The Correlation Between Ethical Leadership Behaviors of School Principals and Teacher Motivation

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to determine the correlation between the ethical leadership attitudes of school principals and teacher motivation. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was conducted with the relational screening approach. The ethical leadership attitudes of school principals were determined with the School Administrators’ Ethical Leadership Scale developed by Uğurlu and Sincar (2012). Teacher motivation was measured with the Teacher Motivation Scale developed by Kılıc and Yılmaz (2019). The study sample included 298 teachers assigned with the stratified sampling method. Kruskall Wallis, Mann Whitney U and Pearson’s Rho tests were employed in data analysis. Findings: The analysis revealed a positive and medium correlation between the perceptions of the teachers about ethical leadership behavior of school principals and teacher motivation. Furthermore, a moderate positive correlation was determined between ethical leadership and teacher motivation scale internal, external and administrative factors sub-dimensions. Highlights: The present and similar study findings could be presented in meetings, training activities, official circulars, and the data on the ethical leadership attitudes adopted by school administration would help motivate the teachers could be presented in these activities. Thus, this could lead to higher levels of ethical leadership among school principals, leading to higher teacher motivation.