Inquiry mode, occupational stress, and preferred leadership style among American elementary school teachers

The relationship between teachers' cognitive styles and the kind of leadership style they prefer and the types of occupational stress they experience was explored by obtaining self-reports from 70 elementary school teachers. Analytic teachers preferred principals who were task rather than relationship oriented. Preferences in leadership style appeared to be related to subjects' tendencies to perceive and evaluate situations in particular ways. Compatibility with a principal's leadership style may have depended on how closely the style matched a teacher's fundamental affective and cognitive characteristics.