Browsing by Author "Sahala, Ida"

Introduction. The aim of this study was to examine to what extent the intensified job demands and the social support of the work community are related to the self-reported servant leadership of the principals. The framework for the study was Conservation of Resources theory (COR), according to which resources function cumulatively, hence the achievement and maintenance of resources have a wide-ranging impact on the functioning of the individual and the community. Based on the Conservation of Resources theory and previous research literature, the hypothesis was that (H1) intensified job demands are negatively related to the servant leadership of the principals, and (H2) social support is positively related to the servant leadership of the principals. Methods. The data used in the study was part of the Principal Barometer 2022 survey, which focused on Finnish school principal’s occupational well-being. Of the respondents (N=469), 66% were women and 34% were men. The average age of the participants was 51.8 (SD 6.89) years. The data was analysed using hierarchical regression analysis, where the gender of the respondents was also controlled as a background variable. Results. The intensified job demands were positively related to the servant leadership of the principals. These results did not support the hypothesis of the study (H1). Social support of the work community was positively related to servant leadership, thus supporting the (H2) hypothesis. Women report more work intensification as well as social support than men. In the future, it would be necessary to focus more on monitoring the occupational well-being of the principals, as work intensification brings new challenges to organizations, whose connections to well-being are not yet sufficiently known. Since social support at work increases the servant leadership of the principals, it is significant to emphasize social resources in the school community.