This narrative research synthesis aimed to review the principal well-being literature published from 1978 to 2024 for 47 years. With a sample of 80 journal articles, this review conceptualized the principal well-being construct, proposed a conceptual framework, and presented future directions for a principal well-being knowledge base intertwining theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and practical challenges and concerns. Particularly, seven approaches (e.g. physical, emotional, social, cognitive, psychological, spiritual, and hybrid well-being) of defining principal well-being, three categories of antecedents, namely personal, school, and contextual, and the individual consequences of principal well-being were synthesized. It is expected that future reviews of principal well-being will pick up where this review leaves off. Future research will scrutinize the recommendations from this review to find a more sensible way to advance the intellectual knowledge of principal well-being science and promote principal well-being in education.
*ArnoldBRahimiMRileyP (2023) The mental health of leaders in Australian government schools: Stress and burnout over a decade (2011–2020). Educational Management Administration & Leadership: 17411432231209713.
3.
Authors (2020) [details removed for peer review].
4.
Authors (2021) [details removed for peer review].
5.
Authors (2023a) [details removed for peer review].
6.
Authors (2023b) [details removed for peer review].
7.
*BeausaertSFroehlichDEDevosC, et al. (2016) Effects of support on stress and burnout in school principals. Educational Research58(4): 347–365.
8.
*BeausaertSFroehlichDERileyP, et al. (2021) What about school principals’ well-being?The Role of Social Capital. Educational Management Administration & Leadership51(2): 405–421.
9.
*BilićVDragoslavićM (2022) Understanding the effects of violence experienced in the workplace on work and life satisfaction among primary school principals. Hrvatska Revija za Rehabilitacijska Istraživanja58(2): 1–28.
10.
*BurkeJKinnarneyPSalokangasM (2022) ‘Split in all directions’: An exploration of the impact of wellbeing and daily responsibilities on post-primary school leaders’ perceived stress. School Leadership & Management42(2): 110–125.
11.
*BuonomoIBenevenePFiorilliC (2020) Meaning of work in a group of school principals: the role of organizational variables. Journal of Workplace Learning32(6): 389–403. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-12-2019-0146
12.
CameronKSDuttonJEQuinnRE (2003) Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline. California: Berrett-Koehler.
13.
CapioCMSitCHPAbernethyB (2014) Physical well-being. In: MichalosAC (ed) Encyclopaedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. New York, NY: Springer, 4805–4807.
14.
CarmeliASpreitzerGM (2009) Trust, connectivity, and thriving: Implications for innovative behaviours at work. Journal of Creative Behaviour43(3): 169–191.
15.
ChenJToprakMKarakusM, et al. (2024) The network structure of principal resilience: gender differences. European Journal of Education.
16.
*ChenJWalkerADRileyP (2023) Reconceptualizing principal well-being: state, measurement and consequences. Journal of Educational Administration61(5): 495–513.
17.
*CherkowskiSKutsyurubaBWalkerK (2020) Positive leadership: animating purpose, presence, passion and play for flourishing in schools. Journal of Educational Administration58(4): 401–415. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-04-2019-0076
18.
*CoenenLSchelfhoutWHondeghemA (2021) Networked professional learning communities as means to Flemish secondary school leaders’ professional learning and well-being. Education Sciences11(9): 509.
19.
*CollieRJGranzieraHMartinAJ (2020) School principals’ workplace well-being: a multination examination of the role of their job resources and job demands. Journal of Educational Administration58(4): 417–433. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-04-2019-0075
20.
*CooperCLKellyM (1993) Occupational stress in head teachers: A national UK study. British Journal of Educational Psychology63(1): 130–143.
21.
*DadaczynskiKKotarskiCRathmannK, et al. (2022) Health literacy and mental health of school principals. Results from a German cross-sectional survey. Health Education122(3): 350–363.
22.
DarmodyMSmythE (2016) Primary school principals’ job satisfaction and occupational stress. International Journal of Educational Management30(1): 115–128.
23.
*DevosGBouckenoogheDEngelsN, et al. (2007) An assessment of well-being of principals in Flemish primary schools. Journal of Educational Administration45(1): 33–61. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230710722449
24.
*DeMatthewsDEReyesPCarrolaP, et al. (2023) Novice principal burnout: Exploring secondary trauma, working conditions, and coping strategies in an urban district. Leadership and Policy in Schools22(1): 181–199.
25.
*DickeTParkerPDGuoJ, et al. (2022) Ubiquitous emotional exhaustion in school principals: Stable trait, enduring autoregressive trend, or occasion-specific state?Journal of Educational Psychology114(2): 426–441.
DienerELucasREOishiS (2018) Advances and open questions in the science of subjective well-being. Collabra: Psychology4(1): 15.
28.
*Dor-HaimPOplatkaI (2021) The implications of loneliness among school principals. International Journal of Educational Management35(4): 803–814.
29.
Drago-SeversonE (2012a) The need for principal renewal: The promise of sustaining principals through principal-to-principal reflective practice. Teachers College Record114(12): 1–56.
30.
Drago-SeversonE (2012b) New opportunities for principal leadership: Shaping school climates for enhanced teacher development. Teachers College Record114(3): 1–44.
31.
*DuongTVLinCYChenSC, et al. (2021) Oxford COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in school principals: Impacts of gender, well-being, and coronavirus-related health literacy. Vaccines9(9): 985.
*FoscoSLD (2022) Educational leader wellbeing: A systematic review. Educational Research Review37: 100487.
34.
*GreenRMalcolmSGreenwoodK, et al. (2001). A survey of the health of Victorian primary school principals. International Journal of Educational Management15(1): 23–30. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513540110366114
35.
*GlazzardJStonesS (2021) ‘Nothing fazes me, I can do it all’: Developing headteacher resilience in a complex and challenging educational climate. International Journal of Leadership in Education27(1): 117–137.
36.
*GuglielmiDSimbulaSSchaufeliWB, et al. (2012) Self-efficacy and workaholism as initiators of the job demands-resources model. Career Development International17(4): 375–389. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620431211255842
37.
HarrisAJonesM (2020) COVID-19 – Schools leadership in disruptive times. School Leadership & Management40(4): 243–247.
38.
HascherTWaberJ (2021) Teacher well-being: A systematic review of the research literature from the year 2000–2019. Educational Research Review34: 100411.
39.
*HayesSDAndersonECarpenterBW (2022) Responsibility, stress and the well-being of school principals: How principals engaged in self-care during the COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Educational Administration60(4): 403–418.
40.
*HorwoodMMarshHWParkerPD, et al. (2021) Burning passion, burning out: The passionate school principal, burnout, job satisfaction, and extending the dualistic model of passion. Journal of Educational Psychology113(8): 1668–1688.
41.
*HorwoodMParkerPDMarshHW, et al. (2022) School autonomy policies lead to increases in principal autonomy and job satisfaction. International Journal of Educational Research115: 102048.
42.
*HouleSAMorinAJFernetC, et al. (2020). A latent transition analysis investigating the nature, stability, antecedents, and outcomes of occupational commitment profiles for school principals. Journal of Vocational Behaviour121: Article e103460.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103460
43.
*HouleSAMorinAJFernetC (2022) Longitudinal trajectories of affective commitment to the occupation among school principals: A person-centred perspective. Journal of Vocational Behaviour137: Article e103758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2022.103758
44.
*KristensenRMDadaczynskiKOkanO, et al. (2024) Relationships between COVID-related health literacy, mental health and workload of school leaders. Health Education Journal83(1): 14–28.
45.
LarsenRJDienerE (1987) Affect intensity as an individual difference characteristic: A review. Journal of Research in Personality21: 1–39.
46.
*LauSSShumENManJO, et al. (2022) A cross-sectional study of the perceived stress, well-being and their relations with work-related behaviours among Hong Kong School Leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health19(23): Article e15777.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315777
47.
*LindleyL (2022) Exploring how educational leaders in England experience and promote their own well-being. Management in Education36(4): 167–173.
48.
MahboobiMEtemadiMKhorasaniE, et al. (2012) The relationship between spiritual health and social anxiety in chemical veterans. Iranian Journal of Military Medicine14(3): 186–191.
49.
*MahfouzJ (2018) Mindfulness training for school administrators: Effects on well-being and leadership. Journal of Educational Administration56(6): 602–619.
50.
*MahfouzJ (2020) Principals and stress: Few coping strategies for abundant stressors. Educational Management Administration & Leadership48(3): 440–458.
51.
*MahfouzJRichardsonJW (2021) At the crossroads: Wellbeing and principalship preparation. Journal of Research on Leadership Education16(4): 360–384.
52.
*MalekitabarMRiahiMMalekitabarAR (2017) The role of psychological capital in psychological well-being and job burnout of high school principals in Saveh, Iran. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences11(1): Article e4507.https://doi.org/10.5812/ijpbs.4507
53.
*MarshHWLuedtkeOPekrunR, et al. (2023) School leaders’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction over nine annual waves: A substantive-methodological synergy juxtaposing competing models of directional ordering. Contemporary Educational Psychology73: 102170.
54.
MaslowAH (1965) Toward a psychology of being. New Jersey: Van Nostrand.
55.
*MaxwellARileyP (2017) Emotional demands, emotional labour and occupational outcomes in school principals: Modelling the relationships. Educational Management Administration & Leadership45(3): 484–502.
56.
*MehdinezhadVNouriF (2016) The relationship between elementary school principals’ transformational leadership and spiritual well-being. Management in Education30(2): 42–49.
57.
*NissinenTUpadyayaKLonkaK, et al. (2024) School principals’ job crafting profiles and their differences during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Organization Theory & Behaviour. 7(3): 185–205.
*OplatkaIFoskettNHemsley–BrownJ (2002) Educational marketisation and the head’s psychological well-being: A speculative conceptualisation. British Journal of Educational Studies50(4): 419–441.
60.
QuinnRE (2015) The Positive Organization: Breaking Free from Conventional Cultures, Constraints and Beliefs. California: Berrett-Koehler.
61.
SafairadIKarimiLShomoossiN (2010) Relationship between spiritual well-being and mental health in students. Journal of Sabzevar University of Medical Science17(4): 270–276.
62.
SeligmanME (2011) Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York: Simon and Schuster.
63.
*SkaalvikC (2020) Emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction among Norwegian school principals: Relations with perceived job demands and job resources. International Journal of Leadership in Education: 1–25.
64.
*SmithDWBibeauDLAltschuldJW, et al. (1988) Health-related characteristics of selected school principals. Journal of School Health58(10): 397–400.
65.
MoherDLiberatiATetzlaffJ, et al. and The PRISMA Group (2009) Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement. Annals of Internal Medicine151(4): 264–269.
66.
The School Leaders’ Union (2021) Fixing the leadership crisis: time for change making school leadership a sustainable career choice.
67.
The World Health Organization (WHO) (1946) Preamble, constitution of the World Health Organization (as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York,19–22 June 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 states). Official Records of the World Health Organization.
*ThomasMD (1978) The principal as a person. NASSP Bulletin62(421): 1–6.
70.
*ToyamaHUpadyayaKSalmela-AroK (2022) Job crafting and well-being among school principals: The role of basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration. European Management Journal40(5): 809–818.
71.
*UpadyayaKToyamaHSalmela-AroK (2021) School principals’ stress profiles during COVID-19, demands, and resources. Frontiers in Psychology12: 5954.
72.
*WalkerAR (2020) “God is my doctor”: mindfulness meditation/prayer as a spiritual well-being coping strategy for Jamaican school principals to manage their work-related stress and anxiety. Journal of Educational Administration58(4): 467–480. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-06-2019-0097
73.
*WangF (2024) Principals’ well-being: Understanding its multidimensional nature. School Leadership & Management: 1–24.
74.
*WangFPollockKHausemanC (2023) Time demands and emotionally draining situations amid work intensification of school principals. Educational Administration Quarterly59(1): 112–142.
75.
WarrP (1987) Work, unemployment, and mental health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
76.
WarrP (1994) A conceptual framework for the study of work and mental health. Work & Stress8(2): 84–97.
77.
*WellsCMKlockoBA (2018) Principal well-being and resilience: Mindfulness as a means to that end. NASSP Bulletin102(2): 161–173.
78.
*ZhengXDanQWuZ, et al. (2022) A job demands–resources perspective on kindergarten principals’ occupational well-being: The role of emotion regulation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health19(22): Article e15030.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215030
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
