Organizational Commitment and its Relationship to Perceived Leadership Style in an Islamic School in a Large Urban Centre in Canada: Teachers' Perspectives

Abstract

Drawing on a theoretical orientation based on the moral perspective which maintains that the relationship between the leader and the followers is not one of power, but of sharing mutual needs, aspirations and values. This empirical mixed-method study focused on understanding the professional lives of teachers, particularly their organizational commitment in relation to the principal’s leadership style, in an Islamic School located in a large urban centre in Canada. Data were gathered using (a) individual semi-structured interviews with teachers and the principal of the school, (b) adaptations of Bass and Avolio’s Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (1996), and (c) an adaptation of Meyer and Smith’s Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (1993). The findings from this study suggest a high level of teachers’ overall organizational commitment existed in the study site. Furthermore, it appears that it is more appropriate to consider the affective, continuance and normative manifestations of organizational commitment as components rather than types of organizational commitment.