Leadership Style and Employee Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Malaysian Semiconductor Industry

This paper discusses the results of the first comprehensive study of semiconductor industry in Malaysia which primarily consists of the operations set up by transnational corporations in high technology centres of Penang and Kuala Lumpur. The goals of our study were to determine the most effective leadership style to increase employee job satisfaction and to offer recommendations to improve the industry. We examined the relationship between three independent variables, two moderating factors, and employee job satisfaction as the dependent variable. We developed a research framework, formed hypotheses, collected extensive data, developed statistical models, and used multiple regression technique to analyze our field data. We concluded that collaboration among the transnational semiconductor corporations, Malaysia¡¯s government investment agency MIDA, and the Malaysian semiconductor firms have succeeded in creating a semiconductor workforce that is productive and enjoys a reasonably high level of job satisfaction.