Modeling the Relationships between School Administrators’ Creative and Critical Thinking Dispositions with Decision Making Styles and Problem Solving Skills

Abstract

The aim of this study was to modeling the relationship between of school administrators’ creative and critical thinking dispositions in relation to their decision-making styles and problem solving skills. A total of 586 school administrators participated in research from a district selected through the random sampling method. Data was collected using four different scales; Decision Making Styles Scale, Social Problem Solving Inventory-Short Form, Marmara Creative Thinking Dispositions Scale and Marmara Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale. A theoretical model was proposed to determine the relationship patterns between the research variables and the proposed theoretical model was tested using a structural equation model. The school administrators’ critical and creative thinking dispositions were both predicted decision-making styles and problem solving skills; moreover, it was determined that rational, avoidant and spontaneous decision-making styles significantly predicted the problem-solving skills of school administrators. The school administrators’ critical and creative thinking dispositions also effected their problem solving skills by way of their decision making styles (e.g., rational, avoidant and spontaneous). In addition, the school administrators’ creative and critical thinking dispositions, along with their decision-making styles (e.g., rational, avoidant and spontaneous), constituted 45% of the change observed in their problem solving skills.