School principals’ networking preferences for instructional and administrative advice-seeking relations: Insights from inferential social network analysis

Investigating the social, structural, cognitive and individual enablers of principals’ cross-district professional relations is a challenging yet essential research endeavour. To that end, this study explores principals’ networking preferences for instructional and administrative advice-seeking relations through inferential social network analysis. Data were collected from 62 school principals serving in a large urban district of Istanbul, Türkiye. The study provides significant insights into district-wide advice-seeking relations among the participating school principals. Results highlight the importance of factors such as age, gender, long-serving experience within the same district, school location, school level, joint union membership and mutual friendship ties in shaping principals’ advice-seeking behaviours. Male principals are perceived as more resourceful, older principals are more active in seeking advice and those with less teaching experience tend to seek more instructional advice. Mutual friendships and localised principalship experience encourage principals to engage in both instructional and administrative advice relations. These findings indicate the need for tailored mentorship programmes for novice and moderately experienced older principals, as well as those with less teaching experience. Formalising these programmes ensures consistent support from senior principals in the district, leveraging their experience to help newcomers navigate instructional leadership and promote a holistic approach to school management. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s).