Transformational leadership and teacher’s organizational commitment: Mediating effect of job satisfaction insights from government primary schools’ data, India

• In Event: Role of Educational Leadership in addressing learning losses and social exclusion

Proposal

In the education sector, teachers are essential assets, and their role, attitude, and commitment are significant factors for the success of the school and to improve the quality of education. In various studies, it came out that the success of the school depends on teacher's commitment (Fink, 1992). A committed teacher has low absenteeism, less burnout, and high job satisfaction, compared to other teachers(Khan et al., 2016). Organizational commitment defines individual’s attachment, motivation (Morrow 2011), and loyalty towards the organization (De Nobile 2017; Morrow and Wirth 1989). A study conducted by Muralidharan et al. (2017) in India finds that teachers’ absenteeism cost around $1.5 billion a year (Kremer et al. 2005). Teacher absenteeism severely impacts organizational performance, proficiency, and productivity. Teacher absenteeism is directly related to leader ineffectiveness, unfaithfulness of employees, and management issues (De Boer et al., 2002). And, other factors such as age (Scott & McClellan, 1990) education (Rosenblatt & Shirom, 2006) school climate, job satisfaction (Olanrewaju & Ibiyemi, 2014), and lower commitment are related to absenteeism. Previous studies by Aydin, Sarier, and Uysal (2013) and Nguni, Sleegers, and Denessen (2006) suggest that the transformational leadership style is linked to the organizational commitment of employees.

Similarly, various researchers in other contexts have studied organizational commitment as a dependent variable (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990), and job satisfaction has been studied as an antecedent of organizational commitment (Reyes 1990). There has been no study conducted so far to the best of our knowledge, in the educational context, especially in primary education that measures the relationship between these three constructs (transformational leadership, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between a principal’s transformational leadership and a teacher’s organizational commitment. Moreover, we studied the role of teacher’s job satisfaction as an intermediating variable through which transformational leadership influences teachers’ organizational commitment. We used convenient sampling and the cross section data was collected on three themes: transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment along with control variables such as gender of school principal, teacher gender, teacher experience, teacher qualification, teacher association with the school, and the principal. The study was conducted with the help of the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), New Delhi, India. An online survey was conducted with primary school teachers working under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. In the online survey, 320 teachers participated. In the 320 sample size, 80 male and 240 female teachers completed the online survey. Amongst these teachers, 32.5 percent teachers are graduates, 21.56 percent have graduation + Bed, and 36.25 percent hold a master’s degree.

Transformational leadership was measured through Bass & Avolio's (1996) scale. It consists of 20 items measuring five dimensions. Job satisfaction was measured through Mohrman et al. (1977) scale. And Allen & Meyer (1990) scale was used to measure organizational commitment. To measure scale reliability, we calculated cronbach's α and composite reliability values, and both the values were above the suggested value 0.70 as defined in the literature (Hair Jr et al., 1998). The convergent and the discriminant validity also satisfied the conventional criteria suggested in the literature (Fornell and Larcker 1981). Herman's single factor test was conducted to check common biases, and the result turned out to be 22.254 % which satisfies the acceptability criteria which is <50% (Podsakoff et al., 2003).

We used AMOS software for testing measurement models and the PROCESS function in SPSS V.22 for mediation analysis (Model 4). Three separate confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed to test the measurement models for transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment with the maximum likelihood estimation procedure with robust standard errors (Factor Loading- Annexure II). Next, Bootstrap analyses (Preacher & Hayes, 2004) were deployed to test the mediational models of Job satisfaction as a mediator in the relation between transformational leadership and organizational commitment.

The transformational leadership model fit values were within acceptable limits as defined in conventional literature PCMIN/DF= 1.85, CFI=0.967, RMSEA=0.053, TLI=0.960, SRMR =0.0325, GFI= 0.925. For job satisfaction, the observed data fitted well with the hypothesized model; χ2(15) =24.55, p=0.61; GFI=0.983; TLI=0.981; CFI=0.990; RMSEA= 0.44, SRMR= .0346. For organisational commitment, the observed data fitted well with the hypothesized model; χ2(122) =169.074, p=0.003; GFI=0.943; TLI=0.945; CFI=0.956; RMSEA=0.035, SRMR= .0555.

The mediation analysis revealed that the transformational leadership directly influences teachers’ organisational commitment (β = .26, t = 7.58, p < .000). The indirect effect result based on 5000 bootstrap samples concluded a significantly positive relationship between transformational leadership and teachers’ organisational commitment via job satisfaction (a*b = .04, Bootstrap CI [99] = .01 and .08). The mediator job satisfaction effect is around 15.3% of total effect of transformational leadership [PM = (.04) / (.26)]. The direct effect between transformational leadership and teacher organisational commitment was statistically significant (β = .23, t = 6.57, p < .000).

The study’s results have significant theoretical implications for the management of school teachers. We found that teacher’s job satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between the principal’s transformational leadership and teacher’s organizational commitment. This study provides evidence that the higher levels of job satisfaction for teachers subsequently be linked to higher levels of organizational commitment. Teachers’ high affective, normative, and continuous commitment is essential to reduce absenteeism and improve teacher engagement in class. The low commitment of teachers may even result in teachers' less engagement in class, and poor performance (Kahn, 1990). The study identifies that teachers' commitment is affected by various factors, such as intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and through culture of appreciation at the workplace. Transformational leaders, who empower their subordinates by giving autonomy, freedom, encouragement to experiment, and supporting them in their initiatives, have a significant role in influencing teacher commitment. Similarly, the findings suggest that the school principal influences teachers’ job satisfaction by recognizing teachers’ efforts, involving them in the school development plan, decision-making process, and praising them for their efforts which in turn impacts teacher commitment.

Author

• Furkan khan, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad