The Fit Between Principal Leadership Styles and Middle Leaders’ Role Identity and Its Effects on Leadership Effectiveness

Abstract

Middle leaders connect school-level strategy with departmental, grade-level, and classroom practice, yet their effectiveness may depend on whether principal leadership practices are compatible with how they understand their professional roles. Drawing on person–environment fit theory, this study examines the relationship between perceived principal leadership style–middle leader role identity alignment and self-reported middle leadership effectiveness, with role clarity and leadership self-efficacy tested as parallel mediators. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was developed for formally appointed middle leaders at a private nine-year school in Henan Province, China.  Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, hierarchical regression, and bootstrap mediation analysis were conducted. Perceived alignment differed significantly across school divisions and leadership-position categories and was positively associated with cumulative leadership tenure. After controlling for school division, position type, and tenure, perceived alignment significantly predicted self-reported leadership effectiveness and explained an additional 12.8% of the variance. Bootstrap results indicated significant indirect effects through both role clarity and leadership self-efficacy, with role clarity producing the larger indirect effect. The remaining direct relationship between alignment and effectiveness became nonsignificant after the mediators were included. These findings support a model in which leadership practices are associated with middle leadership effectiveness partly by clarifying responsibilities and strengthening confidence in leadership capability. The study highlights the importance of matching delegation, support, supervision, and decision-making practices with middle leaders’ responsibilities and professional identities.