Relationships between Political Behaviors of School Principals and Perceived Coworkers’ Social Loafing among Teachers

Abstract

Purpose: This study was carried out to examine the relationships between teachers’ opinions on the political behaviors used by school principals and their perceptions of their coworkers’ social loafing practices. Research Methods: A correlational survey model was used in the study. The population of the study consists of 1948 primary school teachers. The sample of the study consists of 652 primary school teachers. Findings: Teachers’ opinions on school principles’ use of idealized effect, praise and legitimization behaviors is reported to be at the level of “I agree”, but for exchange and pressure behaviors their opinions were at the level of “I neither agree nor disagree”. It is found that teachers’ perceptions coworker social loafing are low. Legitimization and pressure behaviors respectively are statistically significant predictors of teachers’ perceptions of their coworkers’ social loafing. Implications for Research and Practice: Political behaviors used by school principals can be examined through qualitative or mixed methods to obtain detailed information. In order to reduce the social loafing in a given educational organization to minimum, studies can be conducted to determine which precautions should be taken and how motivation levels of teachers can be increased in collaborative work In order to decrease negative results arising from social loafing in educational organizations, it can be suggested that school principals should use legitimization behavior more and pressure behavior less.