Leadership behavior and job performance of teachers in public and private kindergartens: the perspectives of institutionalization, reason, and feeling

Abstract

Chinese society is accustomed to using feelings, reasons, and institutionalizations to determine how to deal with events, which raises a number of questions. How can the directors of early education institutions incorporate feelings, reasons, and institutionalizations into their management? How can they enhance the job performance of teachers? This study sampled 1,058 subjects from public and private kindergartens, using structural equation modeling (SEM) and LISREL software. According to the results, public and private kindergarten teachers believed that the charismatic and persuasive behavior of directors could best promote teachers’ job performance; in other words, the use of reasons (reason giving) has great significance for job performance. Furthermore, empathy and model behaviors were shown to be conducive to the job performance of teachers in private kindergartens, while there was no significant effect on public school teachers. Clear reward and punishment behaviors were shown to have a slightly negative effect on the job performance of public school teachers.