The study of loneliness in the workplace has received extensive attention recently. However, there is a lack of research concerning loneliness within educational organizations and no study to date has examined loneliness among deputy principals. The current study examined deputy principals’ interpretation of loneliness in the workplace and posed two questions: (a) How do deputy principals interpret their experience of loneliness at work, specifically in regard to how it manifests across different contexts? (b) What do deputy principals note as the reasons for their feelings of loneliness at work across different contexts? Based on 19 semi-structured interviews with Israeli school deputy principals, four distinctive themes of loneliness expressions were found: (a) loneliness perceived as separateness, (b) loneliness perceived as abandonment, (c) aloneness in carrying the burden of responsibility, and (d) aloneness in commitment to the school. From an analysis of the deputy principals’ accounts, several insights are provided and practical implications are suggested.
AckermanRHPatMO (2004) The wounded leader and emotional learning in the schoolhouse, the emotional dimensions of leadership, special issue. Journal of School Leadership and Management24(3): 311–328.
2.
AkinR (2001) On my knees again. Teacher Education Quarterly28(3): 7–10.
3.
ArarK (2014) Deputy-principals in Arab schools in Israel: an era of reform. International Journal of Educational Management28(1): 96–113.
4.
ArmstrongD (2015) Listening to voices at the educational frontline: new administrators’ experiences of the transition from teacher to vice-principal. Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice24(2): 109–122.
5.
BauerSCSilverLSchwartzerJ (2019) The Impact of isolation on new principals’ persistence: evidence from a southern US state. Educational Management Administration & Leadership47(3): 383–399.
6.
BeyciogluKOzerNCUgurluT (2012) The facets of job satisfaction among vice principals in elementary schools. Journal of Management Development31(7): 636–647.
7.
BlasNGivoliSHeimanPOfarimY (2012) School Principals in The Light of The Data Situation Picture and Future Trends. Jerusalem: Avney Rosha Inst.
8.
CacioppoJTHawkleyL (2009) Perceived social isolation and cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences13: 447–454.
9.
CampagneDM (2019) Stress and perceived social isolation (loneliness). Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics82: 192–199.
10.
CampbellKTForgeETaylorL (2006) The effects of principal centers on professional isolation of school principals. School Leadership Review2(1): 1–15.
CohenRSchechterC (2019) Becoming an assistant principal: mapping factors that facilitate or hinder entering the role. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation14(1): 99–112.
13.
CooperCQuickJ (2003) The stress and loneliness of success. Counselling Psychology Quarterly16(1): 1–7.
14.
CreswellJWPothCN (2017) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
15.
DelgadoCJ (2016) The impact of occupational stress on high school assistant principals. Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy in Education, Educational leadership dissertation, Oakland University.
16.
Dor-HaimPOplatkaI (2019) Feelings of loneliness among school principals: experiences, causes and copying strategies. Leadership and Policy in Schools20: 1–16.
17.
Dor-HaimPOplatkaI (2019) School principal’s perception of loneliness: a career stage perspective. Journal of Educational Administration and History52: 1–17.
18.
Dor-HaimPOplatkaI (2021) The implications of loneliness among school principals. The International Journal of Educational Management35(4): 803–814.
19.
EarleyPNelsonRHighamRBubbSPorrittVCoatesM (2011) Experiences of New Headteachers in Cities. London: London Center for Leaership in Learning.
20.
ErdilOErtosunÖG (2011) The relationship between social climate and loneliness in the workplace and effects on employee well-being. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences24: 505–525.
21.
GrantD (2014) Becoming a primary school principal in Ireland: deputy principalship as preparation. Irish Teacher Journal2(1): 85–101.
22.
HerzAPetersLTruschkatI (2014) How to do qualitative structural analysis: The qualitative interpretation of network maps and narrative interviews. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research16(1).
23.
HoJKangTShaariI (2020) Leading from the middle: vice-principals in Singapore as boundary spanners. Journal of Educational Administration59: 145–161.
24.
HofstedeG (1994) Culture and Organizations. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
25.
HofstedeG (2011) Dimensionalizing cultures: the Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture2(1): 8.
26.
HowardMMalloryBJ (2008) Perceptions of isolation among Georgia high school principals. Journal of Women in Educational Leadership32(6): 1541–6224.
27.
JohnsonRKHarroldMLCochranDJBrannanPhDBleisteinT (2014) An examination of the first years: novice ESOL teachers’ experiences with loneliness and stress. Pure Insights3(1): 8.
28.
KunaS (2019) All by myself? Executives’ impostor phenomenon and loneliness as catalysts for executive coaching with management consultants. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science55: 306–326.
29.
KwanP (2009) The vice-principal experience as a preparation for the principalship. Journal of Educational Administration47(2): 191–205.
30.
KwanPLiYMB (2016) Striving for a way out from a rock and a hard place: vice-principals’ development in Hong Kong. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education5(3): 239–252.
31.
LamLWLauDC (2012) Feeling lonely at work: investigating the consequences of unsatisfactory workplace relationships. The International Journal of Human Resource Management23(20): 4265–4282.
32.
LindorffM (2001) Are they lonely at the top? Social relationships and social support among Australian managers. Work and Stress15(3): 274–282.
33.
ListonDWhitcombJBorkoH (2006) Too little or too much: teacher preparation and the first years of teaching. Journal of Teacher Education57(4): 351–358.
34.
LopataHZ (1969) Loneliness: forms and components. Social Problems17: 248–261.
35.
MarshallCRossmanGB (2016) Designing Qualitative Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
36.
MitchellCArmstrongDHandsC (2017) ‘Oh, is that my job?’ Role vulnerability in the vice-principalship: Coral Mitchell, Denise Armstrong and Catherine hands. International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)45(1): 3–18.
37.
NanavatiMMcCullochB (2003) School Culture and the Changing Role of the Secondary Vice-Principal. Research report prepared for the Ontario principals council.
38.
OplatkaI (2017) ‘I’m so tired and have no time for my family’: the consequences of heavy workload in principalship. International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)45(2): 21–41.
39.
OplatkaITamirV (2009) I don’t want to be a school head’ women deputy heads’ insightful constructions of career advancement and retention. Educational Management Administration & Leadership37(2): 216–238.
40.
OzcelikHBarsadeSG (2018) No employee an island: workplace loneliness and job performance. Academy of Management Journal61(6): 2343–2366.
41.
PattonMQ (2002) Qualitative Research and Evaluation Method. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
42.
PatuawaJ (2006) Principal voice: trials, triumphs and training. The experience of beginning in principalship from the perspectives of principals in years 3–5. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Waikato.
43.
PengJChenYXiaYRanY (2017) Workplace loneliness, leader-member exchange and creativity: the cross-level moderating role of leader compassion. Personality and Individual Differences104: 510–515.
44.
RibbinsP (1997) Heads on deputy headship: impossible roles for the invisible role holders?Educational Management and Administration25(3): 295–308.
45.
RokachA (2014) Leadership and loneliness. International Journal of Leadership and Change2(1): 6.
46.
RookKS (1988) Toward a more differentiated view of loneliness. In: DuckS (ed) Handbook of Personal Relationships: Theory, Research and Interventions. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 571–1230.
47.
RotenbergKJGrumanJAAriganelloM (2002) Behavioral confirmation of the loneliness stereotype. Basic and Applied Social Psychology24(2): 81–89.
48.
SarpkayaPY (2014) The effects of principals’ loneliness in the workplace on their self- performance. Educational Research Reviews9(20): 967–974.
49.
SchoenmakersECvan TilburgTGFokkemaT (2015) Problem-focused and emotion-focused coping options and loneliness: how are they related?European Journal of Ageing12(2): 153–161.
50.
ScottJ (2008) A Lot of Managing, A Little Leading: Work of Newly Appointed Secondary Deputy Principals and Assistant Principals. Palmerston North: Massey. Unpublished Research Project.
51.
ShoreKWalshawM (2018) Assistant/deputy principals: what are their perceptions of their role?International Journal of Leadership in Education21(3): 310–326.
52.
SilardAWrightS (2020) The price of wearing (or not wearing) the crown: the effects of loneliness on leaders and followers. Leadership16: 389–410.
53.
SindbergLLipscombSD (2005) Professional isolation and the public-school music teacher. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education166: 43–56.
54.
SîrbuAADumbravăAC (2019) Loneliness at work and job performance: the role of burnout and extraversion. Psihologia Resurselor Umane17(1): 7–18.
55.
SpillaneJPLeeLC (2014) Novice school principals’ sense of ultimate responsibility: problems of practice in transitioning to the principal’s office. Educational Administration Quarterly50(3): 431–465.
56.
StraussALCorbinJ (1990) Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory, Procedures and Techniques. London: Sage.
57.
TabakIArgonT (2018) The teacher opinions on emotional labor and loneliness in the workplace. Inonu University Journal of the Faculty of Education (INUJFE19(3): 1–13.
58.
TahirLMusahMBPanatikSAAliMFSaidMN (2019) Primary school leadership in Malaysia: the experience of stress among deputy heads. Educational Management Administration & Leadership47(5): 785–814.
59.
TahirLThakibMTHamzahMHSaidMNMusahMB (2017) Novice head teachers’ isolation and loneliness experiences: a mixed-methods study. Educational Management Administration & Leadership45(1): 164–189.
WeissRS (1973) Loneliness: The Experience of Emotional and Social Isolation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
62.
WrightSL (2005) Loneliness in the Workplace. Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, Uni. of Canterbury.
63.
WrightSL (2012) Is It Lonely at the Top? An Empirical Study of Managers and Nonmanagers Loneliness in Organizations. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied146(1-2): 47–60.
64.
YilmazE (2008) Organizational commitment, loneliness and life satisfaction levels of school principals. Social Behavior and Personality36(8): 1085–1096.
65.
YinRK (2014) Case Study Research: Design and Methods (5th edn). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
66.
ZumaetaJ (2019) Lonely at the top: how do senior leaders navigate the need to belong?Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies26(1): 111–135.
