Empathetic leadership and relational trust in early childhood education: A conditional process model of teachers’ prosocial behaviour

Abstract

This study examines how principals’ empathetic leadership (EL) shapes kindergarten teachers’ prosocial behaviour (TPB) in China, focusing on the mediating role of trust and the moderating role of teacher resilience. Data were collected from 589 kindergarten teachers across diverse regions, and construct validity was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. The hypothesised direct, indirect, and conditional effects were tested using Hayes’ PROCESS macro with bootstrapping. Results show that EL positively predicts TPB, with trust serving as a significant mediator and teacher resilience moderating both the direct and indirect effects. Specifically, EL exerts a stronger positive influence on teachers with low resilience, who rely more on relational trust to engage in prosocial actions. By integrating emotional (empathy and trust) and psychological (resilience) constructs into a unified conditional process model, this study advances understanding of how EL operates within early childhood education (ECE) organisations. It highlights that the effectiveness of leadership is contingent on teachers’ individual capacities and cultural contexts, underscoring the importance of differentiated, relationship-centred leadership approaches for fostering collaboration, altruism, and well-being in ECE settings.