Transformational leadership and job satisfaction are among the topics that attract the most attention of researchers. This is due to the role that both topics play in employee performance. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of transformational leadership on job satisfaction of academic staff working in higher education institutions. Data were collected from academic staff (n=208) working in the faculties of Sport Sciences within 6 universities, in Turkey. As a data collection tool, Bass and Avolio's (2000) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire to measure transformational leadership, and job satisfaction scale developed by Chang and Chang (2007) to measure job satisfaction, were used. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analyses were used as statistical analysis. The results of the analysis showed that transformational leadership had a significant and positive effect on job satisfaction ([beta]=0.375; p<0.001).