Practice what you preach: Instructors as transformational leaders in higher education classrooms

Instructor-leadership can be defined as the process by which teachers direct classroom activities so as to influence students’ engagement and achievement. Instructor-leadership in higher education research has focused on the dominant theory of transformational leadership. This paper proposes a context- sensitive measure of transformational leadership specifically adapted to the unique situation of instructors in higher- education institutions. Using a secondary dataset of over 2,700 students across the UK, the results of a principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis indicated three transformational instructor-leadership dimensions including consideration, intellectual stimulation, and path-to-goals. Each of the three dimensions was strongly related to a different learning outcome. An additional independent validation study confirmed the validity of the new measure vis-à-vis established context-independent measures and outcomes of transformational leadership. This paper extends research on both transformational leadership and transformational instructor-leadership by highlighting the importance of using a context-specific approach, examining the impact of each leadership dimension separately, and investigating relationships to novel learning outcomes. Suggestions for future research and practical implications are discussed.