Transformational leadership and psychological empowerment of teachers

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Alabama Libraries
Abstract

This study examined the individual and collective relationships between the dimensions of transformational leadership as defined by Leithwood (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006) and the dimensions of positive psychological empowerment as defined by Spreitzer (1995). Transformational leadership is comprised of four dimensions: setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and improving instructional programs. Psychological empowerment consists of four dimensions: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact. A total of 60 elementary schools in Northwest Alabama participated. There were 1,665 teacher respondents that completed surveys. Survey instruments were administered during regularly scheduled faculty meetings at each of the schools. Two instruments were used to collect quantitative data for this research project: Leithwood's new Educational Leadership Survey for Teacher Respondents and Spreitzer's Psychological Empowerment Instrument. This project was the first to use Leithwood's new Educational Leadership Survey for Teacher Respondents therefore; data analysis provided scale reliability. The unit of analysis was the school. Six hypotheses were tested. The research found the dimensions of transformational leadership individually and collectively predicted the psychological empowerment dimension of impact (r = .50, p < .01). Collectively, transformational leadership had an adjusted R^2 of .20 (p < .01). A post hoc factor analysis of psychological empowerment was conducted. Results for the component meaning/competency found the transformational leadership dimension improving instruction to be a predictor factor (β = .60, p < .05). The multiple regression of the component impact/self-determination found statistical significance at the .05 level (R = .44, p < .05), with the transformational leadership dimension redesigning the organization (β = .76, p < .01) providing the only significant predictor. A post hoc power analysis revealed statistical power ranged from .84 - .99.

Description
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Keywords
Educational leadership, Psychology
Citation