Organizational leaders globally faced complexity as they responded to the hardships of operating through COVID-19. The schools were not exempt from this unprecedented scenario. The quick transition to virtual classrooms further stressed school teachers even as they battled with COVID-19. These teachers needed a compassionate leader who could lead them during the crisis. With teacher stress at a record high, compassionate leadership becomes essential for navigating challenging times like this. Regarding compassionate leadership in school organizations, researchers have not yet completely studied its theoretical and empirical links with teacher attitudes and behaviours. While there is growing evidence on the impact of compassionate leadership, the literature is sparse on the process by which compassionate principals influence teachers’ work attitudes and behaviours. Consequently, based on trust, positive emotions, and self-efficacy theories, we present a broader conceptual model to understand the process of compassionate leadership. Primarily, we investigate the associations between compassionate leadership and teachers' work attitudes such as resilience, work engagement and psychological well-being, and job performance. This study among school teachers (n= 496) tested the conceptual model and the results of statistical analysis showed that school principals’ compassionate leadership is positively related to teachers’ resilience, work engagement, psychological well-being, and job performance. The findings emphasize the crucial role of compassionate leadership in the workplace and suggest it should be developed by school principals and other educational decision-makers. Finally, we suggest future research directions and implications for organizational and school leadership in times of crisis.

Authors:
Richard Marcel I, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India
Kamalanabhan T J, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India

About the Presenter(s)
Mr RICHARD MARCEL I is a University Doctoral Student at Indian Institute of Technology Madras in India

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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