# The Multilevel Effects of Principals’ Servant Leadership on Kindergarten Teachers’ Job Crafting: The Mediating Role of Organizational Identification

## TL;DR

This study shows how servant leadership by school principals influences kindergarten teachers to proactively shape their jobs, with organizational identification playing a key role.

## Contribution

The study reveals a new motivational pathway linking servant leadership to job crafting through organizational identification.

## Key findings

- Principals’ servant leadership positively predicts approach job crafting among teachers.
- Servant leadership negatively predicts avoidance job crafting through organizational identification.
- Organizational identification mediates the relationship between servant leadership and job crafting.

## Abstract

Job crafting has become an essential strategy for kindergarten teachers to cope with increasing job demands and sustain professional engagement. Drawing on the proactive motivation model, this study examines whether and how principals’ servant leadership exerts cross-level effects on teachers’ approach and avoidance job crafting. Data were collected from 1724 teachers nested within 150 kindergartens, and hypotheses were tested using multilevel modeling. The results indicated that principals’ servant leadership had significant cross-level effects on teachers’ approach and avoidance job crafting, positively predicting approach job crafting and negatively predicting avoidance job crafting. In addition, organizational identification functioned as a cross-level mediator in this relationship, through which servant leadership further enhanced approach job crafting and reduced avoidance job crafting. These findings extend the literature by revealing the motivational pathway linking servant leadership to distinct forms of job crafting and highlight the importance of cultivating a servant leadership climate to foster proactive behaviors among kindergarten teachers.