How Democratic Leaders Empower Teachers Job Satisfaction? The Malaysian Case
Cheah Lee, Abdul Ghani Kanesan Abdullah, Aziah Ismail, Naser Jamil Alizydeen

Abstract
This study aims to investigate how democratic leaders work to empower teachers job satisfaction. The present follow-up study uses the naturalistic qualitative and exploratory approach. Semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted on three schools,  from the 97 school which participated in the previous study. In each school  for the present study, individual interviews were conducted with the principals and the of randomly 10 teachers from each sample school. Participants were asked to describe critical incidents related to their principals’ leadership and their sense of empowerment. The findings of this study revealed that there are some common attributes of principals that contribute to the successful empowerment of teachers in schools. They include amongst others: upholding participatory and collaborative management; relations-oriented and established trusting relationship; on top of that, these leaders also possess the attributes of transformational leadership, such as individualized consideration, idealized influence and intellectual stimulation.

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