Title: The mediating role of psychological empowerment in the relationship between principals' practice of pedagogical leadership and teachers' job performance

Authors: Kelemu Zelalem Berhanu

Addresses: Department of Education Leadership and Management, Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract: It is vital to comprehend the mediating variables and their impacts on teachers' job performance to gain a greater grasp of how principals' pedagogical leadership style affects teachers' job performance. This study seeks to investigate the mediating effect of psychological empowerment in the relationship between pedagogical leadership and teachers' job performance. By using a correlational research methodology, in Ethiopia's Gozamin and Dembecha districts, 539 teachers participated in the study. Consequently, there were strong, positive, and moderate to high correlations between teachers' psychological empowerment, performance, and pedagogical leadership. The practice of principals' pedagogical leadership positively predicted the psychological empowerment of teachers, which resulted in an enhancement of their job performance. Finally, psychological empowerment has a mediating role in the association between principals' practice of pedagogical leadership and teachers' job performance. These results have the potential to make teachers more accessible to schools, and so contribute to ensuring quality education (SDG).

Keywords: teachers' job performance; path analysis model; principals' pedagogical leadership; teachers' psychological empowerment; structural equation modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2025.148272

International Journal of Management in Education, 2025 Vol.19 No.5, pp.510 - 529

Received: 08 Apr 2024
Accepted: 12 Oct 2024
Published online: 01 Sep 2025 *

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