PRINCIPALS’ AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP AND TEACHERS’ WORK ENGAGEMENT IN THE UAE SCHOOLS: MULTI-MEDIATING EFFECTS OF TEACHERS' WELL-BEING DIMENSIONS AMID EDUCATIONAL REFORM

Abstract

Globally, the sustainability of teacher work engagement has become a pressing concern amid ambitious educational reforms, increasing professional demands, and rising teacher turnover, particularly in the UAE. This study investigates how principals’ authentic leadership shapes teachers’ work engagement through the mediating influence of multidimensional well-being. Drawing upon Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) model, the research tested both direct and mediated relationships among authentic leadership, teachers’ psychological, social, workplace, and subjective well-being, and their engagement. Data from 422 teachers in the UAE first-cycle schools across ten Emirates were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed a fully mediation model: authentic leadership did not directly predict teacher engagement but indirectly enhanced it through all four dimensions of well-being. Specifically, principals who demonstrated self-awareness, relational transparency, and moral integrity fostered teachers’ psychological, social, workplace, and subjective well-being, which in turn strongly stimulated their engagement. These results highlight well-being as a crucial mechanism linking leadership to sustained engagement under reform-intensive conditions. The study enriches leadership and well-being research by illustrating the enabling function of authentic leadership as a contextual resource provider rather than a direct driver of engagement. Practically, the findings underscore the importance of integrating authentic leadership practices with comprehensive well-being initiatives in leadership development programs and school policies to strengthen teacher engagement and educational reform outcomes.