Authentic Leadership and Teacher Voice in Decision-Making: A Quantitative Study of Secondary School Teachers in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between authentic leadership and teacher voice behaviours in secondary schools of Punjab, Pakistan. The data were collected from 312 classroom teachers of twenty-four (24) secondary schools using the quantitative cross sectional survey design. Simple linear regression, hierarchical regression, independent samples t-tests, and moderated regression analyses were applied. Results showed that there was a strong positive correlation between authentic leadership and teacher. Promotive voice was most strongly predicted by the individual subscale of self-awareness and relational transparency. Authentic leadership–voice relationship was significantly moderated by psychological safety, and the relationship was much stronger when psychological safety was high. The relationship was also significantly influenced by sector of the school (public/private), by gender, and by teaching experience. The findings offer theoretically defensible and empirically sound support to the role of authentic leadership in fostering teacher voice and have direct implications for teacher leadership development, institutional culture change and Pakistan educational policy and similar settings. A cross-sectional survey design with a quantitative approach was used and a total of 312 classroom teachers in 24 secondary schools participated in data collection. Five hypotheses were tested using simple linear regression, hierarchical regression, independent samples t-tests and moderated regression analyses.