Perceived leadership behavior and job satisfaction in oil companies of Kazakhstan

Independent Kazakhstan, like other countries of the former Soviet Union has gone through rapid transformation of the business-related infrastructure. Nowadays more western companies operate in Kazakhstan. In the conditions of the free market economy Kazakhstan applied Western concepts in organizational and managerial structures. Thus, there is a need to assess the applicability of such concepts. This study is aimed to understand the leadership behaviors of managers in Kazakhstan and the relationship between perceived leadership behavior and job satisfaction in oil companies.The theoretical assumptions and practical implications of Full Range Model of Leadership are discussed. This model emphasizes the transactional-transformational paradigm. The hypotheses of this study propose that two independent variables transactional and transformational leadership would be positively, and laissez-fair leadership would be negatively correlated to the three dependent variables, overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with work, and satisfaction with supervisor. The present study was conducted in Kazakhstan within employees of 16 oil companies situated in two main oil producing cities Atyrau, Aktyube and two main cities of Kazakhstan Almaty and Astana, which are business centers of the Republic.The study results indicate that: a) all factors of transformational leadership are positively correlated to overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with work and satisfaction with supervision, b) the facets of transactional leadership, contingent reward is significantly and positively related to all independent variables, management by exception active is significantly and positively related to overall job satisfaction, c) laissez-faire leadership as expected is significantly and negatively related to overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with work, and satisfaction with supervisor.