Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Marylou Ryder

Second Advisor

Bendta Friesen

Third Advisor

Tami Boatright

Abstract

Purpose: This phenomenological study explored how early-career teachers in rural California public schools perceive their principals’ transformational leadership behaviors and how those perceptions influence job satisfaction, retention, and leadership effectiveness.

Methodology: A qualitative phenomenological design examined the lived experiences of early-career teachers in rural California K–12 public schools. Five participants with three to five years of experience were selected by purposive sampling; rurality was defined by National Center for Education Statistics locale codes 41, 42, and 43. Data were gathered through semi-structured, 60-minute Zoom interviews guided by a researcher-developed protocol based on Bass’s Four I’s framework. Transcripts were coded in MAXQDA with an a priori codebook covering the Four I’s plus outcome codes for Job Satisfaction, Motivation and Engagement, Retention Intent, and Context. Analysis included member checking, negative-case search, and disclosed AI-assisted first-pass coding with researcher verification.

Results: Analysis of 139 coded segments revealed four main findings. Teachers experienced transformational leadership through the channel of Individualized Consideration. Inspirational Motivation was communicated in short, portable phrases woven into daily school culture. Intellectual Stimulation was the least prominent of the Four I’s, appearing more as receptivity to teacher ideas than as a source of challenge. Delegated autonomy was the strongest positive motivator and the clearest demotivator, depending on whether the principal followed through.

Conclusions: Transformational leadership is viewed sub-dimensionally rather than holistically. Retention intent was expressed more specifically than job satisfaction and was tied to the identity of the specific principal, framing the principalship as both a retention asset and a succession risk. The rural setting was a foreground variable, not background.

Recommendations: Rural districts and principal preparation programs should treat transformational leadership as a set of learnable sub-dimensional practices. Principal evaluation and coaching should give explicit attention to Individualized Consideration, delegation paired with follow-through, and specific, named recognition of teacher initiative. Preparation programs should develop Intellectual Stimulation as an active practice rather than a byproduct of receptivity. Districts should also treat principal succession as a teacher-retention issue, planning transitions so early-career teachers experience continuity of leadership rather than the loss of the principal to whom they feel attached.

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