The use of transactional and transformation leadership approaches influencing on employee satisfaction in Thai family businesses.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of transactional and transformational leadership approaches influencing on employee satisfaction in Thai family businesses. The in-depth interview and non-participant observation were used to identify the leadership style and employee satisfaction among subordinates in the organizations. The purpose of increasing the satisfaction of employees is to increase the productivity within SMEs as they are the major contributors to Thailand’s economy. The number from previous studies show that there are up to 99 percent of SMEs of total enterprises in Thailand, and SMEs contribute 41.1 percent of the country’s GDP. There is some room to grow from SMEs but they need to be improve their management to adapt to the changes. This case studies will identify the problem and the use of leadership styles in family business (SMEs), and it found that most of the Thai family businesses are more likely to be transactional leadership style, so if they can apply more transformational leadership altogether, it will increase employee satisfaction which will impact on the productivity and solid foundation of the companies, so companies can improve themselves bit by bit till it helps improve the country’s economy.