The Mediating Effect of Trust in Peer Teachers and Directors on the Relationships between Authentic Leadership and Organizational Commitment of Early Childhood Teachers

Objectives The purpose of this study was to analyze the structural relationship among the director's authentic leadership, trust in fellow teachers and directors, and organizational commitment of early childhood teachers perceived by early childhood teachers, and to empirically verify the mediating effect of trust in fellow teachers and directors in the effect of the director's authentic leadership on organizational commitment of early childhood teachers. Methods For this purpose, 319 early childhood teachers working in public and private kindergartens located in Gyeongsangnam-do were selected as research subjects, and a questionnaire survey was conducted by selecting the authenticity leadership of the director as an independent variable, the trust of fellow teachers and directors as a mediating variable, and organizational commitment as a dependent variable. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS program to verify reliability, correlation, covariance structure analysis, and multiple regression analysis. Results The structural relationship between the authentic leadership of the director perceived by the early childhood teachers, the trust of the fellow teachers and the director, and the organizational commitment of the early childhood teachers was significant. In addition, in the effect of the director's authentic leadership on the organizational commitment of early childhood teachers, the partial mediating effect of trust in fellow teachers and trust in the director was significant. Conclusions In order to improve the quality of early childhood education, it is essential to establish a trust relationship between the director and his colleagues, and the authentic leadership of the director based on high ethical judgment can serve as a good facilitator for early childhood teachers to immerse themselves in the kindergarten organization. Therefore, it is necessary to actively seek ways to strengthen and cultivate the authenticity leadership of the director.