A Study Examining the Effects of Transformational Leadership Behaviors on the Factors of Teaching Efficacy, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment as Perceived by Special Education Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether transformational leadership behaviors were significantly related to the variables of teaching efficacy, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment as perceived by special education teachers. One hundred twenty-one special education teachers from region seven of the Commonwealth of Virginia completed surveys for this study. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that administrative support was the transformational leadership behavior most frequently recognized by participants of this study. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that administrative support was significantly related to the factors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, administrative support was not significantly related to teachers' sense of teaching efficacy. Teaching efficacy did share a significant relationship with teachers' job satisfaction. This finding suggests that the higher teachers report their perceived their sense of teaching efficacy, the higher they report their level of job satisfaction. The highest correlation in this study was between the factors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. These findings suggest that as special education teachers' perceptions of administrative support increases, so do their levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment; thereby increasing the likelihood that special education teachers will remain in their current teaching positions.