Empowering leadership in action: Unleashing teacher proactivity through psychological empowerment and self-efficacy
Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Publication Type: Article / Article
- Publication Date: 2026
- Doi Number: 10.1177/17411432261484317
- Journal Name: Educational Management Administration and Leadership
- Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest), Business Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Education Collection (ProQuest), Education Source Ultimate (EBSCO)
- Keywords: Empowering leadership, proactive work behaviors, psychological empowerment, structural equation modeling, teacher self-efficacy
- Gazi University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
,Numerous studies have investigated the influence of leadership on teachers’ proactive work behaviors; however, the mediating roles of psychological empowerment and self-efficacy remain underexplored and warrant further attention. This study aims to analyze how school principals’ empowering leadership behaviors influence teachers’ proactive work behaviors through psychological empowerment and teacher self-efficacy. A structural model was developed and tested using data from 490 Turkish secondary school teachers. The results confirmed that psychological empowerment and teacher self-efficacy each mediated the link between empowering leadership and proactive work behavior, with a sequential mediation effect via both, as well as a remaining direct effect, indicating partial mediation. In schools where principals demonstrate empowering leadership, teachers report higher levels of psychological empowerment and self-efficacy, which, in turn, foster greater proactive behaviors. These findings underscore the vital role of psychological resources in translating empowering leadership into teacher proactivity and contribute to the educational leadership literature.