The examination of mediating role of distributed leadership in the relationship between school structure and accountability

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between school structure, distributed leadership and accountability of school administrators. For this purpose, first, the Accountability Behaviors Scale for School Administrators was developed and then its validity and reliability studies were conducted. Relational survey design was adopted in the study. Relational screening design was used in the study. 444 elementary school teachers working in Aziziye, Palandöken and Yakutiye in Erzurum participated in the study. In sample selection, stratified sampling method was used. The data were collected through the Enabling School Structure Scale, the Shared Leadership Scale and the Accountability Behaviors Scale for School Administrators. Data were analyzed with SPSS 23.0, LISREL 8.80, and PROCESS v3.3 package programs with SPSS macro. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Analysis, Bootstrap Analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were used. In addition, a mediation analysis was performed to examine whether distributed leadership had a mediating role in the effect of school structure on accountability. The results revealed that coercive bureaucracy had a negative effect on accountability and distributed leadership while enabling bureaucracy had a positive effect on accountability and distributed leadership. In addition, it was found that distributed leadership had a positive effect on accountability. This study revealed the mediating role of distributed leadership in the effect of coercive and enabling bureaucracy on accountability. In other words, it was found that the coercive and enabling bureaucracy had direct and indirect effects on accountability. Finally, a number of recommendations were made to educators, policy makers and researchers based on these findings.