The role of distributed leadership in student engagement: the mediating effect of teacher organizational commitment

Given the negative consequences of disengagement, such as disruptive behavior, low achievement, boredom, and high dropout rates, it seems imperative to seek mechanisms to determinants of student engagement in learning. This study is original because it combines Social Exchange Theory with evidence regarding engagement and distributed leadership to provide a theoretical explanation of how leadership affects student outcomes and teacher behavioral patterns. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the role of principals’ distributed leadership in predicting students’ engagement as mediated by teachers’ organizational commitment in the secondary schools in Ethiopia. Accordingly, to achieve this aim, a correlational survey was employed. From five provinces (zones), 714 teachers were selected through a multistage random sampling. Before the actual study, the measurement tools were validated through a pilot study. As a result, the study found significantly below-average student engagement, a moderate level of distributed leadership practices, and an average teacher organizational commitment. The study also revealed that distributed leadership had significant positive relationships with teacher organizational commitment and student engagement. Teacher organizational commitment (R² = 0.47) had significant partial mediation roles in the relationship between distributed leadership and student engagement. The results suggest that when school leadership responsibilities are distributed more broadly, teachers’ sense of commitment are enhanced, improving student engagement in the learning process. Thus, the study’s findings have several implications. Theoretically, the results of the study may serve as a reference for other scholars and provide a theoretical explanation for how leadership affects teacher organizational commitment and student engagement by integrating Social Exchange Theory with distributed leadership and engagement studies. This research will also have significant practical implications for secondary school students, teachers, researchers, policymakers, school leaders, and education experts.