Effect of Teachers’ Transformational Leadership on Student Engagement: Self-Efficacy as a Mediator
Abstract
This study aims to explore the effects of transformational leadership exhibited by teachers on student engagement as a mediator of student self-efficacy. The research sample comprised 1,034 students from five Chinese higher vocational education (HVE) colleges, including four public and one private institution. Furthermore, this study delves into the mediating role of self-efficacy in these relationships. We used a quantitative cross-sectional design to gather data through an online survey, which was subsequently analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. This analysis involved descriptive statistics, correlation, regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM). A Bootstrapping technique further examined the mediation effect. The results reveal a notable link between teachers’ transformational leadership behaviors and student engagement, with self-efficacy as a partial mediator. These insights enhance the extant literature by presenting a more holistic understanding of how transformational leadership theory from a business lens is incorporated into the concept of teacher leadership in higher education and its influence on student engagement through the mediating role of self-efficacy. Moreover, the findings furnish crucial insights for educators, practitioners, and policymakers interested in tutor-teacher leadership training programs to amplify teaching quality in HVE colleges.
Keywords: teachers, transformational leadership, students, engagement, self-efficacy.
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