A latent transition analysis investigating the nature, stability, antecedents, and outcomes of occupational commitment profiles for school principals

Abstract

Considerable progress in commitment theory has been made possible by the adoption of a person-centered perspective. Such a perspective has made it possible for researchers to identify the most common combinations of Affective (AC), Normative (NC), and Continuance (CC) commitment to the organization. These combinations, or profiles, describe the various types of psychological processes depicting the ties linking employees with their organizations. However, limited research has consider commitment profiles as they relate to distinct targets of commitment, and even fewer studies have done so while adopting a longitudinal perspective. AKNOWLEDGEMENTSAbove all, I extend my gratitude to Dr. Alexandre Morin for his guidance and support, without which this thesis would not have been possible. It is worth recognizing that I have learnt more in the last two years, under his supervision, than in the rest of my academic career combined, which speaks to his exceptional mentoring abilities. I am also grateful to all members of the Substantive Methodological Synergy lab for providing insights when needed, and fostering a productive work environment in which to exchange ideas.Thank you also to Claude Fernet for kindly agreeing to share the data that he and his team collected, and to Bill Bukowski and Christian Vandenberghe for taking the time to serve on my committee and provide feedback for my educational benefit.A special thanks to Karine Elalouf, who is always looking out for my well-being and making sure that I stay on track. Finally, thank you to all my friends and family for their love and support over the last two years, as they are the reason I am able to maintain a healthy work-life balance. v Contribution of AuthorsThis thesis was written in collaboration with Dr. Alexandre Morin, who provided continuous support and feedback, as well as guiding necessary revisions to produce a research article that is coherent and socially relevant. Dr. Claude Fernet also contributed significantly by providing a rich data set that was years in the making, allowing for research on a largely neglected population of high-level managers in the public sector.

Nature, predictors, and outcomes of nurses’ affect profiles: A longitudinal examination.

“…Among the 1,143 participants who completed the questionnaire at Time 1, 388 (33.95%) also took part in the study at Time 2. Similar rates of retention have been reported in previous longitudinal studies conducted among French nurses (e.g., 27.7% in Huyghebaert-Zouaghi et al, 2022) or other occupational groups exposed to high workload (e.g., Houle et al, 2020: 33.9%). This rate of attrition thus seems to reflect the highly demanding nature of the nursing occupation, where inadequate staffing and resources combine with austerity measures to generate substantial levels of work overload (Gillet et al, 2020).…”

Examining school boards’ chaotic leadership style in relation to teachers' job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion

“…Secondly, we examine "leadership profiles" as determined through LPA (e.g., Houle et al, 2020;Maertz & Campion, 2004). This way we can examine to what degree an autonomy-supportive and chaotic leadership style get combined and whether teachers' need satisfaction, need frustration, job satisfaction, and burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion) differ according to their perceptions about their school boards' leadership profile (Aim 2).…”

“…Despite the recognition that a leaders' style is typically a matter of combining different styles to various degrees, only a limited number of studies has previously adopted a person-centered approach to study leaders' style (e.g., Houle et al, 2020). Moreover, to our knowledge, no study has focused on the combination of an autonomy-supportive and chaotic style, while these styles are suggested to co-occur (Aelterman et al, 2019).…”

A multidimensional, person‐centred perspective on teacher engagement: Evidence from Canadian and Australian teachers

“…Finally, interventions that focus on reassignment as a form of secondary control distraction may be useful in providing teachers with a temporary break from situations that are stressful and engaging in enjoyable activities (Connor Smith & Flachsbart, 2007). It may be that interventions at the level of these prototypical profiles are more efficient than individualized interventions but substantially more precise than one-size fits all approaches (Houle, Morin, Fernet, Vandenberghe, & T oth-Kir aly, 2020;Perera et al, 2019). However, this work remains exploratory and future research is needed to further validate the model before potential practice implications are realized .…”