Leadership styles and job satisfaction among healthcare providers in primary health care centers

Background: Effective leadership is essential for the success of any organization, while job satisfaction relates to how content an individual is with his or her job. This study aimed to explore the relationship between managers' leadership styles and job satisfaction among healthcare workers in primary healthcare centers (PHCCs) in Aseer Region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: Following a cross-sectional design, this study was carried out at 25 PHCCs in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities, Saudi Arabia. The study comprised 25 PHCCs managers and 300 PHC providers. Survey instruments included a brief socio-demographic survey questionnaire, the "Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, Form 6-S", and the validated Arabic version of "Job Satisfaction Survey Questionnaire". Results: Only 52% of PHCC mangers attended training on leadership, 68% highly followed transformational leadership facet "idealized influence", and 64% followed "management-by-exception", while only 28% highly followed the "Laissez-faire" leader ship style. About one-third of healthcare providers were satisfied, 9.3% were dissatisfied, while 51.3% were ambivalent. Laissez-faire leadership style significantly correlated with most healthcare providers' job satisfaction items, followed by transactional leadership. Conclusion: Job satisfaction is significantly less among pharmacists, those having insufficient income, or less experience in PHC. Laissez-faire leadership significantly correlates with most job satisfaction items, followed by transactional and transformational leaderships. It is necessary to improve PHC providers' job satisfaction by better application of transformational and transactional leadership styles.