Teachers’ career satisfaction (CS), perceived organizational support (POS), and psychological capital (PC) have a significant impact on their professional growth and overall educational quality. However, the interactive dynamics and temporal mechanisms among these variables remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap by employing cross-lagged panel network analysis. A total of 431 Chinese teachers (71.69% female; M = 37.61, SD = 8.78) participated in surveys conducted at two time points. Three centrality indices, out-expected influence (out-EI), in-expected influence (in-EI), and bridge-expected influence (bridge-EI) were used to identify the most important nodes in the POS-PC-CS network. Results showed that POS-1 exhibits the highest out-EI; all five CS nodes displayed relatively high in-EI. Although not ranking highest, the four PC nodes showed comparatively elevated out-EI, in-EI, and bridge-EI. These results offer valuable insights for developing targeted interventions and educational policies that aim to foster positive professional outcomes among teachers.
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