Modern research (Griffith,2004, Eyal&Rom,2015) emphasize the role of leadership in education sector. The emphasis is put, both by researchers and political bodies, on the impact of leadership on the outcomes of educational institution. There are few levels of outcomes, affected the by educational leadership: the institutional outcomes (Eyal&Rom, 2015), student-related outcomes (Muijs, 2011) and the employee-related outcomes (Al-Sada, Al-Esmael&Faisal, 2017). This paper focuses on a latter outcome, namely job satisfaction of employees (teachers, in our case) in educational sector.

The aim of the paper is to establish the relationship of leadership and job satisfaction in educational sector, and to establish the moderating role of organizational diversity. The above mentioned relationship is explored in previous research considering variety of (1) approaches to leadership, e.g. leadership styles (Voon, Lo, Ngui and Ayob, 2011), leadership behaviors (Dutta and Sahney, 2016); (2) domain of leadership, e.g. leadership of principals (Griffith, 2004) and employees (Hulpia and Devos, 2009); (3) types of educational institutions, e.g. higher education institutions (Alonderienė and Majauskaitė, 2016; Barnett, 2017) and schools (Griffith, 2004). The theoretical lens, taken in this research is distributed leadership, as defined by Harris (2013) and Jones (2014). According to Harris (2013), distributed leadership concentrates on engaging expertise wherever it exists within the organization rather than seeking this only through formal position or role. On the other hand, distributed leadership is first of all about leadership practice (Spillane, 2006).  

 Research on job satisfaction in the field of education has explored both the consequences (outcomes) and antecedents (influences) of teacher satisfaction. Research has examined at least three possible outcomes (retention, attrition, and absenteeism) and at least three major influences (demographic variables, job role-related characteristics, and work experiences) (Perrachione et al. 2008). The focus of this paper is teachers job satisfaction, as influenced  by distributed leadership and organizational diversity.

 The novelty of the paper comes from the disclosing of the role of diversity in Teachers’ job satisfaction. Gardenswartz and Rowe’s (2003) definition names four levels of diversity: personality, internal (gender, ethnicity, physical ability et al), external (educational background, geographic location et al), and organizational dimensions. Previous findings confirm, that diversity management is strongly linked to job satisfaction (Pitts, D. (2009), but  neither the educational settings, nor the organizational level of diversity are empirically explored.   

 Our research will fill in the gap, disclosing the role of organizational dimensions (like management status, union affiliation, work location, seniority, unit/group, work content and functional level, etc.) in the relation between educational leadership and teacher’s job satisfaction.  The results should point to significant paths between educational leadership variables and diversity’s organizational dimensions, as well as between teacher’s job satisfaction variables and diversity dimensions. Within the context of education system, implications for educational organization’s practices and promotion of  inclusive organizational settings, leading to teachers sense of belonging, satisfaction and commitment will be provided.

The research applies mixed methods methodology. It uses qualitative methods (semi-structured interview) with teachers and principals, aiming to explore the factors of organizational diversity. After the qualitative research is done, the hypothesis for testing statistically the relationship between distributed leadership and job satisfaction will be developed, applying the multivariate analysis. Quantitative research will test the above mentioned relationship, as well as establish the moderating role of the factors of organizational diversity. The planned sample size ~ 300 informants. Instrument for qualitative research will comply the dimensions of distributed leadership, as defined by Harris (2013), job satisfaction questionnaire built by Perrachione et al. (2008). Factors of diversity, as identified by qualitative research, will be measured by scales, constructed and tested by the author of this paper.

Analysis of empirical results will confirm or reject the hypothesis about the relationship between distributed leadership and teachers job satisfaction, as well a show the moderating role of organizational diversity. Based on the results, it will be possible to predict, which of the organizational diversity factors and to what degree strengthen or weaken the link between distributed leadership and job satisfaction. Based on that, recommendations will be provided to educational organizations, leading to teacher’s higher job satisfaction levels.

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