Teacher and Principal Perceptions of Authentic Leadership: Implications for Trust, Engagement, and Intention to Return

Abstract

The focus of this study was to explore the relationships between the authentic leadership of building principals and the trust, engagement, and intention to return of their teaching staffs. School principals (n = 28) and their teaching staffs (n = 633) were surveyed. Teacher trust and engagement were found to be significantly related to principal authenticity. When schools were partitioned along a continuum of principal-teacher agreement about authenticity, the schools whose principals had lower ratings than their teachers had significantly more teacher trust and engagement, and their teachers expressed significantly greater intention to return. Results are discussed concerning implications for future research and improvement of practice.