Abstract
Purpose: This research aimed to focus on transformational leadership and gender differences in the banking sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, with the aim of investigating the relationship between leaders’ behaviours through open
communication, participation in decision making, self-conviction, employee development, and performance-orientation, and how these factors affect and enhance employee satisfaction and performance.
Methodology: To answer the proposed research questions and target the research hypotheses a quantitative approach is selected. Secondary data is used to set the
precedent of the research through previous studies, while primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire through Google forms.
Lastly, to reach the targeted population a simple random sampling method was used, 320 responses were fully completed and used for this study and analyzed through SPSS 25 to get the result.
Findings: The impact of transformational leadership and gender differences on overall employee satisfaction in the banking sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain was determined through open communication, participation in decision making, employee self-convictions, employee development and employee performance orientation, and the results indicated that those factors have a significant
relationship with employee satisfaction but in different ranges and scores. Note that most of respondents believe that gender creates no difference in leadership styles
within the banking sector in the kingdom of Bahrain.
Recommendations : Assist leaders to become more transformational and involve their employees more, adopt techniques to increase open communication, an analytic tracking application or survey to check on employee progress and satisfaction and improve human capital, especially youth and talented ones.
Keywords: Leadership, Leadership theories, Leadership style, Transformational leadership, Gender differences, open communication, participation in decision making, self-conviction, employee development, and performance orientation.
