This research aims to examine the effect of school principals' empowering leadership characteristics on teachers' participation in decision-making. Three hundred fifty-eight teachers working in Trabzon and Ankara provinces participated in the research in the 2021-2022 academic year. "Empowering Leadership Scale" and "Participation in Decision Making Scale" were used to collect data. A ready-made statistical program was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the analyses made, it was found that the teachers' perceptions about the empowering leadership characteristics of the school principals differed significantly according to the educational status of the teachers. The perceptions of the teachers about the empowering leadership characteristics of the school principals showed no significant difference according to their gender, seniority, and the type of school they worked at. Teachers with undergraduate degrees think school principals exhibit more empowering leadership characteristics than teachers with graduate degrees. It was found that the level of teachers' participation in decision-making differs according to the variables of gender and educational status. Female teachers stated that they participated in the decisions more than male teachers, and teachers with postgraduate education participated more than teachers with undergraduate education. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between school principals' empowering leadership characteristics and teachers' participation in decision-making. The empowering leadership characteristics of school principals predict teachers' participation in decision-making by 43%. The findings were discussed within the framework of the relevant literature, and suggestions were made to practitioners and researchers.

Empowering leadership, participation decision-making, school principal, teacher.