Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study extends our understanding of the relationship between ethical leadership and employee work engagement, by exploring self-efficacy as an important mediating variable. In addition, we propose that the quality of LMX moderates the relationships such that the direct and indirect relationships between ethical leadership, self-efficacy, and work engagement are stronger when the quality of LMX is high. Data collected in two-waves from 373 respondents working in different manufacturing organizations of Pakistan supported our hypothesized theoretical (...) model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

The recent emergence of distributed leadership has been very marked. In England, it has received official endorsement. But the evidence-base which supports this endorsement is weak: there is little evidence of a direct causal relationship between distributed leadership and pupil attainment. What therefore might explain its rise to prominence? Here three possible explanations are considered: first, it accords with the contemporary reform of the public services; second, it is legitimated by an appeal to a culture wherein all categories and classifications (...) are rendered increasingly permeable; and third, it is regarded as functional for the 'new work order'. (shrink)

The main purpose of this study was to map school leaders? perceptions concerning the cooperation of the leadership team, the distribution of leadership functions and participative decision?making, and to asses their relative weight in terms of predicting school leaders? job satisfaction. Also, the effect of demographical and structural school variables (i.e. seniority, job experience, school size, size of the leadership team, school type) on school leaders? job satisfaction was examined. A sample of 130 school leaders of 46 large secondary schools (...) completed a self?report questionnaire. The study results indicated that school leaders are highly satisfied with their job. Multiple regression analysis revealed that job satisfaction was significantly related to the cooperation of the leadership team and the school type. The amount of formal distribution of leadership functions and participative decision?making of teachers in the school policy did not have a significant influence on school leaders? job satisfaction. (shrink)

Educational Leadership is a major research book on contemporary leadership challenges for educational leaders. In this groundbreaking new work, educational leaders in schools, including teachers, are provided with ways of analysing and resolving common but complex leadership challenges. Ethical tensions inherent in these challenges are identified; tools for their analysis presented and explained; and clear and practitioner-focused guidelines for ethical decision making, in the form of ten practical steps, recommended. Included in this discussion is a jargon-free description and explanation of (...) ethical theories and principles. Written by a leading researcher in the field, and recipient of the Australian Council for Educational Leadership Gold Medal for excellence, Educational Leadership: Key Challenges and Ethical Tensions is an important book that provides a practical framework for analysing ethical tensions and presenting, explaining, and applying ethical concepts and theories to real-life situations in practitioner language. (shrink)

The purpose of the present study is the investigation of distributed leadership agency. DLA is an activity-based concept, which is defined as employees’ active participation in leadership tasks. By combining a descriptive and a normative approach DLA has the potential of real employee empowerment. It can protect from arbitrary managerial power and lead to employees’ personal development through sharing organizational resources, influencing leadership activities and joint decision making in companies. The study examines individually perceived autonomy as an antecedent and employees’ (...) occupational self-efficacy as an outcome of DLA over time. Furthermore, the study tests the mediating role of DLA on the autonomy – self-efficacy relationship. The two-wave study applied an online survey in a Danish municipality with a time lag of seven months. We used regression analyses for testing the cross-sectional as well as cross-lagged relationships and an autoregressive model for analyzing the half-longitudinal mediation. The results revealed a significant positive effect of DLA on employees’ occupational self-efficacy cross-sectionally at Time 1 and Time 2, as well as cross-lagged. The cross-sectional and cross-lagged findings also support a significant positive impact of autonomy on DLA. However, DLA only mediated the autonomy–self-efficacy relationship cross-sectionally, but not over time. Computed alternative causal models corroborate the proposed direction of our hypothesized relationships. These results provide first evidence that structural features such as autonomy are timely prior to action-related behavior, and that participating in leadership tasks enhances employees’ occupational self-efficacy. (shrink)