An Investigation into the Relationship between Thinking Styles of School Principals and their Sources of Power

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to study the relationship between thinking styles and the sources of power among school principals in Birjand. This descriptive correlational study comprised all principals and teachers in Birjand. One hundred and seven principals and 321 school teachers were sampled through stratified sampling technique. A use was made of questionnaires of thinking styles (Sternberg-Wagner, 1991) and sources of power (Hinkin & Schrieshim, 1989) to collect data. Data were analyzed employing both descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, and one-way ANOVA). The findings revealed that external thinking and referent power were the most prevailing thinking style and power source of the principals respectively. Data analysis indicated that liberal thinking style had a significantly positive relation with expertise power of school principals. Except legislative thinking style of principals, other thinking styles had no significant relationship with their power sources.

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