Fostering teacher innovation through distributed leadership: A chain-mediated model of perceived organizational support and thriving at work

Teacher innovation is central to school improvement and educational quality. Distributed leadership is expected to be associated with innovation by engaging teachers in shared decision-making and professional responsibility, yet the underlying mechanism remains underexplored. Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory, we tested a serial mediation model in which perceived organizational support and thriving at work serve as mediating mechanisms in the association between distributed leadership and teacher innovation. Survey data were collected from 452 primary and secondary school teachers across eastern, central and western China, and hypotheses were examined using structural equation modelling. Distributed leadership was positively associated with teacher innovation and was associated with higher perceived organizational support and thriving at work. Both mediators were directly related to innovation, and the sequential indirect effect (distributed leadership →perceived organizational support → thriving at work →teacher innovation) was significant. These results suggest that in centralized governance contexts where formal discretion is constrained, distributed leadership may be related to innovation through stronger perceived support and higher vitality and learning at work.