The Effects of Instructor Transformational Leadership and Verbal Immediacy on Learner Autonomy and Creativity in Online Contexts.

摘要

Transformational leadership and immediacy behaviors within educational contexts have received a great deal of attention from researchers in the past few decades. Generally, the literature has focused on the impact of instructor transformational behaviors and instructor immediacy behaviors on educational outcomes. However, the relationship between instructor transformational leadership, verbal immediacy, learner autonomy, and learner creativity had not been explored, specifically in online educational contexts. This research sets forth a method for assessing the relationship among these constructs. Literature on transformational leadership, immediacy, learner autonomy, and learner creativity in educational contexts was reviewed. Models depicting the hypothesized relationship that instructors who display transformational leadership behaviors will achieve increased learner autonomy and creativity compared to instructors who display transactional behaviors were created. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. Results confirmed a positive relationship between transformational leadership and learner autonomy and creativity. Results also confirmed the moderating effect of instructor verbal immediacy on learner creativity; however, there was no moderating effect of verbal immediacy on learner autonomy as predicted. This research effort aids in furthering our understanding of how instructional leadership is perceived in online contexts, as well as its effect on learner autonomy and creativity.