Examining Transformational Leadership and Teachers’ Job Commitment in Banja Woreda Secondary Schools, Ethiopia

Abstract

Leadership is a key to school’s success because it shapes employees’ behavior and their commitment to their work. Among different leadership theories, transformational leadership stands out for its focus on inspiring and motivating people to work toward common goals. This study aimed to examine the extent to which transformational leadership is practiced, the level of teachers’ job commitment, and the relationship between these variables. A convergent mixed-methods design integrating descriptive and correlational type was used. Data were collected concurrently from 38 purposively selected school leaders and 138 teachers included through comprehensive sampling. Questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions were employed to ensure data triangulation. For quantitative data, one-sample t -tests, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple linear regressions were used. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed. The results showed that school leaders practice transformational leadership to a considerable degree, and teachers are highly committed to their jobs. The study found that all four key aspects of transformational leadership had a positive and statistically meaningful relationship to teachers’ job commitment ( p < .05). Together they explained more than half (51.5%) of the differences in teacher commitment levels ( R 2 = .515). Hence, the study contributes to the theoretical understanding of how transformational leadership influences teacher commitment in secondary schools. This suggests that strengthening transformational leadership that fit the specific environment can help boost teacher commitment. It is also recommended to conduct further investigation into other factors that might influence teacher commitment in similar school settings.