Academic literature has traditionally characterized educator burnout as a problem to be addressed through individualized solutions such as greater resilience training, grit, or self-care. A national survey of American principals conducted in January 2022 showed that they were experiencing job-related stress, burnout, depression, and difficulty…

The purpose of this study was to understand K-12 school department chairs' lived experiences with burnout, a condition caused by chronic workplace stress that manifests as exhaustion, cynicism and mental distancing from one's work, and a sense of ineffectiveness (World Health Organization, 2019). Semi-structured interviews conducted over Zoom with…

Introduction: Job satisfaction is the key to employee engagement and retention. Higher job satisfaction contributes to several positive outcomes for institutions, including lower turnover, higher productivity, lower costs, and employee loyalty. Strategies for increasing employee job satisfaction are more important than ever for research…

The importance of school leaders' work for the development of schools is often highlighted in the research literature. However, school leadership is enacted in a social setting influenced by political, cultural, historical, and economic factors across societal as well as national settings. In Sweden, the turnover rates of school principals are…

This nationwide study of 532 female school district superintendents, the largest such sample to date, offers compelling evidence that unconscious gender bias exists on the job and further inhibits equitable female representation in the superintendency. A modified version of Tran et al.'s (2019) Perceived Subtle Gender Bias Index (PSGBI), was…

This dissertation applies cognitive load theory to teacher working conditions in New York City. To connect small-scale cognitive processes with perennial organization-level effects, the theoretical components of this paper develop a novel framework. Load reduction leadership (LRL) illuminates how day-to-day school operations impact staff members'…

Recent studies have highlighted the major challenges faced by managers in the higher education sector and shown the contradictory demands which foster paradoxical tensions. Previous works have also underlined some specific tensions and rigidities that business school deans regularly face in their role. Yet, few studies have empirically explored…

Many universities are transitioning to more flexible work environments beyond the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the attitudes and experiences of higher education administrative staff related to flexwork and to improve the change leadership self-efficacy of female leaders tasked…

Latinx/a/os have significantly increased in number in the US population. The advancement of mid-level Latinx/a/o professionals in higher education is not occurring at the same rate as the increase of the Latinx/a/o population in the country. This study aimed to examine the perceptions of mid-level Latinx/a/os administrators in their workplace…

The increasing role of the secondary school administrators in schools created a lack of proper work/life balance. Due to minimal literature related to secondary school administrators' perceptions on work/life balance, the purpose of this basic, qualitative interpretive study was to understand the perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, and…

Despite daily interactions by principals with a variety of adults, there is scant research on the experiences which are so disrespectful that they become instances of workplace mistreatment. This study reveals, in a first of its kind, that workplace mistreatment does exist for principals and there are challenges to preventing it. Therefore, the…

Sub-degree education is one of the key higher education sectors in Hong Kong. With the effect of managerialism, tertiary institutions tend to transition from a collegial toward a managerial model, and have shifted from teaching-intensive institutions to research-intensive ones. In this study, two key research questions are addressed: to what…

This quantitative methodological research study explored the relationship between compassion and mattering experience from the perspective of leaders and direct reports working in administrative and support functions at a higher education institution. The following two research questions are explored: (1) What is the relationship between…

This quantitative study sought to determine how the work-life balance of Texas principals changes according to the grade levels of their campuses in terms of role balance, role ease, and role overload. The researcher applied the role balance theory to make the complex matter of principals' work-life balance more understandable. Participants in…

Purpose: This case study examined the efforts of district and school level leaders related to the public gender transition of one high school teacher over a 2-year period. We employed Theoharis' (2007) conceptualization of social justice education leadership to guide our analysis. Research Methods: This qualitative inquiry drew from in-depth,…