Relationship between Empowering Leadership and Teachers’ Job Performance: Organizational Commitment as Mediator

Abstract

This study investigates the mediating role of organizational commitment on the relationship between principals' empowering leadership and teachers' job performance. To this end, it employed a cross-sectional design, one of the quantitative methods. Data were collected through the "Empowering Leadership Behaviors Scale", "Organizational Commitment Scale" and "Job Performance Scale". The sample consisted of 324 teachers working in different cities in Turkey. They were employed through convenience sampling and responded to the scales online. Predictive relationships between variables were revealed using a structural equation model. Before testing the structural model, the validity of the scales and measurement model was investigated. The findings indicated that validity and reliability of scales were ensured. On the other hand, the fit indices regarding the measurement model satisfied the cutoff values in the literature. Since the data did not satisfy the multivariate normal distribution assumption, bootstrapping was used. The findings indicated that empowering leadership is positively associated with teachers' job performance and organizational commitment. On the other hand, organizational commitment boosts job performance. Lastly, empowering school leadership enhances organizational commitment, which in turn teachers' job performance. The findings were discussed based on the literature and some suggestions were made based on the findings.

Empowering leadership and job satisfaction of academic staff in Palestinian universities: Implications of leader-member exchange and trust in leader

“…The current findings while being in line with previous findings add to the current understanding of EL in the context of Middle East and particularly, Palestine, which is understudied in terms of leadership, and its academic sector. These results are embedded within the premises of SET and JD-R ( Alkadash, 2020 ; Helland et al, 2020 ; Limon, 2022 ) as they describe the relationship between leader and follower in academic setting that is a high-demanding sector, which in Palestine specifically, is often parallel with lack of adequate resources ( Alkadash, 2020 ; Aboramadan et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Based on the context of this research, a deductive quantitative approach is undertaken to test the hypotheses and achieve the set goals. Notably, many scholars have deployed a similar approach toward the subject as it addresses perception of employees (teachers in this case) regarding the behavior of their leaders (e.g., Amundsen and Martinsen, 2015 ; Atik and Celik, 2020 ; Helland et al, 2020 ; De la Fuente et al, 2021 ; Zhou et al, 2021 ; Limon, 2022 ). The hypotheses of the research are illustrated in Figure 1 .…”

“…Empowering leaders tend to delegate tasks among their followers, include and involve them in decision-making processes, provide support, and increase job autonomy particularly in an academic setting, which can motivate teachers along other positive outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction; Wang and Yang, 2021 ). EL is noted to be comprised of competence, meaning, autonomy, and impact ( Kim et al, 2018 ; Knezović and Musrati, 2018 ; Limon, 2022 ). In the context of university teachers and academic sector, EL manifests in a number of aspects that are namely, participation in decision-making processes (classroom management, and other school or departmental activities), professional development (opportunities perceived by teachers to grow and/or gain skills), status (perception of respect and appreciation), self-efficacy (teachers’ perception on their skillfulness and competence), autonomy (the extent of which teacher perceives control over their jobs), and impact (teachers’ perception of the level of their influence in the organization; Knezović and Musrati, 2018 ; Kim et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Similarly, adequate leadership style in academic setting can foster trust-building, which is highly effective in determining the work outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction). Scholars have abundantly reported the positive impacts of empowering leaders on various employee and organizational outcomes including and not limited to, job satisfaction ( Atik and Celik, 2020 ), trust ( Farmanesh and Zargar, 2021 ), engagement ( Helland et al, 2020 ), motivation ( Muijs and Harris, 2003 ), commitment ( Limon, 2022 ), and extra-role behaviors (e.g., organizational citizenship behavior; Bogler and Anit, 2004 ). Such effects are highly influential in shaping individuals’ careers in long-term as they provide the necessary atmosphere for growth and development ( Zhou et al, 2021 ).…”

Teachers' organizational commitment to internal and external stakeholders of the school

“…Theoretically, the structure of commitment is stable and holistic compared to motivation (Mowday et al, 1979;Weiner, 1982). Organizational commitment consists of the individual's actions in the organization, but also includes their opinions and beliefs about the organization (Limon, 2021). In other words, organizational commitment constitutes the individual's actions in the organization in parallel with the expression of his/her beliefs and opinions about the organization (Şahinbaş, 2018).…”