Principals’ leadership styles: the role of emotional intelligence and achievement motivation

• Published in: International journal of educational management 2019-07, Vol.33 (5), p.1094-1105
• Main Authors: Wirawan, Hillman, Tamar, Muhammad, Bellani, Elvita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Achievement Need; Administrator Attitudes; Behavior; Cognition & reasoning; Collectivism; Correlation; Decision making; Educational administration; Educational leadership; Elementary Schools; Emotional Intelligence; Emotions; Foreign Countries; Investigations; Leadership; Leadership Effectiveness; Leadership Styles; Measures (Individuals); Motivation; Principals; Psychometrics; School Administration; School principals; Success; Teacher Administrator Relationship; Teaching Methods; Transformational leadership
• ISSN: 0951-354X; 1758-6518
• DOI: 10.1108/IJEM-04-2018-0127

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) and achievement motivation (AM) on elementary school principals’ leadership styles. This study investigates the contribution of EI and AM on the two major leadership categories: the task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a quantitative study with the implementation of correlation and hierarchical regression analysis. The surveys (i.e. EI scale, AM scale, leadership style questionnaire) were sent randomly to 280 elementary school principals in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and 90 of them completed the survey (mostly male=77.78 percent). Findings Principals’ EI significantly predicted both task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership. In contrast, the principals’ AM yielded non-significant results in predicting both task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership style. The results also suggested that the effect of EI on two major leadership styles (i.e. task- and relationship-orientation) outperformed the leader’s AM. Research limitations/implications This study did not consider the principals’ performance in the analysis. Future studies should also address this issue by considering leadership performance as well as different culture and context. On the other hand, the authors developed new measures rather than using preexisting measures. Although the measures have been constructed according to the scale construction principles and reached an acceptable standard, future research should advance the psychometric property of the scales. Originality/value This study discusses the effect of EI and AM on task- and relationship-orientation leadership. In addition, this study has also brought a new insight into understanding leadership styles in collective culture such as Indonesia.