Abstract:

Staff turnover is a critical issue in the private educational sector of Pakistan. In this regard, the present study was aimed to help private schools` management in retaining valuable teaching staff and to avoid their actual turnover. For this purpose organizational commitment was considered as a mediator between transformational leadership and turnover intention in private high schools of district Swat (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan). Population of the study was private high schools` teachers of the respective district. A sample of 335 teachers was taken for the study and it was generalized to the whole population. The current study was quantitative in nature; therefore, a quantitative research method was employed for the study. Regarding research design, an experimental cross-sectional research design was adopted for the study. Non-probability (convenience)sampling technique was adopted for data collection in the present study from participants, and questionnaire was usedas a tool for data collection. Instruments used for data collection were multifactor leadership questionnaire, turnover intention scale, and organizational commitment scale. The study`s results revealed a significant correlation among transformational leadership, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. Turnover intention hada significant negative correlation with both transformational leadership and organizational commitment. Regarding the association between transformational leadership and organizational commitment, there was a significant positive correlation between these two variables. Structural equation modeling showed that organizational commitment played the role is a partial mediator between turnover intention and transformational leadership among the participants. The final model of the study revealed a significant path from transformational leadership to turnover intention through organizational commitment.Thus, organizational commitment played a role as a mediator between transformational leadership and turnover intention among private high schools` teachers of district swat. In light of the practical implication of the study, private schools of the respective district should implement transformational leadership in their organization to cope with the problem of actual turnover

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