School principals’ span of control and its cross-sectional associations with signs of exhaustion, perceived work ability, and demanding and supportive circumstances in managerial work

To educate students and prepare them for life in society, school principals, teachers, and staff need proper work-related organizational preconditions, motivation, and good health. In this context, span of control (SoC, i.e., the number of employees a manager is accountable for) is an understudied modifiable organizational precondition that influences the relationships between managers and employees. Therefore, as a basis for future preventive actions, we examined (a) school principals’ SoC and (b) how SoC varied across gender, job title, years of working as a school principal, and school owner, and the extent to which SoC was associated with (c) the reporting of exhaustion symptoms and perceived work ability, and (d) demanding and supportive managerial circumstances. School principals (N = 2045; mean age 49 years [SD 7 years]; 77% women) in Sweden completed a cross-sectional web survey including background information and the Lund University Checklist for Incipient Exhaustion, a brief version of the Gothenburg Manager Stress Inventory, and the Work Ability Score. SoC was assessed as the total number of employees the principal was accountable for. Median and quartile splits created four groups with incrementally wider SoC. Data were analysed using non-parametric tests as well as multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs). The mean SoC was 31.7 employees (SD 15.5). SoC differed across job titles, school levels, school owner, and years of working as a school principal. There was no difference in SoC across gender, exhaustion symptoms, or work ability. Adjusted MANOVAs and subsequent post-hoc testing indicated that principals with the narrowest SoC (i.e., ≤ 22 employees) reported less frequent role conflicts and role demands, and less frequent need to harbour employee’s frustration as well as less access to support from colleagues at the same level. Irrespective of school ownership, an SoC of no more than 22 employees was consistently associated with reports of perceiving less frequent role conflicts, role demands, and need to harbour employee frustrations. Presumably, reducing school principals’ SoC to 22 employees or fewer may alleviate the burden caused by role conflicts and demands, though it may not directly impact exhaustion, work ability, or access to supportive colleagues.