The Role of Managers' Ethical Leadership and the Mediating Role of Professional Commitment in Teachers' Job Performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of managers’ ethical leadership in teachers' job performance with the mediating role of professional commitment. This study used quantitative descriptive-correlational method with structural equations modeling. The study population comprised all elementary school teachers in Tuyserkan (n=332), who were selected by census because the statistical population was small. Data were collected through the Ethical Leadership Questionnaire of Kalshovenet al. (2011), Clikeman & Hening's Professional Commitment (2000), and Patterson (1996) Job Performance Questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis were used to determine the reliability of the instruments. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation test and structural equation modeling technique in LISREL10.30 software. Findings showed that managers' ethical leadership and teachers' professional commitment have a significant effect on job performance (0.05). Ethical leadership mediated by professional commitment also affects teachers' job performance (0.05).
Introduction                                                      
Teachers' job performance is their ability to combine teaching and learning inputs to improve the teaching-learning process (Adimi, 2010; quoted in Lai, 2020). Research has shown that training, empowerment and process modification alone do not determine teachers’ job performance (Erdal & Altindag, 2020). According to research results, professional commitment has a positive effect on job performance (Sunyoto et al., 2019). An organization whose employees have a high level of professional commitment achieves the expected results (Arifin et al., 2019). Professional commitment is to intervene and participate in organizational affairs in order to facilitate the achievement of organizational goals. Applying individual competencies, skills, knowledge and resources in pursuing organizational goals is the result of professional commitment. In the school system, teachers 'willingness to strive for students' academic achievement is an example of organizational and professional commitment (Onukwu et al., 2020).
Ethical leadership determines employees’ performance and increases their level of commitment (Agha et al., 2017). Ethical leadership alone cannot determine job performance of teachers, and other organizational variables can also affect the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance. One such factor is professional commitment. Given all these and the ethical leadership model of Kalshoven et al. (2011) in mind, the following hypotheses were proposed:

Ethical leadership of managers has a positive and significant effect on teachers' job performance.
Teachers’ professional commitment has a positive and significant effect on teachers' job performance.
Ethical leadership of principals has a positive and significant effect on the professional commitment of teachers.
Ethical leadership of managers due to the professional commitment of teachers has a positive and significant effect on the job performance of teachers.

Methodology
The research method is descriptive-correlational with structural equation modeling. The study population comprised all elementary school teachers in Tuyserkan (n=332), of whom 313 teachers participated in the study.
Data collection tools include the following:
Ethical Leadership Questionnaire: This 24-item questionnaire was designed by Kalshon et al. (2011) in five dimensions of fairness, individual orientation, ethical guidelines, power sharing and role transparency and is scored as five-point Likert scale. Model fit indices in the confirmatory factor analysis for this questionnaire were chi-square value (42.89), DF (29), CMIN/DF (1.47), RMSEA (0.042), CFI (0.96), GFI (0.93) and AGFI (0.90), which are desirable and indicate goodness of fit of the instrument. Kalshoven et al. (2011) reported a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.91. We obtained Cronbach's alpha of 0.79 for this questionnaire, which indicates its appropriate reliability.
Professional Commitment Questionnaire: This one-dimensional questionnaire was developed by Clikeman & Hening (2000) with 15 items scored in a five-point Likert scale. Fit indices in confirmatory factor analysis for this questionnaire were chi-square value (25.22), DF (15), CMIN/DF (1.68), RMSEA (0.033), CFI (0.97), GFI (0.95) and AGFI (0.92), which indicate goodness of fit of the instrument. Cronbach's alpha value of this questionnaire was calculated to be 0.78.
Job Performance Questionnaire: This questionnaire was designed by Paterson (1996) with 15 items in a five-point Likert scale. Fit indices in confirmatory factor analysis were chi-square (21.88), DF (15), CMIN/DF, (1.45), RMSEA (0.035), CFI (0.94), GFI (0.93) and AGFI (0.91), which indicate goodness of fit of the instrument. The Cronbach's alpha value of this questionnaire was 0.83. Data analysis was performed using Pearson’s correlation and structural equation modeling.
Results
Demographic data of the study population showed that 52% of the sample were men and 48% were women. In terms of education level, 10% had associate diploma, 30% had bachelor’s degree, 53% had master’s degree, and 7% were PhD students. In terms of service history, 29% of the study sample had less than 10 years, 37% had 11 to 20 years and 34% had more than 20 years of service.
According to the results of the correlation matrix analysis of research variables, the variables of ethical leadership (0.38) and professional commitment (0.32) have a positive and significant relationship with the variable of job performance (P<0.05). Also, the variable of ethical leadership has a positive and significant relationship with the variable of professional commitment (0.29) (P<0.05).
The findings showed ethical leadership with a path coefficient of 0.33 and a T value of 10.67 has a positive and significant effect on teachers' job performance (P<0.6). furthermore, professional commitment with coefficient of path of 0.27 and T value of 9.89 has a positive and significant effect on performance (P<0.2) and ethical leadership of managers with coefficient of path of 0.21 and T value of 7.51 has a positive and significant effect on the variable of teachers' professional commitment (P<0.05).  Managers’ ethical leadership has an indirect, positive and significant effect on teachers' job performance through teachers 'professional commitment (0.056) with T value of 2.04 (P<0.05).
Based on structural model fit indices of chi-square value (20.05), DF (13), CMIN/DF (1.54), RMSEA (0.031), CFI (0.98), GFI (0.95) and AGFI (0.90) in the confirmatory path analysis, χ²/df ratio indicates the appropriate fit of the conceptual model with the experimental model. The value of the RMSEA index is within the acceptable range. The values ​​of CFI, GFI and AGFI indices also indicate the proper fit of the structural model. Therefore, the structural model of the research has a suitable and acceptable fit.
Discussion and conclusion
Improving ethical leadership of principals commits teachers to their job and duties. Hence, teachers, as responsible individuals in education, use all their power and competencies. Accordingly, teachers’ level of job performance will also increase.
Limitations of this study include the quantitative nature of the research, and that teachers' opinions about their job performance, professional commitment, and managers’ ethical leadership were obtained. Also, the obtained results are specific to elementary teachers of Tuyserkan city, and should be generalized to other teachers with caution.
It is suggested that future studies in this regard use a mixed methods design, assess teachers' job performance based on the results of the annual performance evaluation and the opinions of principals and colleagues, and be conducted for other educational levels.