Investigating the relationship between servant leadership in schools and teachers’ job satisfaction: a case from the United Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT

Servant leadership in schools pertains to meeting teachers and staff’s social, professional, and academic needs, all through a reproductive and healthy approach to leadership. Previous studies on servant leadership supported the positive influence of servant leadership practices on employees’ job satisfaction in various educational and non-educational sectors. This study aimed to quantify the relationship between teachers’ perceived level of servant leadership practices of their school principals and the reported level of their job satisfaction within 2 campuses of one private school in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The participants included 81 teachers who responded to an online survey on Microsoft Teams, consisting of two integrated instruments namely Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) and Mohrman – Cooke – Mohrman job satisfaction survey (MCMJSS). Data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 25. The findings showed that schoolteachers are more satisfied with their job when working with school principals who possess servant leadership qualities, indicating a positive correlation between perceived servant leadership and employee job satisfaction. Implications and recommendations for school leadership practices that enhance teacher retention in UAE schools are offered.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Emirates National Schools’ Central Administration office for approving this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abdennaceur Saadaoui

Abdennaceur Saadaoui is a School Principal at Emirates National Schools in the United Arab Emirates with over 30 years of international experience in teaching, administration, and curriculum development and management. His research interest focuses on mentoring teachers and the promotion of educational excellence for all learners.

Ayman Massouti

Ayman Massouti is an Assistant Professor of Education Studies at the College of Arts & Sciences at Abu Dhabi University. His research focuses on teacher education, educational leadership, and inclusion policy analysis.

Mohammad Al-Rashaida

Mohammad Al-Rashaida is an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the College of Education at the United Arab Emirates University. His research focuses on employment, diversity, and inclusion of students with special needs in all stages in education.