Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2003

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Educational Administration

Major Professor

Gary Ubben

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the school district directors' leadership behavior and the principals' job satisfaction. In particular, the problem addressed by this study was which, if any, of the five leadership practices of school directors that were measured by the "Leadership Practices Inventory" (LPI) by Kouzesand Posner ( 1997), had a relationship to the job satisfaction of principals, as measured by the "Job Satisfaction Survey" (JSS) by Spector (I 985). The population included 526 eligible, K-12, East Tennessee public schools principals. The entire population was surveyed with 329 (63%) principals responding period. The questionnaire consisted of three sections. The first section included the LPI that contained 30 items dealing with five leadership practices: Challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, and encouraging the heart. The second section included the JSS that contained 36 items to measure facets of both intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction, as welJ as total satisfaction. The third section included demographic questions: Years of service, school setting, type of school, poverty rate, and gender. The analytical procedures utilized to test the responses to the questionnaire were the Pearson Correlation and point-biserial correlation coefficient. These statistics were used to test the following questions at the . 01 level of significance: Research Question 1 : What is the relationship of the principals' ratings of school district directors compared with the level of satisfaction of principals? Research Question 2: What is the relationship between job satisfaction and selected demographic variables? Analysis of the data revealed that each leadership practice measured by the LPI-Observer associated significantly statistically with the total job satisfaction scores of the principals. The correlations between the directors' leadership practices and the job satisfaction facets of supervision, communication, and receiving contingent rewards were significant. The level of significance of the directors' relationship with co-workers, operating conditions, and promotion are associated. Yet, the size of each correlation was small. The correlations of pay, fringe benefits, and nature of the work were not significant. The demographic variable, years of service revealed much when compared to the principals' job satisfaction. Beginning principals with 0-6 years of service ranked their job satisfaction higher than principals with 7 or more years of experience. The correlation coefficient for years of service and the job satisfaction of the principals suggested a negative association. Conclusions and implications drawn by the researcher from the results of this study included: The data supported the conclusion that school district directors lead their districts with the five leadership practices measured. The directors that successfully practice these behaviors are more likely to have principals satisfied with their jobs. The directors should consider their subordinates perception of their leadership and facet satisfaction. This assessment could allow for a more complete theory of transformational leadership to be practiced in participating school districts. Further study of the relationship between years of service and job satisfaction is needed.

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