Leadership styles, employee empowerment and turnover intentions in private secondary schools : a case study of Wakiso district, Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Leadership styles, employee empowerment on turnover intentions in private secondary schools in Wakiso District. The objectives of the study were: to examine the relationship between Leadership styles and Turnover Intentions, to assess the relationship between Employee Empowerment and Turnover Intentions, to examine the predictive potential of Leadership styles and Employee empowerment on Turnover Intention as well as to assess whether there is a significant difference between Leadership styles, Employee empowerment and turnover intentions in private secondary schools. In this Study, a quantitative approach and specifically, a cross-sectional design was used. A stratified random sampling design was used to select respondents. The data was collected using self-administered structured questionnaires that measured the perceptions of respondents. Out of the targeted sample size of 302 teachers, only 298 were filled and returned making a response rate of 98.7%. In this study, significant findings revealed that leadership styles have a statistically significant positive relationship with turnover intentions (r=.246 * , P<0.05). In addition, it was found out that employee empowerment has no significant relationship with turnover intentions (r=.213, P>0.05) in private secondary schools. Furthermore, it was found that leadership styles and employee empowerment predicted 5.9% variation in turnover intentions. It was recommended that head teachers and proprietors of private secondary schools should employ appropriate leadership styles that will reduce staff turnover intentions in their respective schools.