The effects of transformational leadership on teacher attitudes and student performance in Singapore

TLDR

The study examined how principals’ transformational leadership affects teachers’ commitment, citizenship behavior, satisfaction, and student academic performance. The study surveyed 846 teachers across 89 Singapore schools, collecting attitudinal and behavioral data from teachers and principals and student performance records, using a split‑sample design. Transformational leadership added significantly to transactional leadership in predicting teachers’ commitment, citizenship behavior, and satisfaction, and indirectly improved student achievement, while transactional leadership had minimal additive effect on these outcomes. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Abstract

Abstract Transformational leadership theory was examined in 89 schools in Singapore using a split sample technique ( N = 846 teachers). The study sought to examine the influence of transformational leader behavior by school principals as it related to organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, teacher satisfaction with leader, and student academic performance. Attitudinal and behavioral data were collected from both teachers and principals; student academic performance was collected from school records. School level analyses showed that transformational leadership had significant add‐on effects to transactional leadership in the prediction of organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and teacher satisfaction. Moreover, transformational leadership was found to have indirect effects on student academic achievement. Finally, it was found that transactional leadership had little add‐on effect on transformational leadership in predicting outcomes. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.