📄 Abstract
Teacher job satisfaction remains a critical determinant of teacher retention, instructional effectiveness, and overall school performance. Despite ongoing education reforms in Kenya, concerns persist regarding declining teacher morale and commitment, with leadership practices increasingly recognised as an important organisational factor influencing teachers' workplace experiences. Although transactional leadership has been associated with improved employee performance in organisational settings, empirical evidence on its influence on teachers' job satisfaction within Kenyan public senior secondary schools remains limited. This study examined the effect of principals' transactional leadership style on teachers' job satisfaction in public senior secondary schools in Bureti Sub-County, Kericho County, Kenya. The study was anchored on the Full Range Leadership Model and McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y and adopted a correlational research design. A target population of 484 principals and teachers was identified, from which a sample of 165 respondents was selected using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Data were collected using structured questionnaires adapted from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression. The findings revealed that teachers generally perceived principals to exhibit high levels of transactional leadership characterised by clear performance expectations, contingent rewards, timely feedback, and corrective supervision. Regression analysis established that transactional leadership exerted a strong positive and statistically significant effect on teachers' job satisfaction (β = 0.666, t = 11.02, p < .001), explaining 44.4% of the variance in job satisfaction (R² = 0.444; F(1,152) = 121.42, p < .001). The study concludes that transactional leadership is a significant predictor of teachers' job satisfaction. It recommends that principals institutionalise transparent performance expectations, timely performance feedback, and equitable reward and recognition systems to strengthen teacher motivation, commitment, and retention.
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📚 How to Cite:
Sigei Kiplangat Paul, Dr. Viviline Ngeno, Dr. Dorothy Soi , TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP AND TEACHERS' JOB SATISFACTION IN PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS: EVIDENCE FROM BURETI SUB-COUNTY, KENYA , Volume 13 , Issue 9, September 2026, EPRA International Journal of Environmental Economics, Commerce and Educational Management(ECEM) , Pages: 36 - 43 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra31439