Servant Leadership--Reversing the Pyramid: Self-Perceptions of Principals and Assistant Principals

Abstract

Servant leadership is a phrase that was first coined by Robert Greenleaf. He believed that a servant leader is one, who from a leadership position, wants to serve others. That is the primary driving force behind one aspiring to leadership. The purpose of this researcher was to determine if there was a perceivable relationship between the perceived level of servant leadership of principals and assistant principals and their gender, work experience, level of education, or level of academic institution (elementary, middle, or senior high school). This study was limited to schools in Nassau and Suffolk counties located on Long Island in New York. It was also limited to principals and assistant principals who had completed three or more years in a school administrative position. An examination of the data collected from the surveys indicates that the means for each item were typically very close to values of six or more, indicating that most respondents stated that they endorsed most of the practices and beliefs of servant leadership. There appeared to be no relationship between gender, position, setting, and the level of servant leadership. Results indicated that principals and assistant principals showed a high level of servant leadership. There did not seem to be a significant relationship between the principal/assistant principal and his or her perceptions of personal servant leadership based on gender, experience, level of education, and type of academic institution (elementary, middle, or senior high school). There was also no significant relationship found between the level of servant leadership (principals and assistant principals) and the level of academic institution (elementary, middle, or senior high school) on Factor I and Factor II. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone [phone]. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.