The Effect of Empowering Leadership and Teacher Autonomy on Affective Commitment: The Mediating Role of Teacher Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Teachers' affective commitment is closely related to their performance. The present study investigated the relationship between empowering leadership, teacher autonomy, teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, and affective commitment. A questionnaire was completed by 611 teachers in Ankara. To test the proposed model, we conducted a mediation analysis of structural equation modelling. The results show that empowering leadership and autonomy predict teachers’ sense of self-efficacy. Similarly, teachers’ sense of self-efficacy is also positively and significantly correlated to affective commitment. The analysis confirms that teachers’ sense of self-efficacy is a prominent mediator in the relationship between empowering leadership, teacher autonomy, and affective commitment. This study is expected to contribute to the body of research focusing on the effects of empowering leadership, teacher autonomy and teachers’ sense of self-efficacy on teachers’ affective commitment. Implications are presented for policymakers and school leaders.