Situational Leadership and the Influence on Employee Work Engagement in China's K-12 Public Schools

Abstract

The homogenization of educational leadership styles raises the question of whether there is a single best leadership style or whether flexibility and adaptability of leadership styles are more effective, becoming a topic worthy of study in leadership science. Previous existing research purported that a situational leadership approach influenced employees' work satisfaction, self-efficacy, and job performance without taking gender into account, and there was a particular deficiency in the implementation of situational leadership in Chinese K-12 public schools. Therefore, the purpose of this research study was to examine the relationships between the use of situational leadership, any effects on employee work engagement, and influences of gender in Chinese K-12 public schools.

In this quantitative study, situational leadership non-self-assessment and the Utrecht work engagement scale surveys were used to determine the level of teacher work engagement and the leaders’ use of situational leadership respectively. Leader’s self-assessment of situational leadership level was tested by situational leadership II survey. Findings indicated that the use of situational leadership was a successful leadership style regardless of the gender of the teachers. A statistically significant correlation was found between (a) teachers' work engagement and leaders' use of situational leadership; (b) teacher’s gender and age, and work engagement; (c) the gender of teachers and their impressions of the leadership style of their leaders; and (d) gender, age, the position of the leader, and the use of situational leadership, were strongly associated.

The level of use of situational leadership was related to teachers' work engagement and the leader's personality (e.g., gender, position, and age) and was not related to the teacher's personality (e.g., gender and age). In order for the leadership model to be universally applicable and effective in China, it needs to be interpreted, analyzed, and implemented in different ways in the future. This study provides a theoretical foundation for the development of leadership and teacher engagement in Chinese K-12 public schools and offers recommendations for policymakers, decision makers, educators, and principals to improve leadership effectiveness and teacher’s work engagement.