Open Access

ARTICLE

School principal moral leadership and teachers’ voice behavior: Work role engagement and interpersonal perspectives mediation

Qinglin Wang^1,2, Hang Zhang², Junzhe Zhao², Wenfan Chao², Minghui Wang^2,*

1 School of Management, Jinan University, 601 West Huangpu Avenue, Guangzhou, 510632, China
2 School of Psychology, Henan University, Jinming Road, Kaifeng, 475004, China

* Corresponding Author: Minghui Wang. Email:

Journal of Psychology in Africa 2025, 35(5), 557-563. https://doi.org/10.32604/jpa.2025.068969

Received 03 August 2024; Accepted 03 July 2025; Issue published 24 October 2025

Abstract

This study investigated the role of work role engagement and interpersonal perspectives mediation in the relationship between school principal moral leadership and teachers’ voice behavior. A sample comprising 315 middle school teachers from a central province in China participated in the research (females = 73.3%). These teachers completed surveys on moral leadership, work engagement, trust in superiors, and voice behavior. The results of dual mediation modeling indicated evidence of an indirect effect of moral leadership on teachers’ voice behavior through work engagement. The results also indicated evidence of mediating effect of trust between moral leadership and teachers’ voice behavior. Our findings provide the evidence for moral leadership on teachers’ voice behavior in the Chinese educational context consistent with social exchange theory. To promote teacher voice behavior, in addition to increasing a leader’s level of moral leadership, it can also increase subordinates’ engagement to their work and trust in the leader.

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Keywords

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