Examining correlates of teacher receptivity to social influence strategies within a school consultation relationship

Abstract

AbstractSuccessful school consultation depends largely on the consultant's ability to influence teacher behavior and the teacher's receptivity to that influence. The goal of this study was to examine correlates of teacher receptivity to social influence strategies within school consultation. Participants were 365 general education teachers (K‐5) recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Teachers completed questionnaires that included (1) three subscales of the modified Consultee/Teacher Version of the Interpersonal Power Inventory assessing soft social influence strategies; and measures assessing (2) personality constructs; (3) knowledge of behavior modification and mental health literacy; (4) need for cognition and beliefs about student behavior and interventions; and (5) work‐related stress. As expected, the subscales of the modified Interpersonal Power Inventory had acceptable internal consistency (alphas > .70). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that teacher beliefs, need for cognition, and the interaction between need for cognition and stress, were significantly positively associated with receptivity to positive expert and direct information influences, after accounting for personality characteristics. These relationships were not found for receptivity to positive referent influences. Instead, knowledge of behavioral principles was negatively associated with this social influence. Results are discussed in relation to consultation research and practice.