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Workplace Democracy and Work Engagement in Elementary and Secondary Schools: A Moderated Mediation Model

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Abstract

Determining which antecedent variables affect employees’ work engagement has always been a concern for both managers and researchers. The present study investigated the effect of workplace democracy on teachers’ work engagement and explored the mediating role of job satisfaction and the moderating role of school performance. A two-phase sampling-chosen method was used and a total of 1682 elementary and secondary school teachers in China were asked to complete a survey questionnaire. In addition to identifying descriptive statistics and undertaking group difference analysis, PROCESS macro and bootstrapping approaches were applied. It was found that workplace democracy was positively related to teachers’ work engagement both directly and indirectly through job satisfaction. Meanwhile, school performance moderated the relationship between workplace democracy and work engagement. Specifically, workplace democracy was more strongly associated with teachers’ work engagement in high-performing schools than in low-performing schools. Thus, teachers' work engagement in elementary and secondary schools need to be improved comprehensively through boosting workplace democracy.

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Data Availability

All data are available and can be obtained by emailing: caozongqing@mail.bnu.edu.cn.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Geoff Whyte, MBA, from Liwen Bianji (Edanz) (www.liwenbianji.cn/), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This research receives support by the Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of Guangdong Province [GD20XJY04], and the Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2021M690427].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Yingdong Building, Beijing, China

    Decheng Zhao & Zongqing Cao

  2. School of Psychology, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, China

    Qianfeng Li

  3. Adolescent Psychological Development and Education Center of Hainan, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, China

    Qianfeng Li

  4. Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China

    Qianfeng Li

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  1. Decheng Zhao
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Contributions

DZ conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, drafted the manuscript, and critical review the manuscript; QL participated in the design of the study, performed the statistical analysis, and helped to draft the manuscript; ZC participated in its design and coordination, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zongqing Cao.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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Zhao, D., Li, Q. & Cao, Z. Workplace Democracy and Work Engagement in Elementary and Secondary Schools: A Moderated Mediation Model. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 33, 347–359 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-023-00733-1

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