Authentic Leadership of Secondary School Heads: The Role of Transparency in Relationships
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62843/jrsr/2026.5a173Keywords:
Transparency, School Leadership, Stakeholders, Quantitative Study, Secondary Schools, SatisfactionAbstract
This is a quantitative research on the importance of transparency-in-relations in the leadership of secondary school with reference to stakeholders in the District of Dera Ismail Khan. The study has solved the issue of the lack of empirical evidence on the specific effect of transparency on relations by quantifying perceived levels by parents of principals, teachers, and administrative personnel. A descriptive design was used; a seven-point Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect data among 538 sampled stakeholders. There was an analysis; descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and correlation. The major results were the perceived degree of transparency-in-relations between the stakeholders who were tested whether their perceptions significantly differed with the sample groups of stakeholders and the connection between the transparency perceptions and general school satisfaction. The research paper presents quantitative data to assist school leaders to design evidence-based transparency measures of building trust and enhancing school climate.
References
Artyukhova, N., Churikanova, O., & Bliumska-Danko, K. (2024). University leadership: Transparency in communication with external stakeholders. Business Ethics and Leadership, 8(4), 16–36. https://doi.org/10.61093/bel.8(4).16-36.2024
Bharanitharan, D. K., Lowe, K. B., Bahmannia, S., Chen, Z. X., & Cui, L. (2021). Seeing is not believing: Leader humility, hypocrisy, and their impact on followers’ behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly, 32(2), 101440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2020.101440
Chen, J. K. C., & Sriphon, T. (2022). Authentic leadership, trust, and social exchange relationships under the influence of leader behavior. Sustainability, 14(10), 5883. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105883
Chimakati, F. M. (2024). Credible, Value-Based and Authentic Leadership: Theory, Action and Reflection Praxis Integration. African Journal of Emerging Issues, 6(21), 111-122. https://ajoeijournal.org/sys/index.php/ajoei/article/view/731
Davis, I. (2023). Accountability and transparency. In Research Handbook on NATO (pp. 339-354). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Dozier, D. M., Grunig, L. A., & Grunig, J. E. (2013). Manager's guide to excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Gardner, W. L., Karam, E. P., Alvesson, M., & Einola, K. (2021). Authentic leadership theory: The case for and against. The Leadership Quarterly, 32(6), 101495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2021.101495
Griffin, B. (2025). The Leadership Development Process Among Senior-Level Minority Women Who Overcome Barriers of Race and Gender: A Case Study (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).
Insigne, J. J. V. (2024). The Comprehensive Guide to Communication: Theory and Practice. Media Sun Productions (Ryan Viloria).
Jabbar, R., Akmal, D. F., & Hassan, D. K. H. U. (2024). Exploring the impact of organizational culture on leadership style in higher educational institutions. Qlantic Journal of Social Sciences, 5(3), 109–124. https://doi.org/10.55737/qjss.550137520
Jian, G., & Fairhurst, G. T. (2025). The Routledge handbook of organizational leadership communication. Routledge.
Kayyali, M. (2024). Transparency and Communication in Accreditation Procedures. In Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education: Issues, Models, and Best Practices (pp. 191-226). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Kelly, L. (2023). Authentic leadership: Roots of the construct. In Mindfulness for Authentic Leadership: Theory and Cases (pp. 17-52). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Kfukfu, F. M., Kitur, J., & Nyagah, E. (2024). Relationship between Leadership Transparency Behaviors and Effective Communication: A Case of the Presbyterian University of East Africa. ShahidiHub International Journal of Education, Humanities & Social Science, 2(1), 83-98. https://shahidihub.org/shahidihub/index.php/jehss/article/view/247
Liang, Z., Sha, L., Tsai, Y. S., Gašević, D., & Chen, G. (2024, July). Towards the automated generation of readily applicable personalised feedback in education. In International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (pp. 75-88). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Lubis, M. S. I., & Nurhayati, N. (2023). Hadiths Related to The Ethics of Honest and Responsible Communication. Dharmawangsa: International Journal of the Social Sciences, Education and Humanities, 4(1), 17-24. https://doi.org/10.46576/ijsseh.v4i1.3521
Murphy, J. F., & Louis, K. S. (2018). Positive school leadership: Building capacity and strengthening relationships. Teachers College Press.
Norberg, E., & Ylänen, E. (2024). Shared ownership, shared decisions: Decision-making in 100% employee-owned MNCs-Northern European single case study.
Sanchez, J. E., Paul, J. M., & Thornton, B. W. (2022). Relationships among teachers’ perceptions of principal leadership and teachers’ perceptions of school climate in the high school setting. International journal of leadership in education, 25(6), 855-875. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2019.1708471
Scally-Juknevičienė, E. (2024). The impact of authentic leadership on innovative work behavior through the mediating role of employee-manager trust and organizational innovation climate (Doctoral dissertation, Vilniaus universitates).
Severn, K. A. (2024). An interpretative phenomenological analysis exploration of how high school principals in the Rocky Mountain Region experience and make sense of responding to a student death by suicide.
Sil, N., & Lenka, U. (2025). Transitioning from subjectivity to objectivity: empowering women in academic leadership. IIM Ranchi journal of management studies, 4(2), 127-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/IRJMS-09-2024-0117
Thimmaraju, T. (2024). EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND LEADERSHIP. Laxmi Book Publication.
Thomas, T. M., & Sarma, U. A. (2022). Gender Studies: Teaching Gender in Psychology. In International Handbook of Psychology Learning and Teaching (pp. 1-40). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
