Leadership behavior is one of the factors constituting a leader's capacity. Leaders need to have effective leadership behaviors to lead, empower, inspire, and help employees develop and elevate themselves, as well as improve employee satisfaction with the organization. The necessary conditions of leadership competence cover leadership quality, knowledge, and application of leadership skills. Sufficient conditions require leadership behaviors based on that quality and knowledge. To become excellent leaders, besides qualities and knowledge, they should have effective leadership behaviors to help employees develop themselves and create employee satisfaction with organizations. The more satisfied employees are, the better their working performance and the lower their absence as well as job change will be. Then, organizations and businesses will achieve their expectations of business performance. This study aimed to test the impact of leadership behavior on employee satisfaction in Vietnamese small and medium enterprises. Based on the survey sample of 491 questionnaires for employees in small and medium enterprises, the results of quantitative research demonstrated that people-oriented leadership behavior had a positive impact on employee satisfaction in small and medium enterprises, including engagement, conciliation, patience, and persuasion. As a result, the study provided recommendations for developing leadership behaviors, which would bring about a good influence on employee satisfaction.
