Music teachers’ personal resources and planned persistence in the profession: the multifaceted role of work engagement

Grounded in Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) theory, this study examined motivational processes underlying music teachers’ planned persistence in the profession. It focused on two personal resources reflecting the dual nature of music teachers’ professional identity: musical calling and teaching self-efficacy. The study tested the mediating role of work engagement in the relationships between these resources and planned persistence and explored the differentiated mediating effects of cognitive, emotional, and social engagement with students and colleagues. Participants were 293 music teachers from 55 Croatian music schools who completed an online questionnaire. Path mediation analyses showed that overall work engagement fully mediated the associations between both personal resources and planned persistence. Facet-level analyses indicated that emotional engagement and social engagement with colleagues were the only significant mediators. These findings underscore the importance of affective and interpersonal engagement for sustaining music teachers’ motivation and professional commitment.