Dearman, Dale (2016) The relationship of engaging leadership on employees' perceptions of incivility and wellbeing in schools. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Incivility is a growing concern for organisations with severe implications for employee performance, well-being and financial burden. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of engaging leadership approaches that empower and support educational employees toward civility and enhanced well-being within Australian schools. The Job Demands-Resource model provides a robust theoretical framework to explain the impact of engaging leadership in reducing educational staff demands such as workplace incivility and increasing resources and support. A cross-sectional design online survey was conducted among education employees (N = 157) of Lutheran Education Queensland with survey links distributed electronically to participating schools. The Engaged Leadership Scale proposed by Schaufeli (2015) together with the 4-item Experienced Incivility Scale, Perceived Workplace Civility Climate Scale and Work Related Quality of Life Scale were operationalised to explore the relationship between engaged leadership and, experienced incivility, school climate and well-being, across Primary, Secondary and Prep-12 Lutheran schools. Data were analysed using parallel analysis, factor analysis and structural equation modelling. As hypothesised, engaging leadership was found to negatively predict experienced incivility but there was no direct effect of incivility upon well-being. Additionally, results showed an indirect relationship between engaging leadership and wellbeing that was mediated by stress at work, maintaining respect and a combined measure of job resources and supports. Lastly, maintaining respect, as a key measurement of school climate, was found to be a significant positive predictor of well-being. Limitations included self-report bias and cross-sectional design. Future research should consider using a longitudinal design with additional measures of work engagement, job satisfaction, and diverse incivility constructs. This study adds to the increasing body of literature verifying the key role of engaging leadership practices in creating positive work environments, which in turn, promote civility in an increasingly stressful workplace.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Tony Machin |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Aug 2025 23:50 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Aug 2025 23:50 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | engaging leadership ; workplace incivility ; well-being ; school climate ; Job Demands-Resources Theory |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52261 |
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