all school heads exhibited the Team Leader style, demonstrating great concern for both people and task. Teachers reported an overall “Very Satisfied” level of job satisfaction, with the highest satisfaction in Relationships and Social Aspects, the Work Itself, and Autonomy. Lower, though still “Satisfied,” ratings were found for Supervision, School Policies, and Compensation and Advancement. Statistical analysis showed a moderate positive correlation between the Team Leader style and teacher job satisfaction; however, this relationship was not statistically significant. Furthermore, regression analyses indicated that neither teachers’ length of service nor their highest educational attainment was significantly predictive of their job satisfaction. The study concludes that while a positive leadership climate and high satisfaction coexist, other intrinsic and environmental factors may be more direct drivers of teacher morale. Based on the findings, an action plan is proposed to strategically address the identified areas of concern by enhancing policy communication, ensuring transparent career pathways, fostering collaborative professional development, and improving working conditions.

Keywords:  Administration and supervision, leadership styles, teacher job satisfaction, quantitative, action plan, Danao City, Philippines.

*Corresponding author / Email: pinky.comemdador@deped.gov.ph
DOI: http://doi.org/10.69651/PIJHSS05031516

Recommended citation:
Comendador, P. G. (2026). Leadership styles and teachers’ job satisfaction: Insights from the Blake and Mouton managerial grid. Pantao (International Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences) 5 (3), 4022-4040. http://doi.org/10.69651/PIJHSS05031516

Read the full text

References

Abdurahman, N. A. (2020). Job satisfaction and performance of the secondary school teachers in the Schools Division of Sulu, Philippines. Journal of Multidisciplinary in Social Sciences, 16(3), 53–66.

Abdurahman, N. A., & Omar, J. A. K. (2021). School heads’ educational leadership practice and teachers’ performance: The case of Omar District, Division of Sulu, Philippines. Open Access Indonesia Journal of Social Sciences, 4(4), 432–444.

Abu Nasra, M., & Arar, K. (2020). Leadership style and teacher performance: Mediating role of occupational perception. International Journal of Educational Management, 34(1), 186–202.

Abun, D., Jean, G., & Basilio, Q. (2023). The effect of workplace relationship on job satisfaction of employees: School context. Divine Word International Journal of Management and Humanities, 2(1), 227–242.

Amalia, K. N., Suharyati, H., & Herfina, H. (2024). Investigating the effect of organizational climate and interpersonal communication strategies on teacher commitment. International Journal of Sustainable Development & Future Society, 2(1), 15–22.

Arcilla, E. (2020). Teachers’ perceptions on the transformational style of leadership on job satisfaction of public high school teachers in the Philippines: A qualitative case study (Doctoral dissertation, Northcentral University).

Arnold, B., & Rahimi, M. (2025). Teachers’ working conditions, wellbeing and retention: An exploratory analysis to identify the key factors associated with teachers’ intention to leave. The Australian Educational Researcher, 52(3), 1947–1973.

Balan, A., & Jamaluddin, R. (2024). Leadership practices and teacher satisfaction: The critical role of trust and professional development in mid-career stages. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 5(4), 14–18.

Baluyos, G. R., Rivera, H. L., & Baluyos, E. L. (2019). Teachers’ job satisfaction and work performance. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 7(8), 206–221.

Bans-Akutey, A. (2021). The path-goal theory of leadership. Academia Letters, 2(748), 10–20935.

Baptiste, M. (2019). No teacher left behind: The impact of principal leadership styles on teacher job satisfaction and student success. Journal of International Education and Leadership, 9(1), n1.

Baroudi, S., Tamim, R., & Hojeij, Z. (2022). A quantitative investigation of intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing teachers’ job satisfaction in Lebanon. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 21(2), 127–146.

Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Free Press.

Beladas, J. P., & Callo, E. C. (2023). Effective leadership and supervisory skills of principal: Predictors of job satisfaction among public elementary school teachers. International Journal of Multidisciplinary: Applied Business and Education Research, 4(12), 4363–4378.

Billingsley, B., Bettini, E., Mathews, H. M., & McLeskey, J. (2020). Improving working conditions to support special educators’ effectiveness: A call for leadership. Teacher Education and Special Education, 43(1), 7–27.

Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J. S. (1964). The managerial grid: The key to leadership excellence. Gulf Publishing.

Booth, J., Coldwell, M., Müller, L. M., Perry, E., & Zuccollo, J. (2021). Mid-career teachers: A mixed methods scoping study of professional development, career progression and retention. Education Sciences, 11(6), 299.

Cacanindin, R. J. (2023). Generational differences in job satisfaction level among employees of state college in Aurora Province, Philippines. Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Journal (APHERJ), 10(1).

Cansoy, R. (2019). The relationship between school principals’ leadership behaviours and teachers’ job satisfaction: A systematic review. International Education Studies, 12(1), 37–52.

Cho, Y., Shin, M., Billing, T. K., & Bhagat, R. S. (2019). Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and affective organizational commitment: A closer look at their relationships in two distinct national contexts. Asian Business & Management, 18(3), 187–210.

Cubay, P. P. C. (2020). Public secondary school administrators’ leadership styles, power bases and teachers’ job satisfaction. Journal of World Englishes and Educational Practices, 2(2), 36–45.

Debus, M. E., Gross, C., & Kleinmann, M. (2020). The power of doing: How job crafting transmits the beneficial impact of autonomy among overqualified employees. Journal of Business and Psychology, 35(3), 317–331.

Elatia, S., Gomez, L. N., & Corsi, E. (2024). If teaching is a female dominated profession, why are so few leading the profession? Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 19(1), 102–121.

Fang, J., & Qi, Z. (2023). The influence of school climate on teachers’ job satisfaction: The mediating role of teachers’ self-efficacy. PLOS ONE, 18(10), e0287555.

Fradkin-Hayslip, A. (2021). Teacher autonomy, motivation, and job satisfaction: Perceptions of elementary school teachers according to self-determination theory. Ilkogretim Online, 20(2).

Goktas, E. (2021). Effectiveness correlates of school leadership styles and teachers’ job satisfaction: A meta-analytic review. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 13(4).

Gomes, D. R., & Ribeiro, N. (2024). Is inclusive leadership a renewed hope for the building of people-centric organizations? In Business competitiveness and sustainability (pp. 78–92). Routledge.

Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2), 250–279.

Hajiali, I., Kessi, A. M. F., Budiandriani, B., Prihatin, E., & Sufri, M. M. (2022). Determination of work motivation, leadership style, employee competence on job satisfaction and employee performance. Golden Ratio of Human Resource Management, 2(1), 57–69.

Hawkins, C. D. (2024). High school teachers’ perceptions of leadership style, organizational climate and correlation to self-efficacy (Doctoral dissertation, Grand Canyon University).

He, P., Guo, F., & Abazie, G. A. (2024). School principals’ instructional leadership as a predictor of teacher’s professional development. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 9(1), 63.

House, R. J. (1971). A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16(3), 321–339.

Imhangbe, O. S., Okecha, R. E., & Obozuwa, J. (2019). Principals’ leadership styles and teachers’ job performance: Evidence from Edo State, Nigeria. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 47(6), 909–924.

Kamani, T. (2020). Analysis of the job characteristics model. Available at SSRN 3600844.

Keating, R. (2022). Identifying intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting teachers’ motivation to remain in the teaching profession. Concordia University Chicago.

Kesler, R. (2020). Teacher identification of principal behaviors that support teacher autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Kok, L. (2020). Relationship between skills development, employee motivation and organisational performance in South African organisation. International Journal of Business and Management Studies, 12(1), 177–190.

Litz, D., & Blaik-Hourani, R. (2020). Transformational leadership and change in education. In Oxford research encyclopedia of education.

Liu, Y., Bellibaş, M. Ş., & Gümüş, S. (2021). The effect of instructional leadership and distributed leadership on teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction: Mediating roles of supportive school culture and teacher collaboration. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 49(3), 430–453.

Liu, Y., & Watson, S. (2023). Whose leadership role is more substantial for teacher professional collaboration, job satisfaction and organizational commitment: A lens of distributed leadership. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 26(6), 1082–1110.

Luna, R. A. (2025). Gender stereotypes and their impact on female leadership style: A phenomenological study (Doctoral dissertation, National University).

Mangulabnan, B., Dela Rosa, R., & Vargas, D. (2021). Transformational leadership styles of school principals in Central Luzon, Philippines. PHILIPPINES (March 15, 2021).

Mapacpac Jr, G. W., & Yango, A. R. (2023). Workplace empowerment, job satisfaction, and teaching performance of public senior high school teachers’ in City Schools Division in the Province of Laguna. Technium Soc. Sci. J., 44, 259.

Mbua, E. M. (2023). The impact of principal’s leadership styles on teacher and school effectiveness. International Journal of Research in Education Humanities and Commerce, 4(2), 147–177.

Meng, H. (2022). Analysis of the relationship between transformational leadership and educational management in higher education based on deep learning. Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience, 2022(1), 5287922.

Morales, J. C. (2022). Transformational leadership and teacher work motivation in private educational institutions. International Journal of Research Publications, 105(1), 578–614.

Moras, M., & Kashyap, B. (2021). Influence of job characteristics on employees’ job satisfaction: An empirical study. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 12(11), 6499–6506.

Mulyanto, H. (2023). Teacher performance post-Covid-19: A study of workload, leadership style, and teacher work discipline at SMAN 21 Tangerang District. KnE Social Sciences.

Mwesigwa, R., Tusiime, I., & Ssekiziyivu, B. (2020). Leadership styles, job satisfaction and organizational commitment among academic staff in public universities. Journal of Management Development, 39(2), 253–268.

Nanjundeswaraswamy, T. S. (2023). The mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between leadership styles and employee commitment. Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, 39(2), 286–304.

Ntumi, S. (2025). From stress to strategy: A moderated mediation model of teacher workload, burnout, and wellbeing, highlighting the role of assessment competency in promoting teachers’ health and wellbeing.

Oduro, F., Parker, D., & Mensah, E. T. (2025). The role of teacher autonomy, school climate, and “perceptions of value & policy influence” in predicting lower secondary school teachers’ job satisfaction in South Africa. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 24(4), 753–772.

Ogunbayo, S. B., & Yassim, K. (2025). Impact of leadership styles and school culture on educational institutional management: A study of selected schools. International Journal of Educational Organization & Leadership, 32(2).

Okafor, R. N., Obona, E. E., Ngene, A. N., & Eji, E. E. (2024). School supervision and inspection: Enhancing educational quality, accountability, and student social welfare in Nigerian secondary schools. Unizik Journal of Educational Research and Policy Studies, 18(3).

Olowoselu, A., bin Mohamad, M. A., & Mohamed Farag Mohamed Aboudahr, S. (2019). Path-goal theory and the application in educational management and leadership. Education Quarterly Reviews, 2(2).

Ona, J. (2024). Organizational culture, work performance, and job satisfaction among private schools in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 2(12), 595–604.

Ortan, F., Simut, C., & Simut, R. (2021). Self-efficacy, job satisfaction and teacher well-being in the K-12 educational system. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(23), 12763.

Pacia, D. R., & Guevarra, P. M. (2023). Influence of path-goal theory of leadership styles and the moderating role of task structure in leadership on teachers’ satisfaction, motivation, and performance. International Journal of Multidisciplinary: Applied Business and Education Research, 4(7), 2330–2345.

Panagopoulos, N., Karamanis, K., & Anastasiou, S. (2023). Exploring the impact of different leadership styles on job satisfaction among primary school teachers in the Achaia Region, Greece. Education Sciences, 14(1), 45.

Park, J. H., Cooc, N., & Lee, K. H. (2023). Relationships between teacher influence in managerial and instruction-related decision-making, job satisfaction, and professional commitment: A multivariate multilevel model. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 51(1), 116–137.

Pinnington, A., Aldabbas, H., Mirshahi, F., & Pirie, T. (2022). Organisational development programmes and employees’ career development: The moderating role of gender. Journal of Workplace Learning, 34(5), 466–496.

Prestiadi, D., Gunawan, I., & Sumarsono, R. B. (2020, December). Role of transformational leadership in education 4.0. In 6th International conference on education and technology (ICET 2020) (pp. 120–124). Atlantis Press.

Rachmad, Y. E. (2022). Trust-based leadership theory.

Raihan, T. (2020). Role of job characteristics model on employee job satisfaction-An empirical study. ResearchGate.

Sahito, Z., & Vaisanen, P. (2020). A literature review on teachers’ job satisfaction in developing countries: Recommendations and solutions for the enhancement of the job. Review of Education, 8(1), 3–34.

Saleem, A., Aslam, S., Yin, H. B., & Rao, C. (2020). Principal leadership styles and teacher job performance: Viewpoint of middle management. Sustainability, 12(8), 3390.

Saleem, A., & Noshaba, A. (2021). Relationship between school heads’ leadership styles and acceptance of leader as moderated by stress: Testing path goal theory in educational setting. Journal of Interdisciplinary Educational Studies, 1(2), 44–63.

Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2020). Teacher burnout: Relations between dimensions of burnout, perceived school context, job satisfaction and motivation for teaching. A longitudinal study. Teachers and Teaching, 26(7-8), 602–616.

Smith, S. M. (2021). Reflections of K-12 administrators on leadership style, stress & mitigation strategies: A mixed-methods study on burnout preventions (Doctoral dissertation, Point Park University).

Toropova, A., Myrberg, E., & Johansson, S. (2021). Teacher job satisfaction: The importance of school working conditions and teacher characteristics. Educational Review, 73(1), 71–97.

Tran, P., Nguyen, L., Parveen, K., & Wang, M. H. (2020). Developing a theoretical model to examine factors affecting school leadership effectiveness. Journal of Social Sciences Advancement, 1(1), 16–30.

Vorontsova, A. S., & Dakhari, L. (2024). Adapting leadership: A literature review of effective management styles in modern educational settings.

Wang’ombe, T. (2023). The role of educational leadership in fostering a positive school culture and enhancing teacher retention. European Journal of Education, 1(1), 31–43.

Weiss, D. J., Dawis, R. V., England, G. W., & Lofquist, L. H. (1967). Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. University of Minnesota, Industrial Relations Center.

Worth, J., & Van den Brande, J. (2020). Teacher autonomy: How does it relate to job satisfaction and retention? National Foundation for Educational Research.

Xu, Z., & Pang, N. S. K. (2024). Promoting teachers’ organizational commitment: The effects of authentic leadership, teachers’ well-being and social–emotional competence. Behavioral Sciences, 14(10), 862.

Yohannes, M. E., & Wasonga, T. A. (2023). Leadership styles and teacher job satisfaction in Ethiopian schools. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 51(5), 1200–1218.

Zhang, X., Noels, K. A., & Sugita-McEown, M. (2022). The importance of an autonomy-supportive workplace and engaged students for language teachers’ self-determination and engagement. Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning, 4(1), e416022.

Zhou, H., & Ma, J. (2022). Organizational justice and teachers’ turnover intention in primary and secondary schools: The importance of sustainable salary management. Sustainability, 14(20), 13314.