Investigation of the Relationship Between School Principals' Narcissistic Leadership Behaviors and Teachers' Organizational Trust and Organizational Cynicism Levels (Path Analysis)

Abstract

As leaders of educational organizations, school principals can change teachers' perceptions of school positively or negatively with leadership styles they have. The purpose of this study is to determine in what direction and level the narcissistic leadership behaviors of school principals is related with teachers' organizational trust and cynicism levels according to teachers' perceptions. 397 teachers working in primary, secondary and high schools in Siirt/Turkey during the 2019-2020 academic year completed self-report surveys. Teachers' perceived organizational cynicism and perceived organizational trust were shown to have a negative and moderate relationship. This indicates that the increase in organizational cynicism ultimately decreases organizational trust. Also, 37% of the total variance in the organizational cynicism variable is explained by the behaviours of narcissistic leader. Furthermore, 52% of the total variance of organizational trust variable is explained on the basis of narcissistic leadership behaviors and a direct effect of organizational cynicism latent variable, as well as an indirect effect of narcissistic leadership behaviors through the organizational cynicism variable. As a result, the narcissistic leadership behaviors of school principals can damage organizational trust and increase organizational cynicism.