Discernment as predictor for transformational leadership: a study of school leaders in Catholic schools in India

ABSTRACT Transformational leaders are leaders who ‘transform and inspire followers to perform beyond expectations while transcending self-interest for the good of the organisation’. ‘Discernment’ is defined as the individual and communal practice of decision-making that is oriented on the future (educational aims), conditioned by the personal qualities of leaders (purity of heart), and which emphasises teleological ethics as source of reliance. In line with this concept, a scale of discernment was constructed and tested in a research study on 198 leaders of the Catholic schools of Don Bosco in India. Transformational leadership was measured with an existing scale which is part of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The results show that discernment (as measured) is the strongest predictor of transformational leadership, while controlling for background variables (such as age, gender, religious background, leadership position, type of school, and private or government-aided schools).