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Pursuing the elusive construct of distributed leadership: Is the search over?
Citation
Hairon Salleh & Goh, J. W. P. (2015). Pursuing the elusive construct of distributed leadership: Is the search over? Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 43(5), 693-718. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143214535745
Abstract
A review of the literature reveals broadness in the conceptual and operational definition of the construct on Distributed Leadership (DL), making it elusive. The elusive nature of DL is due in part to the lack of attempts at trying to unpack and measure this construct, and in part to the contested definition of the term 'leadership'. The purpose of this study is to unpack and discuss key dimensions of the DL construct. To understand the DL construct, multivariate analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of the data collected. This was to provide a lucid interpretation of the data and build theoretical measurement model for DL. And this requires the use of a proper metric. As such, Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed on the Rasch (linearized) standardized residuals. The DL instrument consists of 25 items, and the sample involved schools leaders from Singapore (i.e., 224 Principals, 322 Vice- Principals and 686 middle-level school managers). It was a component of a larger instrument within a national study investigating school leadership practices in Singapore. The findings provided evidence, through a Rasch residual-based factor analysis, the presence of four possible factors of DL–bounded empowerment, developing leadership, shared decision, and collective engagement.
Date Issued
2015
Publisher
Sage
Journal
Educational Management Administration & Leadership