The Influence of Teachers’ Perceptions of School Leaders’ Empowering Behaviours on the Dimensions of Psychological Empowerment

Abstract

Background and Purpose: School leader has an effect on teachers in divergent ways. If school leader wants their teachers to be successful and satisfied, he or she must have the potential to prompt work conditions that build up teachers’ psychological empowerment. Main aim of our research was to empirically test the relations between teach­ers’ perceptions of school leaders’ empowering behaviours and all dimensions of psychological empowerment (meaning, competence, self-determination and impact). Design/Methodology/Approach: We tested four hypotheses in one structural model by using structural equation modelling (SEM). The quantitative data was collected through an online survey on a sample of 525 primary school teachers in Slovenia by using two already validated questionnaires, The School Leader Empowering Behaviours (SLEB) and Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire (PEQ). Results: Findings show that teachers’ perceptions of school leaders’ empowering behaviours are positively and statistically significantly related to all dimensions of psychological empowerment (meaning, competence, self-deter­mination and impact). Conclusion: Knowledge of psychological empowerment can be beneficial for school leaders, because with this comprehension they can strengthen apprehension and potential in exercising empowering behaviours towards their teachers to maximize their psychological empowerment. Keywords: HRM; leadership; psychological empowerment; SEM