Who benefits from participative management?

Purpose - This study seeks to explore the moderating role of teachers' personality traits from the Big Five typology on the relationship between participative management and teacher outcomes with respect to performance, satisfaction and strain. The study suggests that participative management may produce different results depending on teachers' personality factors. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from a survey of 153 elementary school teachers and their principals in Northern and Central Israel. Teachers were asked to complete questionnaires about participative management, workplace satisfaction and strain, as well as to fill in the Big Five personality questionnaire. Teacher performance was evaluated by the school principal. Findings - Hierarchical regression analyses show that the personality dimensions of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism served as moderators of the relation between participative management and teacher performance, satisfaction and strain. However, openness to experience was not found to have a moderating impact on those relations. Originality/value - Many educational research studies have emphasized the benefits of participative management practices for school organizations and teachers, while ignoring the potential negative impact of teacher participation in the decision-making process. The present study contributes to understanding and predicting the impact of participative management on teachers in particular and on school organization effectiveness in general. From the practical perspective, this research points to the necessity of including personality factors to better understand the impact of participative management on teacher outcomes and indicates that participative management may not suit all teachers.