Differentiated Adaptive Leadership–Motivation Model for Higher Education Teachers’ Well-being

Abstract

In China’s managerialist higher education context, academics’ wellbeing and professional motivation are critically affected by discrepancies in salary scales, excessive non-teaching tasks, and research-teaching-based evaluation. Existing leadership models, however, often adopt a one‑size‑fits‑all leadership support system that fails to consider academics’ motivational needs. The significance of this study, the proposed Differentiated Adaptive Leadership–Motivation Model, is to sustain the motivation and wellbeing of novice, mid-career, and senior academics.
This study aimed to develop a Differentiated Adaptive Leadership–Motivation Model for sustainable teacher professional engagement across different career stages. The objectives are to explore the (I) novice, mid-career, and senior academic’s types of motivation at the workplace, and (ii) types of educational leadership support rendered to academics. The research utilized a qualitative case study design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 academics, i.e., seven per career stage. The limitations of this study include sourcing participants from only one institution, focusing on only three career stages, and not considering other socio-economic background details, such as gender, academic titles, and years of service, which may thus limit generalizability.

Key findings reveal that novice, mid-career, and senior academics differ in the types of support they expect from their leader. Novice teachers primarily rely on motivational competence support from instructional leaders through structured mentoring and AI-enhanced feedback to build confidence and mastery of skills. Mid-career teachers tend to prioritize motivational relatedness from transformational leaders, deriving professional support via participation in professional learning communities and cross-departmental collaboration. Senior teachers thrive on autonomy from distributed leaders, valuing trust-based empowerment and freedom to initiate pedagogical innovations without bureaucratic approvals. The proposed Differentiated Adaptive Leadership–Motivation Model illustrates how the wellbeing of academics across different career stages is a dynamic product of need-supportive, career-stage-adapted leadership.

Implications include structured mentoring for novices, peer networks for mid-career faculty, and autonomy grants for seniors, reframing teacher wellbeing aligned with SDG3 as achievable within hierarchical systems through differentiated, psychologically attuned leadership.
Keywords: Educational Leadership, SDG3, Teacher Wellbeing, Differentiated Adaptive Leadership–Motivation Model