any degree at the National School of Leadership or any other University. To the best of my ...... needs into three classes of needs namely: Existence, Relatedness, and. Growth (Alderfer, 1969). ...... http://mrp.ase.ro/no34/f7.pdf downloaded 8 th.
Faculty of Leadership Sciences NATIONAL SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP STYLE, JOB SATISFACTION AND COMMITMENT: A CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BOMET COUNTY, KENYA
REUBEN KIPKEMOI CHIRCHIR
ILEAD: reuben.chirchir BATCH: NSLPHDSP2013
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Leadership, Faculty of Leadership Science, National School of Leadership (October 2015)
i
DECLARATION
This dissertation contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any degree at the National School of Leadership or any other University. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this dissertation contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is given in the text.
Signed: ____________________________
Date: ______________________________
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ................................................................................................................. II TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... III LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. X LIST OF AGRONYMS ......................................................................................................XI ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... XII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. XVI INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1
1.1
Overview ......................................................................................... 1
1.2
Leadership ...................................................................................... 5
1.3
Conceptual perspective ...................................................................... 7
1.4
Problem Statement ............................................................................ 7
1.5
Objectives of the Study...................................................................... 8
1.5.1
Specific Objectives ..................................................................... 8
1.6
Hypothesis of the Study ..................................................................... 9
1.7
The Conceptual Framework ..............................................................12
1.7.1
Independent variables ...............................................................12
1.7.2
Dependent Variables .................................................................13
1.8
Scope of the Study ..........................................................................14
1.9
Significance of the Study .................................................................14
1.10
Limitation of the Study ................................................................15
1.11
Confidentiality ............................................................................16
1.12
Assumptions ...............................................................................16
1.13
Definition of Terms.......................................................................16
LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................... 18
iii
2.1
Introduction ....................................................................................18
2.2
Leadership Approaches ..................................................................18
2.2.1
Trait Theories of Leadership .....................................................19
2.2.2
Behavioural Approaches to Leadership ......................................21
2.2.3
Contingency/Situational Leadership Approaches .......................29
2.2.4
Charismatic Leadership Approaches ..........................................33
2.2.5
Servant Leadership Theory .......................................................41
2.2.6
Measurement of Leadership ......................................................42
2.3
Organizational commitment ...........................................................43
2.3.1
Affective Commitment .............................................................44
2.3.2
Normative Commitment ...........................................................45
2.3.3
Continuance Commitment ........................................................46
2.3.4
Antecedents of Commitment .....................................................48
2.3.5
Influence of Commitment ...........................................................52
2.3.6
Measurement of commitment....................................................53
2.3.7
Leadership style on Organizational Commitment .......................54
2.4
Job Satisfaction ...............................................................................56
2.4.1
Theories on Job Satisfaction ......................................................57
2.4.2
Antecedents of Job Satisfaction .................................................64
2.4.3
Measurement of Job Satisfaction ...............................................69
2.4.4
Leadership style and job satisfaction ............................................71
2.5
Organizational commitment and Job satisfaction .............................74
2.6
Mediating effect of variables............................................................76
2.7
Summary ........................................................................................77
RESEARCH METHODS ................................................................................................... 78
3.1
Introduction ...................................................................................78 iv
3.2
Research Design .............................................................................78
3.3
Population .....................................................................................79
3.4
Sample ..........................................................................................80
3.5
Data Sources ..................................................................................82
3.5.1 3.6
Procedure ................................................................................82
Research Instruments .....................................................................83
3.6.1
Demographic Questionnaire .....................................................85
3.6.2
Leadership Questionnaire .........................................................85
3.6.3
Organizational Commitment Questionnaire ...............................88
3.6.4
Job Satisfaction Survey Questionnaire .......................................90
3.7
Questionnaire Administration ............................................................91
3.8
Data Analysis ..................................................................................92
3.9
Ethical Considerations ......................................................................94
RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................. 95
4.1
Introduction ...................................................................................95
4.2
Descriptive Statistics ........................................................................95
4.2.1
Geographical Distribution .........................................................96
4.2.2
Gender .....................................................................................97
4.2.3
Marital Status ............................................................................97
4.2.4
Age Groups...............................................................................98
4.2.5
Highest Qualifications ..............................................................99
4.2.6
Experience in Teaching ........................................................... 100
4.2.7
Key Subjects of Interest ........................................................... 101
4.2.8
Head Teachers ....................................................................... 102
4.2.9
Gender of Head Teachers .......................................................... 103
4.3
Teachers perception on Head Teachers’ Leadership Style.................... 104 v
Perceived Leadership Style based on gender ................................ 107
4.3.1 4.4
Teachers Commitment.................................................................... 108
4.4.1 4.5
Teachers commitment based on gender .................................... 110
Teachers Job Satisfaction ................................................................ 111 Effect of gender on teachers job satisfaction ................................ 113
4.5.1 4.6
Influence of demographic factors on Commitment ............................. 115
4.6.1
Correlation Analysis................................................................. 115
4.6.2
Regression Analysis ................................................................. 116
4.7
Influence of demographic variables on Job Satisfaction ...................... 118
4.7.1
Correlation Analysis ............................................................... 118
4.7.2
Regression Analysis ................................................................. 122
4.8
Correlation between Leadership Style and Commitment ..................... 128
4.8.1
Transformational Leadership Style and Commitment ............... 129
4.8.2
Transactional Leadership Style and Commitment .................... 130
4.8.3
Laissez Faire Leadership Style and Commitment ..................... 131
4.8.4
Regression Analysis ................................................................ 132
4.9
Correlation between Leadership Style and Job Satisfaction.................. 133
4.9.1 4.10
Regression Analysis ................................................................ 136 Mediating effect of Demographic factors ....................................... 140
4.10.1 Job Satisfaction as dependent variable ........................................ 140 4.10.2
Organizational commitment as dependent variable ................ 142
4.11
Mediating effect of Job Satisfaction .............................................. 143
4.12
Mediating effect of Organizational Commitment ............................. 145
4.13
Relationship between commitment and job satisfaction .................... 147
4.14
Summary ................................................................................... 149
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................ 151
vi
5.1
Introduction ................................................................................. 151
5.2
Perceived Leadership Style ............................................................. 151
5.3
Teachers Job Satisfaction ................................................................ 154
5.4
Teachers level of Commitment ........................................................ 156
5.5
Influence of Leadership Style on Commitment .................................. 159
5.6
Influence of leadership style on job satisfaction ................................. 162
5.7
Relationship between commitment and job satisfaction ....................... 165
5.8
Conclusion.................................................................................... 167
5.9
Recommendations for further study .................................................. 172
5.10
Limitations of the Study ............................................................. 173
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................. 174 APPENDIX 1: RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................ 194 APPENDIX 2: LETTER OF INTRODUCTION .............................................................. 200 APPENDIX 3: RESEARCH AUTHORIZATION AND CLEARANCE PERMIT ......... 201 APPENDIX 4: LIST OF SCHOOLS SAMPLED ............................................................ 203
vii
LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Number of Schools and Teachers in Bomet County ...........................80 Table 2: Factor-wise reliability of the Full Range Leadership Scale ..................87 Table 3: Factor-wise reliability of Commitment scale .....................................89 Table 4: Factor-wise reliability of the Job Satisfaction Scale ...........................91 Table 5: Frequency distribution of respondents in sub-counties ........................96 Table 6: Frequency distribution based on Gender ...........................................97 Table 7: Frequency distribution: Marital Status ..............................................98 Table 8: Frequency distribution of Respondents by Age ..................................98 Table 9: Frequency Distribution of Respondents based on Qualifications ..........99 Table 10: Frequency distribution of respondents based on experience ............. 101 Table 11: Frequency distribution of based on subject of interest ..................... 102 Table 12: Frequency distribution of head teachers per sub-county .................. 103 Table 13: Frequency distribution of Head-teachers by Gender ....................... 103 Table 14: Teachers Perception on head teachers’ leadership style ................... 105 Table 15: Perceived Leadership Style of Head Teachers ............................... 107 Table 16: Descriptive Statistics on Organizational Commitment .................... 109 Table 17: Comparative organizational Commitment of Teachers .................... 111 Table 18: Teachers perception on Job Satisfaction ....................................... 112 Table 19: Comparative Analysis of Job Satisfaction of Teachers .................... 114 Table 20: Correlation of demographic variables and commitment .................. 115 Table 21: Summary of Goodness of fit (affective commitment) ..................... 117 Table 22: Overall model significance (Affective Commitment) ...................... 118 Table 23: Correlation between demographic factors and job satisfaction variables ............................................................................................................. 121 Table 24: Summary of Goodness of fit (Appreciation) .................................. 122 Table 25: Summary of Goodness of fit (Job Satisfaction - Appreciation) ......... 123 Table 26: Goodness of fit (Teaching) ......................................................... 123 Table 27: Summary of Goodness of fit (Teaching & Gender) ........................ 124 Table 28: Goodness of fit model (Administrative duties) ............................... 124
viii
Table 29: Summary of Goodness of fit (Admin. duties and Gender) ............... 125 Table 30: Goodness of fit (Communication) ................................................ 125 Table 31: Goodness of fit (Communication and Age of Respondent) .............. 126 Table 32: Goodness of fit (Teaching & Age) ............................................... 127 Table 33: Summary of Goodness of fit (Teaching and Age) ........................... 127 Table 34: Goodness of fit (Teaching and Experience of Respondent) .............. 128 Table 35: Summary of Goodness of fit (Teaching and Experience) ................. 128 Table 36: Correlation between leadership style and commitment ................... 129 Table 37: Regression Analysis Leadership style and Commitment ................. 132 Table 38: Summary of Goodness of fit (leadership style and Commitment) ..... 133 Table 39: Correlation between Leadership style and Job Satisfaction .............. 134 Table 40: Model of goodness of fit of Leadership style and Job Satisfaction .... 137 Table 41: Regression model of leadership style and Job Satisfaction............... 138 Table 42: Regression Analysis of Leadership Style and Job Satisfaction with Demographic Factors as Mediating Variables .............................................. 141 Table 43: Hierarchical Analysis of leadership style and Org commitment........ 143 Table 44: Regression analysis with job satisfaction mediating ....................... 144 Table 45: Regression Analysis with Organizational Commitment mediating .... 145 Table 46: Correlation between Commitment and Job Satisfaction.................. 147 Table 47: Regression Analysis between Job Satisfaction and constructs of Organizational Commitment ..................................................................... 149
ix
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Conceptual Model (Developed by Author) ......................................13 Figure 2: Managerial Grid (Blake and Mouton) .............................................26 Figure 3: Theory X and Theory Y (Adopted from Al-Khouri, 2010) .................28 Figure 4: Full Range Leadership Model (Adopted from Barbuto and CummingsBrown, 2007) ............................................................................................34 Figure 5: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Adopted from Bob Dick, 2001) ..........59 Figure 6: Herzberg Theory on Motivation .....................................................60 Figure 7: Dilapidated classrooms in Takitech Primary School - Sotik......... 139
x
LIST OF AGRONYMS BOG
Board of Governors
CR
Contingent Reward
DOE
Department of Education
GOK
Government of Kenya
IC
Individualized Consideration
IIA
Idealized Influence (Attributed)
IIB
Idealized Influence (Behavioural)
IM
Inspirational Motivation
IS
Intellectual Stimulation
JSS
Job Satisfaction Survey
LF
Laissez-faire
m
Mean
MBEA
Management by Exception (Active)
MBEP
Management by Exception (Passive)
MLQ
Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire
MoEST
Ministry of Education Science and Technology
N
Population
NSL
National School of Leadership
OCQ
Organizational Commitment Questionnaire
sd
Standard Deviation
SMC
School Management Committees
SPSS
Statistical Package for Social Sciences
TSC
Teachers Service Commission
TTC
Teachers Training College
xi
Prof. (Dr.) Deepak Jain
Reuben Kipkemoi Chirchir
Leadership Style, Job Satisfaction and Commitment: A Case Study of Public Primary Schools in Bomet County, Kenya
ABSTRACT The study aimed to investigate the leadership style adopted by head teachers; the levels of subordinate teachers job satisfaction and organizational commitment in public primary schools in Bomet County. The study also aimed to investigate the relationship between the head-teacher leadership style on job satisfaction and commitment of subordinate teachers. The theoretical framework of this study was modeled on transformational leadership developed by Bass (1985), the organisational commitment model developed by Meyer and Allen (1991) and job satisfaction model developed by Spector (1997).
The results revealed that transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership style affect teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction. The results further revealed that teachers perceived their head teachers to practice transformational leadership more than transactional and laissezfaire leadership approaches. When the three constructs were treated separately, the results suggests that a combination of both transformational xii
and transactional leadership attributes may bring out a positive influence on both job satisfaction and commitment among teachers in public primary schools. A unique finding was that some teachers being professionals prefer minimal direction from their leaders. Accordingly, laissez-faire leadership approaches may motivate such teachers.
With respect to job satisfaction, the results revealed that teachers were ambivalent, that is they were not sure whether they are satisfied or not. It however, revealed that teachers were satisfied with their colleagues and happy when assigned administrative duties. This implies that teachers are motivated when power and/or authority is delegated. It was also evident that school leadership needs to improve its ways of supervision, systems of reward, and systems of communication and working conditions.
In terms of commitment, the results revealed that in general teachers were ambivalent on commitment. However, normative commitment was high (m = 3.47, sd = 0.76) which implies that a feeling of obligation to continue working is high. In the current context, most teachers teach in schools within their homes and community. Accordingly, the teachers may feel morally obligated to reciprocate and give back to the community for being employed to do so and thus drawing benefit by also being a member of the same community. xiii
The results further revealed positive correlations between a transformational leadership and normative commitment of teachers. There was also a positive correlation
between
transactional
leadership
style
and
affective
commitment. The low correlation between variables was attributed to other factors which may be overwhelming such as the poor working environment and lack or limited teaching tools. It is recommended that a combination of both transformational and transactional leadership attributes should be used in order to bring out the best positive influence on teachers commitment. It is further recommended that the working environment in public primary schools be improved by provision of basic facilities and tools. Institutional Leadership will have substantive impact in an environment where basic and minimum facilities are provided.
Overall, job satisfaction was positively correlated with the ‘age of respondent’ (r= 0.092; p
