The power of organizational resilience to rebound: linking middle-leaders’ transformational leadership and school outcomes

Purpose This study examines whether school organizational resilience (OR) serves as an explanatory pathway in the association between middle leaders' transformational leadership (TL) and three dimensions of school organizational health in secondary schools: academic emphasis (AE), institutional integrity (II) and teacher morale (TM). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 609 participants in 103 randomly selected Israeli secondary schools: 103 middle leaders and 506 teachers working in teams coordinated by these middle leaders. Teachers rated middle leaders' TL, while middle leaders and teachers reported OR and organizational health. After aggregation to the school level, structural equation modeling with bootstrapped indirect effects tested the hypothesized associations. Findings Middle leaders' TL was positively associated with a dual school OR construct reflected in principal and faculty resilience. OR, in turn, was positively associated with AE, II and TM. The indirect associations from TL to all three organizational health dimensions through OR were significant. However, the negative direct paths to II and TM should be interpreted cautiously as cross-sectional associations. Originality/value The study shifts attention from principal-centric accounts of school resilience by showing how middle leaders may be associated with school organizational health indirectly through OR. It positions OR as the explanatory pathway linking a distinct leadership locus, middle leadership, to core dimensions of school organizational health in a national context marked by recurring educational disruption.