Cultivating Principals’ Sense of Efficacy: Supports That Matter

This paper reports on a study to identify supportive elements associated with stronger principal self-efficacy beliefs in schools, that is, a principal’s self-perception of his or her leadership capability. The participants were 558 principals in Virginia who completed mailed surveys of the 18-item Principal Sense of Efficacy Scale (PSES) as well as questions which focused on demographics, preparation, school context, and perceptions of interpersonal support. Bivariate correlational analysis and multiple regression demonstrated that, by-and-large, demographic and school context variables were not strong predictors of principals’ self-efficacy beliefs, while perceptions of the quality and utility of their preparation and the interpersonal support received from others played much larger roles. Implications for practice suggest the need for the cultivation of self-efficacy beliefs in principal preparation and interpersonal support of practicing school leaders from both colleague and client audiences, with an understanding of the reciprocating causative nature of such support. These findings also suggest that principals’ selfefficacy is a promising new construct that warrants future investigation. Cultivating Principals’ Sense of Efficacy 3 Cultivating Principals’ Sense of Efficacy: Supports That Matter Good principals are widely acknowledged as the cornerstones of good schools; without a principal’s leadership, efforts to raise student achievement in a school are unlikely to succeed. The principal is a key agent at the school level. He or she sets the tone and direction for the school, initiates change, provides expertise, marshals resources, unifies partners, and maintains effort. The job is complex and demanding, requiring a depth of professional knowledge, an array of skills, and particular beliefs or dispositions about how and why to act (Council of Chief State School Officers, 1996). Social cognitive theory proposes that central to marshaling this array of abilities is the principal’s own sense of efficacy–that is, a principal’s determination of his or her own effectiveness at a given task or set of tasks, considering his or her own capabilities and experiences, as well as the context in which he or she is working (Bandura, 1997). Principal selfefficacy is a promising, but largely unexplored, construct for understanding principal motivation and behavior. This paper reports on a study to identify supportive elements associated with strengthening principal self-efficacy beliefs. Theoretical Framework A principal’s sense of efficacy is a judgment of his or her capabilities to structure a particular course of action in order to produce desired outcomes in the school he or she leads (Bandura, 1997). It is a principal’s self-perceived capability to perform the cognitive and behavioral functions necessary to regulate group processes in relation to goal achievement (McCormick, 2001, p. 30). A principal’s self-efficacy beliefs have a significant impact on his or her level of aspiration and goal-setting, effort, adaptability, and persistence (Bandura, 1986; Gist & Mitchell, 1992). Bandura (2000) explained that, “when faced with obstacles, setbacks, and Cultivating Principals’ Sense of Efficacy 4 failures, those who doubt their capabilities slacken their efforts, give up, or settle for mediocre solutions. Those who have a strong belief in their capabilities redouble their efforts to master the challenge” (p. 120). Self-efficacy beliefs affect the development of functional leadership strategies and the skillful execution of those strategies (McCormick, 2001). The role of self-efficacy beliefs in effective leadership is multifaceted. Perceived selfefficacy has been found to influence analytic strategies, direction-setting, and subsequent organizational performance of managers (Paglis & Green, 2002; Wood & Bandura, 1989). A robust sense of efficacy is necessary to sustain the productive attentional focus and persistent effort needed to succeed at organizational goals (Wood & Bandura, 1989). As school leaders, principals must facilitate group goal attainment by establishing and maintaining an environment favorable to group performance. Drawing the connection between social cognitive theory and leadership, McCormick (2001) noted that, “Successful leadership involves using social influence processes to organize, direct, and motivate the actions of others. It requires persistent task-directed effort, effective task strategies, and the artful application of various conceptual, technical, and interpersonal skills” (p. 28). Leadership self-efficacy has been related to performance evaluations by observers in both leadership simulations and in ratings by peers and superiors in actual work settings (Chemers, Watson, & May, 2000; Paglis & Green). In these studies, the self-efficacy beliefs of leaders were also shown to impact the attitude and performance of followers. Leaders’ perceived self-efficacy beliefs were related to subordinates’ performance abilities, as well as to success at gaining followers’ commitment to the task. The self-efficacy of organizational leaders has also been shown to mediate employee’s engagement with their work and to overcoming obstacles to change (Luthans & Peterson, 2002). Cultivating Principals’ Sense of Efficacy 5 Self-efficacy is a cognitive construct that is task and context specific (Bandura, 1977). Currently, empirical studies of principal’s sense of efficacy are few; nevertheless, the results are enticing. Principals with a strong sense of self-efficacy have been found to be persistent in pursuing their goals but are also more flexible and more willing to adapt their strategies based on contextual conditions. They view change as a slow process. They are steadfast in their efforts to achieve their goals, but they do not persist in unsuccessful strategies (Osterman & Sullivan, 1996). Confronted with problems, principals with a high sense of self-efficacy do not interpret their inability to solve the problems immediately as failure. They regulate their personal expectations to correspond to conditions, typically remaining confident and calm and keeping their sense of humor, even in difficult situations. Principals with higher self-efficacy are more likely to use internally-based personal power, such as expert, informational, and referent power, when carrying out their roles (Lyons & Murphy, 1994). By contrast, principals with a low sense of self-efficacy have been found to perceive an inability to control the environment and tend to be less likely to identify appropriate strategies or modify unsuccessful ones. When confronted with failure, they rigidly persist in their original course of action. When challenged, they are more likely to blame others. Low self-efficacy principals are unable to see opportunities, to adapt, or to develop support (Osterman & Sullivan, 1996). They demonstrate anxiety, stress, and frustration, and are quicker to call themselves failures. Those with a low sense of self-efficacy are more likely to rely on external and institutional bases of power, such as coercive, positional, and reward power (Lyons & Murphy, 1994). The perception of the environment as uncontrollable typically has a debilitating effect on individual goal setting and problem solving. Cultivating Principals’ Sense of Efficacy 6 Inefficacious beliefs have been related to higher levels of burnout (Friedman, 1997). Task stressors such as overload, role ambiguity and role conflict, external relations with stakeholders such as parents and community representatives, as well as emotional and problem-focused coping strategies, each play a role in predicting burnout. Burnout among principals has been associated with exhaustion and a lack of a sense of accomplishment, as well as negative attitudes, and depersonalization or a lack of empathy toward teachers, students, and parents. A poor sense of self-efficacy, therefore, has been associated with a sense that one can no longer perform the role of principal. Principals’ Impact on Teachers Self-efficacy Beliefs The emerging picture of the role of self-efficacy beliefs in principals exhibits compelling potential ramifications when considering the central function of the leadership of others that principals fulfill. Specifically, the leadership behavior of principals has been linked to teacher efficacy beliefs. When the principal of a school was able to inspire a common sense of purpose among teachers, modeled appropriate behavior, and provided rewards contingent on performance, teacher self-efficacy beliefs were higher (Hipp & Bredeson, 1995). Principals who used their leadership to foster a healthy school climate including an orderly and positive school atmosphere with a strong press for academic achievement created the context for strong selfefficacy beliefs to flourish (Hoy & Woolfolk, 1993; Moore & Esselman, 1992). Where principals allowed teachers flexibility over classroom affairs and greater classroom-based decision making, teachers tended to have stronger self-efficacy beliefs (Moore & Esselman, 1992). Finally, schools where student disorder was kept to a minimum and where teachers were buffered from disruptive factors were schools in which teachers felt a greater sense of efficacy (Lee, Dedrick,