The relationship between leadership styles (autocratic and democratic) of school administrators and the mobbing teachers suffer

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between democratic and autocratic leadership styles of school administrators and mobbing teachers experience as well as determining whether these leadership styles predict the mobbing level teachers suffer. The data in the study were collected from 395 primary school teachers (165 male and 230 female) in central districts of Mersin, Turkey. "Mobbing Scale" was used to determine what extent teachers suffer from mobbing and "Leadership Style Scale" to measure leadership style of school administrators. According to the analysis results, gender accounts for a significant diference in only "interference in private life" of all five dimensions of mobbing while seniority accounts for a significant difference in "barriers about work and career" and "work commitment" dimensions. There is a negative relationship between democratic leadership and all dimensions of mobbing except for work commitment while it is positive with autocratic leadership. Lastly, autocratic and democratic leadership styles of school administrators predict all dimensions of the mobbing teachers suffer except for work commitment.