Distributed Leadership and Teachers’ Affective Commitment in International Schools

Abstract

This study determines the effects of distributed leadership on teachers’ affective commitment using a partial least square structural equation modelling approach. Using a population of 652 teachers from 10 international schools in Kuala Lumpur, a sample size of 242 was selected using stratified random sampling. However, only 200 questionnaires were used in the analysis. Findings of the study showed that quality and distribution of leadership function, cooperation within the leadership team and teacher participation in decision-making were significantly related to teacher affective commitment but not quality and distribution of supervision. These four dimensions were able to explain 77.3% of the variance in teacher affective commitment. These findings confirmed the importance of distributing leadership to ensure teachers continue to be committed to attain the school goals. Future studies involving a wider range of teacher population and comparison between local and expatriate teachers should be carried out to gain more insights into school leadership in the international schools in Malaysia.