Teacher Leadership and Intellectual Stimulation: Improving Students' Approaches to Studying through Intrinsic Motivation

Teachers provide leadership in college classrooms, and the behaviors they exhibit as leaders impact a variety of student outcomes (Bolkan & Goodboy, 2009 Bolkan , S. , & Goodboy , A. K. ( 2009 ). Transformational leadership in the classroom: Fostering student learning, student participation, and teacher credibility . Journal of Instructional Psychology , 36 , 296 – 306 . [Google Scholar], 2010 Bolkan , S. , & Goodboy , A. K. ( 2010 ). Transformational leadership in the classroom: The development and validation of the Student Intellectual Stimulation Scale . Communication Reports , 23 , 91 – 105 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Pounder, 2008 Pounder , J. S. ( 2008 ). Full-range classroom leadership: Implications for the cross-organizational and cross-cultural applicability of the transformational–transactional paradigm . Leadership , 4 , 115 – 135 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Specifically, transformational leadership (Bass, 1985 Bass , B. M. ( 1985 ). Leadership and performance beyond expectations . New York , NY : Free Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) has been shown to be an important predictor of student learning (Bolkan & Goodboy, 2009 Bolkan , S. , & Goodboy , A. K. ( 2009 ). Transformational leadership in the classroom: Fostering student learning, student participation, and teacher credibility . Journal of Instructional Psychology , 36 , 296 – 306 . [Google Scholar]). This study examined a specific component of transformational leadership to investigate how communicating intellectual stimulation transforms the nature of the classroom by encouraging student motivation and, subsequently, students’ approaches to their studying. Results suggest that when teachers influence students’ intrinsic motivation through the use of intellectually stimulating behaviors, students approach their learning in deep and strategic ways, and are less likely to adopt a surface-level approach to their studies.