Investigation of the relationship between the transformational leadership characteristics of school administrators and the organizational commitment of teachers

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the organisational commitment of teachers working in primary and secondary schools and the transformational leadership characteristics of the principal perceived by teachers. This study was designed based on the survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. The study population of the research consists of 896 teachers working in primary and secondary schools in Bandırma and Erdek district centers of Balıkesir province in the 2023-2024 academic year. A total of 588 teachers who agreed to participate in the study were reached, and the study was limited by the answers given by 535 of them to the scale questions. In the study, 'Organisational Commitment Scale' consisting of 16 items and 'Transformational Leadership Scale' consisting of 29 items were used. After the reliability and confirmatory factor analysis were applied to the scales, it was seen that the sub-dimensions of Transformational Leadership Scale and Organisational Commitment Scale were found to be suitable for normal distribution. Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed for 'Transformational Leadership Scale' and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was performed for 'Organisational Commitment Scale'. In the subgroups where there was a difference between the scales, PostHoc test was performed to determine from which subgroup this difference originated and Plots Graphs for the factors were examined. Correlation analysis and regression analysis were performed. In the analyses, it was determined that teachers' perceptions of transformational leadership characteristics of school principals did not show a significant difference depending on the gender variable, but showed a significant difference depending on the professional seniority variable. When the results of the analyses related to organisational commitment were examined, a statistically significant difference was found in the gender factor. No statistically significant difference was found in terms of professional seniority and branch variables. In the correlation analyses, it was found that transformational leadership has a moderate positive relationship with emotional commitment and normative commitment sub-dimensions and a weak positive relationship with continuance commitment sub-dimension. It was concluded that transformational leadership characteristics of school administrators positively affect teachers' organisational commitment.