The Pathology of Omission: Leadership’s Role in Corruption Preventionin the Education Sector
Keywords:
Transformational leadership; transactional leadership; corruption prevention; education sector; ethical leadership; sustainable educational governance; pathology of omissionAbstract
Purpose: This paper examines the role of leadership in corruption prevention in the education sector through the lenses of transformational and transactional leadership characteristics. It investigates whether school leadership matters in anti-corruption drives and explores the correlation between leadership style and levels of corruption.
Design/methodology/approach: The study employs a mixed-methods, single case-study design on one private high school in Mutoko District, Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe. Primary data included in the study were obtained from a teacher questionnaire (n = 30), four key informant interviews, two focus group discussions and triangulated by documentary analysis of relationship between leadership and corruption in five developing countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and South Africa).
Findings: This study revealed a significant positive relationship between transformational leadership's attributes and perceived reduction of corruption (r = 0.72, p < 0.01) and a relatively low correlation for transactional leadership only (r = 0.34, p < 0.05). Leadership inaction, or the “pathology of omission” as it was described here, was shown to be a key factor that enabled corruption and ethical modelling a key factor that was shown to act as an antidote to it.
Originality/value: The paper introduces the Ethical Leadership- Accountability (ELA) Framework, a diagnostic and prescriptive approach that integrates ethical leadership behaviour with accountability frameworks and institutional context and its connection to educational governance corruption outcomes. The framework will be useful to school leaders, policy makers, teacher training institutions and anti-corruption practitioners in resource-constrained settings.
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