School Administrators’ Personality Traits as Correlates of Academic Performance of Students in Polytechnics in Abia State

Abstract

This study determined the relationship between school administrators’ personality traits and academic performance of Polytechnic students in Abia State. Three research questions guided the study with corresponding hypotheses. The study adopted a correlational survey research design. A sample of 380 Polytechnics Students in Abia State drawn from a population of 7,608 using the Taro Yamane formula was used. The study adopted a Two-staged sampling technique. Instruments for data collection were a 30-item researcher-developed questionnaire titled School Administrators Personality Trait Questionnaire (SAPTQ) and a 15-item Students’ Academic Performance Questionnaire (SAPQ) and were validated by three experts in the College of Education, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The Pearson product moment correlation statistic was used to determine the stability of the two instruments, which yielded reliability indices of 9.17 and 9.11 for SAPTQ and SAPQ respectively while Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency, which yielded .881 and .844 for SAPTQ and SAPQ respectively. Six well-briefed research assistants helped in the administration and collection of the instruments. Out of the 380 copies of the questionnaires administered, 374 copies, each representing 98 percent return rate, were retrieved and used for data analysis. Pearson product moment correlation was used to answer the research questions, while linear regression analysis was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed among others, that school administrators' openness to experience had high positive relationships with the academic performance of students in Polytechnics in Abia State. However, Extraversion and agreeableness had low positive relationships with students' academic performance. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Polytechnics should invest in the continuous professional development of school administrators to enhance their personality traits and overall leadership effectiveness.