The mediating role of climate of trust in the relationship between ethical leadership and teachers' collaboration levels

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the climate of trust mediates the relationship between school principals' ethical leadership behaviors and teachers' levels of collaboration in primary schools. A correlational research design was employed. The study population consisted of teachers working in the central district of Niğde province. Data were collected from 430 teachers reached through simple random sampling. The data were gathered using a Personal Information Form, the Ethical Leadership Scale, the Collaboration Scale, and the Climate of Trust Scale. In the data analysis, percentage, frequency, mean, one-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test, Tukey test, and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient were used. The mediating role of the climate of trust was determined using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The Sobel test was used to assess the significance of the mediating role of the climate of trust. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 20.0 statistical software packages. According to the study's findings, positive, significant, and moderate relationships were found between school principals' ethical leadership behaviors and teachers' levels of collaboration, between school principals' ethical leadership behaviors and teachers' perceptions of the climate of trust, and between teachers' collaboration behaviors and their perceptions of the climate of trust. It was concluded that the climate of trust plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between school principals' ethical leadership behaviors and teachers' levels of collaboration in primary schools.