Emotional reframing as a mediator of the relationships between transformational school leadership and teachers’ motivation and commitment
| Date | 07 August 2017 |
| Pages | 450-468 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-07-2016-0072 |
| Published date | 07 August 2017 |
| Author | Izhak Berkovich,Ori Eyal |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
Emotional reframing as a
mediator of the relationships
between transformational school
leadership and teachers’
motivation and commitment
Izhak Berkovich
Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel,
Ra’anana, Israel, and
Ori Eyal
Division of Policy, Administration and Leadership in Education,
The Seymour Fox School of Education,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
Abstract
Purpose –Empirical evidence links transformational school leadership to teachers’autonomous motivation
and affective organizational commitment. Little empirical research, however, has focused on the emotional
mechanisms behind these relations. Following the argument in the literature that transformational leadership
can transform followers’emotions, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether teacher’s experience of
emotional reframing by principal mediates the relationships between transformational school leadership and
these work-related outcomes (i.e. teachers’motivation and commitment).
Design/methodology/approach –Questionnaires were used to collect information from 639 primary school
teachers nested in 69 randomly sampled schools. The data were analyzed using multilevel path analysis software.
Findings –The results indicated that the effect of transformational school leadership behaviors on teachers’
autonomous motivation was fully mediated by emotional reframing, and that the effect of transformational
school leadership on affective organizational commitment was partially mediated by it. The authors further
found an indirect relationship of transformational school leadership with affective organizational
commitment through emotional reframing and autonomous motivation.
Originality/value –The present study makes a unique contribution to the literature by confirming that
teachers’sense of emotional reframing is a key affective mechanism by which school leaders influence
teachers’motivation and commitment.
Keywords Affective organizational commitment, Transformational leadership, Autonomous motivation,
Emotional reframing
Paper type Research paper
Post-bureaucratic governance in modern education systems, particularly in western
countries, challenges school leaders in their attempts to promote schooling, and drives them
to embrace socio-emotional leadership behaviors with the aim of promoting organizational
success (Bush, 2014). One of the most noted leadership models that combines task and
social-emotional-oriented behaviors is transformational leadership (Yukl, 1999).
Transformational leadership has been identified as a highly effective coping strategy of
principals in the current policy environment of schooling that pushes for school change
(Hallinger, 2003). Transformational leadership is said to be specifically designed to create
and facilitate organizational change (Derue et al., 2011, p. 16).
A large number of studies have demonstrated the positive effects of transformational
leadership on followers’workplace attitudes and behaviors (see meta-analyses by
Dumdum et al., 2002; Judge and Piccolo, 2004). Two followers’work-related outcomes in
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 55 No. 5, 2017
pp. 450-468
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-07-2016-0072
Received 1 July 2016
Revised 4 November 2016
10 November 2016
Accepted 14 November 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
450
JEA
55,5
particular have been in the center of leadership literature interest: autonomous motivation,
which is the extent to which an individual pursues a goal out of interest or personal
importance (Bono and Judge, 2003); and affective organizational commitment, which is the
individual’s emotional attachment to the organization and identification with it
(Walumbwa et al., 2004). Empirical works in education confirmed these links between
transformational school leadership and teachers’motivation and commitment, and
emphasized their importance (Eyal and Roth, 2011; Nguni et al., 2006).
Despite prior research focusing on these topics, however, little is empirically known about the
core emotional mechanisms by which transformational leadership behaviors exercise their
influence on followers’subjective work-related attitudes (Gooty et al., 2010). Hence, additional
research of affect-related mediators is required to better understand how transformational
school leadership makes teachers become more motivated and committed. We propose that
teachers’emotional experiences merit special attention since the theoretical literature suggests
that transformational leadership promotes a positive emotional change in followers (Bass, 1985).
Specifically, the present paper focuses on teachers’emotional reframing by principal. Emotional
reframing is a subjective experience of a positive transformation of one’snegativeemotionsasa
result of the encouragement of another social actor to adopt a new viewpoint (Ashforth and
Kreiner, 2002; Williams, 2007). Thus, we focus on emotional reframing, which involves teachers’
cognitive sense making as a product of social construction by principals.
The present study aims to investigate the mediating role that emotional reframing plays
in the relationships between transformational school leadership and teachers’autonomous
motivation and organizational commitment. This argument is based on scholarly claims
that suggest that successful principals shape teachers’motivation and commitment through
their effect on teachers’emotions (Leithwood et al., 2008). According to the literature,
emotional reframing can have a key role in promoting motivation and commitment.
For example, in emotion-focused therapy participants describe the transformation of their
negative emotions to more positive ones as a result of expanding the alternative meanings of
emotion-eliciting events and cultivating a sense of personal agency (Fosha, 2000). In times of
crisis, emotional reframing in manager-employee interactions is said to enhance employees’
sense of integration in the organization (Ashforth and Kreiner, 2002). The theoretical model
that guides the present study is presented in Figure 1.
Transformational
School Leadership
Teacher’s Affective
Organizational
Commitment
Teacher’s Autonomous
Motivation
Teacher’s Emotional
Reframing
Group level (Principal)
Individual level (Teacher)
Note: All the hypothesized relationships are positive
Figure 1.
Proposed model
451
Emotional
reframing as a
mediator
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