The Relationship between Authentic Leadership and Work Engagement

The purpose of this research to examine the relationship between the authentic leadership behaviors of the school administrator and the work engagement of the teachers, according to the perceptions of the teachers of secondary school. The research was designed in the relational survey model and carried out with 300 teachers. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used in the research. As a result of the research, it was found that teachers’ general perceptions of authentic leadership of school administrators was relatively high and the highest level on balanced processing. Teachers’ general perceptions work engagement was relatively high and the highest level on dedication. Positive, medium and low-level relationships were found between authentic leadership and work engagement. According to teachers, the authentic leadership of school administrators significantly predicted teachers’ perceptions of work engagement. Based on these findings it has been proposed to various suggestions have been put forward such as protect and increase the authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators and teachers’ work engagement levels.


Introduction
Educational institutions are institutional structures that have taken the biggest responsibility in raising capital, which enables countries to survive and reach better points. Many activities from the acquisition of basic skills of the child to professional shaping are presented to him/her by the school's internal stakeholders in the schools that form the basis of educational institutions. So, schools are the places where structure the foundation of the intellectual capital which is considered as the most important capital of the countries. According to Taymaz, the duties that schools undertake in raising individuals cannot be ignored (2009), and school administrators and teachers who are internal stakeholders of the school should be aware of this responsibility. They should make an effort to improve their school's day by day and take different responsibilities besides their responsibilities. As a matter of fact, many changes from culture to technology in the world have caused different expectations both in internal stakeholders and external stakeholders of the school and put more responsibilities on school administrators to meet these expectations. School administrators should display leadership behaviors in addition to management in order to meet the changing expectations and needs of the school's stakeholders. One of the recently expected leaderships from school administrators is authentic leadership (Kıral, 2018b). In recent years, it has become almost impossible to make schools effective by only managing schools, and it has become a sought-after feature that school administrators exhibit leadership. Authentic leadership is an important form of leadership that school administrators should demonstrate. Authentic leadership includes school administrators to be like themselves with sincere behavior rather than giving them leader impression, their relationship is honest and transparent, and the establishment of a school climate based on trust and ethical principles at school. The trust factor in the focus of authentic leadership is a very important concept as it affects the quality of education (Kıral & Başaran, 2018a). Decreasing trust in school is an important factor leading to deterioration of school climate and poor quality of education (Kıral & Başaran, 2018b).
The origin of work engagement comes from the concept of engagement. Using the concept of engagement for the first time, Kahn (1990) based this concept on the role theory of the individual; it has been investigated as personal engagement and disengagement. Schaufeli & Bakker (2010) expressed engagement in behavior as a manifestation of a particular mental state that occurs when they are physically at work, by giving the employee energy to the job role. Schaufeli, Bakker & Salanova examined work engagement as one of the psychological conditions affecting the individual in the area of positive organizational behavior (2006). In this context, although work engagement is claimed to be an umbrella concept that covers similar theories in the field of organizational behavior (Macey & Schneider, 2008), it is considered as a concept that can be applied empirically, practiced, definitively and distinctively defined in academia (Leither & Bakker, 2010). Work engagement is defined as negatively related to burnout, but as a separate, self-concept, a positive, satisfying mood for the job of the employee, which is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption. Vigor means that the employee gives all his/her energy to his/her work without getting tired immediately while working and mental endurance; dedication means that the job is meaningful and attractive to the employee, requires struggle, the employee become integrated and embraces it with passion; absorption means that the employee focuses on his/her job, does not see external stimuli, pays all his/her attention, does not care about anything else, and is happy when doing his/her job (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzales-Roma & Bakker, 2002). As it is seen, meaningfulness of the work for the employee and working with passion by concentrating on it can make the job more qualified. Teachers engaged in education and training are also expected to be engaged in their jobs. As a matter of fact, teachers, who are engaged in their jobs, can lead to educate more qualified children, who are the assurance of their future. However, this engagement of teachers who are engaged in their jobs can be provided by school administrators who will lead them. It can be expected that teachers will be willing and efficient in fulfilling the functions of the school, they will take responsibility voluntarily, and they will be satisfied with their work in a school environment where authentic leadership behaviors are exhibited by the school administrator. For this reason, the fact that the school administrator, who is accepted as an important element of effective schools, is authentic in leadership behaviors and the effect of this on teachers' work engagement is worth examining. In addition, work engagement is beneficial for all organizations, but it has a special importance especially in educational organizations. In this context, a teacher who feels vigorous, dedicated and absorbed while doing his/her job will make a positive contribution to the quality of education.
When the literature reviewed, it was dedicated that there has been no study conducted about the relationship between authentic leadership behaviors by school administrators for teachers and teachers' work engagement in secondary schools. It is important to determine the authentic leadership level of school administrators and to know to what extent the school administrators' authentic leadership effect teachers' work engagement. Thus, school administrators and policy makers assigning them can take the necessary measures. As a matter of fact, the purpose of this study is to reveal the effect of the authentic leadership behaviors exhibited by the school administrators according to the perceptions of teachers working in secondary schools on the levels of teachers' work engagement.
Research questions 1. What are the authentic leadership behavior levels of school administrators according to the perceptions of secondary school teachers? 2. What are the secondary school teachers' perception levels of work engagement? 3. According to the perceptions of secondary school teachers, is there a significant relationship between the authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators and teachers' perception levels of work engagement? 4. According to the perceptions of secondary school teachers, do the authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators predict teachers' levels of work engagement?

Method Sample
The relationship between the authentic leadership behaviors exhibited by the school administrators and the teachers' work engagement was examined through relational survey model (Karasar, 2016), which is one of the research models aiming to determine the degree of change between two or more variables.
The target population of the current study is 1059 teachers working in 35 official secondary schools in 2017-2018 academic year in Aydın province Efeler district (National Education Directorate [Aydın NED], 2018). In this research, each secondary school was handled as a cluster with a multi-stage sampling method (Balcı, 2016;Karasar, 2016) based on certain procedures, including a series of stages, and simple random sampling method was used with proportional cluster sampling (Barreiro & Albandoz, 2001). By reaching all 35 secondary schools in which 1059 teachers work, it was ensured that each school is represented in the sample with the number in the proportion represented in the target population. In calculating the sample size, the sample size calculation table was used (Can, 2016). It is assumed that the target population consisting of 1059 secondary school teachers can represent 282 secondary school teachers at the level of α = .05 significance and 5% tolerance. It was decided that the sample should be composed of 338 middle school teachers by taking 20% more of the sample calculated due to problems that may occur during the data collection process and returns. 338 volunteer teachers participated in the research but 38 data collection tools (outlier, not filling proper, etc.) were removed from the analysis. Thus, the research was carried out through the data collection tools filled in by 300 participants.
As a result of the analysis of the data in the research; it was found out that 173 (57.7%) of the teachers are female and 127 (42.3%) are male; 264 (88%) are married and 36 (12%) are single. The ages of the teachers vary between 23 and 63 ( = 40.41). Teachers' year of service in their school varies between 1 and 30 years ( = 5.84). It was found out that 282 (94%) of the teachers are undergraduate and 18 (6%) are graduate.

Authentic Leadership Scale
In the current study, Authentic Leadership Scale (ALS), which was developed by Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing & Peterson (2008) and adapted into Turkish by Kıral (2018a), was used to find out the authentic leadership perceptions of teachers towards school administrators. Adaptation of the scale into Turkish on the sample of secondary school teachers was made by Kıral (2018a). ALS consists of four dimensions: relational transparency, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing and self-awareness. It was determined that as a result of exploratory factor analysis, the scale preserved its original structure with four factors and the first and second fit indices of the scale were appropriate as a result of confirmatory factor analysis. In the reliability analysis, Cronbach Alpha reliability values were found to vary between .60 and .80 for general authentic leadership and the four dimensions of authentic leadership. Due to the fact that the ALS is a relatively new adaptation, the number of items is less, adapted with a similar sample and the adaptation studies in other studies were carried out in different disciplines other than education, ALS which was adapted by Kıral (2018a) was preferred. The scale consisted of three items for each dimension and a total of 12 items includes 5-point Likert type rating ["I disagree at all" (1), "I totally agree" (5)]. The high scores obtained from the scale indicate that the feature of each dimension is high. In the current study, Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was found to vary between .75 and .92 for general authentic leadership and its four dimensions. The fact that these values are in the range of .60 to .80 indicates that the scale is "quite reliable" (Tavsancıl, 2014).

Work Engagement Scale
In the current study, Work Engagement Scale (WES), which was developed by Schaufeli & Baker (2003) and adapted into Turkish by Kıral (2018b), was used to find out the teachers' work engagement level. WES consists of three dimensions: vigor, dedication and absorption. It was determined that as a result of exploratory factor analysis, the scale preserved its original structure with three factors and the first and second fit indices of the scale were appropriate as a result of confirmatory factor analysis. As a result of the adaptation of the scale into Turkish, the internal consistency coefficients were found to vary between .78 and .90 for general work engagement and the three dimensions of work engagement. Due to the fact that the WES is a relatively new adaptation, the number of items is less, adapted with a similar sample and the adaptation studies in other studies were carried out in different disciplines other than education, WES which was adapted by Kıral (2018b) was preferred. The scale consisted of four items for each dimension and a total of 12 items includes 5-point Likert type rating ["I disagree at all" (1), "I totally agree" (5)]. The high scores obtained from the scale indicate that the feature of each dimension is high. In the current study, Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was found to vary between .75 and .89 for general work engagement scale and its three dimensions. According to these values, the scale can be said to be "quite reliable" (Tavsancıl, 2014).

Analysis
Descriptive and inferential statistics techniques were used to analyze the data collected in the research. The demographic characteristics of the teachers collected through the "personal information form" were analyzed with descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages; authentic leadership and work engagement levels analyzed with average and standard deviation. The relationship between authentic leadership behaviors and work engagement perception levels were analyzed with the Pearson Moments Product Correlation; whether teachers' level of work engagement was predicted by perceived school administrators' authentic leadership behaviors was tested by Multiple Regression analysis. It was evaluated as the findings that the data obtained in the study showed a normal distribution due to the fact that measures of central tendency of 300 data determined to be suitable for statistical analysis were close to each other (mean, median and mode), the skewness and kurtosis coefficients were in the range of -1 to +1, and the values obtained when the skewness and kurtosis coefficients are divided by the standard error of skewness and kurtosis, respectively, between -1.96 and +1.96 (Can, 2016). In the current research, statistical analysis of the data was handled in a model that will reveal the effect of independent variables (school administrators 'authentic leadership behaviors towards teachers) on dependent variable (teachers' work engagement). The evaluation ranges of scales were 1.00 -1.79 very low; 1.80 -2.59 low; 2.60 -3.39 medium; 3.40 -4.19 high and 4.20 -5.00 very high.

Findings
The findings obtained as a result of the research are given below in accordance with the purpose of the research.

Findings regarding the Authentic Leadership behavior levels of school administrators perceived by teachers
The findings obtained from the statistics regarding the authentic leadership behavior levels of school administrators perceived by secondary school teachers are included in Table 1 As can be seen in Table 1, teachers perceive that school administrators have mostly balanced processing then relational transparency, internalized morality and self-awareness, respectively. In general, and in all dimensions, teachers' perceptions about the authentic leadership of school administrators are high.

Findings regarding teachers' perception of Work Engagement
The findings obtained from statistics regarding secondary school teachers' level of perception of work engagement is given in Table 2. As can be seen in Table 2, teachers have the highest levels of dedication, then vigor and absorption perception, respectively. Teachers' levels of perception of work engagement is relatively high in both general and all dimensions.

Findings regarding the relationship between teachers' perception level of Authentic Leadership behavior exhibited by school administrators and Work Engagement perception level.
Correlation test results in terms of the relationship between teachers' perception level of authentic leadership behavior exhibited by school administrators and work engagement perception level are given in Table 3. When Table 3 is analyzed, it is seen that the relationship of relational transparency with absorption is low; with internalized morality, self-awareness, vigor, dedication, and general work engagement perception is medium; with balanced processing and general authentic leadership is positively high and significant. It is seen that the relationship of internalized morality perception with absorption is low; with balanced processing, selfawareness, vigor, dedication, and general work engagement perception is medium; with general authentic leadership perception is positively high and significant. It is found that the relationship of teachers' balanced processing perception is low with the perception of absorption; medium with perceptions of vigor, dedication, and general work engagement; self-awareness and general authentic leadership perceptions are positively high and significant. It is observed that the relationship of teachers' self-awareness perception is low with the perceptions of dedication and absorption; medium with perceptions of vigor and general work engagement; positively high level of significant relationships with the perception of general authentic leadership. It is understood that the relationship of teachers' perception of general authentic leadership is low with the perception of absorption; positively medium and significant with vigor, dedication, and general work engagement. It is detected that the relationship of teachers' perception of vigor is medium with perception of dedication and absorption; positively high with general work engagement. It is seen that the relationship of teachers' perception of dedication is medium with perception of absorption; positively high and significant with general work engagement. It is found that the relationship of teachers' perception of absorption is positively high and significant with general work engagement.

Findings related to the prediction of teachers' Work Engagement by Authentic Leadership behaviors presented by school administrators
The results of multiple regression analysis performed to determine whether teachers' perception of vigor is predicted by the sub-dimensions of authentic leadership are given in Table 4. As can be seen in Table 4, it was found the linear combination of all dimensions of authentic leadership significantly predicted the perception of vigor [R = .41; R 2 = .17; F (4-295) = 15.145; p <.01]. Independent variables explained 17% of the variance related to perception of vigor. When the t-test results related to the significance of the regression coefficients were examined, it was understood that teachers' perception of relational transparency and internalized morality had significant effects on teachers' perception of vigor, but the perceptions of balanced processing and self-awareness did not have any significant effects on teachers' perception of vigor.
The results of multiple regression analysis performed to determine whether teachers' perception of dedication is predicted by the sub-dimensions of authentic leadership are given in Table 5. As can be seen in Table 5, it was found that the linear combination of all dimensions of authentic leadership significantly predicted the perception of dedication [R = .36; R 2 = .13; F (4-295) = 10.615; p <.01]. Independent variables explained 13% of the variance related to perception of dedication. When the t test results related to the significance of the regression coefficients were analyzed, it was seen that perception of internalized morality had a significant effect, but the others didn't have significant effects.
The results of multiple regression analysis performed to determine whether teachers' perception of absorption is predicted by the sub-dimensions of authentic leadership are given in Table 6. In Table 6, it was determined that the linear combination of all dimensions of authentic leadership significantly predicted the perception of absorption [R = .32; R 2 = .10; F (4-295) = 8.159; p<.01]. Independent variables explained 10% of the variance related to the perception of absorption. When the t test results related to the significance of the regression coefficients were analyzed, it was seen that the perceptions of internalized morality and self-awareness had significant effects, but perception of relational transparency and balanced processing didn't have significant effects.
The results of multiple regression analysis performed to determine whether teachers' perception of general work engagement is predicted by the sub-dimensions of authentic leadership are given in Table 7.  Table 7 was analyzed, it can be seen that the linear combination of all dimensions of authentic leadership significantly predicted the perception of general work engagement [R = .41; R 2 = .17; F (4-295) = 14.990; p <.01]. Independent variables explained 17% of the variance related to perception of general work engagement. When the t test results regarding the significance of the regression coefficients were examined, it was seen that perception of internalized morality had a significant effect, but the others didn't have significant effect.

Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations
According to the teachers, school administrators exhibit the mostly balanced processing behavior, then relational transparency, internalized morality, and lastly self-awareness behaviors and their general authentic leadership behaviors were high. Similarly to the results of this research, there are researches with authentic leadership levels of "high" (Çelik, 2015;Keser, 2013;Kıral, 2018a;Örs, 2015;Ünal, 2015) and there are also researches that have different results with authentic leadership levels of "low" (Kulophas, Hallinger, Ruengtrakul & Wongwanich, 2018); medium (Fox, Gong & Attoh, 2015;Gök, 2015;Secove Lopes, 2013;Shapira-Lishchinsky & Tsemach, 2014;Srivastava & Dhar, 2017) and "very high" (Akıncı, 2016;Özden, 2015). It can be said that school administrators exhibit high level of authentic leadership behaviors and this is perceived by teachers in the same way. This is very important for the school climate. In schools where authentic leadership behaviors are exhibited, there are findings that it will increase teachers' extra role behavior (Srivastava & Dhar, 2017), work engagement (Adil & Kamal, 2016;Kulophas et al., 2018;Seco & Lopes, 2013), organizational commitment (Fox et al., 2015), organizational citizenship behaviors (Özden, 2015;Shapira-Lishchinsky and Tsemach, 2014) and life satisfaction (Gök, 2015). The exhibition of authentic leadership behaviors in the school increases the school's performance by supporting teachers' belief that their school's success will increase (Lester, Meglino & Korsgaard, 2002;Rego, Vitória, Magalhães, Ribeiro & Cunha, 2013). In fact, it can be stated that this situation will contribute to the success of the school and the quality of education. According to the research findings made in Turkey, it can be said that the authentic leadership behaviors of the administrators in educational institutions are perceived at a high and very high level by teachers, but this perception is generally medium or low in studies conducted abroad.
Teachers had mostly the perception of dedication of work engagement, then vigor and absorption, respectively. It was found that teachers' perception level of dedication is "very high", their perception level of vigor and absorption is "high". It can be said that teachers' perception level of general work engagement is "high". The reason for high level of teachers' work engagement can be related to be provided resources they need at school (Salanova, Agut & Peiró, 2005), positive feedback they receive from the school administrator (Barker & Geurts, 2004), find their work meaningful (May, Gilson & Harter, 2004) and receive social support from their environment (Turgut, 2010). High level of teachers' work engagement may affect the school climate positively. As a matter of fact, it can positively reflect the success of the school by providing teachers performance to increase (Salanova et al., 2005). In studies investigating teachers' work engagement, there are many studies showing that teachers' perception of work engagement is at a "high" level (Adekola, 2010;Atçıoğlu, 2018;Hakanen, Bakker & Schaufeli, 2006;Høigaard, Giske & Sundsli, 2012;Kabar, 2017;Karakaya, 2015;Kavgacı, 2014;Kıral, 2018b;Klassen et al., 2012;Sarath & Manikandan, 2014). According to the research findings made in both Turkey and abroad, it can be said that teachers' perception level of work engagement is high.
It has been determined that there is positively high relationship between general authentic leadership and its dimensions and relatively the highest relationship is with balanced processing. There is positively medium and high-level relationship between authentic leadership dimensions and relatively the highest relationship is between self-awareness and balanced processing, the lowest relationship is between self-awareness and internalized mortality. It has been determined that there is positively high relationship between general work engagement and its dimensions, relatively the highest relationship is with absorption. It has been found out that there is positively medium level relationship between work engagement dimensions, relatively the highest relationship is between dedication and vigor dimensions and the lowest relationship is between absorption and dedication. In general, it has been understood that there is positively medium level relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement. This relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement may be due to the teachers' work engagement because of school administrators' authentic leadership behaviors or school administrators' authentic leadership behaviors because of teachers' work engagement. The environment of trust at school with school administrators' authentic leadership behavior (Clapp-Smith, Vogelgesang & Avey, 2009) or being fair, honest and confident of the school administrator may affect the teachers' work engagement (Yukl, 2018). However, teachers' work engagement can lead school administrators to move towards authentic leadership. In the studies that examine the concepts associated with authentic leadership in educational organizations, the relationship of authentic leadership; is medium with psychological capital and work engagement, Adil & Kamal (2016); is medium with psychological capital Feng-I (2016); is medium with organizational commitment and high with trusting the administrator Fox et al. (2015); is medium with academic optimism and work engagement, Kulophas et al. (2018); is medium with work engagement, Seco & Lopes (2013); is low with organizational citizenship and medium with psychological empowerment, Shapira-Lishchinsky and Tsemach (2014); is high with academic optimism and extra role behavior, Srivastava & Dhar (2017); is medium with emotional intelligence, Akıncı (2016); is medium with life satisfaction and low with the support that perceived from the family, Gök (2015); is medium with psychological capital, Kevser (2013), is medium with organizational conflict management strategy, Örs (2015); is medium with organizational citizenship, Özden (2015); is low with teachers' voice, Ünal (2015). In the studies that examine the concepts associated with work engagement in educational organizations, the relationship of work engagement; is medium with transformational leadership and organizational culture, Arifin, Troena, & Djumahir (2014); is positive medium with organizational commitment and negative medium with burnout, Hakanen et al. (2006); is positive medium with job satisfaction, is negative medium with burnout and intention of leaving the job Høigaard et al. (2012); is high with the job satisfaction, is negative medium with the intention of leaving the job, Klassen et al. (2012); is medium with effectiveness of the school, Atçıoğlu (2018); is medium with emotional intelligence, Kabar (2017); is medium with school climate, Karakaya (2015); is medium with selfrecovery power, self-efficacy, self-esteem, autonomy, leader-member interaction and trust in manager Kavgacı (2014); is low between the organizational climate and the perception of organizational support, Köse (2015); is medium between school principal supervision styles, institutional support and parent support, Oymak (2015); is low with servant leadership, Sönmez (2014); is positive medium with spiritual leadership, Tan (2015); is low negative with loneliness in business life, Sezen (2014).
According to the teachers, the general authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators that they perceive significantly affected teachers' perception of vigor. 17% of the change of teachers' perception of vigor was due to the authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators. It was found that the authentic leadership exhibited by the school administrators had significant effects on the perception of teachers' relational transparency and internalized morality, but it didn't have significant effects balanced processing and selfawareness dimensions. It can be said that the vigor dimension, which involves the energetic and vigorous teachers, is influenced by authentic leadership behaviors, which include the sincere attitude of the school administrator, establishing an open and honest communication and adhering to ethical principles. It can be thought to be effective on teachers' feeling vigorous that It can be thought that the school principal's manager to express himself clearly and accurately (Ilies et al., 2005) with the effort of providing confidence, which is the most important goal, as well as possible different results. (Tabak, 2012). As a matter of fact, when the communication within the school is transparent and sincere, the teachers may be willing to make efforts in their work and feel more vigorous when they adhere to the ethical principles in the school. Because employees feel more vigorous when they establish trust-based relationships with their managers and devote themselves more to what they do (Hakanen et al., 2006;May et al., 2004;Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). In fact, Kumor & Israel stated that employees who have transparent relationships in the organization feel more vigorous (2012).
According to the teachers, the general authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators that they perceive significantly affected teachers' perception of dedication. 13% of the change in teachers' perception of dedication was due to the authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators. It has been determined that internalized mortality dimension of the authentic leadership displayed by the school administrators had a significant effect on teachers' perception of dedication, but the dimensions of relational transparency, balanced processing, and self-awareness didn't have significant effects. It can be said that the dedication dimension, which includes teachers' being proud of their work and caring about their work, is influenced by authentic leadership behaviors that include the consistency of the school administrators' behavior with what they think and adhere to ethical principles. It can be said that it is effective for teachers to feel dedicated to their job and to show their values and ethical standards with their behaviors (Luthans & Avolio, 2003). Actually, the fact that the school administrators do what they say and adheres to ethical principles affects the teachers and makes them feel dedicated to their school. According to Hassan and Ahmed, if the manager behaves regarding to ethical principles, the employees are more dedicated and feel more secure (2012).
According to the teachers, the general authentic leadership behaviors that they perceive in school administrators affected teachers' perception of absorption significantly. 10% of the change in teachers' absorption perceptions was due to the authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators. It has been determined that authentic leadership, self-awareness and internalized morality dimensions exhibited by school administrators had significant effects on teachers' perception of absorption, but relational transparency and balanced processing dimensions didn't have a significant effect. It can be said that the absorption dimension, which includes the focus and happy inoccupation of teachers while doing their job, is influenced by authentic leadership behaviors, which include the awareness of the school administrators' own abilities, weaknesses and strengths, core values, beliefs and desires, and adherence to ethical principles. It can be said that school administrators' being aware of their feelings, motivations and desires and showing their trust in this awareness clearly is effective for teachers to feel focused on their work. (Kernis, 2003). As matter of fact, school administrators' self-awareness behaviors based on the internalized moral values help teachers to concentrate on their own work. In fact, employees feel more concentrated if ethical principles are provided in the organization .
According to teachers, the general authentic leadership behaviors that they perceive in school administrators significantly affected teachers' perception of work engagement. 17% of the change in teachers' work engagement was due to the authentic leadership behaviors of school administrators. It was found that the authentic leadership exhibited by the school administrators had a significant effect on the teachers' perception of work engagement, but it didn't have significant effect on the perceptions of transparency relations, balanced processing and self-awareness. It can be said that the work engagement, which reflects the positive and satisfying mood and includes vigor, dedication and absorption towards the work of the teacher; is influenced by authentic leadership behaviors that include the loyalty to the moral values and ethical behaviors of the school administrator, without being affected by the pressures of the society. As a matter of fact, there are studies which show that managers displaying authentic leadership behaviors positively affect employees' work engagement (Bamford, Wong & Laschinger, 2013;Giallonardo, Wong & Iwasiw, 2010).
The following suggestions can be made regarding these results. Practices such as school administrators being aware of information about their feelings, motivations and desires, expressing what they want to say, accepting it when they make mistakes and encouraging everyone to say their thoughts, etc. should be performed by creating working groups and workshops at school and this self-awareness training should be given to school administrators simultaneously with teachers who perceive this. Teachers' level of work engagement was above average. In order to be better, it should be ensured that the school management cooperates with the teachers and the expectations and needs of the teachers are met within the bounds of possibility of the school. In order to increase the concentration component that can be explained as the individual's attention to his work and focus on his work while doing his job, measures such as not dividing the lesson of the teacher, reducing the external stimuli, making the physical conditions more suitable for teaching etc., should be taken. According to the findings of the research, it was concluded that the authentic leadership behaviors of the school administrator had a positive effect on teachers' work engagement. In this context, researches can be conducted to examine the relationship between leadership theories developed with new paradigms and teachers' work engagement; authentic leadership and positive organizational behavior, which is thought to affect the quality of education, and other concepts in which teachers' work engagement is related. In addition, the factors affecting teachers' perception of work engagement and the effects of work engagement on teachers can be determined by conducting a qualitative or mixed research.