Abstract:

The social digital media has been an essential part of our life. In the context of the education system, this media represents the social and professional networks among the school community and forms a "hidden" and informal sub-organization. This virtual sub-organization has a mutual interaction with the formal organization and may share unique laws, values, norms and even creates new informal leaders. This study aimed to provide a validated tool for measuring teachers' perceptions of "Principal's leadership presence in social media networks". Two hundred and forty-three teachers have participated in the study, 188 (77%) females and 55 (23%) males, from public schools, religious public schools and some from ultra-orthodox schools. The final version of the questionnaire has contained 14 items (Statements) scaled in a 6-point Likert format. Exploratory factors analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) have revealed four modes of lingering leadership presence of the principal in social media networks: branding and communicative, transformational, supportive-protective and enforcement presence. This study may contribute to educational leaders by reflecting the possible influence of social media usage on the educational system. Also, it emphasizes the vitality of leadership presence in that virtual spaces so the leaders may re-shape appropriate educational and organizational trajectories.

Keywords:

Social media networks, leadership, social and professional networks, school community.