RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRINCIPALS' LEADERSHIP STYLES AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE EFFECTIVENESS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA
Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between principals' leadership styles and school administrative effectiveness in public secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. The research explored how transformational, transactional, democratic and autocratic leadership styles relate with school administrative effectiveness. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study and grounded on Bass’s Transformational Leadership Theory (1985) which focused on inspiring and motivating followers to achieve high performance through vision, support and innovation. The correlational research design was adopted, with a sample consisting of 268 public secondary school principals, selected using the census method. Data were collected using Principals' Leadership Styles Questionnaire (PLSQ) and School Administrative Effectiveness Questionnaire (SAEQ). The overall reliability coefficients for the PLSQ and SAEQ were 0.82 and 0.82, respectively, demonstrating strong reliability for the instruments. The collected data were analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient to answer the research questions and simple linear regression analysis to test the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed among others that transformational leadership had a very strong positive relationship with school administrative effectiveness, as principals who inspired a shared vision, encouraged collaboration, and supported professional development significantly improved administrative outcomes. The study concluded that principals' leadership styles significantly relate with school administrative effectiveness, emphasizing the need for a flexible, context-driven approach that combines transformational, transactional and democratic elements to optimize outcomes in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that principals shouldadopt a combination of leadership styles, emphasizing transformational and democratic approaches, to foster a collaborative, efficient and effective school environment. The implementation of these leadership strategies is expected to lead to improved administrative effectiveness, better staff performance and enhanced student outcomes in schools.
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