Teachers’ perception of principals’ OCB in association with teachers’ performance outcomes

Purpose: This study aimed to examine teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ organisational citizenship behaviours (POCB hereafter), for which a POCB measure was developed, and to examine its association with the teacher performance outcomes: job satisfaction, organisational commitment, intention to leave the job and strain. The study relies on Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory to demonstrate that the principals’ extra-role behaviour is likely to become a modelling role that affects the teacher outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from two groups of teachers, comprising 365 and 246 participants, in 4 stages. Initially, a self-reported questionnaire that assessed the teachers’ perceptions of the principal’s OCB was developed based on interviews with 15 principals (stage 1; POCB). This was followed by an exploratory factor analysis (stage 2; N = 365) and a confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modelling (stage 3; N = 246). Pearson correlations and linear regression analyses were calculated between POCB and the teacher outcomes (stage 4; N = 246). Findings: The POCB measure demonstrated adequate construct validity and emerged as a reliable correlate of teachers’ outcomes. POCB was positively associated with job satisfaction and organisational commitment and negatively associated with intention to leave the job and strain and emerged as a predictor of these teachers’ outcomes, regardless of their characteristics. Originality/value: The study provides evidence that teachers perceive POCB as an important behaviour for improving teacher outcomes. The results suggest the significance of principals’ extra-role behaviour in enhancing teachers’ job-related attitudes and have implications for educational principalship practices.