Leadership Styles in Education: A Literature Analysis of Their Influence on Teacher Performance

Abstract

Educational leadership plays a strategic role in determining the quality of learning processes and teacher performance in schools. International studies indicate that principals’ leadership styles not only influence teacher performance directly, but also operate through a range of psychological and organizational mechanisms. Nevertheless, empirical findings on the relationship between educational leadership styles and teacher performance remain fragmented and exhibit variation across studies, reflecting the influence of institutional context, culture, and individual teacher characteristics. Accordingly, this article aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the effects of various educational leadership styles on teacher performance through a literature analysis approach. This study reviews 21 international journal articles published between 2019 and 2025, with a focus on transformational, instructional, transactional, democratic, and situational leadership within educational settings. The analysis was conducted by categorizing findings according to leadership type, mediating variables, and indicators of teacher performance. The results show that transformational and instructional leadership consistently exert positive and significant effects on teacher performance. These effects are strengthened by mediating variables such as work motivation, job satisfaction, teacher self-efficacy, professional perceptions, and school climate. In contrast, transactional and authoritarian leadership demonstrate limited and highly context-dependent effects. These findings underscore that the effectiveness of educational leadership does not reside in a single leadership style, but rather in school leaders’ capacity to apply adaptive and participatory approaches that prioritize teachers’ professional development. This article contributes to the educational leadership literature by synthesizing empirical evidence and offers practical implications for policy development and principal leadership training.