The impact of participative and directive leadership on teachers' performance: The intervening effects of job structuring, decision domain, and leader-member exchange

Purpose: The contingency model theory suggests that the effects of a leadership style cannot be studied without explicit attention to the given situation. Accordingly, the authors propose a model that allows them to examine simultaneously the relative impact of participative leadership and directive leadership on teachers' performance through the intervening effects of three factors: job structuring (bureaucratic job structuring vs. person-job integration), decision domain (technical vs. managerial), and leader-member exchange (LMX). Method: Data were collected from a survey of 100 teachers and their principals at seven elementary schools in northern Israel. Results: The mixed models analysis shows that although the impact of directive leadership on teachers' performance was contingent in nature, the positive effect of participative leadership on their performance was above and beyond the specific conditions studied. Regarding the impact of directive leadership on teachers' performance, job structuring, decision domain, and LMX served as moderators in the directive leadership-teachers' performance relationship. Implications: These results offer a basis for ongoing conceptual development by helping researchers and practitioners to move from an either/or to a both/and leadership approach. Moreover, these interpretations take direction and participation to be interpersonal processes rather than stable personality traits.