How spiritual leadership boosts elementary and secondary school teacher well-being: the chain mediating roles of grit and job satisfaction

Nowadays, the competition for teachers' professional titles in elementary and secondary schools has intensified, the pressure of teaching has increased, and teachers are passively involved in the whirlpool of ineffective competition, so their well-being has gradually decreased. Spiritual leadership may be an important factor affecting teacher well-being. However, less literature examines the impact of spiritual leadership on teacher well-being in Chinese primary and secondary schools, and it is not clear how spiritual leadership affects teacher well-being. Therefore, based on self-determination theory, this study explores the effects of spiritual leadership on elementary and secondary school teacher well-being and the mediating role of grit and job satisfaction in the Chinese context. PLS-SEM was used to analyze research data from 311 Chinese elementary and secondary school teachers. The study found that spiritual leadership positively predicted teacher well-being; grit and job satisfaction played both independent and chained mediating roles between spiritual leadership and teacher well-being. The findings not only provide a systematic explanation and empirical evidence for the influence mechanism of spiritual leadership on teacher well-being, but also provide references for the realization path of school leaders to enhance teacher well-being and stabilize the teaching force.