Unleashing Teachers’ Readiness for Leadership Roles Through Distributed Leadership, Affective-Identity Motivation to Lead, and Teacher Optimism

Teachers’ hesitancy in taking leadership roles has motivated this study to investigate the direct and indirect relationships between principal-distributed leadership and teachers’ leadership readiness through teachers’ affective-identity motivation to lead and optimism. Data were collected from 424 Chinese primary school teachers. Results reveal direct relationships between the predictors and teachers’ readiness for leadership roles. Teacher optimism serves as a stronger mediator compared to affective-identity motivation to lead. A robust check highlights a significant non-linear relationship between distributed leadership and teachers’ readiness for leadership roles. These findings offer crucial insights for enhancing global teacher leadership preparation.