Title: Educational leadership – perceptions and determinants of moral and ethical behaviour

Authors: Valerie A. Storey, Malcolm O. Asadoorian III

Addresses: Ross College of Education, Lynn University, 3601 North Military Trail, Boca Raton, FL 33441-5598, USA. ' Center for Interdisciplinary Programs, College of Arts & Sciences, Lynn University, 3601 North Military Trail, Boca Raton, FL 33441-5598, USA

Abstract: In the last decade, the economics of education has undergone a dramatic change. School leadership now has the challenge of balancing concurrent and competing voices at the federal, state and local levels. School leaders have the ability to affect the type and quality of instruction delivered in the classroom through their organisational decision making. This is a follow-up article to Storey et al. (2008). It reports on a study which identifies the individual values of service leaders in an education and a healthcare system and ascertains how an individual|s value system develops. This study utilises survey data from 16 high school leaders enrolled in a graduate programme in educational leadership, at a private, southern, Ivy League university in the USA. Questions focus on ascertaining, in general, whether or not these leaders perceive themselves as being ethical and moral and the determinants of this. Results indicate that most leaders consider themselves to be ethical and moral and that religion, spirituality and religious/philosophical education in addition to family are the main determinants.

Keywords: service leaders; education economics; educational leadership; values; ethics; moral behaviour; ethical behaviour; behavioural perceptions; behavioural determinants; school leadership; high school leaders.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBHR.2009.028460

International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research, 2009 Vol.1 No.3, pp.258 - 273

Published online: 17 Sep 2009 *

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