The Relationship Between Secondary School Teachers' Perceptions of Principal Ethical Leadership and Organizational Health

The purpose of this descriptive, correlational study was to determine if any significant relationships existed between secondary school teachers’ perceptions of principal leader integrity as measured by the Perceived Leadership Integrity Scale ([PLIS], Craig & Gustafson, 1998) and schools’ organizational health as perceived by secondary school teachers and gauged by the Organizational Health Inventory for Secondary Schools ([OHI-S], Hoy & Feldman, 1987). The study also explored the seven OHI-S dimensions: (1) Institutional Integrity, (2) Initiating Structure, (3) Consideration, (4) Principal Influence, (5) Resource Support, (6) Morale, and (7) Academic Emphasis—and their relationships with the demographics of the sample. The sample involved six hundred fifty (650) Tennessee secondary school teachers identified through a purposive sampling process. These teachers completed both surveys and the requested demographic questionnaire online. Pearson product correlations revealed statistically significant relationships between Perceived Leader Integrity (PLI) and the composite score calculated from the scores of the seven OHI-S dimensions—the Organizational Health Index (OH Index), as well as between PLI and each of the seven OHI-S dimensions. Multiple regression analysis provided closer scrutiny of the data. In terms of the seven dimensions on PLI, this analysis showed the OH Index to have a moderate direct relationship, Consideration to be the strongest indicator, and Institutional Integrity and Academic Emphasis to a have a smaller, but statistically significant relationships. Univariate and multivariate analysis of variance tests were conducted to determine differences between and among PLI, the OH Index, and the demographic variables. Subject taught was strongly significant in relation to the seven OHI-S dimensions. The Tukey HSD and the Bonferroni correction were performed to examine more closely the significant differences found to exist among educational level or total years of teaching experience and the OH Index, as well as each of its seven dimensions. These findings help broaden understanding of the relationship between leadership and ethics. Northouse (2004) suggests that clarification of this relationship can identify implications for policy and decision making. Future research should explore the use of longitudinal or qualitative research methodology to study PLI and organizational health in greater depth.