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. It primarily consists of the operations setup by transnational corporations in high technology centres of Penang and Kuala Lumpur. The goal of this study was 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. In establishing a research framework, we formed hypotheses, collected extensive data, developed statistical models, and used multiple regression technique to analyze the field data. It is concluded thatcollaboration 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