Abstract: Previous studies have documented the importance of the transformational leadership and communication competence of the leaders and their relationship with employees` job satisfaction. However, there was a lack of leader insight regarding this relationship in the context of higher education in Syria and very few literatures had discussed the issues. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of communication competence on the relationship between transformational leadership and the job satisfaction of the employees in Syrian private universities. The quantitative method was used in data collection. A random sampling technique was conducted which comprised of 247 faculty members and staff from seven private universities in Syria. A total of three different sets of instruments were used, namely Multifactor leadership (MLQ), Communicative Competence Scale (CCS) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). PLS-SEM technique was used to analyze the direct and indirect relationships between the variables in this study. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant relationship between transformational leadership and communication competence. The results show that there was a significant relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. Findings had revealed that the indirect effect of transformational leadership on job satisfaction through communication competence.

Keywords: Transformational leadership, Communication competence, Job satisfaction

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2019.6103