GENDER DIFFERENCES IN LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY AND LOCUS OF CONTROL AMONG EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS

Abstract

Education administrators can be an important element in the quest for institutional effectiveness in the context of effective leadership and informed decision-making. Leadership skill and locus of control are one of the important psychological and managerial constructs among the other factors that affect administrative performance. Though there have been many studies on these variables in isolation, little empirical research has investigated the interaction of gender and leadership competency and locus of control by the educational administrators – especially in the context of Indian education. The purpose of the present study is to compare leadership competencies and Locus of Control (LOC) of male and female educational administrators. The design of the study was quantitative, descriptive survey research with secondary and higher secondary (SHS) school administrators as the respondents. Stratified random sampling was used to achieve a representative sample of educational administrators. Chi square analysis, independent samples t-test and effect size were suggested to those who investigated gender difference between the study variables. Findings should provide empirical data on whether there are any major gender differences in competence in leadership and locus of control for educational administrators. The results of this study will help advance the research and theory of educational leadership, and will be useful to educational policy makers, school management authorities, and school professional development providers in the development of gender-responsive learning and leadership training and capacity building programmes to improve school leadership effectiveness..