Psychological resilience: the hidden key to managerial support and performance in teachers

Although managerial support, psychological resilience, and employee performance have been examined separately in the literature, studies integrating these variables into a single mediational framework particularly among physical education and sports teachers in Türkiye remain limited. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates the relationships among perceived managerial support, psychological resilience, and employee performance, and examines whether psychological resilience serves as a mediating mechanism. The research adopted a relational survey model, and the sample consisted of Physical Education and Sports Teachers working in Erzurum province. Data were collected using the Perceived Managerial Support Scale (Kottke & Sharafinski 1988; Özdemir, 2010), Employee Performance Scale (Kirkman & Rosen, 1999; Çöl, 2008), and Psychological Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008). Normality was confirmed, and analyses included Pearson correlations, CFA via AMOS 24, and Bootstrap-based regression using IBM SPSS 24. Findings revealed that perceived managerial support significantly and positively predicts both psychological resilience and employee performance. Moreover, psychological resilience demonstrated a significant mediating effect in the relationship between managerial support and performance. These results contribute to the field by identifying psychological resilience as a key mechanism explaining how managerial support enhances teachers’ performance, and highlight the practical importance of strengthening supportive leadership practices and resilience-building initiatives in educational settings.