The Effect of Leader-Member Exchange Experiences on the Relationship Between School Leaders and the Teacher's Status of Job Satisfaction and Job Retentio

This study focused on what happens to teachers' job satisfaction and retention when school leaders applied leader-member exchange (LMX) in the educational sector. Several states were losing classroom teachers because of job satisfaction issues. Several studies suggested that certain factors were affecting this decrease of classroom teachers. Some studies attributed leadership style as an impending cause. This study sought to understand the nature of the selected setting, and what it meant for participants (school leaders and teachers) to be in that setting (Southern region of United States), what their lives were like (job satisfaction) and what their future would be (job retention). The study utilized a basic qualitative study and employed purposeful sampling with interviews for data collection. The study interviewed ten teachers in P-12 education within the segmented southeastern region of the United States who experienced LMX within the school campus. Results showed leaders who are more transformational in their leadership style and leaders who were able to consistently create high-quality interactions (LMX) with teachers led to increased teacher job satisfaction and job retention. The need for the study stemmed from the desire of educational institutions to function more efficiently in recruiting, training, and retaining teachers, which consequently was believed to improve their school districts' academic gains.