| Summary: | This study examines the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction in higher education in Iraq, with organizational innovation as a moderator. Transformational leadership has been termed as the most appropriate style of leadership which, when practiced, not only enhances employee morale and motivation, but also leads to enhanced organizational innovativeness. Organizational innovation is a well-researched area. For organizations, innovation is one of the most important factors contributing to competitiveness and differentiation. The context chosen for this study is higher education in Iraq as it is riddled with many challenges, such as lack of personal security, lack of infrastructure, brain drain and the government’s neglect towards science and technology that hinder the growth of existing higher education institutes HEIs. The theoretical underpinning on which the study is based on is these three main theories which are transformational leadership theory, theory of innovation diffusion and two factor theory. This is a descriptive study using a mixed method including both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Sample of the study consists of academic staff from ten Iraqi public universities. A sample of 271 respondents was chosen based on random sampling. The data collected through survey instrument was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software Version 21.0 and hierarchical multiple regression technique was used to test for moderation. Semi-structured interviews data were analysed by content analysis. The relationships analysis were examined by correlation method, while ANOVA was used for testing the difference among the Iraq’s HEIs in terms of transformational leadership, job satisfaction and organizational innovation. The results of the study indicate that organizational innovation has a significant moderating role on the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. Similarly, when organizational innovation is taken as a moderator between dimensions of the transformational leadership and job satisfaction, it was found that there are statistically significant influence on the relationships. Furthermore, there were significant differences among the universities in terms of transformational leadership, job satisfaction and organizational innovation.
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