Instructional Leadership Effects on Teachers’ Work Engagement: Roles of School Culture, Empowerment, and Job Characteristics
Keywords:
instructional leadership, work engagement, school culture, empowerment, job characteristics
Abstract
In the article, the relations between the principal’s instructional leadership, school culture, psychological empowerment, job characteristics, and teachers’ work engagement was examined on a sample of 310 elementary school teachers. The results showed no direct effects of the principal’s instructional leadership on work engagement; however, they proved the belief that the principal could have an indirect effect on teachers’ work engagement through indirect variables: school culture, teacher empowerment, and job characteristics. The research method is structural equation modelling, for the purpose of which five research tools (the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale, the School Culture Survey, the Job Diagnostic Survey, the Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire, and the Job Engagement Questionnaire) were used for data collection. The participants were selected through a stratified sampling method. The reliability was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha. The results showed that the model fitted the data and that the relationship between instructional leadership and job engagement was established entirely through school culture, empowerment, and the job characteristics of teachers. The principals are recommended to apply the instructional leadership approach. By assisting teachers in collaboration, instilling collective leadership, and communicating a shared vision, the principals can contribute to developing a positive and participatory school culture.
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References
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Salancik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. (1978). A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23, 224–253.
Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. (2003). Utrecht work engagement scale: Preliminary manual. Utrecht: Utrecht University.
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., Gonzalez-Roma, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of burnout and engagement: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3(1), 71–92.
Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Sergiovanni, T. J. (2006). The principalship: A reflective practice perspective. New York, NY: Pearson Education.
Shuck, B., & Mogan Herd, A. (2012). Employee engagement and leadership: Exploring the convergence of two frameworks and implications for leadership development in HRD. Human Resource Development Review, 11(2), 156–181.
Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. The Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442–1465.
Thomas, K. W., & Velthouse, B. A. (1990). Cognitive elements of empowerment: An “interpretive†model of intrinsic task motivation. Academy of Management Review, 15(4), 666–681.
Valentine, J. (2006). A collaborative culture for school improvement: Significance, definition, and measurement. Research Summary. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri.
Welch, M. (2011). The evolution of the employee engagement concept: Communication implications. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(4), 328–346.
Wiley, J. W. (2010). The impact of effective leadership on employee engagement. Employment Relations Today, 37(2), 47–52.
Xu, J., & Cooper Thomas, H. (2011). How can leaders achieve high employee engagement? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 32(4), 399–416.
Bedarkar, M., & Pandita, D. (2014). A study on the drivers of employee engagement impacting employee performance. Procedia-Social and Behavioural Sciences, 133, 106–115.
Bulach, C. R. (2001). A 4-step process for identifying and reshaping school culture. Principal leadership, 1(8), 48–51.
Carasco-Saul, M., Kim, W., & Kim, T. (2014). Leadership and employee engagement proposing research agendas through a review of literature. Human Resource Development Review, 14(1), 38–63. doi:1534484314560406.
Dastmalchian, A., Javidan, M., & Alam, K. (2001). Effective leadership and culture in Iran: An empirical study. Applied Psychology, 50(4), 532–558. doi:10.1111/1464-0597.00072
Deal, T. E., & Peterson, K. D. (1999). Shaping school culture: The heart of leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Dee, Jay R., Henkin A. B., & Lee Duemer (2003). Structural antecedents and psychological correlates of teacher empowerment. Journal of Educational Administration, 41(3), 257–277.
DuPont, J. P. (2009). Teacher perceptions of the influence of principal instructional leadership on school culture: A case study of the American embassy school in New Delhi, India (Doctoral Dissertation). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota.
Gagné, M., Senecal, C. B., & Koestner, R. (1997). Proximal job characteristics, feelings of empowerment, and intrinsic motivation: a multidimensional model1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27(14), 1222–1240.
Gordon, G. (2013). School leadership linked to engagement and student achievement. Washington, DC: Gallup.
Gruenert, S. (2005). Correlations of collaborative school cultures with student achievement. Nassp Bulletin, 89(645), 43–55.
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(2), 159–170.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006). Multivariate data analysis (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Halliger, P., & Heck, R. H. (1998). Exploring the principals’ contributions to school effectiveness: 1980–1995. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 9(2), 157–191.
Hallinger, P. (2010). A review of three decades of doctoral studies using the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale: A lens on methodological progress in educational leadership and management. Educational Administration Quarterly, 47(2), 271–306.
Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (1996). Reassessing the principal’s role in school effectiveness: A review of empirical research, 1980-1995. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(1), 5–44.
Hallinger, P., & Huber, S. (2012). School leadership that makes a difference: International perspectives. School Effectiveness and School Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, 1–9. doi:10.1080/09243453.2012.681508
Hallinger, P., & Wang, W. C. (2015). Assessing instructional leadership with the principal instructional management rating scale. Heidelberg: Springer.
Jose, G., & Mampilly, S. R. (2014). Psychological empowerment as a predictor of employee engagement: An empirical attestation. Global Business Review, 15(1), 93–104.
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modelling. New York, NY: Guilford publications.
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610.
Lakomski, G. (2001). Organizational change, leadership and learning: Culture as cognitive process. International Journal of Educational Management, 15(2), 68–77.
Le Clear, E. A. (2005). Relationships among leadership styles, school culture, and student achievement (Doctoral dissertation). Gainesville, FL: University of Florida.
Lee, A. N., & Nie, Y. (2014). Understanding teacher empowerment: Teachers’ perceptions of principal’s and immediate supervisor’s empowering behaviours, psychological empowerment and work-related outcomes. Teaching and Teacher Education, 41, 67–79.
Leonard, P. (1999). Understanding the dimensions of school culture: Value orientations ad value conflicts. Journal of Educational Administration and Foundations, 13(2), 27–53.
MacNeil, A. J., Prater, D. L., & Busch, S. (2009). The effects of school culture ad climate on student achievement. International Journal of Leadership and Education, 12(1), 73–84.
Maxfield, C., & Flumerfelt, S. (2009). The empowering principal: Leadership behaviours needed by effective principals as identified by emerging leaders and principals. International Journal of Teacher Leadership, 2(2), 39–48.
Mayrowetz, D., & Smylie, M. A. (2004). Work redesign that works
for teachers. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 103(1), 274–302.
Mortimore, P. (2001). Globalization, effectiveness and improvement. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 12(2), 229–249.
Noora, A. (2008). Iranian undergraduate non-English majors’ language learning preferences. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 8(2), 33–44.
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Pavlova, E. (2013). Predicting employee engagement and job satisfaction among cabin crew (Master’s thesis). Aalborg East: Aalborg University.
Peterson, K. D., & Deal, T. (2009). The shaping school culture field book. New York, NY: Willey.
Piccolo, R. F., Greenbaum, R. L., & Eissa, G. (2012). Ethical leadership and core job characteristics: Designing jobs for employee well-being. In Work and quality of life (pp. 291–305). Dordrecht: Springer.
Piccolo, R. F., & Colquitt, J. A. (2006). Transformational leadership and job behaviours: The mediating role of core job characteristics. Academy of Management Journal, 49(2), 327–340.
Purvanova, R. K., Bono, J. E., & Dzieweczynski, J. (2006). Transformational leadership, job characteristics, and organizational citizenship performance. Human Performance, 19(1), 1–22.
Quiñones, M., Van den Broeck, A., & De Witte, H. (2013). Do job resources affect work engagement via psychological empowerment? A mediation analysis. Revista de PsicologÃa Del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones, 29(3), 127–134.
Rinehart, J. S., Short, P. M., Short, R. J., & Eckley, M. (1998). Teacher empowerment and principal leadership: Understanding the influence process. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(1), 630–649.
Salancik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. (1978). A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23, 224–253.
Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. (2003). Utrecht work engagement scale: Preliminary manual. Utrecht: Utrecht University.
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., Gonzalez-Roma, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of burnout and engagement: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3(1), 71–92.
Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Sergiovanni, T. J. (2006). The principalship: A reflective practice perspective. New York, NY: Pearson Education.
Shuck, B., & Mogan Herd, A. (2012). Employee engagement and leadership: Exploring the convergence of two frameworks and implications for leadership development in HRD. Human Resource Development Review, 11(2), 156–181.
Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. The Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442–1465.
Thomas, K. W., & Velthouse, B. A. (1990). Cognitive elements of empowerment: An “interpretive†model of intrinsic task motivation. Academy of Management Review, 15(4), 666–681.
Valentine, J. (2006). A collaborative culture for school improvement: Significance, definition, and measurement. Research Summary. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri.
Welch, M. (2011). The evolution of the employee engagement concept: Communication implications. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(4), 328–346.
Wiley, J. W. (2010). The impact of effective leadership on employee engagement. Employment Relations Today, 37(2), 47–52.
Xu, J., & Cooper Thomas, H. (2011). How can leaders achieve high employee engagement? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 32(4), 399–416.
Published
2019-09-27
How to Cite
Zahed-Babelan, A., Koulaei, G., Moeinikia, M., & Rezaei Sharif, A. (2019). Instructional Leadership Effects on Teachers’ Work Engagement: Roles of School Culture, Empowerment, and Job Characteristics. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 9(3), 137-156. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.181
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