Transformational Leadership and Academic Environment in Secondary Schools: A Principal-Perspective Study on the Mediating Role of Teachers' Attitudes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/trt/v-iv.245Keywords:
Transformational Leadership, Academic Environment, Teachers' Attitudes, Principals, Mediation, PLS-SEM, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Secondary SchoolsAbstract
This study explored the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) and academic environment (AE) in government boys' secondary schools of Malakand Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan, and identified the mediating role of teachers' attitudes (TA). Data were obtained from 168 principals from five districts using Yamane's (1967) formula with multistage random sampling. Transformational leadership (13 items, α = .90), academic environment (17 items, α = 0.90), and teachers' attitudes (5 items, α = 0.77) were measured by validated Likert-scale questionnaires. SPSS v26 was used for descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations, while Smart-PLS v4 was used for PLS-SEM with 5,000 iteration bootstrapped mediation. Academic environment showed a high positive correlation with transformational leadership (r = .775, p < .01). The study reveals that teachers' attitudes significantly mediate the academic environment (β = .634, t = 8.641, p < .001), contributing an indirect effect (β = .089, t = 2.270, p = .023; 95% CI [.012, .168]). The model explains 51.2% of the variance in the academic environment. Principals with M.Phil (Education) qualifications show higher scores in transformational leadership (M = 57.55) and academic environment (M = 80.09). The results underscore a dual impact of principals' leadership: a direct administrative effect alongside a mediating role of teacher attitudes. Notably, the direct effect is similar across principal and teacher perspectives (β = .634 vs. β = .632), while the teacher attitude mediation appears weaker from principals' data. The findings suggest a need for principals' training in management and transformational behaviors, alongside a multi-source feedback evaluation system for school leaders.
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