Session Information
26 SES 07 C, Discourses of Gender on Educational Leadership
Paper Session
Contribution
Principals play a critical role in promoting a positive school environment, student academic performance, and school development (Liu and Hallinger, 2018). However, study has shown that leadership styles that are successful and effective in one culture may not be so in another (Bahadur-Bhujel, 2021). Cultural expectations, stereotypes, and generalised beliefs shape group members’ expectations about the personal characteristics, traits, and qualities inherent to a successful and effective leader, affecting individuals’ perceptions and responses to leaders (Walker and Hallinger, 2015). The present study focuses on teachers’ perceptions of paternalistic leadership and the influence on teachers’ behaviours and attitudes toward their work in the Arab ethnocultural minority in Israel.
Leadership in Arab sector in Israel rests on a clear authoritarian structure characterised by hierarchy, high power distance, and a tendency towards conservatism and collectivism (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019). Paternalistic leadership (PL), defined as authoritative, moral leadership, with elements of appreciation, respect and obedience to the leader (Cheng et al., 2004), was found to be an effective leadership style with positive implications for collective societies with high power distance (Walker and Hallinger, 2015). However, the Arab minority is undergoing a broad and continuous modernisation process due to its contact with the Jewish population, which has intensified over the years (Abu-Asba, 2014). This process has involved a gradual transformation from a traditional patriarchal and collective local personality to a more individualised identity (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019).
The present research aims to highlight principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity as a significant factor in explaining the emergence and implications of PL for teachers’ organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in Arab sector in Israel. Our purpose is twofold. First, relying on the similarity attraction paradigm (Byrne, 1971) and self-categorisation theories (Turner, 1987), the present study examines how principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity affects the degree of PL as perceived by teachers. Second, the study examines the intervening influence of principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between PL and teacher OCB.
We focus on principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity for several reasons. First, gender is considered a key visible demographic characteristic likely to induce social categorisation in leadership processes (Kark and Waismel-Manor, 2016). Second, research has shown that the principal-teacher dyadic relationship plays a significant role in shaping important teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviours (Author2 and Colleagues, 2021). Third, societal values and expectations perpetuate cultural gender role stereotypes (Kark and Waismel-Manor, 2016). Thus, although the Arab sector is characterised by gender inequality; Arab women have recently begun to achieve a balance between family and career demands (Oplatka and Arar, 2016). For instance, a growing number of Arab women attain higher education, and they constitute in increasing percentage of employees in the Arab education system (CBS, 2018).
This study may inform the educational management literature both theoretically and practically. First, to date most studies conducted in Arab sector in Israel have focused on gender differences in the perceptions of leadership (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019). Few studies, if any, have examined an integrative model for the effects of principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between principal leadership and teacher OCB in this sector. This is important because there is growing literature on the role of teacher OCB in promoting school improvement (Karadağ and Dulay, 2021), as well as teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction (Huda, Chairunnisa and Utami 2020). Second, most studies have explored the differential impacts of the subcomponents of PL on school effectiveness (Bahadur-Bhujel, 2021); yet, few have focused on the relationship between PL and teachers’ behaviours. Finally, this study can contribute to the development of training programs for school administrators and principals better suited to the specific ethnocultural context of the Arab minority in Israel.
Method
Participants and procedure Data was collected from a sample of 180 randomly chosen teachers and their principals from elementary Arab schools in Israel (180 dyads) with an average school enrolment of 499.61 students (SD=162.11). Of the teachers who participated in the study, 85% were women, with an average age of 38.63 years (SD=7.61). They had an average of 15.73 years of experience in the teaching profession (SD=7.62). With respect to education, 45% held a Master’s degree, 26.7% held a B.Ed. (bachelor's degree with teaching credentials), 25% held a Bachelor's degree, and 3.3% held a “professional” degree (equivalent to a junior college diploma with teaching credentials). Of the principals who participated in the study, 56% were women. They had an average of 12.80 years of seniority as principals (SD=7.82). The teachers completed validated questionnaires on: paternalistic leadership (Pelelgrini & Seandura, 2006); and on Organisational Citizenship Behaviours (Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2004). The participants were assured of maintaining the anonymity of the answers and confidentiality so that the results will be reported only as group averages, and it will not be possible to identify any individual school or employee. In addition, both principals and teachers provided demographic information. School Socio-Economic Status (SES) were provided by the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education. As for the level of analysis, generally, the OCB variables emerged at the individual level, as opposed to the group level, and were therefore examined as individual-level variables (Riggs & Knight, 1994). However, PL behaviours were assessed as a group-level variable. Using aggregate perceptions creates a reliable assessment because aggregate measures are generally more reliable than individual evaluations (Lenzi et al., 2012). Therefore, each teacher was assigned a single PL measure, accordingly to the study design, based on the average for each PL (an average of 5 teachers per school) within the school. As for the data analysis, to investigate the differences in PL appraisal by principal-teacher similarity, MANCOVA and ANCOVA analyses were used, controlling for school SES, school size, and teacher education and seniority. To test the model investigating the moderating role of principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between PL and teachers’ organisational citizenship behaviour in the Arab society in Israel, hierarchical regression analyses were used, using the SPSS macro-PROCESS. Additionally, the integrative theoretical model was tested with structural equation modelling (SEM, using the AMOS 21.0 software).
Expected Outcomes
The findings are consistent with the main argument of this study, that the sociocultural context influences teachers' cognitive and mental perception of leadership and the resulting behaviours. Specifically, the results indicate that principal-teacher gender dissimilarity affects the emergence of PL and its influence on teacher OCB. Benevolent and moral leadership were positively correlated with OCB (and subcomponents) in the case of principal-teacher gender dissimilarity. However, no moderating influence of gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and OCB was found. Research indicates that benevolent and moral principals consider it an obligation to provide quasi-parental, father-like protection to their teachers and understand their needs (Dimmock and Tan, 2013). However, authoritarian leaders accentuate control over subordinates, and unquestioning obedience (Pellegrini & Scandura, 2008). Therefore, it seems that Benevolent and moral components meet the aspirations of the new generation of teachers for less hierarchical and less authoritarian leadership styles. Importantly, growing numbers of Arab women have recently succeeded in breaking through the “glass ceiling” and becoming principals, and finding new ways to grow and succeed at work (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019). This finding is encouraging and points to an improvement in the status of women in Arab society. However, despite the impressive rise in the number of women school principals, the numbers of Arab women students third-year university students in areas such as health (15%), law (3%), engineering (4%), business and economics (6%) and sciences (3%) remains very low (Taub Center, 2018). Perhaps this is because the education field still allow women a work-family balance (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019). Therefore, continue to promote women’s professional engagement, career development, and promotion to leadership positions should be promoted in education. Practically, training programmes should be established for principals to provide them with awareness and skills to help improve leadership practises.
References
Abu-Asba Kh (2014) Arab education in a society in crisis. Jat: Massar Institute for Social Research. [Arabic]. Arar K and Abu-Nasra M (2019) Leadership style, occupational perception and organizational citizenship behavior in the Arab education system in Israel. Journal of Educational Administration 57(1): 85–100. Author2 and Colleague (2021) Bahadur-Bhujel C (2021) The role of principal in improvement of school performance: A qualitative study in community school of Nepal. Research Journal of Education 7(1): 1-10. Byrne D (1971) The Attraction Paradigm. Academic Press: New York. Dimmock C and Tan C (2013) Educational leadership in Singapore: Tight coupling, sustainability, scalability, and succession. Journal of Educational Administration 51(3): 320–340. Huda SA, Chairunnisa C and Utami PP (2020) Analysis of organizational citizenship behavior in school. Jurnal Kependidikan 6(3): 356-364. Karadağ E and Dulay S (2021) The effects of destructive leadership on organizational citizenship behaviour: The mediating role of psychological capital. Education and Science 46(208): 453-474. Kark R and Waismel-Manor R (2016) Women in management in Israel. In Women in Management Worldwide. Gower, 297-316. Lenzi M, Vieno A, Perkins DD, Pastore M, Santinello M and Mazzardis S (2012) Perceived neighborhood social resources as determinants of prosocial behavior in early adolescence. American Journal of Community Psychology 50(2): 37–49. Liu S and Hallinger P (2018) Principal instructional leadership, teacher self-efficacy, and teacher professional learning in China: Testing a mediated-effects model. Educational Administration Quarterly 54(4): 501–528. Pellegrini, E.K., & Scandura, T.A. (2008). Paternalistic leadership: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Management, 34, 566-593. Riggs ML and Knight PA (1994) The impact of perceived group success-failure on motivational beliefs and attitudes: A causal model. Journal of Applied Psychology 79(5): 755–766. Somech, A., & Drach-Zahavy, A. (2004). Exploring organizational citizenship behavior from an organizational perspective: The relationship between organizational learning and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77(3), 281-298. Taub Center (2018) for the Study of Social Policy in Israel Herbert M. Singer Series State Status Report Society, Economy and Policy. Edited by A Weiss, Jerusalem. Turner JC (1987) Introducing the problem: individual and group. Rediscovering the social group: A Self-categorization Theory, Oxford: Blackwell, 1–18. Walker A and Hallinger P (2015) A synthesis of reviews of research on principal leadership in East Asia. Journal of Educational Administration 53(4): 554–570.
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