Cultivating teacher innovativeness through transformational leadership and teacher agency in schools: the moderating role of teacher trust

作者：Mahmut Polatcan, Pınar Özkan, M. Bellibaş · 发表于：Journal of Professional Capital and Community · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1108/jpcc-01-2024-0008 · 被引用次数：27

PurposeThis paper explores the relationship between transformational principal leadership and individual teacher innovativeness, considering the mediating role of teacher agency (TA) and the moderating role of teacher trust (TT).Design/methodology/approachWe employed structural equation modeling (SEM) using survey data collected from 676 teachers at 25 schools in Turkey.FindingsThe results indicated no direct correlation between transformational leadership (TL) and teacher innovativeness but revealed a significant and positive association between TL and teachers' agency, as well as between teachers' agency and innovativeness, suggesting that TA fully mediates the association between TL and teacher innovativeness. Additionally, teachers' trust positively influenced the link between principal leadership and teachers' innovativeness, with the impact of TL on teachers' innovativeness being stronger when trust levels were higher.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the literature, providing an understanding of the mechanisms through which leadership can exert an influence on teacher innovativeness.Practical implicationsThis study also suggests that the strength of the influence is likely to vary under different circumstances. Trust among teachers appears to play a key role in the effect of school leadership on teachers, particularly when aiming to support and sustain innovativeness.Social implicationsTrust-based relationships within a school are essential for...