The roles of teacher autonomy and leader–member exchange in the link between distributed leadership and teacher zest for work in Türkiye: Testing a moderated mediation model

This study aimed to test a moderated mediation model, where the link between distributed leadership and teacher zest for work was examined, with leader–member exchange included as the moderator and teacher autonomy as a mediator. Using data from 718 teachers employed in basic education and upper secondary schools in Türkiye, we conducted latent moderated mediation structural equations modelling through maximum likelihood to estimate the structural links between our study variables. Our results revealed the significance of the direct relationship between distributed leadership and teacher autonomy and zest for work. Our results revealed that leader–member exchange significantly moderated both the direct relationship between distributed leadership and teacher autonomy and the direct relationship between distributed leadership and teacher zest for work, strengthening these associations as leader–member exchange increased. Furthermore, leader–member exchange also exerted a significant moderating effect on the indirect relationship between distributed leadership and teacher zest for work via teacher autonomy. These findings underscore the crucial role of high-quality leader–member relationships in enhancing the positive impact of distributed leadership on teacher autonomy and zest for work. Implications for educational policy and leadership practice are discussed.