The effect of school principals' instructional leadership behaviors on teachers' occupational commitment

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of instructional leadership behaviors of school principals working in public schools on teachers' occupational commitment. The research was conducted according to the relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. The sample of the study consists of 431 teachers working in public kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and secondary education institutions in Arnavutköy district of Istanbul as of the 2023-2024 academic year and selected by simple random sampling method. The data of the study were obtained by applying Personal Information Form, "Instructional Leadership Behavior Scale" developed by Şişman (2004) and "Four Dimensional Occupational Commitment Scale" developed by Blau (1985) and later adapted into Turkish by Utkan and Kırdök (2018). The collected data were tested for normality using the SPSS 23 package program. In the data analysis process, t-test, Single Factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Pearson Correlation Analysis, Simple Linear Regression analysis were performed. According to the findings of the study, no significant difference was found in instructional leadership according to teachers' gender, educational level, age, seniority, school level and working time. The results of the study revealed that teachers' occupational commitment differs according to variables such as gender, education level, age, seniority and school level. On the basis of gender, male teachers were found to have higher general occupational commitment than female teachers. In terms of education level, it was found that postgraduate graduates showed higher occupational commitment in the sub-dimension of limitation of alternatives. In the age variable, it was observed that teachers aged 41 years and above perceived higher commitment in normative commitment and limitation of alternatives sub-dimensions. In terms of professional seniority, it was determined that teachers with a seniority of 41 years and above had higher general occupational commitment. In terms of school level, it was found that kindergarten and primary school teachers showed higher levels of commitment in affective commitment and limitation of alternatives sub-dimensions. There was no significant difference in the variable of length of service; however, it was observed that teachers working between 6-15 years showed more commitment in the normative commitment sub-dimension. According to the findings, there was a moderate positive correlation between principals' instructional leadership and teachers' occupational commitment, and the highest correlation was found in the emotional occupational commitment sub-dimension. Finally, the findings of the study showed that principals' instructional leadership behaviors positively and positively predicted teachers' occupational commitment.