The Influence of Principals’ Leadership Styles on Secondary School Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the influence of Principals’ leadership styles on secondary school
teachers’ job satisfaction in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State, Nigeria. The design of the study was a
descriptive survey design. By application of stratified random sampling technique, a total of 28 public
secondary schools were drawn from three Local Government Areas in the zone. Some 280 classroom
teachers (10 from each school) were used as respondents for the study. In an attempt to focus the study,
three research questions were posed and one null hypothesis was formulated and tested. The instrument
for the study was a four-point likert type questionnaire. Answers to the research questions were analyzed
using mean and standard deviation while t-test was used to verify the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of
significance. The results revealed that the principals adopted three leadership styles in their administration
namely; autocratic laissez faire and democratic according to their dominance. Teachers irrespective of
gender agreed that only democratic leadership enhances their job satisfaction. Recommendations include
promotion of in-service training on the application of appropriate leadership styles for principals while
teachers should be allowed to participate in decision making.