The relationship between teachers'perceptions of principal management styles and power distance

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between teachers' perceptions of principal management styles and power distance. The sample of the study, which was designed in the correlation survey model, includes 542 teachers working in all types and levels of state schools in the city center of Burdur in 2022-2023 academic year. Data were collected using the "Perceived Management Style Scale and Power Distance Scale" on a web-based questionnaire. Parametric statistics were used in the data analysis. Correlation analysis was applied to investigate the relationship between sub-dimensions. Regression analysis was implemented to examine the effect of principal management styles on the teachers' perceptions of power distance. One-way Anova and T-test were used to investigate the differences between sub-dimensions based on demographic variables. According to the results of the study, participants' perceptions of principal leadership styles were moderately high in the collaborative dimension and moderately low in the authoritative, indifferent, and resistant dimensions. Participants' perceptions of power distance were determined to be moderately high in the participation dimension, and moderately low in the dimensions of accessibility difficulty and hierarchy. According to demographic variables, teachers' perceptions of power distance do not differ significantly according to gender, age, and branch variables, but they vary significantly according to seniority, school type and length of teaching service in the school variables. While the perceptions of principal management style do not differ significantly according to gender, they differ significantly according to age, school type, seniority, length of teaching service in the school and branch variables. In the study, participation sub-dimension was observed as being a significant predictor variable on collaborative principal management style. Access and hierarchy sub-dimensions were observed as being significant predictor variables on authoritarian principal management style. Keywords: Power, Power distance, Principal, Principal management styles, Teacher