The dual-level effects of authentic leadership on teacher wellbeing: the mediating role of psychological availability

Purpose Drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study examined the mediating role of psychological availability in the relationships between principals' individual-level and group-level authentic leadership and individual teachers' wellbeing, that is, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a three-wave online questionnaire survey among 266 teachers from 52 schools in China. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships among the study variables. Findings The principals' group-level and individual-level authentic leadership were both positively associated with individual teachers' psychological availability, which in turn was positively related to their job satisfaction and life satisfaction, and negatively related to their emotional exhaustion. Practical implications School administrations should elevate the levels of principals' authentic leadership by selecting and developing authentic principals to increase teacher wellbeing. Originality/value Differing from prior research that has focused on the effect of authentic leadership at either group-level or individual-level, this study simultaneously investigated the dual-level effects of principals' authentic leadership. Moreover, psychological availability was found to mediate the dual-level effects of principals' authentic leadership on teachers' job satisfaction, life satisfaction and emotional exhaustion.