Mediating Effect of Teacher’s Empowerment between Head’s Authentic Leadership and Teacher’s Job Performance at Secondary Level in Punjab, Pakistan

1. PhD Scholar, Department of Education & FSS, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan 2. Associate Professor, Department of Education & FSS, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan 3. Professor/Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan PAPER INFO ABSTRACT Received: June 27, 2020 Accepted: September 05, 2020 Online: September 30, 2020 This study is carried out to explore the mediating role of TE between the relationship of head’s AL and teacher’s JP, particularly in the context of Pakistan. All the public secondary school heads and teachers in Punjab constituted the population and study was delimited to the six districts of Punjab, Pakistan. Through proportionate random sampling technique 271 heads and 865 teachers were selected. For the measurement of three variables of the study three different instruments; Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ), School Participant Empowerment Scale (SPSE) and Teacher’s Job Performance Scale (TJP) were adapted. In order to analyze the mediating effect of TE between head’s AL and TJP, Process-Macro was applied. This study develops and veteran a framework, collision of head’s AL and teacher’s JP in the occurrence of TE as mediator. The results shows significant mediating effect of TE among heads AL and TJP, consequently empowered teachers show better performance as compared to less empowered teachers. It is recommended that heads, supervisors, administrators and managers should highlight relational transparency, supreme moral principles, balanced processing and self-awareness to enhance teacher’s level of empowerment and their job performance


Introduction
It is perceived that schools are social institutions which play an essential role in the reconstruction of societies. Schools not merely build up intellectuals as well as practical potentials in individuals, although build up rational proficiency and citizenship. It may be highlighted here that the role of school heads and school teachers is very crucial to transform schools into social institutions and enhancing their effectiveness. Most important element in this alteration is the teacher's empowerment and school head's leadership. Leadership is considered as the chief virtual aspect which effect employee's empowerment, originality and novelty. It's an important role played by the leaders to empower and support the expansion and encouragement of associates for ingenuity and originality. This leads to the expansion of pleasant association among leader and associates and consequently fosters a constructive job environment. Amongst the various approaches to leadership, authentic leadership attains the higher consideration just because of pattern alteration in different organizations. Authentic leaders assist subordinates to recognize involvement and significance at their workplace, thus developing necessary variations in the institutions. Keeping in view this perspective, authentic leadership gets strained noteworthy concentration (Cartwright & Holmes, 2006).
The perception of school leadership in 21 st century is to some extent exclusive in that it observes school leadership, teaching and learning within a social perspective, where cohesion of human targets, ambition and requirements supply as the means for rising a learning atmosphere. It laid foundation on faith, teamwork, and distribution and compassionate. The authentic leadership is recognized to be the significant component in bringing alteration and deliberate improvement. It fluctuates as of the notion of school management as well as administration, which focus on the functioning of power and inspection. The conception authentic leadership entails; persuading, enthusiasm, pro-activity and empowerment to restrict schools and enhanced performance, mostly in conditions of improved educational results. The term authentic leadership involves persuading individuals of their worth, influencing the manner they undergo, believe and perform in array to apprehend their latent (Smith & Riley, 2012). Likewise, the powers of authentic leadership ought to be preferably dispersed among entire school context. So, it is requisite for the school head to play the role of an authentic leader, concentrate on the professional expansion, advancement and empowerment of teachers and make possible for teachers and students to confront the defy of the altering globe (Bush & Glover, 2013). There is a dire need of additional exploration in order to better recognize the association among genuine leadership style (authentic leadership), teacher's empowerment and teacher's job performance. A range of researchers investigated the effect of authentic leadership on employee empowerment and carried out the progress in job performance. Institutions required the leaders be capable of aggravate optimistic conducts to their associates through empowering them. Such conducts not merely the essential aspect of the job obligation formally but also take part in increasing their job performance (Peterson, Walumbwa, Avolio, & Hannah, 2012). Empowered staff has superior influence and liability regarding their job requirements as compared to the extra conventionally intended institutions (Zhang & Bartol, 2010).
This study laid foundation on the argument that authentic leadership supports teacher's empowerment, consequently increase their job performance. Also argues that authentic leadership presents valuable structure for empowering school leadership. The major confront to develop empowered environment might exist in the function of authentic leadership. Semedo, Coelho and Ribeiro (2017) also investigate association among authentic leadership and creativity, through intervening effect of pleasure. Additionally, suggested the further examination in order to identify supplementary results in the existence of authentic leaders in institutions. Another study by Rego, Sousa, Marques, and Cunha (2012) was carried out to find out the association among authentic leadership and employee creativeness, results suggested that there is need to investigate the constructs pragmatically in order to find out their association with other constructs. This research is based on the Avolio et al.'s (2004) theory of authentic leadership to investigate relationship between authentic leadership, teacher's empowerment, and job performance of teachers. A study by Ebot (2014) reflects that school leadership in rising countries is mainly dictatorial and ritual, an unproductive system of cultivating harmony and social equality, and a reason of pathetic institutional service deliverance. As, in wide-ranging, head teachers are selected from academic personnel and get modest or no particular training, they lean to continue dictatorial, top-down leadership approach they veteran as a tutor. Khaki (2005) in examining policy plans associated to problem of educational excellence in Pakistan, reaches to the conclusion that "by means of prominent exclusion, leaders are at halt sheltered into a technist, bureaucratic transactional style, as being accountable for the accomplishment of federal bureau instructions rather than performing as authentic leaders instructing associates in an attempt to advance the learning of pupils".
The studies on school leadership in Pakistan reflects that bulk of school heads are appointed as of teaching staff and do not identify their role of as an authentic leader. The comprehensive evaluation report of Education for All EFA (2015) also indicates that in order to get excellence, competence and usefulness in education, empowering school leadership play a vital role. So, empowering school leadership expansion becomes latest confront for several countries, mainly rising countries, wherever school heads position seen as conventionally managerial, and required to become authentic leaders. It expressed the feeble support based on empowering school leadership in rising states, especially in Pakistan and called for additional focused research in this area.

Literature Review
School Leadership has forever been trickier in demanding era, but the exclusive stressors facing institutions all through the world call for a changed spotlight on what comprises actual leadership. A constructive, actual, apparent, moral type of leadership, generally named as authentic leadership (AL), is now familiarized as a constructive approach to school leadership that can assist school personals to cope with today's challenges. School leadership is crucial aspect of school effectiveness. This study laid foundation on the argument that AL can endorse teacher's empowerment to enhance their job performance. It advocated that variable authentic leadership provides valuable framework for effective school leadership and thus can be an effectual representation for school progress.

Authentic Leadership
Authentic Leadership consist of manners which in cooperation consequences from and endorse "constructive moral environment" and "optimistic mental, emotional aptitude". It expands "self-actualization into leaders and the subordinates, internalized ethical perceptions, unbiased dispensation of facts and relational precision" (Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, & Peterson 2008). Authentic leadership is examined differently but similarity exists in its aspects, which comprises of "self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and an internalized moral perspective" (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009). Self-awareness refers to the identification of personal vigor and faults, things inspire others, and considerate personal character as treating and interacting with others. Rational Transparency refers to enlightening own accurate personality to others. It comprised openly distributing facts and appearance of values and feelings. Authentic Leaders are apparent and faithful due to these characteristics (Kernis, 2003). Balanced processing submit to leader manners characterized by impartially taking into consideration all noteworthy information prior to take a decision, comprising attitude which did not apt toward falsification, contradiction, and exaggeration. Internalized moral perspective submit to pattern of leader which is bound for internal ethical values and standards divergent to manners based on external strain as of group, community, and institutional commands, ensuing in "articulated decision making and attitude which is constant with internalized ethics" (Walumbwa et al., 2008).
The notion of authentic leadership is comparatively novel, but there are numerous pragmatic researchers connecting authentic leadership to job aptitude and job performance, but very few are in school settings. For instance, constructive associations among authentic leadership and job performance, job satisfaction Amunkete, and Rothmann, 2015); organizational citizenship behavior (Walumbwa et al., 2010), psychological empowerment (Lishchinsky, and Tsemach, 2014), faith in management (Walumbwa et al. 2008), organizational commitment, Organizational Change (Laschinger, Wong, and Grau, 2013;Bakari, Hunjra, and Niazi, 2017), and work engagement (Adil, and Kamal, 2016) creativity (Muceldili, Turan, and Erbil, 2013) are exposed using samples from a range of areas such as industry, economics, sell, and alteration and medical. Though, its association with teacher's empowerment and teacher's job performance has not been explored widely.

Empowerment and Job Performance
The term empower reflects to provide power to the followers which allow them or enable them to take decisions and responsibility with autonomy, consequently it enhance the personal growth self-efficacy, impact and other relational factors like confidence trustworthiness, and liability of the followers. Empowerment could be expressed as devolution of power of decision making and responsibility to the lower level (Page & Czuba, 1999). On the bases of the theories of Raths & Wassermann (1991) it is observed that freedom to choose is implicit in empowerment. People are empowered by having choices; they also better fulfill their own emotional, cognitive, and value-driven strengthening. Depending on others to make one's choices "diminishes" the individual. Empowered individuals perceive quite differently from their traditionally focused peers. They simply don't see things the same way. Frequently the empowered person is labeled by peers as "creative" less complimentary than it may sound or as a "risk taker". Cunningham, Hyman, and Baldry, (1996) engrossed two basic arguments to deal with subordinates; subordinates ought to be administers cautiously and hold up through counteractive dealings wherever required, and subordinates ought to be given liability to adapt their actions, it is referred to as employee empowerment. Empowerment is not related to power itself; it's merely a process of distributing powers among others particularly subordinates, it promotes the feelings of delight, self-efficiency, autonomy, impact and liability. Subordinates empowerment supports to enhance the excellence, competence and organizational effectiveness. Zhu, Avolio, and Walumbwa, (2009), conducted a study to investigate the relationship among authentic leadership and employee empowerment results shows that employee empowerment enhanced due to the enhancement in the authentic leadership of leaders and thus a significant positive association among authentic leadership and employee empowerment. As a leader offer admiration, confidence, and recognition to subordinates, it directs subordinates to practice improved cerebral protection, as effect assists them to undergo gratis to foresee challenges (Avolio, Gardner, Walumbwa, Luthans, & May, 2004). So, approaching subordinates to superfluous original and innovative regarding schedule activities support those to cope with challenges and get benefit from the opportunities. It is revealed that psychologically empowered subordinates show additional originality in their performance. In addition, previous studies (Seibert, Wang, & Courtright, 2011) also examine association among psychological empowerment and originality. It shows that empowered employees perform their roles and responsibilities effectively because they are pioneering and inventive, consequently increased job performance .
Employee empowerment is connected with numerous performance related and institutional aspects, such as, job contentment (Manojlovich and Laschinger 2002), independence , confidence (Cooney, 2004), citizenship behavior (Lishchinsky, and Tsemach, 2014), exhaustion (Laschinger, Wong and Grau, 2013), and intention to reside in the job (Nedd 2006). Empowerment has come to be recognized as a significant pointer of increased job performances which go additional than officially allocated responsibilities for constructive effect at the institutional level to uphold work eminence and durable maintainability and efficiency (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, & Bachrach, 2000). Leadership style was recognized as a significant contributing aspect to empowerment and job performance. Authentic leadership highlight the vital function of authentic leaders in assisting subordinates growth through giving chances to determine novel expertise thus allow independence, involves in decision making, status, self-efficacy and having an impact in the institution. Empowering and encouraging leader authenticity have been associated with increased job performance. It seems that a small number of studies, connected authentic leadership to constructive job outlook such as job performance, so it is rational to predict that authentic leadership might manipulate job performance through its effect on empowerment.

Hypothesis of the Study
H1:Teacher's empowerment mediates the relationship between the school head's authentic leadership and teacher's job performance.

Material and Methods
This research laid foundations on the causal comparative and Correlation assertion. It measures the mediating effect of mediator variable (Teacher's Empowerment) between the relationship of independent variable (Authentic Leadership) and the dependent variable (Teacher's Job Performance). It is descriptive in nature. All the 6265 male and female secondary school heads and 120726 male and female secondary school teachers in all 36 districts in the province of Punjab constitute the population of the study. For best representation of Punjab, Pakistan six districts Chakwal, Bhakhar, Layyah, Rajanpur, Gujranwala and Lodhran were selected from Punjab through stratified random sampling technique. Total of 271 secondary school heads in public sector from each sample district were selected through proportionate random sampling technique, which is the 30% of the total population. Total of 865 teachers teaching secondary classes from each sample district were selected as a sample of the study through proportionate random sampling technique, which is the 5% of the total population.

Job Performance Authentic Leadership
For the measurement of three variables; three questionnaires were adapted and used. Firstly, Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) comprises of 16-items formerly built up by Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, and Peterson in 2008. This questionnaire has two versions. Self-report version and raters' version. Teachers asked to respond on the raters' version at five-point Likert scale. Secondly, School Participant Empowerment Scale (SPES) this 38-item scale was originally developed by Short and Rinehart (1992). Participants (Teachers) were asked to rate on this fivepoint Likert scale. Teacher Job Performance Scale (TJP) this 25-item Teacher Job Performance Scale (TJPS) was originally developed and translated by Hanif, (2004). The scale has two versions. Self-report version and raters' version. School heads asked to respond on the raters' version at five-point Likert scale.

Results and Discussion
After data collection the responses of the respondents were arranged and structured in order to find out vague or ambiguous responses. Then the process of quantifying, tabulation, presentation and analysis were carried out through statistical packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Mediating role of SPES was computed between ALQ and JP through Process-Macro.  There was a significant indirect effect of head's authentic leadership on teacher's job performance through teacher's empowerment, β =0.45***, CI = (0.35, 0.55) and explained 73% variance in teacher's empowerment. Indirect was further confirmed by Sobel statistics and showed significant mediation (Sobel z = 9.59, p<.001).

Discussion
This study is one of the first to express the effect of head's authentic leadership on empowerment of teachers and the mediating role of teacher's empowerment between head's authentic leadership and teacher's job performance in the field of education particularly in Punjab, Pakistan. In order to analyze the role of teacher's empowerment as a mediator on the relationship of head's authenticity and teacher's job performance Mediation Analysis Process-Macro was applied. It is a type of hierarchical entrance of the forecaster variables to find out if association between forecaster and decisive variable is prejudiced by third moderating variable. relationship between head's authentic leadership and teacher's job performance. Direct effect of head's authentic leadership on teacher's job performance is positive significant, which means increase in head's authentic leadership predicts increase in teachers' job performance. There was a significant indirect effect of head's authentic leadership on teacher's job performance through teacher's empowerment, and explained 73% variance in teacher's empowerment. Indirect was further confirmed by Sobel statistics and showed significant mediation. Another study conducted by  in the field of medical and reported that authentic leadership has significant positive effect on the job satisfaction and job performance of nurses both directly and indirectly through empowerment. Leroy et al. (2015) suggest that the authentic leader can effectively contribute to the development of employees and have an impact on the follower's performance. Authentic leadership is significantly connected with teacher's empowerment and teacher's empowerment help to explain the relationship between authentic leadership and teacher's job performance. In the light of discussion it is argued that that the effect of head's authentic leadership on teacher's empowerment and job performance, correspondingly is completely accounted for when both authentic leadership with one's leader and empowerment of teachers are taken into account, so each takes part exclusively to the forecast of teacher's job performance, correspondingly. Additionally, this notion gives the idea that teacher under the supervision of authentic leaders undergo more empowered and show increased job performance. The similar results were founded by Rego et al. (2012) that under the administration of authentic leaders' employees feel more engaged and empowered thus seems to be more creative in their work.
There are also some other studies (Seibert et al., 2011;Zhang & Bartol, 2010) explores the significance of leaders ways to enhance employees empowerment and performance. Numerous study's authors (Walumbwa, et al., 2010;Joo, Lim, & Kim, 2016;Valsania, Moriano, & Molero, 2016) in the light of their empirical work reported that authentic leaders through their internalized moral perspective, relational transparency and balanced processing, develop the situations which foster constructive employee attitude towards their job. Similarly, (Macey & Schneider, 2008;Dewettinck & van Ameijde, 2011;Gao, Janssen, & Shi, 2011;Klerk & Stander, 2014) reported that empowering leaders, delegate authority to employees, involves them in decision making, offer autonomy at work, can help employees to undergo empowered and consequently improve job performance. Thus Empowering Leaders have positive effects on teacher's performance by offering a sense of empowerment at work because as a result teachers to undergo more individually responsible and affectively perform the job.
The results of this study put forward significant theoretical offerings to the theoretical lens and schools proposition. It is the primary research experientially veteran and back up the intervening effect of teachers' empowerment on the association of authentic leadership and teachers' job performance. The outcomes depict that authentic leadership is a positive forecaster of the teachers' job performance. The findings of this definite study also summit in the way that authentic leadership and job performance can be additionally enlighten due to the manipulation of intervening variable so as to individuals opinion of authentic leadership is probably connected with improved association with individuals performance and therefore brunt improved job performance. Rego et al. (2012) recommended similar consequences, revealed that employees demonstrate higher performance because under the administration of authentic leaders subordinates experience additionally empowered, which point out that an authentic leader is capable sufficient to stay his/her subordinates additionally empowered and concerned to their performance by developing a unique relationship with subordinates. Giallonardo et al. (2010) also enlighten this relationship that subordinates working in the supervision of heads who demonstrate genuineness is probably additional affianced in their institution. The assumption which reflects that authentic leadership has considerable strong correlation with teachers' job performance is supported in line with findings of this study as well as the results of the earlier studies. It backs up the findings that authentic leadership shown considerable strong association with improved performance at the workplace. The results of the study are constant with preceding researches (Nelson et al. 2014Bono & Ilies, 2006Regan, Laschinger & Wong, 2016).
In findings, authentic leadership has strong positive association with the empowerment of teachers it shows the direct effect of authentic leadership on the empowerment of teachers. Zue, May, and  also depict the significant positive association among authentic leadership and empowerment of subordinates. Therefore the results of this study are corroborating their outcomes. In an institution an authentic leader gives his employees a feeling of revere and established an astonishing relationship with them which makes the teachers undergo more empowered. Another result of the study represents that teachers' empowerment has direct considerable constructive effect on the job performance of teachers. Empowered teachers undergo self aggravated since they acquainted with their job value somewhat, they recognize that they are competent to perform their job, they have a sort of power in their instant institutions, they have preferences of initiating and adapting actions. This findings endorses previous researchers of Meyerson, Dewettinck (2012), Zia et al. (2014) and Indradevi (2012), it sponsor that empowering employee's increase their contentment. Rajalingam et al. (2015) also originated that subordinate's empowerment also influence job fulfillment. Deci and Ryan (2002) internally provoked employees are more likely to have the benefit of work, endow more time and vigor in tasks of their job, and thus performance will boost. All these enormities grant the employee a boost up and lend a hand him to undergo empowered. Therefore, the employee can produce new thoughts on usual basis and can be more ingenious in performing variety of activities in the institution.
The findings of the study confirms that teachers' empowerment has constructive considerable association with teachers job performance it recommended that teachers experience additionally empowered in their institution consequently shows increased job performance. They undergo gratis to comprise their personal choices and not experience diffident to endeavor original thoughts and clarification for dissimilar dilemmas they suffer in their institution. Furthermore, there are numerous studies in literature which grasp this relationship between empowerment and job performance (Seibert et al., 2011). Teachers' empowerment is also play role of partial mediator among authentic leadership and teachers' job performance. This gives a notion that teachers who experience more empowered will prove increased job performance in the administration of authentic leader.
Preceding studies also carried out constructive association among authentic leadership and improved job performance (Walumbwa et al. 2008, Gatling, Kang, & Kim, 2016 and empowerment and job performance (Degago, 2014), but it is the primary research certificating a straight constructive association between authentic leadership and job performance and an indirect association through empowerment in experienced school teacher in their institutions. On the whole, the prototype of results accounted here proposed that the more school heads are seen as authentic; the more teachers recognize they have admittance to empowerment constitution in the institution and perform superior in their jobs.

Conclusion
First of all this study develop and veteran a framework it comprises of collision of authentic leadership and teacher's job performance in the occurrence of teacher's empowerment as mediator. What was novel to this study was the partial mediating effect of teacher's empowerment among authentic leadership and teacher's job performance, so it can be conditional that empowered teachers will show better performance as compared to less empowered teachers. The results of the study expressed that teacher's empowerments mediate the relationship between head's authentic leadership and teacher's job performance. Direct effect of head's authentic leadership on teacher's job performance is positive significant, which means increase in head's authentic leadership predicts increase in teachers' job performance. There was a significant indirect effect of head's authentic leadership on teacher's job performance through teacher's empowerment, and explained 73% variance in teacher's empowerment. Indirect was further confirmed by Sobel statistics and showed significant mediation. It was concluded that such authentic leaders have positive effects on teacher's performance by offering a sense of empowerment at work as a result teachers undergo more individually responsible and affectively perform the job.
There is need to organize various training programs to boost authenticity of leaders (school heads) so as to obtain improve job performance of teachers. Authentic leaders can increase the level of job performance of teachers by increasing their level of empowerment. As it was obvious from findings, that teachers who work in the supervision of authentic leaders had high level of empowerment. Thus, to raise level of teacher's empowerment teacher's decision making, status, selfefficacy, autonomy and opportunities for professional growth and development should be reflected on in the institutions. Work atmosphere that offer undo admittance to teachers decision making, status, self-efficacy, autonomy and opportunities for professional growth both empower and make possible for them to enhance their teaching skills, management skills, maintain discipline and regularity and boost interpersonal skills.

Recommendations
On the basis of findings following recommendations are provided:  The outcomes of this study can be fruitful for school heads to know how to increase the empowerment and job performance of teachers, as results of the study shows that teacher's empowerment and job performance is associated with the authenticity of the leaders (school heads).
 A leader (school head must recognize self in provisions of his/her personal potency and flaws in array to comprehend that to which extent it affects his/her cohorts and subsidiary.
 The results of this study recommended that it is beneficial for heads, supervisors, administrators and managers to highlight relational transparency, supreme moral principles, balanced processing and selfawareness to enhance teacher's level of empowerment and their job performance.
 Results recommended that school heads might concentrate on the significance of their authentic leadership style as the findings of the study represented that teacher's observation of their heads authentic leadership significantly associated with teacher's sense of empowerment.
 School heads might concentrate on the empowerment of their teachers through authentic leadership practices. Teacher's empowerment should be analyzed through various reviews frequently to examine their level of empowerment in order to increase their job performance.
 Educational development interventions might propose that promoting head's authentic leadership be precious to the level that they enhance teachers encouraging (empowering) job behavior and consequently improved their performance and educational effectiveness as well.
 Important training programs might be organized for the teachers to instill proficient and delicate abilities concentrating on teacher's empowerment and attitude, it will essentially improve their performance.
 Government should organize suitable training programs that endeavor to enhance leader's authenticity. Government can prop up school heads in attaining more authentic style so that they can influence the teacher's empowerment and job performance.
 Various techniques which may consist of multisource responses, employ character presentation, and organize leaderless cluster deliberations can boost leaders self-awareness and it will assist them to get a profound imminent into their teachers perceptions and ultimately will turns them into superfluous authentic in their leadership mode.
 For school heads leadership expansion training programs need to be organized concentrating on the significant aspects of rational transparency, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing and self-awareness.
 School heads and policy makers should use strategies to identify tendency in teacher's empowerment, and overall job performance of teachers, so as accurate ideas and approaches can be implement consequently the whole school performance will increased.
 For potential study, qualitative and quantitative research paradigms should be pooled to examine leadership in school culture. All education divisions ought to support study contribution novel presumption and escalating present presumption of education.
 Potential study should spotlight on reporting to policy-makers and school practitioners to progress school performance and formation.
 Further study in this aspect is needed to initiate an aboriginal model of school leadership.