The Impact of Paternalistic Leadership on Teachers’ Turnover Intention: Multiple Mediating Effects Based on Emotional Labor

From the perspectives of school management and individual psychology, this study examines how paternalistic leadership influences teachers’ turnover intention through the mediating mechanisms of emotional labor. This study takes 632 primary and secondary school teachers as the research subjects, and findings reveal that (1) the authoritarian dimension of paternalistic leadership significantly positively predicts teachers’ turnover intention, the moral dimension significantly negatively predicts teachers’ turnover intention, and the benevolent dimension has no significant impact on teachers’ turnover intention; and (2) the mediating effect of automatic regulation in teachers’ emotional labor is not significant between the paternalistic leadership and teachers’ turnover intention. Teachers’ deep acting behavior mediates the relationship between authoritarian and benevolent leadership and teachers’ turnover intention, and teachers’ surface acting behavior has a significant mediating effect on the relationships between the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership and teachers’ turnover intention. The findings extend the existing literature and enrich our understanding of the emotional processes behind turnover decisions in educational settings. This study also offers school leaders actionable recommendations for reducing teachers’ turnover through more strategic management of teachers’ emotional demands, thereby contributing to the development of a more stable and committed teaching workforce.