The relationship of distributed leadership with teachers’ subjective well-being and professional satisfaction in Türkiye: does psychological resilience make a difference?

In the literature, the mediating role of teacher subjective well-being and the moderating role of psychological resilience in the association of distributed leadership with professional satisfaction have not been sufficiently examined through a moderated mediation model, particularly within centralized educational systems such as Türkiye. This study aims to examine the moderating role of psychological resilience in the association between distributed leadership on professional satisfaction through teachers' subjective well-being in Turkish schools. In accordance with the quantitative method, 645 teachers from 24 provinces of Türkiye participated in this cross-sectional study and the data were tested with moderated mediation model. The results of the study revealed a significant and positive relationship between distributed leadership, psychological resilience, teacher subjective well-being, and professional satisfaction. In addition, it was determined that as psychological resilience increased, the association of distributed leadership with teacher subjective well-being and the indirect association of distributed leadership with professional satisfaction through teacher subjective well-being became stronger. In other words, it was concluded that distributed leadership is associated with higher professional satisfaction through its relationship with teachers' subjective well-being depending on psychological resilience. In the study, it is suggested that school leaders should strengthen distributed leadership practices and create environments to support teachers' psychological resilience as an important strategy to promote teachers' subjective well-being and professional satisfaction.