Relationship between school administrators' transformational leadership traits and teachers' organizational commitment levels (Central Bolu-secondary level sample)

21st century has witnessed many advances in the field of technology and science. Today, schools, as organizations, need to develop their ability to keep up with transformations in order to sustain their existence. Therefore, organizations require transformational leaders who can take effective decisions in times of unexpected changes, deal with problems when they arise and act in line with transformations. Leadership traits of school administrators are very important in achieving the goals identified in educational organizations. Transformational leaders have three main objectives, first one of which is to create a school culture where all staff can work in cooperation and collaboration. The second goal is to support teachers to develop themselves and the third goal is to develop teacher' problem solving skills. The increase in productivity of organizations depends on the knowledge and skills of human resources and their commitment to their organizations. Organizational commitment can be defined as accepting and believing in the aims and values of the organization, striving for the benefit of the organization and continuous development and be willing to continue to be a part of organizational culture. Employees with high level of organizational commitment get satisfaction from their work as well as being compatible in their organizations. Beyond any doubt, contribution of teachers who adopt the school's vision and mission and feel committed to their organizations is important in achieving the objectives of the school. In this respect, the transformational leadership behaviors of school administrators affect teachers' organizational commitment. Schools in secondary education are affiliated with different general directorates, including vocational and technical education, secondary education, religious education and private schools. It is requisite to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment at schools affiliated with different administrative structures. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between secondary school administrators' transformational leadership traits and teachers' organizational commitment levels. The research was designed as a survey study. Study universe consisted of 967 teachers employed at the secondary schools in the province of Bolu in the spring semester of 2017-2018 academic year. By using stratified sampling method, the schools were divided into four sub-groups in regards to their general directorates. The lower limit of the sample size to represent the universe was identified as 278. A total of 500 teachers selected by simple random sampling method were used as the study sample. A questionnaire with three sections was administered to teachers as the research tool. The first section of the questionnaire included five questions about the demographic and professional traits of teachers. The second section consisted of the "Transformational Leadership Scale" developed by Toksöz (2010) (reliability coefficient for idealized influence α = 0,86; intellectual stimulation α = 0,81; inspirational motivation α = 0,90 and individualized consideration α = 0,95). The third section included "Organizational Commitment Scale" developed by Allen and Mayer and translated into Turkish by Hakan Dilek (2005) (reliability coefficient for affective commitment α = 0.90; continuance commitment α = 0.84 and normative commitment α = 0.81). Of the questionnaires administered to 500 teachers, 391 questionnaires were returned and 18 questionnaires were excluded from the study due to incomplete answers. Therefore 373 questionnaires were included in the survey (reliability coefficient for this study was α = 0.98 for Transformational Leadership Scale and α = 0.92 for Organizational Commitment Scale). SPSS 20.0 program was used in data analysis. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests were utilized to identify data normality to determine the statistical tests to be used for the research data. Kruskal Wallis Test was used to identify the difference between transformational leadership and organizational commitment in regards to variables such as professional seniority, duration of work with the administrator and school type. Mann-Whitney U Test was utilized to reveal the differences between the groups after Kruskal Wallis Test. Independent Samples t-test was used to examine organizational commitment according to gender and marital status and Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the transformational leadership according to gender and marital status. Descriptive statistics, mean, percentage and frequency were used to identify teachers' perception levels. The normality of the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment was investigated by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk test and Spearman Correlation Analysis was performed accordingly. According to the findings, teachers' mean perception levels regarding school administrators' transformational leadership traits were found to be "high" in all dimensions. Teachers' mean perception levels regarding their organizational commitment were identified to be "moderate". No significant differences were found between school administrators' transformational leadership traits and teachers' organizational commitment perceptions in terms of gender and marital status. While idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation dimensions and teacher views on transformational leadership were not found to demonstrate significant differences based on professional seniority, teachers with professional seniority of 21 years or more and teachers with 1-10 years professional seniority were identified to have different views in regards to individualized consideration dimension. Teacher views did not present any significant differences in regards to continuance commitment, normative commitment and organizational commitment based on professional seniority however their views significantly differed in regards to affective commitment. Compared to teachers with 1-10 years of professional seniority, teachers with professional seniority of 21 years or more were found to display higher levels of commitment to their organizations. When the variable "duration of work with the administrator" was examined, teacher views on idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration and transformational leadership were found not to display any significant differences but there was a difference in their views about inspirational motivation. When teachers' perceptions on inspirational motivation were analyzed, teachers working with the same administrator for 6-10 years were found to have higher level of perceptions in regards to inspirational motivation compared to teachers working with the same administrator for 11 years or longer. There was no difference in teacher views on organizational commitment according to duration of work with the same administrator. Based on school type, teacher views on school administrators' transformational leadership traits and their organizational commitment were found to differ in all dimensions. Perceptions of teachers employed at Private High Schools were found to be higher compared to teacher perceptions at Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools; perceptions of teachers employed at Anatolian Science-Social Sciences High Schools were found to be higher compared to teacher perceptions at Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools; perceptions of teachers employed at Private High Schools were found to be higher compared to teacher perceptions at Imam Hatip (Religion) High Schools; perceptions of teachers employed at Anatolian Science-Social Sciences High Schools were found to be higher compared to teacher perceptions at Imam Hatip (Religion) High Schools and perceptions of teachers employed at Anatolian Science-Social Sciences High Schools were found to be higher compared to teacher perceptions at Private High Schools. According to the correlation analysis undertaken to determine the relationship between school administrators' transformational leadership traits and teachers' organizational commitment levels, a positive and moderate correlation was identified between idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration dimensions and affective commitment, normative commitment and organizational commitment while a low level of positive correlation was found between transformational leadership trait dimensions and continuance commitment. While a positive correlation was found between transformational leadership and affective commitment and continuance commitment, a positive and moderate level correlation was found between normative commitment and organizational commitment. Based on the results of the research, it can be argued that development of school administrators' leadership traits in regards to teachers' continuance and normative commitment can be positively reflected on teachers' commitment to their schools. In-service trainings can be organized for school administrators on leadership and organizational commitment to explore the relationship between school administrators' transformational leadership traits and teachers' organizational commitment. School administrators who want to advance their careers and improve themselves may be given opportunities to attend master's and doctorate programs in the field of Educational Administration. Key Words: School Administrator, Teacher, Transformational Leadership, Organizational Commitment