School Religious-Cultural Attributes and School Principals’ Leadership Styles in Israel

Schools in Western cultures, including Israel, have been transformed from closed to open systems. This change is especially important to the principal’s role and leadership style. This article seeks to investigate the cultural-religious differences in Israeli Jewish principals’ leadership styles. Data were collected from 1,859 teachers, 34% from ultra-Orthodox schools, 50% state-religious schools, and 16% from state-secular schools. Regression results support the study's main hypotheses: cultural-religious orientation explains participative and transactional leadership styles but not transformational leadership. We discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice.