“Are we really that different?”: A Rasch investigation of cultural work values of school leaders, middle managers, and teachers in Singapore

This study is based on the premise that school leadership theories and practices may be culture-bound. Unsurprisingly, many scholars have questioned the applications of such theories and practices and argued for greater cognizance of societal culture in research studies on educational leadership, management, and administration. To ignore the cultural underpinnings of such Western-based theories may result in normative, prescriptive, and even ethnocentric understanding and practices. This is because these theories may be laden with Western cultural assumptions which are characterised by consumerism, individualism, self-sufficiency, competitiveness, toughness, and rationality while being exemplified in some non-Western contexts as new, modern, scientific, and results oriented. This study employs Hofstede's cultural work values framework to investigate work values in a Singapore education context along the dimensions of (i) power distance, (ii) individualism versus collectivism, (iii) uncertainty avoidance, (iv) long-term versus short-term orientation, (v) assertiveness versus consideration, and (vi) indulgence versus restraint. Findings from the Rasch analyses provide interesting insights on the educators' (i.e., school leaders, middle managers, and teachers) cultural work values, and how these may influence leadership practices.