Impact of transformational leadership on educational institutes culture: a quantitative study in the context of Pakistan

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between the different aspects of transformational leadership behaviours of school principals on school culture in the context of Pakistan. The findings from this study can provide an opportunity to understand the relationship between transformational leadership and school culture factors and the way these factors influence the school culture. Design/methodology/approach The quantitative research approach has been adopted to assess teachers’ perceptions of transformational leadership behaviours at government secondary schools of District Khairpur, Pakistan. The targeted sample size of this study was 300 teachers from five government secondary schools of district Khairpur. Data has been collected by using two survey instruments to assess the degree of transformational leadership style adopted by school principals as perceived by teachers to measure the effectiveness of school culture, whereas descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (Pearson correlation coefficient) statistical tests have been used through SPSS 23.0 software. Findings The findings revealed that there is a moderate positive relationship between transformational leadership behaviours and school culture whilst the Pearson correlation coefficient was (r = 0.624), which indicates that it is statistically significant. The demographic data explored that serving teachers were trained and highly qualified in such schools. Practical implications The study contributes to explain the transformational leadership practices in the context of secondary schools of Pakistan for a better understanding of educational organization culture. This study also contributes to the field of educational leadership by highlighting the organization culture through the perceptions of teachers. The Education and Literacy Department, policymakers, educational leaders and schoolteachers may be benefited from the findings of the current study for a better understanding of school culture in secondary schools. This study has also laid the foundation for future research studies in leadership practices in Pakistan and internationally. Originality/value Finally, this study contributed to the leadership literature in the context of Pakistan because there are very few studies that have examined the impact of transformational leadership behaviours in education organizations. In addition, this study suggests that the school principals should revisit their school vision and involve teachers in vision formation.