Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Teacher resignation intention remains a persistent challenge to building a high‐quality teaching system. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study examines how distributed leadership relates to teachers' resignation intention and tests the mediating roles of enjoyment of teaching and perceived barriers to professional learning. Using TALIS 2024 data, results show that distributed leadership is negatively associated with resignation intention. While the simple mediating role of enjoyment of teaching is not supported, perceived professional learning barriers act as a critical structural mediator. Crucially, a serial pathway emerges in which distributed leadership increases teaching enjoyment, which in turn reduces perceived barriers to professional learning, relating to lower leaving intentions. The findings highlight that individual affective resources alone are insufficient to retain educators; instead, retention is systematically strengthened when organizational leadership leverages these emotional resources to help teachers navigate and neutralize structural bottlenecks, offering strategic implications for educational governance.
Source: European Journal of Education
DOI: 10.1111/ejed.70908
Authors: Mengting Zhang, Jihe Chen, MyDuyen Dang
Institutions: Southwest University, University of Da Nang
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,350
OpenAlex ID: W7222705931