Kouzes and Posner's transformational leadership model in practice: The case of Jordanian schools

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree to which Kouzes and Posner's Transformational Leadership Model is being practised by Jordanian school principals. Currently, there are both internally and externally increasing pressures on Jordanian schools to enact reform. The empirical literature on leadership has shown that transformational leadership is positively associated with principals' effectiveness in implementing reform agenda. Kouzes and Posner's Transformational Leadership Model provides school principals in Jordon with practical guidance on how to lead, as well as practical suggestions on how to act during reform agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

The research paper is quantitative in nature and was conducted using a survey design. Means, standard deviations, t‐test, and one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were utilized to analyze gained data.

Findings

The findings indicated that Kouzes and Posner's model is being moderately practised by Jordanian school principals. Female teachers and basic schoolteachers more than male teachers and high school teachers identified their principals as transformational. Finally, there were no significant differences among the three experience level groups of teachers in their perceptions of each dimension of Kouzes and Posner's Model.

Originality/value

The paper suggests that more workshops and training courses in Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Model should be conducted in Jordanian schools. Moreover, it is hoped that this research will encourage new projects sponsored by the Jordanian Ministry of Education such as “Discovery Schools” and “School as a Development Unit” to adopt Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Model in their schools.

Citation

Abu‐Tineh, A.M., Khasawneh, S.A. and Al‐Omari, A.A. (2008), "Kouzes and Posner's transformational leadership model in practice: The case of Jordanian schools", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 29 No. 8, pp. 648-660. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730810916613