An Investigation of the Relationship between School Principals' Empowering Leadership Style and Teachers’ Job Satisfaction: The Role of Trust and Psychological Empowerment

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effects of school principals' empowering leadership style on teachers' job satisfaction by focusing on the mediating effect of trust and psychological empowerment. Researchers of this study developed hypotheses and proposed a model based on theoretical explanations and obtained results. The proposed model was later tested by SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) analysis. The population of the research consists of teachers working in the central districts of Denizli, and the sample of the research consists of 401 teachers who were determined randomly from this population and participated in the research voluntarily. The analyses revealed that school principals' empowering leadership behaviors positively, significantly predicted teachers' job satisfaction, trust in principal, and perceptions of psychological empowerment. In addition, it was determined that trust and psychological empowerment have a mediating effect on the relationship between empowering leadership behaviors and job satisfaction. The obtained results were compared with the results of the relevant research, and recommendations were made for future policies and practices.