The Roles of Collective Teacher Efficacy and Commitment in the Relationship Between Turkish Language Teachers’ Job Satisfaction and School Principal Distributed Leadership

• Published in: SAGE open Vol. 14; no. 3
• Main Authors: Kaya, Kürşat, Erdoğan, Onur, Yeşil, Yılmaz, Sezgin, Ferudun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-08-2024; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Job satisfaction; Language teachers; Mediation; Secondary schools; Teachers; Turkish language; distributed leadership; teacher commitment; teacher job satisfaction; collective teacher efficacy; Turkish language teacher
• ISSN: 2158-2440; 2158-2440
• DOI: 10.1177/21582440241271136

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between principal distributed leadership and teacher job satisfaction, with the mediating role of collective teacher efficacy. It also investigated the moderating role of teacher commitment in the link between collective teacher efficacy and teacher job satisfaction. Drawing data from a sample of 338 Turkish language teachers in secondary schools in Turkey, the current study employed a cross-sectional survey design. Moderated mediation structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze the data. Results provided a moderate direct association between distributed leadership and teacher job satisfaction and an indirect relationship mediated by collective teacher efficacy. Researchers also found the moderating role of teacher commitment in the relationship between collective teacher efficacy and teacher job satisfaction to be positive and significant. Results provide evidence from a non-Western developing context and Turkish language teachers, contributing to the global knowledge base by confirming the positive and direct link between distributed leadership and teacher job satisfaction while highlighting the significant mediating role of collective teacher efficacy between these two constructs and the moderating role of teacher commitment in reflecting this role in teacher job satisfaction. Implications for policymakers and practitioners are discussed.
Plain language summary
The roles of collective teacher efficacy and commitment in the relationship between Turkish language teachers’ job satisfaction and school principal distributed leadership
Our study is unique in that it examines the relationship between distributed leadership and teacher job satisfaction using collective teacher efficacy as a moderator. Furthermore, this study investigates the role of teacher commitment as a moderator in the relationship between collective teacher efficacy and teacher job satisfaction. Another distinguishing feature of our study that differs from general teacher interpretations is that Turkish language (TLT) teachers are expected to perform tasks that are not officially part of their job descriptions. Unlike other groups of teachers at the school, these teachers plan special days and weeks, promote school-family cooperation, and help students develop high-level communication skills. The curriculum, of course, aims to provide students with high-level communication skills, but TLT teachers aim to develop these skills to a higher level than the curriculum requires. Such circumstances necessitate strong distributed leadership, collective teacher efficacy, and job satisfaction. We used a cross-sectional survey design and data from 338 TLT teachers in Turkey to estimate the empirical links between our study variables using moderate mediation structural equation modeling. The findings revealed a moderate direct relationship between distributed leadership and teacher job satisfaction, as well as an indirect relationship mediated by collective teacher efficacy. Furthermore, teacher commitment plays a positive and significant moderating role in the relationship between collective teacher efficacy and teacher job satisfaction. This helps us to make a generalizable conclusion for teachers with high workload.