Perceived workplace ethnic discrimination and well-being among teachers of refugee background in Kenya: mediation pathways through self-efficacy and autonomous motivation

Abstract Perceived workplace ethnic discrimination may undermine teachers’ psychological and occupational well-being, yet evidence concerning teachers of refugee background in conflict and crisis contexts remains limited. This study examined whether perceived ethnic discrimination was associated with depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, burnout, and teacher work engagement, and whether self-efficacy and autonomous motivation accounted for indirect associations. Participants were 143 teachers of refugee background (23% female; M age = 27.63 years, SD = 4.66) from 38 schools in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. We conducted path analysis to test our hypotheses. Higher perceived ethnic discrimination was associated with higher depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and burnout, but was not significantly associated with teacher work engagement in the direct-associations model. Discrimination was also associated with lower self-efficacy and autonomous motivation. Higher self-efficacy was associated with fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms, whereas higher autonomous motivation was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and higher teacher work engagement. Perceived ethnic discrimination showed significant indirect associations with higher depressive and anxiety symptoms through lower self-efficacy and with lower work engagement through lower autonomous motivation. No significant indirect associations were observed for burnout. These findings suggest distinct indirect pathways linking perceived ethnic discrimination to psychological distress and work engagement. They underscore the value of reducing workplace discrimination while supporting teachers’ efficacy beliefs and autonomous motivation, although longitudinal research is needed to establish temporal and causal relationships.