Destructive Leaders in Schools: Can They Be Instructional Leaders?

This study examines destructive leadership and its relationship with instructional leadership. Destructive leadership refers to a leader’s repeated behaviors that prioritize self-serving interests by undermining organizational interest and at the expense of harming subordinates. A total of 154 teachers completed a survey that measured their principals’ destructive and instructional leadership. Results of multiple regression analyses indicate that destructive leadership predicted ineffective instructional leadership. This study called for attention to identifying destructive leaders in school leadership training, hiring, and evaluation.