Effect of leadership styles on Volunteer retention in non-profit organizations (a case of non-profit organizations operating in dire dawa city administration

Several non-profit organizations employ a large percentage of volunteers. Every leader in a non-profit organization should strive to retain effective volunteers because of the organization's reliance on volunteer’s engagement to service delivery task. However, there is a problem with the lack of data on how different leadership styles affect volunteers' retention in non-profit organizations. The purpose of this survey study is to assess the effect of leadership styles on volunteer retention in non-profit organizations. The researcher assumes investigating the effects of different leadership styles (transformational, transactional and Laisseze-faire) on volunteer retention in non-profit organizations is possible. The main guiding research question for this study is: What is the effect of leadership style on volunteer retention in a non-profit organization? A quantitative methodology supported the purpose of this study through the utilization of a descriptive survey design approach. stratified sampling was employed to select current volunteers of a non-profit organization in Dire Dawa city administration as study participants. The data was gathered from respondent (n=198) by means of a questionnaire survey. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Explanatory narration, and regression analysis to determine the potential strength and direction of any relationships between the independent and dependent variables in the study. To serve that purpose the researcher used three questionnaire and applied the descriptive analysis technique The principal study finding was that transactional leaders positively impact volunteer retention, in the sense that the more transactional a leader’s style the high volunteer retention. As it is possible to learn from the finding of this research, concerned bodies, like non-profit organizations and key stakeholders may gain additional evidence that transactional leadership style is slightly better than transformational, and laissez-faire styles to promote lower turnover rates and greater retention of volunteers in non- profit organization of the studied area.