Effects of distributed leadership on teachers’ turnover as mediated by organizational commitment and the moderating role of teachers’ empowerment in private schools in Afghanistan

Managing teacher turnover at schools is one of the major challenges for school principals worldwide. However, it becomes more problematic for school leadership in the least developed and low-income countries. The type of school leadership that exists in schools has a profound effect on teachers' behaviors. This quantitative research examined the effects of distributed leadership on teacher turnover, while organization commitment as a mediating variable. Furthermore, this study used teachers’ empowerment as a moderating variable. The population for the current study contains the total number of sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and forty-three private school teachers in Afghanistan. Out of this a total of 750 private school teachers were randomly selected from 65 schools that were conveniently selected from Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. Statistical procedures such as descriptive statistics, reliability, validity, goodness of fit, and SEM were utilized to analyze the data quantitatively. The analysis results showed that principles’ distributed leadership style significantly reduced teachers’ turnover (Beta = -0.370, t = -8.409). It also indicated that organizational commitment mediated the relationship between school principals' distributed leadership style and teacher turnover (Beta = -0.322, t =-7.667) in private schools in Afghanistan. In addition, the results of the analysis revealed that the psychological empowerment of schoolteachers moderates the relationship between distributed leadership and organizational commitment. The results of the study revealed that by promoting collaboration and empowering educators, the leaders can enhance their dedication and reduce their inclination to leave, hence requiring a transformation in leadership paradigms to foster a more collaborative and supportive educational setting.