Assessing instructional leadership from two mindsets in China: power distance as a moderator

The past decade has witnessed growing interest in the study of the perceptual differences between principals and teachers, and a number of inconsistent results have been documented. This study examined differences between principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of principal instructional leadership and tested the hypothesis that power distance (PD) moderates the differences between the two parties. Based on survey data collected from 132 Chinese principals and 1708 teachers, the results revealed no significant differences in the total and dimensional levels of instructional leadership; however, PD moderated the perceptual differences. Specifically, when the principals reported a low PD, their self-ratings of their instructional leadership were higher than the teachers’ ratings, and conversely, when the principals reported a high PD, their self-ratings were lower than the teachers’ evaluations. However, the result was contrary to the hypothesis when PD was reported by teachers. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.