Impact of Different Leadership styles on Employees’ Job Performance in the Food and Beverage Industry in Myanmar

Effective leadership and human resource management are critical factors influencing organizational success. Employee job performance, which directly impacts productivity, efficiency, and goal achievement, is significantly shaped by leadership styles. Transactional, transformational, and laissez-faire leadership are known to influence employee motivation, engagement, and performance. This study examines how these leadership styles affect employee performance in Myanmar’s competitive food and beverage industry. The research utilized the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Avolio and Bass (1999) to assess leadership behaviors, focusing on transactional, transformational, and laissez-faire styles. A 5-point Likert scale was used to measure the frequency of leadership behaviors, with transactional leadership focusing on rewards and penalties, transformational leadership inspiring higher performance, and laissez-faire leadership involving minimal managerial interference. A survey of 300 managers from food and beverage companies in Yangon, Myanmar, was conducted using a disproportionate stratified random sampling method to ensure diverse representation. Employee performance was assessed using a multidimensional framework, including work quality, efficiency, teamwork, time management, and adherence to policies. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 25) with techniques such as demographic analysis, reliability analysis (Cronbach's alpha), and correlation analysis to examine relationships between leadership styles and job performance. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between leadership styles and employee job performance, with laissezfaire leadership demonstrating the strongest association. This result diverges from much of the existing literature, which typically suggests that transformational or transactional leadership styles have a greater impact. The findings indicate that, in the context of Myanmar's food and beverage industry, laissez-faire leadership may be particularly effective in enhancing employee performance and achieving organizational objectives