The relationship between distributed leadership and the enthusiasm and professional collaboration levels of teachers in Türkiye: the moderator effect of teacher optimism

Introduction The professional collaboration of teachers is highly important for the success of educational outcomes. This study aimed to determine the conditions under which distributed leadership influenced the collaboration of teachers. The study focused on identifying the previously undetermined complex relationships between distributive leadership, teacher professional collaboration, teaching enthusiasm, and teacher optimism, which were found in the literature to be associated with improving the quality of education, enhancing teaching, and achieving successful student outcomes. Methods Data collected from 547 teachers working at 38 different public schools in 20 provinces across Türkiye were analyzed in a cross-sectional manner using the bootstrap method. The effects of distributed leadership on teacher collaboration were examined using a moderated mediation model in which teaching enthusiasm was the mediator variable, and teacher optimism was the moderator variable. Results The results revealed that distributed leadership had direct and indirect significant effects on teacher collaboration through the mediation of teaching enthusiasm. Additionally, teacher optimism plays a moderating role in both the effect of distributed leadership on teaching enthusiasm and the effect of distributed leadership on teacher collaboration through teaching enthusiasm. In other words, the positive effects of distributed leadership became stronger in cases where teacher optimism levels were high. Discussion The leadership approach which distributes positive emotions such as optimism and enthusiasm, which are at the core of positive psychology, and leadership roles to all teachers in the school, can help increase collaboration among teachers and positive workplace behaviors. This research indicates that teachers being enthusiastic while teaching and taking an active role in school management may enable them to be more collaborative in fulfilling these roles and other teaching roles. Teachers’ enthusiasm for teaching can function as an emotional mechanism that connects teachers’ collaboration with a leadership approach that distributes leadership throughout the school. Moreover, when teachers are more optimistic, they trust school administrators’ leadership practices more, participate more in management, and can teach more collaboratively and enthusiastically. Future research may further examine these associations across different cultural contexts.