Career advancement in teaching is a significant factor in teachers’ work motivation, influenced by changing educational conditions and the need for continuous development. This study examines the serial mediating role of career engagement and professional commitment in the relationship between teachers’ occupational self-efficacy and their work motivation. Given the ongoing changes in professional practices and education policies in Türkiye, examining teachers’ professional competence, motivation, and career orientations is particularly important. This quantitative study used convenience sampling with 214 teachers from the provinces of Bilecik, Eskişehir, and Karaman. The data were evaluated using IBM SPSS Statistics 24, including descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analyses. PROCESS Macro (model 6) was used to test the mediating effects. The analysis results showed that occupational self-efficacy positively affects work motivation, and that career engagement and professional commitment mediate this relationship serially. The mediating variables were found to significantly strengthen the effect of occupational self-efficacy on work motivation. By examining the interactions of occupational self-efficacy, career engagement, and professional commitment within a holistic framework, this study offers theoretical and practical contributions to the understanding of teachers’ professional development processes and work motivation.
DEMİR et al. (Thu,) studied this question.