Doubly latent multilevel analysis of the relationship among collective teacher efficacy, school support, and organizational commitment

Zhonghua Zhang; John Chi-Kin Lee; Hongbiao Yin; Xin Yang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1042798

Doubly latent multilevel analysis of the relationship among collective teacher efficacy, school support, and organizational commitment

Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 4:13:1042798. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1042798. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhonghua Zhang¹, John Chi-Kin Lee², Hongbiao Yin³, Xin Yang⁴

Affiliations

¹ The Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
² Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁴ Faculty of Education, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding the sources and the effects of collective teacher efficacy has been one of the central interests to many educational researchers and practitioners, because it is critical to understand how teachers can shape, and are shaped by, the educational processes in schools. Following the social cognitive perspective on the sources and consequences of efficacy beliefs, this study examined how school support influences collective teacher efficacy which in turn affects teachers' organizational commitment.

Method: The participants included 969 teachers sampled from 28 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. To appropriately address the nature of collective teacher efficacy and school support as school-level variables, the doubly latent multilevel structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the data.

Results: The results revealed the mediation mechanism played by collective teacher efficacy in explaining the effect of school support on teachers' organizational commitment.

Discussion: Schools are suggested to consider fostering a supportive school environment as a strategy to improve teachers' collective efficacy beliefs if it is wished to enhance teachers' commitment to schools.

Keywords: collective teacher efficacy; doubly latent multilevel analysis; mediating effect; organizational commitment; school support.