Interpreting Public School Administrators' Experience of the Transformational Leadership Style During an Educator Shortage: A Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study
Liberty University
How they used Delve
A PhD candidate at Liberty University coded four data sets in Delve — demographic surveys, semi-structured interviews, written journal prompts and a focus group with 12 K-12 administrators in two suburban Mid-Atlantic school districts — for a hermeneutic phenomenological dissertation on transformational leadership during an educator shortage.
“After the participants and I had verified the transcriptions, they were uploaded into the Delve web-based software for initial coding. Using Delve allowed me to employ Saldana’s (2021) open coding strategy. I reviewed each line of data and created codes and sub-codes for commonly used words, statements, and phrases.”
- Field
- educational leadership; teacher shortage and retention
- Data
- 14 recruited and 12 completing K-12 public school administrators in two suburban Mid-Atlantic districts: a Microsoft Forms demographic survey, 14-question semi-structured interviews, written journal prompts submitted as Word documents, and one focus group (9 in person, 4 via Microsoft Teams)
- Approach
- Hermeneutic phenomenology following van Manen (2023); Saldana open coding with a second cycle generating two levels of sub-codes; triangulation across four data sources, member checking and an inquiry audit by the committee
- Data types
- Open-ended survey responses, Interviews, Documents, Focus groups
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to interpret public school administrators’ experiences with transformational leadership during an educator shortage. The research employed a hermeneutical-phenomenological approach, utilizing van Manen’s methodological data analysis procedures to capture the essence of the lived experiences of school administrators. Bass’s transformational leadership theory provided the framework for this study. Previous research has examined multiple factors related to leadership’s connection to an educator shortage. This study aimed to explore administrators’ lived experiences with the transformational leadership style and its impact on a teacher shortage in public schools. Using purposeful, convenience, and snowball sampling, school administrators were selected based on their ability to provide shared lived experiences and rich data on the transformational leadership style during an educator shortage. The data collection methods included a survey, interviews, journal prompts, and focus groups. The collected data was analyzed using van Manen’s (2023) approach to derive a common meaning from administrators’ leadership using the transformational style during an educator shortage. The data yielded three themes related to the use of transformational leadership during an educator shortage: a teacher-centered approach, a management-centered approach, and a student-centered approach. This study will provide valuable insights into school administrators’ perceptions of leadership during an educator shortage, offering solutions to strengthen leadership support, increase retention, and reduce educator turnover.
Citation
Jennifer Rose Sweet (2026). Interpreting Public School Administrators' Experience of the Transformational Leadership Style During an Educator Shortage: A Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study. Digital Commons (Liberty University).