Personality Traits and Leadership Style among School Administrators

Educational administrators are expected to provide guidance to various stakeholders within the school environment. Educational administrator personality traits and leadership style were the focus of this study. Two research questions guided the focus of the current study. The first question examines the association between the degree of the transformational leadership style, the transactional leadership style and the laissez-faire leadership/non-leadership style and the magnitude of the Big Five personality traits of California unified school district administrators. The second question explored the relationship between educational administrator school type (elementary, middle and high school) with leadership style as well as personality traits. Although several studies focus on leadership style and personality traits independently, little is known about the interaction between school administrator’s leadership style in relation to their personality traits. Additionally, few studies have investigated the relationship between administrator school type (elementary, middle and high school) with leadership style as well as personality traits. This quantitative study utilizes a self-report survey design with a sampling of 376 California unified school district educational administrators. Study data was collected using the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ:5X – Self) to measure leadership style as well as the Tem Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) used to measure personality traits. Findings from this study indicate a statistically significant relationship between educational administrators’ leadership style and personality traits. Furthermore, results indicate a statistically significant difference detected between the educational administrators’ school type (elementary, middle, high school) and leadership style in relation to their personality traits