PRINCIPALS’ COMMUNICATION STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF TEACHERS’ JOB COMMITMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The study examined  principals’ communication styles as predictors of teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The  hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Correlational research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised 5,552 respondents made up of 266 principals and 5,286 teachers in the 266 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The sample for this study consisted of 660 respondents made up of and 135 principals and 528 teachers drawn using multi stage sampling technique. Two sets of questionnaires titled: ‘‘Communication Styles Questionnaire (CSQ)’’ and ‘‘Teachers’ Job Commitment Scale (TJCS)’’ were used for data collection. The face and construct validity of the instruments were established by experts.  The internal consistencies of the instruments were determined using Cronbach Alpha which yielded average reliability indices of 0.80.  Simple regression was used to answer research questions and test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed among others that principals’ assertive communication style is a strong and a significant predictor of teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Anambra State. The result of the study showed that principals’ aggressive communication style is a weak predictor of teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Anambra State.  The study also revealed that principals’ passive communication style is a moderate and significant predictor of teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Principals should apply more of assertive communication style by expressing their feelings comfortably without denying the rights of staff to improve the job commitment of teachers. Government should organize seminars for principals to enable them acquire skills of controlling their use of aggressive communication style by having regard for the ideas and feelings of teachers which could motivate them to exhibit high job commitment. School principals should control the use of passive communication style by sharing their real opinions of school affairs and ultimately stand up for them to earn the right of teachers, thereby improve their job commitment.