DECONSTRUCTING DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP: HOW SELF-EFFICACY AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT SHAPE TEACHER SATISFACTION IN CHINESE UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Distributed leadership (DL) posits that leadership responsibilities are dynamically allocated among members of educational institutions, acknowledges the interdependence of roles and functions within the organization, and underscores the collective participation of all members in decision-making processes related to school affairs. This research explores DL’s impacts on job satisfaction (JS) from Chinese university teachers, with a mediating effect from their organizational commitment (OC) and self-efficacy (SE). Using questionnaire data from 314 professors at Chinese universities, this research carries out an empirical test assisted by mediation effect modeling and regression analysis. The results show that teachers' JS is strongly related to all dimensions of DL, supervision, support, and a stable leadership team. Again, the study found partial mediation by teachers' SE in relating the distribution of leadership to work happiness; through increasing teachers' SE, it was discovered that DL had enhanced JS. Also, DL can have a positive impact on the work happiness of teachers when they possess a higher level of OC due to the moderation that this factor causes in the effect of teachers' OC on JS. Thus, this research points out how OC and SE may affect the implementation of DL theory in Chinese higher education, furnishing fresh empirical evidence for this approach.