The Mediating Role of Social Motivation on the Relationship between School Leadership and Social Justice

Abstract

This research aims to examine the relationship between school leadership, social motivation and social justice based on perceptions of the teachers at public schools and to reveal whether the perceived social motivation of the teachers have a mediating role in this relationship. 1222 teachers at public schools in Pendik district of Istanbul province in 2022-2023 academic year who were selected using the stratified sampling method based on the number of teachers per school grades participated in the study. In this quantitative study, School Leadership Scale for measuring teachers’ perceptions regarding school principals’ leadership behaviors, Social Motivation Scale for measuring participants’ perceptions regarding social motivation, and Social Justice Scale for measuring participants’ perceptions regarding social justice were used. Pearson correlation analysis, Independent sample t-test and structural equation model were used for descriptive analyses. Finally, whether the direct and indirect effects obtained in the structural equation model are significant was examined by bootstrapping analysis. The results of the research showed significant relationships between teachers’ perceptions of school leadership, social motivation, social justice besides social motivation’s mediating role on the relationship between school leadership and social justice. Finally, the findings obtained in the research were discussed in line with the relevant literature and suggestions were presented.