Currently, research trends (eg. Baig, 2010; Notman, 2014; Wang, Gurr & Drysdale, 2014) consider school leaders’ values systems as an important element for shaping principals’ actions and behaviors. As Hodgkinson (1999) argued, every leader possesses a unique system of values that may affect everything, whilst Begley (2003) agreed that the function of school leadership is primarily recognized through the interest and understanding of values. Therefore, in order to fully understand the notion of school leadership we have to pay attention into principals’ values system. In fact, emerging theories such as Value-added leadership (Sergiovanni, 1990), Values-led leadership (Day, 2000) and Authentic leadership (Begley, 2006) have theoretically demonstrated the strong impact of values on school principalship. Additionally, the growth of cultural diversity across Europe, resulted to a more complex decision making process (Begley & Johansson, 2008), and therefore causing the study of values as crucial. As a consequence, empirical results started to emerge in order to provide more evidence on that matter. However, even though efforts have been made to investigate the role of values in school principalship, it seems that the important differentiation of espoused values and values in action (Argyris & Schon, 1995) is mostly neglected. Also, the importance of the research connection between values system and leadership styles is also neglected. Therefore, our attention was given to principals of the primary educational sector in Cyprus. Towards this direction, we provide important data on the aspect of the espoused values and values in action in connection with principals’ leadership styles, in an effort to provide empirical investigation on the practice of authentic leadership. In order to successfully explore this issue, two concrete and comprehensive theoretical backgrounds have been chosen and adapted. More precisely, the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values (Shwartz, 1992) that includes 57 values items, and the Pashiardis – Brauckmann Holistic Leadership Framework (Pashiardis, 2014; Brauckmann & Pashiardis, 2011) that refers to five specific leadership styles. Our general objective was to explore the possible relationship between principals’ espoused values and leadership styles, as well as to further explore the role of values in action in each leadership style through the decision-making process. Based on the findings, concrete results will be given both on the espoused values and values in action, as well as increase our learning about the practice of authentic school leadership, through the various leadership styles. The four central research questions are: (1) Which are the espoused values as perceived by the principals? Is there a difference between men and women on their espoused values? (2) What is the relation between the espoused values and leaders’ leadership styles? (3) Which are the principals’ values in action during their leadership practice through the various decisions taken, according to each leadership style? and (4) Is there a degree of congruence between principals’ espoused values and values in action according to their leadership styles? Hence, in respect to the aforementioned, answers will be provided on the principals’ values system in the context of Cyprus coupled with their leadership styles. Finally, by exploring both their espoused values and values in action we provide answers on the authentic leadership as practiced, or what must be done in order to reach this level of leadership. The proposed implications can be implemented in other countries or contexts in order to support the practice of authentic leadership. 

Argyris, C. & Schon, D.A. (1995). Organizational Learning II: Theory, Method, and Practice. UK: FT Press. Baig, S. (2010). The place of personal values in educational leadership in Pakistan. Values and Ethics in Educational Administration, 8(3), 1-8. Begley, P.T. (2003). In pursuit of authentic school leadership practices. In: P.T. Begley and O. Johansson (Eds), The Ethical Dimensions of School Leadership (pp. 1-12). The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Begley, P.T. (2006). Self-knowledge, capacity and sensitivity. Prerequisites to authentic leadership by school principals. Journal of Educational Administration, 44(6), 570-589. Begley, P.T. & Johansson, O. (2008). The Values of School Administration: Preferences, Ethics, and Conflicts. Journal of School Leadership, 18(4), 421-444. Brauckmann, S. and Pashiardis, P. (2011). A Validation Study of the Leadership Styles of a Holistic Leadership Theoretical Framework. International Journal of Educational Management, 25 (1) 11-32. Day, C. (2000). Beyond transformational leadership. Educational Leadership, 57(7), 56-59. Hodgkinson, C. (1999). The will to power. Values and Educational Leadership, 139-150. New York: State University of New York Press. Notman, R. (2014). A values-led principalship: the person within the professional. In C. Day. & D. Gurr (Eds), Leading schools successfully: stories from the field (pp. 117-128). London: Routledge. Pashiardis, P. (2014) (Ed.). Modeling School Leadership Across Europe: In Search of New Frontiers. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer. Schwartz, M. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Boston: Academic Press. Sergiovanni, T. J. (1990). Value-added leadership: How to get extraordinary performance in schools. Florida: Harcout Brance Jovanovich Inc. Stavrou, E. & Eisenberg, J. “Mapping Cyprus’ Cultural Dimensions: Comparing Hofstede and Schwartz’s values Frameworks”, 18th International Congress of the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP, Greece, July 2006). Taliadorou Ν. (2013). Exercising leadership and teachers’ job satisfaction:the role of emotional intelligence and political ability of principals in three primary schools. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Open University of Cyprus. Nicosia. Tashakkori, A. & Teddlie, C. (1998). Mixed methodology. Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. California: Sage. Wang, H. L., Gurr, D. & Drysdale, L. (2014). Building on the past: connecting with others. In C. Day. & D. Gurr (Eds), Leading schools successfully: stories from the field (pp. 149-159). London: Routledge.