Transformational leadership effects on teachers’ commitment and effort toward school reform

Abstract

This article examines the effects of transformational school leadership on the commitment of teachers to school reform, and the effort they are willing to devote to such reform. It does so by building on the knowledge from both educational and non‐educational research into such effects. A model of such effects is tested using two approximately comparable sets of data collected from samples of Canadian and Dutch teachers. Structural equation modeling is applied to test the model within each data set. Results of the Canadian and Dutch studies are then compared. The findings show transformational leadership dimensions to affect both teachers’ commitment and extra effort. The effects of the dimension's vision building and intellectual stimulation appear to be significant in particular. Overall, the findings clearly indicate the importance of analyzing dimensions of transformational leadership for their separate effects on teacher commitment and extra effort within the context of educational reform.