Abstract:

The background. Social capital is defined as a potential resource comprised of trust, social network, reciprocity, values and norms that have effect on people’s cooperation and sharing a mutual life and that plays an important role in economic development and social welfare (Ekinci, 2008). Social capital develops in a group or in an organization as a result of the social relationships while individuals interact as the members of a group or an organization (Bourdieu, 1986). Social capital has important functions and values both for organizations and societies where human being is their main capital. For developing social capital at organizations, managers should display social capital leadership behaviors. In the extent of social capital leadership behaviors, the need for leaders that would focus especially on developing social relationships and the need for transformational leadership behaviors that would cause the components of social capital to permeate are generally emphasized in the related literature.This concept requires the type of leaders who are aware of the importance of the components of social capital and strive to develop these components in their organizations. Social capital leadership requires various types of activities that would strengthen trust, cooperation and commitment among the members of an organization (Ekinci, 2008). Cohen and Prusak (2001) defines the basic roles of social capital leadership as protecting, developing or at least not damaging the social capital components such as commitment, belongingness, social relations, group structures and trust. Social capital level has a positive effect on the performance of individuals who work in a group (Field, 2006). For human beings are the primary component of educational organizations, social capital is an asset especially for these types of organizations. As Putnam (2000) declared, there is a positive relationship between social capital and educational achievement, and a strong social capital leads educational organizations to be more effective and productive. As related researches showed, social capital has a positive effect on some psychosocial factors that have effect on students' development, educational achievement and effectiveness of schools (Dika and Singh, 2002). The importance of social capital for schools reveals the importance of social capital leadership roles of school managers. The Purpose. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of school managers' social capital leadership behaviors on social capital levels at schools. Also, it is aimed to clarify the nature of the relationship between school managers' social capital leadership behaviors and social capital levels at schools through examining the moderating effects of gender and school tenure. This study is in survey-based descriptive design. The data of this study was collected from surveys administered on 436 teachers working at 12 primary schools that were randomly selected with cluster sampling method from 39 primary schools at Batman city center in the 2009-2010 academic year. Sixty-two item "Social Capital at Schools" questionnaire developed by Ekinci (2008) was used to measure social capital levels of schools. Twenty-two item "School Managers' Social Capital Leadership Behaviors" questionnaire developed by the researchers was used to measure social capital leadership behaviors of school managers. Simple regression analyses were performed to determine the effect of social capital leadership behaviors on the dimensions of social capital at schools. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed with SPSS program and moderation tests were performed with ModGraph program to determine the moderation effects of the variables of gender and school tenure. and Findings. According to the findings, social capital leadership behaviors displayed by school managers significantly predict both the general scores of social capital and all the dimensions of social capital. Female teachers evaluate school managers' social capital leadership behaviors more positively than male teachers do. Teachers' school tenure significantly predicts commitment and tolerance dimensions of social capital. In the relationship between school managers’ social capital leadership behaviors and social capital levels among teachers, the moderation effects of teachers’ gender and school tenure were insignificant. Conclusions, discussions and implications. The results of this study showed the importance of school managers' social capital leadership roles on the formation of social capital at schools. Both the general scores of social capital and all the dimensions of social capital were significantly predicted by social capital leadership behaviors displayed by school managers. So, for developing social capital at schools, it would be helpful for school managers to behave in a way that; increase commitment levels of teachers, ensure teachers to communicate easily and trust each other, to share common norms and to be more tolerant to their differences. Female teachers evaluate school managers' social capital leadership behaviors more positively than their male counterparts. This may be due to managers' more positive behaviors towards female teachers or female teachers' inclination to more positively evaluate their managers. Teachers' school tenure significantly predicts commitment and tolerance dimensions of social capital. As tenure in the same school increases, teachers spend more time together, they mutually interact and share more things together. So, they are more committed to each other and they become more tolerant to each other’s behaviors. Social capital is among the most important tools for managers to improve the effectiveness of their schools and to increase the performance of their teachers and students. To these useful consequences, social capital should be developed and managed effectively. The results of this study imply the importance of school managers' leadership roles to develop and manage the processes, relationships and teachers' behaviors related to the social capital.

Keywords: