SOCIAL SKILLS AS PREDICTORS OF LEADERSHIP COMPETENCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study investigated social skills as predictors of leadership competence among secondary school principals in Rivers State. The study used the correlational research design. Two research questions and two corresponding hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 1,653 principals in all private and public schools in Rivers state. A sample of 525 principals (231 public school principals and 294 private school principals) were drawn using multistage sampling techniques which include stratified random sampling, simple random sampling by balloting and proportionate random sampling. Two instruments were used to collect data for the study; Social Skills Questionnaire (SSQ) and Principal’s Leadership Competence Questionnaire (PLCQ). The Cronbach’s Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instruments and the reliability coefficients obtained were 0.82 and 0.81 respectively. The data collected were analyzed with multiple regression, t-test and ANOVA. The findings of the study showed that social skills (Social Presentation, Social Scanning and Social Flexibility) jointly and independently predict leadership competence significantly among secondary school principals in Rivers State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Principals should pay attention to teachers and students body language or nonverbal behaviours as this will make him read between-the-line and be in a better position to keenly identify subtle cues or to identify exactly what to do in any given social circumstances.