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The paper aims to examine the impact of leadership styles, specifically transformational leadership and transactional leadership, on the R&D team performance. A quantitative cross-sectional survey method was adopted to carry out the research. A structured Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to elicit the response from 172 research leaders Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), identified from the database of the university-s Centre of Research and Innovation Management (CRIM). R&D team performance was assessed based on multiple measures of performance. Regression and correlation statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. The study found that both transformational leadership and transactional leadership have a positive impact on R&D team performance. Both leadership styles are assumed to affect improvements in team performance, such as an increased achievement of technical objectives, efficiency of resource utilization and other achievements. Finally, the study contributes to the leadership literature by demonstrating that despite being extensively studied in the general management environment, transformational leadership and transactional leadership styles are both applicable in the R&D teams context.