Multifunctional leadership and school performance: A relationship mediated by the manager’s empowerment

Abstract

Specialized approaches to school leadership have shown the school manager’s multifunctional role, which is also connected to the performance of the school. In the last decade, this discussion has reinforced the urgency for inclusive and transformative leadership from key individuals of the school community to promote that performance. There is evidence that the empowered behavior of the manager serves as an instrument to boost leadership skills. This article endeavoured to produce relevant information about the influence of the manager's multifunctional leadership on the performance of the school, mediated by the manager’s empowerment with actions that promote educational quality. This article focused on three aspects of this relationship: (a) the construction of a manager’s multifunctional leadership structure; (b) the identification of indicators to operationalize the manager's empowerment; and (c) a test of structural relationships between the leadership and the performance of the school. Considering the limitations of the study, the results confirmed a multifunctional structure of the manager's leadership to meet the school's multiple demands, as well as the relevance of the mediating role of the manager’s empowerment to the effectiveness of his leadership influence on the school performance.