Research Article

The Relationship Between School Administrators' Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers' Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment

Number: 68 June 28, 2026
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The Relationship Between School Administrators' Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers' Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment

Abstract

This study investigates the mediating influence of organizational commitment and school culture on the relationship between school administrators’ paternalistic leadership behaviors and teachers’ organizational silence. Employing structural equation modeling (SEM), the research examined the hypothesized relationships using data collected from 526 teachers working in public schools in Kastamonu, Türkiye, selected through simple random sampling. The results indicate that school administrators’ paternalistic leadership behaviors exert a positive -though modest- impact on teachers’ organizational commitment and perceptions of school culture. Furthermore, organizational commitment and school culture were found to mediate the reduction of teachers’ organizational silence. The findings also reveal that school culture and organizational commitment mutually reinforce one another, and both have comparable effects on reducing organizational silence. The study enriches the existing literature by empirically demonstrating that when a benevolent paternalistic leadership approach is accompanied by strong organizational commitment and a supportive school culture, teachers’ tendency to remain silent within the organization diminishes.

Keywords

school culture, organizational commitment, organizational silence, paternalistic leadership

References

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APA
Sönmez, A., & Cemaloğlu, N. (2026). The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment. Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 68. https://doi.org/10.53444/deubefd.1826732
AMA
1.Sönmez A, Cemaloğlu N. The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment. Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 2026;(68). doi:10.53444/deubefd.1826732
Chicago
Sönmez, Azmi, and Necati Cemaloğlu. 2026. “The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment”. Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, nos. 68. https://doi.org/10.53444/deubefd.1826732.
EndNote
Sönmez A, Cemaloğlu N (June 1, 2026) The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment. Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi 68
IEEE
[1]A. Sönmez and N. Cemaloğlu, “The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment”, Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 68, June 2026, doi: 10.53444/deubefd.1826732.
ISNAD
Sönmez, Azmi - Cemaloğlu, Necati. “The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment”. Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 68 (June 1, 2026). https://doi.org/10.53444/deubefd.1826732.
JAMA
1.Sönmez A, Cemaloğlu N. The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment. Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 2026. doi:10.53444/deubefd.1826732.
MLA
Sönmez, Azmi, and Necati Cemaloğlu. “The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment”. Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 68, June 2026, doi:10.53444/deubefd.1826732.
Vancouver
1.Azmi Sönmez, Necati Cemaloğlu. The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers’ Levels of Silence: The Mediating Effect of School Culture and Organizational Commitment. Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 2026 Jun. 1;(68). doi:10.53444/deubefd.1826732