Influence of Rural Arizona Principals' Transformational Leadership on Teachers' Organizational Commitment: Teachers' Perspectives

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how rural Arizona teachers describe the influence of their school principals' transformational leadership styles on teachers' organizational commitment in rural Arizona schools. The theoretical foundation for this study was transformational leadership theory. The research questions that guided this study included, "How do rural Arizona teachers describe the influence of their school principals' transformational leadership style of intellectual stimulation on teachers' organizational commitment?" and "How do rural Arizona teachers describe the influence of their school principals' transformational leadership style of inspirational motivation on teachers' organizational commitment?" Data collection consisted of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Thirty rural Arizona teachers participated in the questionnaire and 12 individuals from the same group participated in the semi-structured interviews. The researcher found three themes from the thematic analysis of the questionnaire and the interview open-ended questions: (a) primary style, influence, and value of principal transformational leadership on teachers' organizational commitment; (b) primary value and influence of principal's intellectual stimulation on teachers and organization; (c) primary value and influence of principal's inspirational motivation on teachers and organization. Study strengths and weaknesses, as well as directions for future research and study implications, are presented. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]