Leading with Empathy, Teaching with Excellence: A Study among University Educators in Guizhou, China

This study examines the relationship between perceived leadership empathy and university educators’ job performance in public teacher-training universities in Guizhou Province, China. Despite growing interest in leadership empathy as a key leadership competency, quantitative evidence in less-developed regional higher education contexts remains limited. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 229 full-time university educators. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and multiple regression analyses were conducted while controlling for relevant demographic characteristics. The results indicated a significant positive association between perceived leadership empathy and teachers’ job performance, including task, contextual, and adaptive performance. Leadership empathy also remained a strong predictor of job performance after controlling for demographic variables. No significant differences were found across gender or academic discipline. Overall, the findings provide context-specific evidence that leadership empathy is meaningfully linked to university educators’ job performance and underscore the value of empathy-based leadership practices in similar higher education settings.