Instructional leadership effects on teachers’ work engagement: Roles of school culture, empowerment, and 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.