Leadership in hierarchy: The role of head teachers in shaping organizational power distance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71085/rjhsa.04.03.88Keywords:
Instructional Leadership, Power Distance, Secondary Schools, Punjab, PakistanAbstract
The present study aimed at examining the effect of head teachers' leadership practices on the power distance in the organization of public secondary schools of Punjab, Pakistan. The high power distance and downward communication in public schools reflect a centralized bureaucratic structure. A multistage stratified random sampling technique was used to collect data with 1214 respondents (309 head teachers and 905 SSTs) from three districts (Rawalpindi, Sahiwal and Bahawalpur). The instruments used for data collection were standardized instruments, namely the Instructional Leadership Questionnaire (ILQ) and the Power Distance Scale (PDS). Descriptive data, Pearson correlation, simple linear regression, independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were used for data analysis. Results indicated that there was a moderate, statistically significant negative relationship (r = -.48, p < .01) between instructional leadership practices and organizational power distance. Regression analysis showed that leadership practices significantly predicted and contributed to 23% of the variance in organizational power distance (R2 = .23, p < .001). The independent samples ttest revealed no significant difference in teachers' perceptions with regard to gender (t = 1.42, p = .155), while one-way ANOVA results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in teachers' perceptions in terms of geographical districts (F = 5.14, p = .006) and professional experience brackets (F = 6.28, p = .002). The results indicate that organizational power distance is neither a fixed cultural trait, but a dynamic construct that can be actively reduced by the use of collaborative, participative and context-sensitive leadership behaviors.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Amanullah, Hafiz Muhammad Arshad, Khalid Saleem (Author)
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