Communication Competency of School Principals

What is it about?

This paper describes the development and validation of a standardized measure for communication competency of school principals. It is based on a theoretical framework with LMX as a communication-based approach to leadership and an interpersonal communication process model. Design/Methodology: communication competency was conceptualized as a 3-dimensional construct. Five studies were conducted with German teachers and school principals from all types of schools (total N=1649): selection of items via expert ratings, exploring the dimensionality, cross-validation of the structure, test-retest-reliability, external validity. Results: Analyses led to a 3-factor solution - Altercentrism, Knowledge and Willingness to Communicate, Self-Regulation - with 14 items and good internal consistencies. CFA, exploring the nomological network, and invariance measurement supported construct validity. Limitations: Empirical studies still have to be conducted to evaluate the application in other leader - follower contexts apart from school.

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Why is it important?

Leader-follower communication plays an important role in all organizations. However, research on school leadership did not focus on communication competency and its impact on school quality (e.g. on teachers' commitment, job satisfaction) so far; there is a striking lack of theory and empirical data. For the first time, this paper explicitly combines the concepts of communication competency and leadership in schools and provides a measure within a theoretical framework to assess principals' communication competency. Such a valid instrument is the prerequisite for further investigating the importance of communication competency in the context of (school) leadership.

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