The examination of the motivation of official secondary school principals to continue their duties

The purpose of this research is to examine the motivation of official secondary school principals working in the Alanya district of Antalya province to continue their duties and to reveal the internal and external factors affecting this motivation within a multi-dimensional framework. The research was conducted using a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research approaches. The study group consists of 19 official secondary school principals working in the Alanya district of Antalya province. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview form; the obtained data were systematically analyzed using the thematic analysis method. The research findings showed that internal motivation elements played a determining role in the motivation of secondary school principals to continue their duties. Internal factors such as contributing to students, managing the development processes of the secondary school, leading institutional stakeholders, and the spiritual satisfaction provided by the managerial leadership role stand out. In addition, external factors such as the appreciation of successes have been determined to have a supportive function for motivation. It has been concluded that internal motivation sources were a dominant motivator factor in school principals' continuing their duties. The research is limited to official secondary school principals working in the Alanya district of Antalya province. In this direction, it is recommended to conduct studies that include school administrators working at different secondary school levels and private secondary school principals.