Abstract:
The research focused on the relationship between school culture and leadership styles of
principals in public secondary schools of Gode City Administration, Somali Regional State,
Ethiopia. Using a mixed-methods descriptive survey design, the study collected data from 99
participants, including 90 teachers (census method), 6 principals, and 3 supervisors (purposive
sampling). The quantitative data was collected using modified forms of the School Culture
Survey (Gruenert & Valentine, 1998) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass &
Avolio, 1997), while the qualitative data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The
reliability analysis showed Cronbach alpha coefficients between 0.699 and 0.935 for all
dimensions of the instruments. The descriptive statistics showed that the transactional leadership
style was the most dominant style among the principals (M = 3.97, SD = 0.908), followed by
transformational leadership (M = 3.84, SD = 1.08), and the least dominant was the laissez-faire
leadership style (M = 3.39, SD = 0.999). The school culture was moderately positive on the five
dimensions, with the highest score on professional development (M = 4.21, SD = 0.808) and the
lowest score on learning partnership (M = 3.74, SD = 0.942). The Pearson correlation analysis
showed that there were positive correlations between transformational leadership and
professional development (r = .858, p < .01), learning partnership (r = .682, p < .01), teacher
collaboration (r = .483, p < .01), and collegial support (r = .301, p < .01). The transactional
leadership style was moderately positively correlated with teacher collaboration (r = .214, p <
.05), unity of purpose (r = .288, p < .01), and professional development (r = .295, p < .01). The
laissez-faire leadership style was not significantly correlated with any of the five dimensions of
school culture (all p > .05). Qualitative results support that transformational leaders are
innovators and builders of partnerships, while transactional leaders are providers of structure
and accountability. The findings of this study support that a complementary integration of both
leadership styles is the most effective way to improve school culture, while passive leadership
has little impact. The major challenges facing this school are teachers who are not adequately
qualified (64.7% have qualifications below first-degree level), geographical remoteness, and lack of communication between parents and teachers.
