Principals’ Supportive Leadership Style and Motivation of Teachers in Public Secondary Schools in Nyamira and Siaya Counties, Kenya

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of supportive leadership style on motivation of teachers in public secondary schools in Nyamira and Siaya counties, Kenya. Correlation research design was adopted. The target population of the study was 371 principals, 3,166 teachers and 2 TSC county directors. Simple random sampling was used to select both schools and participants in the study. The study utilized Path Goal theory which supports supportive leadership styles. Data was collected using Leadership Questionnaire for Principals (LQFP), Motivation Questionnaire for Teachers (MQFT), Focus Group Discussion for Teachers (FGDFT) and interview Schedules for TSC county directors. Piloting of the instruments was done in six randomly selected public secondary schools. Instrument reliability was done by split-half method followed by Cronbach’s Alpha formula. The principals’ and teachers’ questionnaires gave an average of ? = .70 which met the threshold of adequate consistency. Instrument validity was determined through appraisals of experts. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically while quantitative data was analyzed employing descriptive and inferential statistics. Data analyzed was presented using tables, frequencies and percentages. The study established that supportive leadership styles had a high positive correlation 0.718 with 50.57 % respondents deeming it most influential. It was therefore concluded that the teachers in public secondary schools in these two counties of Nyamira and Siaya prefer a supportive oriented styles of leadership. Supportive leadership style was the strongest predictor as indicated by its estimated standardized regression weight (? = 0.406, p<0.000). The estimated standardized regression weights show the relative importance of supportive leadership style predictor in the model. This predictor accounts for about 26% of the variance in teacher motivation in both Nyamira and Siaya counties (R2 = 0.269). Based on these findings it was concluded that the teachers in public secondary schools in both Nyamira and Siaya counties prefer a supportive oriented style of leadership.