Participative Decision-Making and Teacher Withdrawal Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and the Moderating Role of Job Autonomy

This study examined a moderated – mediation model: job satisfaction mediates the relationship between the interaction of participative decision-making and job autonomy to teacher withdrawal behaviors (absenteeism and intent to leave). Data were collected from 324 teachers in Arab schools using validated questionnaires and a two-stage cluster sampling design. Structural Equation Modeling and bootstrap analyses showed that participative decision-making and job autonomy were independently associated with job satisfaction, which was not associated with withdrawal. Job autonomy moderates the association between participative decision-making and withdrawal, with lower absenteeism but higher intent to leave under high autonomy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.