Leader Member Exchange as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Schools’ Openness to Change and Political Skills of School Principals

Abstract

In today’s competitive and complex environment, school leaders require social influencing skills to mobilize schools to enable them to adapt to change. The schools’ openness to change (SOC) is affected by the direction and strength of relationships between teachers and principals in the school. In particular, the political skills of school principals can play a prominent role in mobilizing employees for change. This research investigates the impact of school principals’ political skills on schools’ openness to change, with a focus on the mediating role of leader member exchange (LMX) quality. The sample group was obtained by simple random sampling from 613 state teachers working in the Kocaeli province in Turkey in the 2019 to 2020 academic year. This study is based on quantitative data collected through the “Leader-Member Exchange Scale,”“Schools’ Openness to Change Scale,” and “Political Skill Inventory.” The measurement models of the latent variables (political skill, LMX, and SOC) were confirmed via running Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Afterward, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the structural model. The results reveal that the political skills of school principals significantly predict the SOC and the LMX. Political skills of school principals affect schools’ openness to change positively, and leader-member exchange positively effects the relationship between political skills and openness to change. It’s recommended that activities supporting the quality of leader member interactions in schools be carried out.