Investigating the Relationship Between Paradoxical Leadership and Teachers’ Educational Accountability and the Mediating Role of Organizational Envy
Keywords:
Paradoxical leadership, organizational envy, educational accountability, teachers, elementary schoolsAbstract
Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between paradoxical leadership and teachers’ educational accountability and to examine the mediating role of organizational envy among elementary school teachers in Kermanshah.
Methodology: This study was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of methodology. The statistical population consisted of all elementary school teachers in Kermanshah during the 2026–2027 academic year, from whom 344 participants were selected using proportional stratified random sampling. Data were collected using Zhang et al.’s (2015) Paradoxical Leadership Questionnaire, Lauermann and Karabenick’s (2013) Educational Accountability Questionnaire, and Valizadeh and Azarbaijani’s (2010) Organizational Envy Questionnaire. Content validity was confirmed by academic experts, and reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Data analysis was performed through Pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis using SPSS-25 and LISREL-10.30 software.
Findings: The findings revealed that paradoxical leadership had a positive and significant relationship with educational accountability (β=0.76, t=12.53, p<0.01). In addition, paradoxical leadership showed a negative and significant relationship with organizational envy (β=-0.59, t=-11.58, p<0.01). Organizational envy demonstrated a negative but statistically non-significant relationship with educational accountability (β=-0.05, t=1.03). Furthermore, the mediating role of organizational envy in the relationship between paradoxical leadership and educational accountability was positive and significant (β=0.113, t=2.64, p<0.01). Model fit indices also confirmed the acceptable fit of the proposed structural model.
Conclusion: The results indicate that paradoxical leadership can enhance teachers’ educational accountability by balancing flexibility with control, autonomy with supervision, and by reducing negative organizational emotions. This leadership style contributes to improving professional interactions, organizational commitment, and educational performance while simultaneously reducing organizational envy. Therefore, educational administrators are recommended to strengthen paradoxical leadership competencies among school principals and teachers to improve school effectiveness and achieve educational goals more effectively.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Rozhan Afsar Shah Maleki (Author); Mahmoud Taajobi; Kobra Khabareh (Author)
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