ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
The Relationship between Inclusive Leadership in Sustainable Education and Teachers' Subjective Well-Being in Türkiye: The Mediating Role of Affective Commitment
Provisionally accepted
- Siirt Universitesi, Siirt, Türkiye
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Introduction: Supporting teachers' subjective well-being in schools is a critical factor that directly is associated with both teacher productivity and student achievement. However, the role of inclusive leadership and possible mediating mechanisms in this context has not been sufficiently investigated. The present study examines the association between school administrators' inclusive leadership behaviours and teachers' subjective well-being and the mediating role of affective commitment in this relationship. Methods: Data was collected online from 585 teachers working at different levels in four regions of Türkiye. Measurements were taken using the Inclusive Leadership Scale, Affective Commitment Subscale, and Subjective Well-Being Scale. The Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used for data analysis in the study, and the significance of direct and indirect associations between variables was evaluated using the bootstrap method. The measurement and structural models showed acceptable fit (χ²/df = 3.46; CFI = 0.92; TLI = 0.91; RMSEA = 0.065). Results: According to the results, inclusive leadership was positively associated with teachers' subjective well-being both directly and indirectly through affective commitment. Inclusive leadership had a moderate direct effect on subjective well-being (β = 0.51), while affective commitment had a weaker but significant effect (β = 0.17). Inclusive leadership strongly predicted affective commitment (β = 0.85). The indirect effect was significant (β = 0.14), with a VAF of approximately 22%, indicating partial mediation. Overall, the model explained 72% of the variance in affective commitment and 32% of the variance in subjective well-being. Discussion: The findings of the study reveal that inclusive leadership is significantly associated with teachers' subjective well-being. Practically, these results highlight the importance of leadership practices that foster transparency, accessibility, participation, and valuing teacher input. Integrating inclusive leadership principles into leadership training programmes and educational policy frameworks may strengthen teachers' motivation, organisational commitment, and well-being. Such practices may also reduce stress and burnout among teachers, contributing to more sustainable and supportive school environments. Future research may further examine these associations across different school types and cultural contexts.
Keywords: inclusive leadership, Subjective well-being, Affective commitment, Mediating role, sustainable education
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 ÇEVİK. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mehmet Nezir ÇEVİK
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.