Exploring the Influence of Principals' Servant Leadership Characteristics on Teachers Job Satisfaction in the Government asecondary School of Hawassa City Administration

Year 2025, Volume: 10 Issue: 2, 447 - 483, 30.06.2025

Adugna Amenu , Habtamu Gezahegn , Anteneh Wasyhun

https://doi.org/10.30828/real.1569917

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of principals’ servant leadership characteristics on teachers’ job satisfaction. To achieve this purpose, the phenomenological qualitative research design was employed. The study was conducted in two government secondary schools, where 14 teachers and 4 principals were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed thematically. The findings identified servant leaders’ qualities, including giving first place for others, serving others’ needs, supporting personal and social issues, showing humility, being a role model, and being open, honest, and ethical. The findings further underscored the characteristics of servant leadership that were exhibited by school principals. The teachers feel satisfied when their principals exhibit servant leadership characteristics, such as conceptualization, emotional healing, creating value for the community, putting followers first, helping subordinates grow and succeed, empowering, and behaving ethically. This revealed that principals' servant leadership characteristics are critical that help to enhance teachers' job satisfaction. The study highlights that school principals should be aware of and practice all servant leadership characteristics to enhance teachers’ job satisfaction. Future research should consider expanding the scope to other regions, primary schools, and private schools

Keywords

Job satisfaction , Principals , Servant leadership , Teachers

Ethical Statement

Data collection for this study adhered to the ethical principles specified in the Hawassa University Ethical Guidelines for Human Subjects. Therefore, approval for the study protocol was granted by the Research Ethics Review Committee (RERC) of the College Education of Hawassa University under reference number [COE-RECC-10/23]. All participants provided written informed consent for this study.

Supporting Institution

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Thanks

The researchers would like to express their heartfelt appreciation to all individuals and organizations whose contributions were integral to the successful completion of this study.

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