The Impact of Job Isolation on New Principals' Job Satisfaction and Persistence

• In Event: Roundtable Session 56
  In Roundtable Session: Leaders' Job Satisfaction and Hiring Processes

Abstract

There is little theory framing the role of isolation in predicting various outcomes relating to the quality of work life of school principals. Building on prior research, this paper examines how role ambiguity, role overload, social support, and communication (as antecedent variables) affect new principal’s isolation, and how these variables influence job satisfaction and intention to leave using structural equation modeling on a sample of 165 first-year principals in a Southeastern US state. Results support the import of isolation as a predictor of both job satisfaction and intention to leave, and its role as a mediator.

Author

• Lori Wilt Silver, George Mason University