Abstract:

The issue of leadership is becoming more and more topical in Slovakia's education field. Much foreign research points to the influence of different leadership models on individual components of professional effectiveness and performance. Transformational leadership is the model with the most significant impact on employee motivation, teamwork, or life satisfaction. Therefore, the present paper analyses the interrelationships between transformational leadership and the individual dimensions of performance motivation viewing employee performance through the lens of its contribution to job performance. The research sample consisted of 215 teachers and educational managers. Transformational leadership was analysed through the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI - Kouzes & Posner, 2017) and performance motivation through the Performance Motivation Questionnaire (LMI - Schuler & Prochaska, 2001). Respondents preferred leadership behaviours such as Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart. Respondents scored highest among the dimensions of executive motivation on the Pride in Performance and Compensatory Effort variables. Correlation analysis confirmed several significant relationships. Pride in Performance, Compensatory Effort, Willingness, Internality, Flexibility, and Self-Control were significantly positively related to all types of leadership behaviours.
The above findings are a probe into the issue of the applicability of the transformative leadership model to educational practice in Slovakia. At the same time, they point to the leadership potentials of many teachers without a current management position, while the development of transformative leadership competencies and individual relevant dimensions of performance motivation is one of the paths of the inevitable transformation of Slovak schools.

The paper was written with the support of the VEGA 1/0152/21 project, "Competencies of a leader in the educational environment in the context of his/her personal predispositions and effectiveness".

Keywords:

Educational leadership, transformational leader, achievement motivation.