The relationship between leadership style within an organisation and employee turnover within the South African banking industry

Abstract

The research study was performed to determine what the relationship is between the authoritative and servant leadership style and employee turnover and what other factors influence employee turnover within organisations. Similar studies have been conducted on the topic which focused on the relationship between transactional, transformational and Laisse fair leadership style and their connection to employee turnover, however minimal studies have been conducted to understand the relationship between the authoritative and servant leadership style and employee turnover. Furthermore, most studies were performed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of the 4th industrial revolution which brought considerable amount of change to the way of work and the type of leadership styles employee would prefer. A qualitative research approach was selected, and a semi structured interview was be used to collect data from participants. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data. The Hertzberg theory of motivation was selected to provide structure in the formulation of ideas about the topic and guidance on the study. Research findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between the authoritative leadership style and employee turnover as the leadership style results in low employee morale and counterproductive behaviour such as stress and frustration within employees whereas there is a negative relationship between the servant leadership style and employee turnover as the leadership style tends to have a positive impact on employees ,encourages iii inclusion in decision making and the growth and development of the employee. The findings further revealed that factors such as employee recognition and remuneration and a toxic work environment are other factors that would result in employee turnover within an organisation.