Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling Research Articles

Relationship between principal leadership and student achievement: A comparative study between Germany and China

This article examines the differences in principal leadership based on Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and the relationships between principal leadership and student achievements in mathematics, reading, science, and collaborative problem solving via the Multilevel Structural Equation model (MSEM) between Germany and China. The data retrieved from PISA 2015 covered 6504 students and 256 school principals from German schools and 9841 students and 268 school principals from Chinese schools. The results revealed non-significant relationships between the generic Principal Leadership (PL) and student achievement in all domains in both Germany and China. Significant relationships were found between the sub-dimensions of principal leadership and student achievement in both countries, with the exception of developing people (P3) in Germany and instructional leadership (P2) in China. The current study indicates that German and Chinese principals had similar conceptual constructs of principal leadership, but the effective ways to cultivate student achievement differed in both countries.

Relationship between quality of professional capacity building for kindergarten teachers and children's language development: the mediating role of kindergarten language education activities quality.

Strengthening the professional capacity building for kindergarten teachers is crucial for improving the quality of kindergarten education and promoting children's development. In order to explore the impact of the quality of professional capacity building for kindergarten teachers and kindergarten language education activities quality on children's language development, a study was conducted. A total of 1,584 children from 90 kindergartens in 5 provinces in China were randomly selected as research participants. Utilizing an independent sample t-test and correlation analysis (with SPSS 26.0 as the tool), the study analyzed the disparities in the professional capacity building for kindergarten teachers of different types, kindergarten language education activities quality, and the children's language developmental levels, as well as the interrelationships among these factors. A multilevel structural equation model (using MPLUS 8.3 as the tool) was employed to analyze the mediating role that the kindergarten language education activities quality plays between the quality of professional capacity building for kindergarten teachers and children's language development levels. The results indicate that children in public kindergartens demonstrate significantly higher language development levels than those in private kindergartens. A positive correlation exists between the quality of professional capacity building for kindergarten teachers, kindergarten language education activities quality and children's language development levels. Furthermore, kindergarten language education activities quality shows partial mediating effects on the relationship between them. These findings highlight the need to enhance the quality of education in private kindergartens, reduce the disparities in language development levels between private and public kindergartens, and reinforce the quality of professional capacity building for kindergarten teachers to provide effective support for children's language development. Ultimately, the study suggests concentrating on the organization and implementation of kindergarten language education activities as a means of evaluating the quality of professional capacity building for kindergarten teachers.

Distributed Leadership Promotes Teacher Self-Efficacy in Multicultural Classrooms Through School Capacity Building: A Multilevel SEM Approach Using U.S. Teaching and Learning International Survey

Purpose : This study examines the direct and indirect effects of distributed leadership on teacher self-efficacy in multicultural classrooms (TSMC) through school capacity building, specifically teacher team innovativeness and a feedback network. Research Design : Using data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey 2018, this study employs a 2-2-1 multilevel structural equation modeling to account for the nested data structure (teachers nested within schools). Latent variables are constructed, and their validity is tested, followed by an analysis of the relationships among distributed leadership, teacher team innovativeness, a feedback network, and TSMC. Findings: This study finds that distributed leadership has an indirect-only mediation effect on TSMC via a feedback network but not via teacher team innovativeness. The effect of distributed leadership on TSMC is fully mediated by a feedback network. In addition, the study shows that distributed leadership is positively associated with a feedback network and teacher team innovativeness. Conclusions : This study contributes to our understanding of the role of distributed leadership in fostering school capacity building and promoting TSMC. Given the increasing diversity in schools, it is crucial for school leaders to prepare teachers to teach students in multicultural classrooms. The findings suggest that school leaders can enhance teachers’ efficacy in teaching students from diverse backgrounds by facilitating their participation in school improvement processes and establishing a collective feedback network where teachers receive feedback from various sources. These results emphasize the importance of distributed leadership in equipping teachers for culturally responsive teaching in multicultural classrooms.

Short-term dynamics of pride and state self-esteem change during the university-to-work transition

Young adults differ in their self-esteem change during the university-to-work transition. The short-term processes (such as state changes) which are related to individual variability in change are not yet fully understood. In this pre-registered study, we examined experiences of pride as an emotional process underlying state self-esteem change in a sample of 232 Dutch master students over 8 months across their university-to-work transition. We used dynamic and multilevel structural equation models to analyze three waves of 14-day experience sampling data, examining momentary and daily associations between pride and state self-esteem on the within-person level. We examined correlated change in pride and state self-esteem, and the extent to which pride predicted variability in state self-esteem change. Results indicated positive within-person associations and considerable individual differences in pride–state self-esteem associations across moments and days. Across months, changes in pride and state self-esteem were positively correlated, but pride before graduation did not predict variability in later state self-esteem change. Pride–state self-esteem associations remained robust after accounting for feelings of joy, transitional valence, and timing of the transition. Findings indicated that pride uniquely predicted state self-esteem change during the education-to-work transition, which suggests that pride is a key emotion underlying self-esteem change.

Students' and schools' expectancy-value beliefs are associated with reading achievement: A cross-cultural study

Students' expectancy and value beliefs are critical to reading achievement. However, past studies have predominantly focused on these constructs at the student level. Whether and how school-level expectancy-value beliefs—defined as the expectancy and value beliefs of one's schoolmates—are associated with students' reading achievement has seldom been examined. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among student-level and school-level expectancy-value beliefs and their reading achievement. Furthermore, we examined whether these relationships generalized across cultures. The doubly-latent multilevel structural equation modeling method was adopted. The sample came from the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data with 103,627 15-year-old students from Eastern (Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan) and Western (USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia) cultures. The relationships among the variables varied across cultures. In the East, both student-level and school-level expectancy-value beliefs were associated with better reading achievement. However, in the West, students' reading achievement was only significantly tied to student-level but not to school-level expectancy and value beliefs. The association between student-level expectancy-value beliefs and reading achievement was stronger in the West than in the East. This study highlighted the importance of taking both student-level and school-level expectancy value beliefs into account as well as the need to consider cultural differences. These findings have important implications for recent work highlighting the situated nature of expectancy and value beliefs.

Creating a safer workplace: A linkage model for labour‒management partnership, psychological safety, collaborative industrial relations climate and organisational occupational and health safety performance

This study takes a mutual gains perspective to investigate how a labour‒management partnership (LMP) impacts organisational occupational and health safety (OHS) performance and creates a safe workplace. It develops a model linking employee psychological safety with a collaborative industrial relations (IR) climate and ultimately organisational OHS performance. The research context is China ‒ where LMP is driven by the Party-state in managing labour relations. To test the proposed linkage model, multi-level structural equation modelling is conducted, using matched employer‒employee data from 205 companies and 7229 employees in an industrial park in the Yangtze River Delta. The results support the use of the linkage model, demonstrating that partnership decision-making increases psychological safety, in turn developing a collaborative IR climate, ultimately reducing the number of accidents. This study contributes to partnership research by exploring the underlying mechanisms of how a partnership arising from the logic of neo-pluralism successfully delivers mutual gains for employees and employers in a non-pluralist context. It has wider implications for collaborative management and OHS management in a developing country.

Entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity: a multilevel mediation model of entrepreneurial self-efficacy

Purpose The current study, which is based on social learning theory and social cognitive theory, intends to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial leadership on employee creativity at both the individual and team levels. In particular, the authors predict a mediating mechanism at both levels: employees’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Further, the authors consider whether the climate of support for innovation is a contextual element affecting the relationship between employees’ perceptions of entrepreneurial leadership and their own entrepreneurial self-efficacy.Design/methodology/approach The research hypotheses were tested using multilevel structural equation modeling on 191 employees nested in 49 entrepreneurial ventures in China.Findings The results indicated that entrepreneurial leadership positively correlates with employee creativity at individual level. Moreover, this study found that individual followers’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy partially mediates the association between individual perceptions of entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity, whereas team members’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy fully mediates the association between team members’ perceptions of supervisors’ entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity. Further, this research demonstrates the role of team-level climate of support for innovation as a boundary condition that strengthens the effect of entrepreneurial leadership on individual entrepreneurial self-efficacy.Originality/value Considering entrepreneurial self-efficacy to be a type of entrepreneurial context-specific self-efficacy, this study presents one of the first empirical examples of the mediating function of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the association between entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity. Additionally, this research demonstrates the role of team-level climate of support for innovation as a boundary condition that strengthens the effect of entrepreneurial leadership on individual entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Further, this study provides a methodological contribution by simultaneously assessing all three variables of the mediation process at the individual and team levels: entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and employee creativity.

What is in the news today? How media-related affect shapes adolescents' stance towards the EU.

Adolescence is regarded as a formative period for political development. One important developmental context is media. Negatively perceived political media content can foster populistic attitudes, which in turn decreases support of political institutions, such as the European Union (EU). As media valence effects are short-lived, this study examined intra-individual associations of media valence with European identity commitment and affect towards the EU, as well as indirect effects via populistic attitudes across 10 days. We implemented a 10-day daily diary study with 371 adolescents from Germany (January to February 2022). Adolescents were on average 14.24 years old (SD = 0.55) and 60.4% were female. We estimated the hypothesized associations using multilevel structural equation models and dynamic structural equation models. We found significant associations between populistic attitudes and negative affect towards the EU on the same day and the next day. The lagged effect became nonsignificant, when including both same day and lagged effects into one model. Populistic attitudes were not significantly associated with European identity commitment within days or across days. Negative media content was associated with higher populistic attitudes on the same day and indirectly associated with negative affect towards the EU (b = -.01, 95% credible interval [-0.010, -0.004]). Negatively perceived political media content was associated with higher populistic attitudes and more negative affect towards the EU concurrently. Our results imply that media plays an important role for adolescents' development.

Multi-level structural equation modelling for factors affecting science achievement of Korean middle school students before and after COVID-19: based on 2018–2020 national assessment of educational achievement data

ABSTRACT Science academic achievement is a key construct for examining students’ science learning outcomes. While international comparative assessments like TIMSS and PISA have shown high science achievement of Korean middle school students, there is a lack of comprehensive investigation of factors influencing the achievement using domestic data. Additionally, the impact of COVID-19 on science achievement-related factors remains largely unexplored. This study utilises multi-level structural equation modelling to examine the factors affecting science achievement among Korean middle school students. By analysing data from the National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA), we identify individual- and school-level variables that affect student science achievement. The model fitting results were compared before (2018–2019; N = 5771 and N = 5614) and after (2020; N = 4,623) the COVID-19 outbreak. The analysis results reveal that individual-level factors, such as self-efficacy, affective domain of science learning, and self-studying time had significant effects on science achievement consistently throughout years. School-level factors, including principal’s supervision, school climate, and science teacher’s efficacy, demonstrated significantly positive effects on science achievement only in 2020 following the COVID-19 outbreak. This study enhances our understanding of the characteristics of high-achieving Korean middle school students and highlights the role of school community in supporting student learning during uncertain circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Complicating Cultural Reproduction Theory: A Critical Multilevel Analysis of Systematic Inequality in U.S. Schools

The purpose of the current study is to examine malleable school practices and norms that contribute to inequitable school learning environments based on student background. Using multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) with the U.S. sample of PISA 2015, this study examines the extent to which student-level access to inquiry-based science learning opportunities and academic press mediates the relationship between intersectional student background and scientific literacy outcomes, as well as the influence of school-level context, tracking, and academic climate variables on student learning opportunities, perceptions of academic press, and science outcomes. After accounting for variance explained at the school level, OTL was not a significant mediator of the relationship between student intersectional background or gender and scientific literacy outcomes. However, academic press was a significant mediator at the student level, and was a significant negative predictor of science achievement. At the school level, while tracking was not a significant predictor of mean school science achievement, tracking was a predictor of mean school academic press and OTL inquiry-based science. There were significant differences in school academic climate based on school context, and school-level perceptions of academic climate were significant predictors of science achievement, findings that can inform education policy and practice.

A multilevel investigation of the cascading effect of entrepreneurial leadership on employee creativity: Evidence from Chinese hospitality and tourism firms

This study aims to elucidate the cascading effect of entrepreneurial leadership on fostering employee creativity in hospitality and tourism firms. Drawing upon multiple theories (e.g., the affective events theory and conservation of resources theory) and utilizing a multilevel mediation model, this study predicts and examines the cross-level indirect relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity, which is sequentially transmitted through employees’ surface acting and work-related flow. Based on a 2-wave longitudinal design, survey data were obtained from multiple sources consisting of 47 leaders and 352 employees in Chinese hospitality and tourism firms. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analysis provides empirical support for the cross-level mediation model. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence of the cross-level effect of entrepreneurial leadership on workplace creativity via surface acting and work-related flow in the service industry, which enriches the leadership literature in the tourism discipline.

The structural relations among learning environment, achievement goals and reading achievement in China: Evidence from PISA 2018

ABSTRACT This study explores structural relations among learning environment, achievement goals and reading achievement in China. The sample contains 12,058 Chinese students from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 study. Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling (Multilevel SEM) is used for data analysis. The results indicate that competitive learning environment positively predicts reading achievement. Student-centred learning environment positively predicts reading achievement both directly and indirectly. Teacher-directed learning environment negatively predicts reading achievement. Performance goals positively predict reading achievement. To improve student reading achievement in China, school leaders are recommended to create opportunities for teachers to learn how to cultivate student-centred learning environment. Reading teachers in China are recommended to adopt student-centred pedagogy rather than teacher-directed pedagogy in their teaching.

Teacher‐perceived science inquiry‐based instructional practice on student achievement and motivational beliefs in classroom contexts

AbstractA hotly debated topic is the effectiveness of inquiry‐based instructional practice in science classrooms on student achievement and motivation. Numerous studies based on multinational large‐scale education data show such student‐centered instructional practice positively led to students' motivational beliefs but was negatively associated with science achievement. Current literature, however, drew such a conclusion based on the measures of instructional practice from students' perceptions, not teachers, despite teachers being the subject matter experts and actual implementers of classroom activities. Thus, this study examined the relationships between teacher‐perceived instructional practice, science motivational beliefs, and science achievement. Specifically, this study investigated the predictive effects of instructional practices on aggregated student motivational beliefs (i.e., self‐concept, utility value, and intrinsic value) and science achievement in the classroom context. Moreover, the study explored the contextual effects of student motivational beliefs on science achievement. We examined 3861 eighth graders' data nested within 168 science classrooms in the Korean portion of the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study using multilevel structural equation modeling. The results showed that the inquiry‐based instructional approach did not predict science achievement or motivational beliefs at the classroom level. On the other hand, student self‐concept and utility value positively predicted individual achievement, while classroom‐level utility value statistically predicted average classroom achievement. In other words, the significant effect of classroom‐level utility value on achievement was beyond the effect of individual utility value. The unique contributions of the study lie in advancing the science education literature with a fresh reflection on such relationships by using a less examined data source (i.e., teacher perceptions), focusing on the classroom context (i.e., classroom‐level science motivational beliefs and achievement), and situating in an underrepresented country (i.e., Korea) in the literature. The results shed light on the discrepancies in the effectiveness of instructional practice perceived by teachers versus students on desired educational outcomes in a learning context. This study also discusses the practical and methodological implications for instructional and motivational research.

Narcissism and seeing red: How perceptions of social rank conflict fuels dominance

The desire for social rank is a universal motive that shapes how people think, feel, and behave. Whereas some individuals may acquire rank through sharing expertise and knowledge (i.e., prestige), others resort to fear and intimidation (i.e., dominance). Here, we propose that a tendency to perceive social rank conflict (i.e., conflict between team members over status and power) may underpin dominance behaviour in teams, and that narcissism accounts for these individual differences. Tracking 357 individuals from 81 project design teams across three time points, we used multilevel structural equation modeling to examine associations at the between-person level and the within-person level, while accounting for team membership. We observed support for the idea that individuals who tend to perceive higher levels of social rank conflict are more likely to have a reputation within their team for dominance-based social rank pursuit. We further demonstrate that within-person and between-person differences in narcissistic rivalry (but not narcissistic admiration) predict who is more likely to perceive higher levels of social rank conflict. Overall, the tendency to view one's social world through an antagonistic lens appears to drive dominance-related behaviour in teams.

Transformational leadership and emotional intelligence: allies in the development of organizational affective commitment from a multilevel perspective and time-lagged data

In the business context, models are needed to facilitate our understanding on the emergence of processes that transcend the individual level. In the case of affective organizational commitment, such models are even more necessary, due to the benefits associated with affective organizational commitment at the organizational level. From a time-lagged multilevel perspective, a model to explain the emergence of affective organizational commitment was tested by integrating the contribution of group processes. In this study, at two time points, 63 work teams from different organizations and sectors in Spain (n = 233 employees) were evaluated for transformational leadership, workgroup emotional intelligence and affective organizational commitment. The data were analyzed by a multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM). The results showed that supervisors’ transformational leadership style to both directly and indirectly (through workgroup emotional intelligence levels) mediates the development of affective organizational commitment at the individual level. The results are replicated at the team level but a direct relationship between transformational leadership and affective organizational commitment was not found. In conclusion, the results of this multilevel analysis of the relationships between transformational leadership, workgroup emotional intelligence, and affective organizational commitment contribute to the development of so-called “hybrid theories of homology” in the search for the generalization of relationships between variables across levels.

How and when temporal leadership facilitates the success of sustainable construction projects

PurposeTemporal leadership is a new construct that predicts team outcomes. This study examines the mediating role of shared temporal cognitions and the moderating role of time pressure in the relationship between temporal leadership and project success within sustainable construction projects.Design/methodology/approachThe multi-source and multi-wave data were collected via self-administered questionnaires from teams working on sustainable construction projects. The direct and mediating hypotheses were tested using multi-level structural equation modelling, while moderated mediation hypotheses were examined by applying the bootstrap method using SPSS Process Macro.FindingsThe results showed that temporal leadership enables project success via shared temporal cognitions. Temporal leadership is most beneficial for facilitating project success via shared temporal cognitions when teams experience high time pressure.Originality/valueThis is the first study examining shared temporal cognitions as a mediator of the relationship between temporal leadership and project success. Also, this is the first study that considered time pressure as a boundary condition that influences the relationships between temporal leadership, shared temporal cognitions and project success within sustainable construction projects. The study provides valuable advice to project managers and project-based construction organizations about using and managing time within projects.

Can a supportive supervisor be a treasure for teachers? A multilevel analysis of the relationship between perceived supervisor support, work engagement, and burnout

AbstractIn this study, we examined the relationships between perceived supervisor support, work engagement, and burnout levels of teachers by using multilevel analysis. We assumed that a high level of perceived supervisor support would relate positively to work engagement but negatively to burnout. We also suggested that work engagement would mediate the relationship between perceived supervisor support and burnout. The participants of the study consisted of 796 teachers from 87 schools located in the center of Elazig province in eastern Turkey. According to multilevel structural equation modeling analysis, we found that perceived supervisor support is positively related to work engagement but negatively to burnout at the teacher and school levels. We carried out a series of Sobel tests for multilevel mediation analyses and identified the presence of a mediating role in the relationship between perceived supervisor support and burnout at both levels of work engagement in general. In conclusion, this study indicates that perceived supervisor support can be a significant resource for teachers' well‐being.

How firms leverage corporate environmental strategy to nurture green behavior: Role of multi‐level environmentally responsible leadership

AbstractThe implementation of a firm's corporate environmental strategy is contingent on a practical mechanism between leaders and employees as stakeholders to spread a collective stimulus of responsible behaviors from top to bottom. This study builds on the theoretical underpinnings of social identity theory to examine the influence of corporate environmental strategy on employees' voluntary green behavior through the mediating role of middle managers' environmentally responsible leadership and the moderating role of CEOs' environmentally responsible leadership. The sample included 1532 middle managers‐subordinate dyads from 91 automotive firms and their supply chain business partners in China. Multi‐source data on CEOs' and managers' environmentally responsible leadership and employees' voluntary green behavior were collected in two stages and analyzed with multilevel structural equation modeling through the MPlus 8.3 software. The findings supported all the hypothesized relationships in predicting employees' voluntary green behavior, including the mediating and moderating mechanisms. Theoretical and managerial implications are offered, along with limitations and suggestions for future research.

Employees' HR attributions count: the effects of high-performance work systems on employees' thriving at work and emotional exhaustion

PurposeAlthough prior research has documented substantive knowledge of the benefits of high-performance work systems (HPWS), results regarding both sides of HPWS are inconsistent. To reconcile these inconsistencies, the authors identified two specific HR attributions—employee well-being HR attribution and performance HR attribution, and examined their roles in the relationship between team-level HPWS and employees' thriving at work and emotional exhaustion.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected multi-source data from 36 team leaders and 181 individuals. Given the nested nature of the data, the authors used Mplus 7.4 to conduct multilevel structural equation modeling for hypothesis testing.FindingsThe results showed that team-level HPWS and employee well-being HR attribution interact to affect psychological availability, which subsequently promotes thriving at work. However, team-level HPWS and employee performance HR attribution do not interact to influence role overload/psychological availability; team-level HPWS and employee well-being HR attribution do not interact to affect role overload.Originality/valueCurrent literature has overlooked identifying key contingencies for both sides of HPWS effects on employee outcomes. Therefore, this study developed a mediated moderation model and incorporated HR attributions to explore two distinct pathways by which HPWS affects employees' thriving at work and emotional exhaustion. The present study helps to reconcile the inconsistent findings regarding the HPWS double-edged sword nature. In addition, the authors focused on HPWS at the team level, which is also underexplored in the existing HPWS research.

Environmental Harshness, Life History, and Crystallized Intelligence of Chinese Adolescents.

The present study examined longitudinal relations between adverse environment (at the community and family level), life history (LH) profile (conceptualized as a suite of behavioral and physical traits with converging adaptive functions), and crystalized intelligence (mathematics and vocabulary test scores) using data on 1,185 Chinese adolescents obtained from the China Family Panel Studies survey. Multilevel structural equation modeling indicates that early familial environmental harshness was negatively associated with slow LH profiles and crystalized intelligence, slow LH profiles were positively associated with crystallized intelligence, and early community-level environmental harshness strengthened the positive association between slow LH and crystalized cognitive abilities. The results underscore the importance of the childhood environment in fostering individual LH and cognitive development.