An Analysis of Empathy as Leadership Attributes and Action in Educational Administrators and Teacher Leaders
Year: 2017
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The study of empathy, as both a concept and a construct, spans disciplines and decades. As such, its relevance to relationships, empirical definition, significance to leadership, motivational factors, and position in emotional intelligence comprise a wide range of perceptions, applications, and examination across fields ranging from psychology to biology to education. This purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between educational leaders’ self-perception of empathy and to explore how attitudes relate to leadership attributes and action. Results were designed to inform practice, expand understanding, and to compensate for a gap in research regarding measured relationships between empathy and leadership. In general, the group (n = 105) showed high agreement in the domain of cognitive empathy (92.38%), while hierarchical, geometric analyses revealed alignment between cognitive empathy and the study’s five leadership attributes. Further, high mean, per-item scores on the 16 leadership measures – the lowest of which was 4.02 (SD = .80) – suggest the sample group shared solid agreement regarding leadership traits.
Source: DigitalCommons@UNO
Author: Jill K. Bruckner
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2789277745