The classroom leadership styles of Hong Kong University teachers : a case study of teachers in a business school

Student evaluation of teaching (SET) has become a central feature of university teachers' performance assessment and Hong Kong is no exception. However, a number of writers have called into question its accuracy as a performance measurement tool. Regardless of the accuracy question, research indicates that teacher behavioural characteristics are amongst the most significant factors affecting student ratings of teacher performance. One aspect of university teacher behaviour that has received little attention is classroom leadership style.;In this study, a classroom leadership instrument was developed for use in a Hong Kong university context. This instrument was based on the transformational-transactional leadership model because there is evidence that aspects of the model have potential for enhancing student evaluation of teaching scores. Additionally, the transformational style has been associated in the literature with a number of benefits that have prima-facie relevance to the university classroom. The literature has also indicated a possible gender effect in that any enhancement to teaching scores might be especially pronounced in the case of female students.;The central outcome of the study was the development of an instrument that was capable of the valid and reliable measurement of classroom leadership style in a Hong Kong university context. A key finding was that employment, by university teachers, of the transformational and active transactional dimensions of classroom leadership style were significantly and positively associated with student perception of desirable classroom leadership outcomes. In this study, no gender effect was detected. Furthermore, there was an indication that adoption of the transformational and active transactional style in the classroom could have a substantial positive effect on teacher SET scores although this finding was not conclusive due to sample size limitations. Finally, the findings lent support to the view that the transformational-transactional leadership notion is robust across cultures.