Influence of Principals’ Servant Leadership Style on Teachers’ Levels of Job Commitment in Public Secondary Schools in Kitui County, Kenya.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of principals’ servant leadership style on teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Kitui County.  The study was guided by Servant Leadership Theory developed by Green Leaf  (1970). This study employed convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Research Design whereby descriptive and phenomenology research designs were used. The target population was 410 public secondary schools translating to 410 principals, 410 deputy principals and 2417 teachers. Taro Yamane formula at was used to get a sample of 243 schools. Stratified proportionate sampling was used to ensure that all school categories were included in the study.  The principals in these schools were automatically included in the study hence purposive sampling. The formula was also used to get a sample of 343 teachers that were randomly selected using simple random sampling with equal consideration of gender. . This was to ensure that all teachers had equal chances of participating in the study.  41 public secondary school deputy principals were too purposively sampled owing to their experience of working closer to the principals and as co- administrators.  Data was analysed using SPSS Version 28. A pilot was conducted to test the validity and reliability of research instruments. The statistics included descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (regression, and Analysis of Variance). Findings were presented in graphs, tables, and in narratives.  Results show that;  servant leadership has a strong effect on affective commitment (M = 3.89, SD = 1.23, F(4,304) = 5.269, p = .000) and  a strong impact on continuance commitment  (M = 4.19, SD = 0.90, F(4,304) = 4.922, p = .001). Results further show that servant leadership does not significantly impact normative commitment (M = 2.03, SD = 1.05, F (4,304) = 1.107, p = .353). Therefore servant leadership was highly associated with  affective commitment and continuance commitment   while  it  had a low association with normative commitment . The study recommends that; the Ministry of Education and Kenya School of Government should integrate servant leadership principles into principal training programmes. The principals should allow flexibility in workloads to prevent teacher burnout and promote overall well-being. The principals should show genuine interest in teachers' opinions and personal challenges by maintaining eye contact, nodding, and responding thoughtfully. They should also offer encouragement and solutions rather than criticism when addressing teacher performance and provide guidance that helps teachers improve rather than criticizing them. By implementing these practices, principals can create a supportive and nurturing school environment where teachers feel valued, motivated, and committed to their work.

Key words: Servant leadership, affective commitment, continuance commitment, normative commitment

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/16-5-09

Publication date: May 30^th 2025