Modeling of principals Change Leadership Competencies and its relationship with Teachers Change Beliefs and Teachers Attitudes toward Change

The main purpose of this study was to develop an empirically substantiated Principal Change Leadership Competency (PCLC) Model. The study also aspired to identify the relationship between PCLC and Teachers’ Change Beliefs (TCB), TCB and Teachers’ Attitudes toward Change (TATC). Further, the study also intended to ascertain the relationships among PCLC, TCB and TATC. Structural Equation Modeling was applied to test the model. A total of 936 teachers from 47 High Performing Secondary School in Malaysia completed the survey. The analysis yielded a four-factor PCLC Model namely, Goal Framing; Capacity Building; Defusing Resistance and Conflict; and Institutionalizing. The finding shows that PCLC Model will benefit educational practitioners in planning, designing, implementing and evaluating future training and development programs for school principals. Meanwhile, the PCLC Scale, with 12 items, offers a promising new measure for examining PCLC. The result of the study also shows that PCLC is significantly related to TCB; TCB is also significantly related to TATC; and TCB not only mediated the relationship between PCLC and TATC, but indeed a total mediator. As the findings confirmed that the quality of PCLC matters in determining TCB and TATC, it is a sine qua non for school principals to equip themselves with adequate and sufficient PCLC so as to implement school change successfully. Also as TCB plays a critical role in governing the relationship between PCLC and TATC, in-depth focus on TCB is the most effective way to increase the likelihood of teachers to embrace change. The findings encourage a fresh look at change leadership development and change management and alter the traditional approach of school principals in managing change.