The Paradoxical Relationship between Principals’ Transformational Leadership Styles and Teachers’ Motivation

Leadership and motivation are inseparable. Principals’ transformational leadership has been a focus on education for over a decade because of the crucial role it plays in influencing the performance of teachers and students. There is a call for principals who are more transformational and less transactional. Prior research has established that principals who adopt the transformational leadership style can motivate their teachers to ensure the higher academic achievement of students. Nonetheless, there is limited study on the relationship between the transformational leadership styles of principals and teacher motivation in most developing countries such as Ghana. Using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 6S), this study investigates the four dimensions of transformational leadership; idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration of teacher motivation in some selected basic schools in Eastern Region, Ghana. Findings indicate that although principals self-reported higher transformational leadership style, it had no significant relationship with teacher motivation. Three of the four dimensions of transformational leadership negatively correlated with teacher motivation (“idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation). Teachers also reported low motivation. Further analysis revealed that principals equally practiced the transactional leadership style and less of the laissez-faire leadership style. The laissezfaire leadership style negatively correlated with teacher motivation. School administrators are encouraged to organize more leadership training programs for principals, and ensure teachers are adequately motivated to improve the academic performance of students. Key-words: transformational leadership; teacher motivation; leadership; job satisfaction; academic performance. a Southwest University (China). Correspondence: Michael Agyemang Adarkwah, College of Education, 15th Floor, BRCIC Building, Tongchuan Road No.216, Licang District, Qingdao, 266061 Shandong, P.R. China. adarkwahmichael1@gmail.com. 0000-0001-82018965 Michael Agyemang Adarkwah, & Yu Zeyuan. International Journal of Educational Excellence (2020) Vol. 6, No. 2, 15-46. ISSN 2373-5929. DOI: 10.18562/IJEE.056