Modeling The Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Health-Promoting Lifestyle on School Heads’ Decision-Making Styles
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54536/ajiri.v5i3.7970Keywords:
Decision-Making Style, Emotional Intelligence, Health-Promoting Lifestyle, School Bead, Structural Equation ModelingAbstract
This study examined emotional intelligence, health-promoting lifestyle, and decision-making styles of basic education school heads in Agusan del Sur as basis for the proposed LEAD-WELL Program. Addressing the limited local evidence on how wellness practices and emotional competencies are linked with school leadership decisions, the study used a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design involving 205 school heads in the quantitative phase and 13 school heads in the qualitative phase. Standardized questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used, and data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, moderation analysis, Structural Equation Modeling, mediation analysis, thematic analysis, and mixed-method integration. Findings showed high levels of emotional intelligence, health-promoting lifestyle, and decision-making styles. Emotional intelligence significantly predicted all decision-making styles, while health-promoting lifestyle significantly predicted rational, intuitive, avoidant, and spontaneous decision-making, but not dependent decision-making. Health-promoting lifestyle also significantly predicted emotional intelligence, which mediated its relationship with all decision-making styles. The model explained 50.9% to 77.9% of the variance in decision-making styles, with the highest explanatory power for dependent decision-making. Qualitative findings revealed that leadership decisions were shaped by emotional mastery, compassionate accountability, inclusive dialogue, reflective judgment, wellness practices, spiritual grounding, physical resilience, and support networks. The study is novel in integrating wellness, emotional intelligence, and decision-making in one mixed-method leadership model. The proposed LEAD-WELL Program offers practical support for strengthening emotionally balanced, wellness-oriented, collaborative, and sustainable school leadership.
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