An Impact of Principals’ Leadership Styles (Transformational, Autocratic, Democratic, and Empowering Leadership) on School Climate in Tamil Vernacular Schools in West Malaysia

Abstract

School climate in Malaysian Tamil Primary schools (SJKT) and the role of principal leadership in shaping this institutional outcome require careful examination. This study investigated the impact of principals’ leadership styles, namely transformational, autocratic, democratic, and empowering leadership, on school climate in SJKT schools across West Malaysia. The study is grounded in Tagiuri and Litwin’s (1968) Organisational Climate Theory and Coleman’s (1988) Social Capital Theory. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was adopted. Using equal stratified random sampling, 400 teachers were selected from 40 SJKT schools across five states in West Malaysia, from a target population of 8,707 SJKT teachers. A questionnaire measuring principal leadership styles (34 items) and school climate (15 items) was used to collect the quantitative data. Before the actual study, a pilot test was conducted among 40 SJKT teachers to confirm reliability and validity. Cronbach’s Alpha values ranged from 0.708 to 0.948, confirming acceptable to excellent reliability. Content validity was established through expert review, while construct validity was confirmed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis with all factor loadings exceeding 0.40. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 27, incorporating Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed significant positive relationships between all four leadership styles and school climate. Empowering leadership was the strongest predictor of school climate, followed by democratic leadership and autocratic leadership. Transformational leadership did not emerge as an independent significant predictor when all four styles were entered together.