A longitudinal study of job crafting among Chinese inclusive education teachers: The influence of attitudes, perceived principal leadership, and motivation

This study aimed to investigate how teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education and perceived principals' leadership influence their job crafting, as well as the mediating role of work motivation in these relationships. A sample of 666 teachers from inclusive primary schools in Beijing, China, participated in the investigation twice within a six-month interval. The results showed that attitudes towards inclusive education positively predicted both controlled motivation and autonomous motivation; transformational leadership positively predicted autonomous motivation; autonomous motivation positively predicted job crafting. Furthermore, autonomous motivation fully mediated the positive influence of attitudes towards inclusive education and transformational leadership on job crafting. • Longitudinal research was conducted among inclusive education teachers' job crafting. • Attitudes towards inclusive education positively predicted teachers' job crafting. • Principal transformational leadership positively predicted teachers' job crafting. • Autonomous motivation played a full mediating role in the above relationships. • This study supported the job demands-resources model and self-determination theory.