Examining the Relationship between Leadership Styles and Levels of Job Satisfaction, Motivation, Stress, and Productivity in Remote, Hybrid, and On-site Working Employees in a Post-Pandemic Environment

Grumley, Thomas Anthony (2024) Examining the Relationship between Leadership Styles and Levels of Job Satisfaction, Motivation, Stress, and Productivity in Remote, Hybrid, and On-site Working Employees in a Post-Pandemic Environment. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has inspired revolutionary change in the way occupational duties are now being fulfilled. The pandemic and its consequential lockdowns forced many organisations worldwide to impose remote working arrangements on their employees, handing the predominant share of those in managerial positions with the unfamiliar task of leading subordinates in a virtual environment for the first time. Although the pandemic and its accompanying restrictions have since passed, remote and hybrid working arrangements have remained. This series of abrupt changes in a short period of time would suggest that managers have been required to make considerable adaptations to their behaviours and approach to leadership.

An abundance of research exists relative to the influence that specific styles of leadership have on the various work-related measures of employees, however the vast sum of which had investigated this relationship prior to the pandemics occurrence and were inclined to only include employees participating in on-site work. As a result, the impact of the pandemic and the differing work arrangements that gained prevalence since its emergence have remained unexplored in regard to the relationship between leadership styles and employee work-related measures.

This study administered a self-completion questionnaire to one hundred and three participants consisting of remote, hybrid, and on-site working employees to obtain quantitative data for the purpose of examining the relationship between leadership styles and the job satisfaction, motivation, stress, and productivity of these employees. Despite theory suggesting that transformational and transactional leadership are dissimilar in nature, their impacts on employees are comparable. The findings of this study indicate that whilst transformational leadership provides a greater benefit to the work-related measures of employees, the primary working arrangement of employees has no significant bearing on their job satisfaction, motivation, or levels of stress.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:	Name Email O'Brien, Fearghal UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	R Medicine > Diseases > Outbreaks of disease > Epidemics > COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work H Social Sciences > HM Sociology > Leadership H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management > Human Resource Management > Leadership H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work > Quality of Work Life / Job Satisfaction H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > Industrial Psychology > Workplace Stress
Divisions:	School of Business > Master of Science in Management
Depositing User:	Ciara O'Brien
Date Deposited:	12 Aug 2025 11:38
Last Modified:	12 Aug 2025 11:38
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/8507

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