Modeling the impact of transformational leadership on teacher's self- efficacy mediated by school culture

The purpose of this study was to model the effect of transformational leadership mediated by school culture on the self-efficacy of primary school teachers in Tālesh city. It was descriptive-correlational research, with emphasis on the structural equations. The research population consisted of 785 primary school principals and teachers in Tālesh. Based on Morgan's table, a sample of 257 people was selected by stratified random sampling. The research instrument consisted of three Standard questionnaires, i.e., transformational leadership of Bass and Avolio (2015), Gronert’s school culture (2005) and self-efficacy of teachers’ Teschanen-Moran and Wolfak (2001) with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.83, 0.88 and 0.87, respectively. Data was analyzed using structural equation modeling technique and SPSS and LISREL software.The results showed that the assumed causal model had a good fit and can be generalized to the research population. The direct effect of the transformational leadership on the teachers' self-efficacy (0.63) and school culture (0.93) was positive and significant. Also, the direct effect of school culture on the teachers' self-efficacy (0.43) was positive and significant. The indirect effect of transformational leadership mediated by school culture on teachers' self-efficacy (0.40) was also positive and significant. According to the findings, school culture significantly mediates the relationship between the transformational leadership and teachers’ self-efficacy. Therefore, transformational leaders must create a constructive and strong culture in the school, to provide the ground for improving the level of self-efficacy of teachers for the optimal performance.