Abstract

Teacher burnout, absenteeism, and turnover continue to plague schools throughout the United States. Researchers have suggested that a school principal's transformational leadership may impact teacher commitment, though there are limited findings regarding the differences in commitment levels among rural and non-rural teachers. There are also limited findings regarding how the different elements of a principal's transformational leadership (idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and inspirational motivation) impact teachers' professional and organizational commitment, if at all. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential differences in commitment levels among rural and non-rural teachers, as well as urban-rural differences in the links between principal transformational leadership (including its specific sub-domains: idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and inspirational motivation) and teacher commitment to the profession and the organization. This quantitative study included a questionnaire that was filled out by 363 urban teachers and 460 rural teachers living throughout the state of Arizona. Statistical t-tests and regression models were used. The findings reveal that, among other things, idealized influence (attributes) consistently proves to be a predictor of professional and organizational commitment among both rural and non-rural teachers and that rural teachers experience greater levels of commitment than do urban teachers. Schools and districts may use these results in their search for hiring and training principals by searching for candidates that display characteristics in line with idealized attributes and by doing more to train current principals in behaviors tied to this element of transformational leadership. Districts and schools may also explore other ways to help non-rural teachers to feel more committed.

Degree

EdD

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Educational Leadership and Foundations

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2024-06-06

Document Type

Dissertation

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13249

Keywords

transformational leadership, rural, teacher commitment

Language

english

Included in

Education Commons

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