Exploring prosociality and collective competence in exercising shared educational leadership in Finland and Japan

Abstract

This dissertation aims to explore prosociality and collective competence when educational leadership is exercised as a shared endeavour in collaboration. It addresses the following specific research questions: 1) What is the relationship between prosociality, in the form of motivation, behaviour, impact, and collaboration, in educational leadership as a shared endeavour? 2) What is the relationship between prosociality and collective competence, as collective efficacy, in educational leadership as a shared endeavour? 3) What is the relationship between collaboration and collective competence, as collective efficacy, in educational leadership as a shared endeavour? The sub-studies presented here utilised previous publications as data for a systematic narrative review, quantitative survey data from teachers in Japan (N = 260), and qualitative interview data gathered from 12 Finnish principals. First, the findings of this study revealed that many prosocial phenomena concern relationships with others, such as empathy, caring, and knowledge sharing. In addition, prosociality was evoked by the experience of benefitting others when collaborating, which indicated that prosociality could be both essential for and lead to collaboration. Second, the findings demonstrated that existing literature has implicitly discussed prosocial elements without noticing that they are essential for collective competence in educational leadership as a shared endeavour. In addition, it was found that prosociality encouraged the sense of collective competence among organisational members because it is valuable for overcoming their tendency to fragment. Moreover, when organisational members recognise themselves as competent, their willingness to use their expertise for social purposes might increase. Third, the findings indicated that, when organisational members have experienced successful collaboration in challenging situations, they tend to perceive themselves to be collectively competent. Overall, these findings enrich our knowledge of how prosociality, collective competence, and collaboration are related to one another in shared educational leadership contexts by representing a new concept of collective educational leadership efficacy. Keywords: prosociality, collective competence, collaboration, collective efficacy, educational leadership