PRINCIPALS’ DIGITAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES AS PREDICTORS OF TEACHERS’ JOB PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated principals’ digital leadership practices as predictors of teachers’ job performance in public secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. A correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 8,187 teachers from 273 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The sample for this study consisted of 578 teachers drawn using a multistage sampling procedure. Two sets of instruments titled ‘‘Principals’ Digital Leadership Practices Questionnaire (PDLPQ) and ‘‘Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (TJPQ)’’ were used for data collection. The instruments were face-validated by three experts: two from the Department of Educational Management and Policy and one from the Department of Educational Foundations in the Measurement and Evaluation Unit of the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. The test of internal consistency of the instruments was conducted using the Cronbach alpha method, which yielded overall coefficients of 0.82 and 0.80 for the two PDLPQ clusters, respectively, and 0.84 for TJPQ. The researchers, together with three research assistants, collected data for the study using the direct approach, and a 98% return rate was recorded. Simple regression was used to answer the research questions and test hypotheses. The study's findings revealed, among others, that principals’ integration of emerging technology practices is a strong and significant predictor of teachers’ job performance in public secondary schools in Anambra State. It was also found that principals’ data-driven decision-making practices are a strong and significant predictor of teachers’ job performance in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that principals establish a data management committee responsible for maintaining and making available updated information to support decision-making that can improve teachers’ job performance.