Date of Award

1998

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Higher Education Administration PhD

First Advisor

David S. Penner

Second Advisor

Warren E. Minder

Third Advisor

Jimmy Kijai

Abstract

Problem. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the computer attitudes of educational administrators and teachers, the leadership styles of educational administrators, and computer usage in secondary schools.

Method. The design of this study used the questionnaire survey to collect data investigating relationships between educational administrators' attitudes toward computers, their leadership styles, and computer use in schools. The sample of the study was derived from educational administrators and teachers from 58 Seventh-day Adventist senior academies (i.e., high schools) found in the United States and Canada. Two instruments were selected for this study. The Computer Attitude Scale (CAS) developed by Loyd and Loyd was used for measuring attitudes toward computers of the educational administrators. The Leadership Behavior Analysis II-Other was administered to assess the leadership styles of the educational administrators as perceived by teachers.

Results. Educational administrators' primary leadership styles had significant correlations with computer anxiety, computer liking, and combined scales whereas leadership style effectiveness and leadership style flexibility had no significant correlations with educational administrators' attitudes toward computers. The t-test of the two dominant leadership styles S3 and S4 indicated a significant difference between S3 and S4 leadership styles for computer anxiety, computer liking, and combined scales. The age and ethnicity of educational administrators also had no significant impact on their attitudes toward computers. No significant relationships were found between attitudes toward computers of educational administrators and attitudes toward computers of teachers.

Conclusions. Leadership styles and attitudes toward computers of educational administrators did not have any impact on teachers' attitudes toward computers and computer usage for instructional purposes. Teachers' computer attitudes had a significant correlation with computer usage for instructional purposes.

Subject Area

School administrators, Computer literacy, Seventh-Day Adventist secondary schools

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/520/

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