Date of Award

Summer 8-2008

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership and Research

Committee Chair

Wanda Maulding

Committee Member 2

Ronald Styron

Committee Member 3

Kyna Shelley

Committee Member 4

David E. Lee

Committee Member 5

Michael Ward

Abstract

Recent research suggests that leadership in schools and emotional intelligence are related. Furthermore, resiliency has been researched and found to be linked to successful leadership. As a result of these findings and the researcher's own professional experiences, it is speculated that emotional intelligence, resilience, and school leadership may be highly related factors in how one leads a school. The study of this three-factor relationship has been virtually overlooked in the research on school leadership and might prove useful in the recruitment, identification, development, and retention of effective school leaders.

A study of the emotional intelligence, resilience, and leadership of public school principals was conducted. The sample participants consisted of 63 public school principals and their respective professional colleagues who were from five states— Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. A statistical analysis and findings of this study examining the relationships among emotional intelligence, resilience, and school leadership are presented. There was a significant positive relationship found between self-reported emotional intelligence and resilience among school principals. When school leadership was entered into this model of significance, the relationship became stronger, thus indicating that school leadership played a significantly positive role in the relationship between emotional intelligence and resilience among school principals in this sample. In addition, a principal's general mood, as measured by the Bar- On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) was a significant predictor of resilience. Finally, further investigation confirmed past studies which indicated a strong positive relationship between a school principal's emotional intelligence and leadership. Specifically, the strong relationship was found to be between the principal's self-perception of leadership and the Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Emotional Quotient (EQ) subscales on the EQ-i.

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