School leadership, followers’ emotional experience and self-regulation: Applying the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) approach to educational management.

Scholars have continuously noted leaders' use of emotional sway to influence, support and manipulate subordinates. Studies largely focus on uncovering the ways in which leaders influence followers' emotions and address their psychological needs. However, there is a dearth of research on this topic in educational settings, particularly regarding principal-teacher interactions and the manner in which emotional experience is embedded in these relations. This chapter highlights the ways in which principals influence teachers' emotional state. It aims to shed light on the relation between values, emotion and behavior as they play out in the hierarchical setting of the school. The chapter makes use of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) approach, which is part of the third wave in behavioral psychology, and is based on a cognitive-behavioral paradigm in which Western existential ideas converge with Buddhist teachings. The chapter begins with a review of research into interpersonal e