Date

4-29-2026

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)

Chair

Janice W. Kooken

Keywords

principal leadership, school-based leaders, administrators, principal self-efficacy, autonomy, locus of control

Disciplines

Educational Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative predictive correlational design study was to examine how well perceived autonomy support and work locus of control predict perceived principal self-efficacy among public secondary school principals throughout the state of Maryland. Discovering factors that could contribute to the effectiveness of school-based leadership may help school districts uncover new ways of providing professional development and support to assist principals in leading their buildings. The Principals’ Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale, Work Locus of Control Scale, and the Perceived Autonomy Survey were instruments used to measure the criterion variable of principal self-efficacy and the predictive variables of locus of control and autonomy from collected data solicited through email participation. Through this quantitative predictive correlational research design, all Maryland middle and high school principals of public schools were invited to participate in the survey, with 81 responding. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted for this study to determine possible correlations. While the results indicated that the overall model was significant, only work locus of control was a statistically significant predictor of principal self-efficacy. Perceived autonomy support was not a significant predictor when controlling for work locus of control. It is recommended that further research examine the relationship among the three variables across different populations, alternative educational settings, and use a mixed-methods design.

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