Transformational And Transactional Leadership: Effects On Teacher Commitment In Malaysian Primary Schools

Abstract

School leadership and teacher commitment are an important elements for the excellence and success of a school. The purpose of this study is to examine teacher commitment in terms of gender and work experience. This study will also investigate if transformational and transactional leadership of school headmasters significantly influence teacher commitment. The Three Component Model questionnaire by Meyer & Allen (1997) was adapted to measure teacher commitment where else; the Multifactor Leadership Questionaire (MLQ-1) by Bass (1985) was used to measure transformational and transactional leadership of school headmasters. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 400 school teachers were randomly selected from 10 national primary schools in Kedah, Malaysia. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22. Using t-test, one way Anova and multiple regression, it was found that the level of teacher commitment, transformational and transactional leadership of headmasters was at a high level. This study also found that there are differences in teacher commitment in terms of teacher gender that is the commitment of male teachers was higher than female teachers. In terms of work experience, teachers with 21 to 25 years of work experience were most committed. Both transformational and transactional leadership had a significant influence on teacher commitment. However, transactional leadership has a stronger influence on teacher commitment compared to transformational leadership. It is hoped the findings will serve as a guideline for the Ministry of Education to formulate effective leadership training programmes for future school leaders.