Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

In recent years, principals have been challenged in their school operations by the low birth rate, the promotion of significant education policies, and changes in the power structure of schools in Taiwan. These problems once caused a retirement boom among principals, significantly affecting educational development. Past research on principals’ school operations has focused chiefly on external policies and related support systems, but rarely examined the psychological aspects of the principals themselves. Based on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotion, this study explored the relationship among principals’ workspace savoring beliefs, principals’ perceived workplace hope, and workplace resilience. A total of 302 principals (66 females, 236 males, with an average age of 55.6 years) from Taiwanese senior high schools completed the paper-based questionnaire. The study results indicate that both principals’ workplace savoring beliefs and workplace hope positively impacted workplace resilience and that perceived workplace hope partially mediated between workplace savoring beliefs and workplace resilience. This study makes specific recommendations for educational authorities, principals, and subsequent research directions based on the above conclusions.

Plain language summary

Purpose: An empirical study explored the key factors (workplace savoring beliefs and perceived workplace hope scale) that drive principals’ workplace resilience and examined the relationships between the key factors and principals’ workplace resilience. Methods: The Principals’ Workplace Savoring Beliefs Scale, Perceived Workplace Hope Scale, and Workplace Resilience Scale were developed. A total of 302 principals from Taiwanese senior high schools completed the paper-based questionnaire. Conclusions: This study confirmed the positive impact of workplace savoring beliefs on workplace resilience. Furthermore, perceived workplace hope mediated the relationship between workplace savoring beliefs and workplace resilience. Implications: This finding has important implications for assisting principals in enhancing workplace resilience when facing school operations challenges. This study revealed that principals with good workplace savoring beliefs could strengthen their resilience when encountering setbacks in school operations through the mediation effect of perceived workplace hope. Limitations: First, about background variables, the differences in this study in perceived workplace hope and workplace resilience were higher among principals with a master’s or doctoral degree than those with a bachelor’s degree. Second, regarding research variables, this study focused on savoring beliefs, perceived hope, and resilience, while positive psychology includes many other variables. Third, as for the target population, this study was conducted on principals of senior high schools. Fourth, in terms of data processing, SPSS PROCESS Model 4 was used to examine the effectiveness of this study.

Keywords

principal workplace savoring beliefs perceived workplace hope workplace resilience mediation

Introduction

As the saying goes, “As is the principal, so is the school.” The principal is the school’s administrator, lead teacher, and instructional leader, significantly influencing the school’s development. School leaders’ issues and challenges include the complexity of the principal’s work and interactions with different stakeholders (Tintoré et al., 2022). Cranston (2002) found that the roles and responsibilities of principals have changed significantly in recent years, with the addition of multiple roles in schools creating significant pressures and challenges for principals. School leadership has become more complex and stressful (Bunnell, 2012) as school principals may face ongoing pressure to ensure the survival of their schools (Kinkley & Yun, 2019) in the face of marketization of education, declining populations, and financial uncertainty. Principals’ school operation challenges and job stresses are increasing, resulting in low job satisfaction and high levels of job stress that increase their desire to retire (Reid & Creed, 2023). As principals’ occupational burnout and turnover is a current concern (Reid, 2021) and school improvement is a long and complex process (Katsigianni & Ifanti, 2021), the workplace resilience needed for principals to face difficulties and setbacks encountered in school operations has become relatively significant (Allison, 2012; Ledesma, 2014; Maulding et al., 2012; Turk, 2018).

In recent years in Taiwan, principals’ school operations have been challenged by the low birth rate, changes in the social environment, growing awareness of power among teachers, parents, and students, and significant policy changes. The issues facing senior high school principals include the pressure on school operations brought about by the marketization of education and student enrollment issues. In 2021, the birth rate per woman in Taiwan declined to 1.08, the lowest in the world (China Central News Agency, 2022). The low birth rate, as a result, led to a sharp decline in student enrollment; in the past 2 years, 125 senior high schools and vocational high schools had a new student enrollment rate of less than 60% (C. C. Lin, 2021), making it difficult for schools to operate. The changes in the power structure of schools have caused a mismatch between authority and responsibility, making school administrative operations difficult. Moreover, even private school principals face pressure from their board of directors (Tseng, 2005). Many emerging challenges and setbacks in school operations will be solved depending on the high levels of workplace resilience equipped by principals. This will motivate teachers to develop school characteristics, create good educational quality, and lead school teams to actively face new situations in school operations (Y. C. Cheng, 2023).

Past research on the difficulties principals encounter in school operations has mostly explored external policy improvements and related support systems (D. R. Chang, 2016; H. H. Cheng, 2009; J. Y. Lin & Yang, 2015) but rarely on the factors related to the psychological aspects of principals. Research indicates that resilience is highly correlated with leadership success factors (Maulding et al., 2012), and strong leaders know the importance of maintaining resilience (Allison, 2012). Therefore, understanding the factors that drive resilience is essential for leaders to address challenges. Furthermore, research suggests that positive emotions have theoretically helped individuals build psychological and social resources, and drive resilience and well-being (Caleon et al., 2019). Positive psychology interventions, such as “savoring beliefs,” can be integrated into a principal’s hectic school operations to reduce occupational burnout and enhance well-being (Su-Keene & DeMatthews, 2022). In addition, perceived workplace hope is one of the forms of positive psychological capital (Luthans & Youssef, 2004), which increases principals’ psychological well-being and reduces occupational burnout (Malekitabar et al., 2017). Also, it helps leaders and organizational members to pursue and achieve organizational goals jointly (Helland & Winston, 2005), regulates the relationship between leaders and organizational members (Lu & Cheng, 2021), and moderates the relationship between perceived social support and subjective well-being (Huang & Zhang, 2022).

Exploring how to inspire and sustain workplace resilience for school leaders is essential. This study was conducted to fill the gap in the literature on principals’ workplace resilience and to explore the relationship among the psychological characteristics of workplace savoring beliefs, perceived workplace hope, and workplace resilience from a positive psychology perspective. Specifically, the objectives of this study include (1) investigating the relationship among principals’ savoring beliefs, principals’ perceived workplace hope, and principals’ workplace resilience and (2) investigating the effect of perceived workplace hope as a mediation variable between savoring beliefs and workplace resilience among high school principals.

Theoretical Background and Hypotheses

Figure 1 shows the research model of this study. The theoretical background and hypothesis are described as follows:

Figure 1.

Research model of the study.

Resilience is the ability to recover from adversity, setbacks, and misfortunes (Ledesma, 2014). According to the resilience theory (Patterson & Kelleher, 2005), resilience comprises a series of psychological activities: interpreting adversity, resilience capacity, and action to achieve resilience. The critical components of resilience capacity, personal energy, include emotional mastery, mental focus, and spiritual wellspring. Patterson and Kelleher further pointed out that positive emotions will increase energy and enthusiasm for meeting challenges. Emotional mastery refers to your ability to manage your emotions skillfully to maximize positive emotions, produce positive energy and full engagement in work, and minimize negative emotions.

Theoretical and empirical studies have found positive emotions can enhance resilience (Cohn et al., 2009; Fredrickson, 2001; Patterson & Kelleher, 2005). Accordingly, this study adopts the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotion (BABTOPE) (Fredrickson, 2001) for model construction. Evidence from BABTOPE shows that positive emotions help individuals respond creatively, resiliently, and recover when faced with challenges (Fredrickson, 2001, 2002). There are four ways to expand positive emotions: (1) broaden the possibility of thinking and action; (2) offset (undo) negative emotions; (3) improve upward spirals; (4) build lasting resources to enhance well-being (Fredrickson, 2013). BABTOPE has two crucial vital points of view. One is that positive emotions can broaden the individual’s momentary “thought-action pool.” For example, happiness stimulates the impulse to play, interest stimulates the impulse to explore, satisfaction stimulates the urge to savor and integrate, and love motivates the cycle of each. A second point of view concerns the results of these mind-broadenings, which generate positive emotions that facilitate the discovery of novel and creative ideas, actions, and social connections, which build the individual’s resources, such as physical and intellectual resources, to social and psychological resources.

Seligman (2002a) pointed out that savoring is one of the effective strategies to enhance positive emotions. Many empirical studies have also confirmed that savoring can enhance positive emotions (Doorley & Kashdan, 2021; Salces-Cubero et al., 2019). Savoring is the ability to focus on positive experiences and change one’s thoughts and behaviors to enhance and prolong positive emotions (Bryant, 2021; Bryant & Veroff, 2007). However, although savoring has been proven to enhance resilience, its explanatory power is still insufficient (S. S. Lee et al., 2024; Salces-Cubero et al., 2019; B. W.Smith et al., 2008; J. L. Smith & Hollinger-Smith, 2015).

A study on the impact of personality strengths on resilience shows that hope is significant in predicting resilience, especially when dealing with adversity and uncertainty (Goodman et al., 2017). Snyder et al. (1991) defined hope as a positive motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed energy) and (b) pathways (planning to meet goals) (p. 287). In other words, hope is a perceived ability to find pathways to desired goals and motivate oneself to use those pathways through agency thinking (Snyder, 2002). Researchers believe a hopeful person does four things: positively explain the failure, identify goals, identify resources for goal attainment, and address barriers to goal attainment (Snyder, 1995; Snyder et al., 1991). Each of these strategies may promote resilience. Interpreting failure positively allows a hopeful person to use external attributions to explain and persevere through setbacks. The hopeful person might attribute this failure to poor strategy rather than a lack of ability. In the face of setbacks, hopeful people use goal-oriented flexibility to discover and implement new strategies to achieve success (Goodman et al., 2017).

The Relationship Between Principals’ Workplace Savoring Beliefs and Workplace Resilience

Savoring beliefs is the ability of an individual to actively enhance positive emotions through the immersion, appreciation, and enjoyment of positive experiences. Positive energy will be generated when such positive emotions are continuously elicited and stimulated (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Theoretical and empirical studies have found that positive emotions help enhance resilience (Cohn et al., 2009; Fredrickson, 2001; Hurley & Kwon, 2013; McMakin et al., 2011; Patterson & Kelleher, 2005; Salces-Cubero et al., 2019; J. L. Smith & Hanni, 2019). Savoring can extend happiness beyond the event rather than simply experiencing joy from daily uplifts (Sytine et al., 2019). Savoring can enhance positive emotions and improve resilience to stressful life events (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2007), and many studies have confirmed that savoring can promote and strengthen resilience (S. S. Lee et al., 2024; Salces-Cubero et al., 2019; B. W. Smith et al., 2008; J. L. Smith & Hollinger-Smith, 2015).

In summary, because the positive emotions generated by savoring can broaden personal thinking, stimulate new and creative thoughts and actions, help to explain adversity, enhance resilience, and take action to achieve resilience, principals apply savoring beliefs in school affairs to adapt and recover more quickly when faced with setbacks. Therefore, this study concludes that:

Hypothesis 1 (H1): Workplace savoring beliefs positively impact workplace resilience among senior high school principals.

Relationship Between Principals’ Workplace Savoring Beliefs and Perceived Workplace Hope

Savoring is significantly related to hope (Bryant, 2003; Carver et al., 2021; Sytine et al., 2019). Savoring can occur through reminiscence, looking back on past events with fondness in the present, or looking forward to the future with anticipation (Bryant, 2003). Perceived hope is that in goal pursuit, the individual will use practical action strategies and have strong willpower to move toward the goal (Snyder, 1995). McCullough (2002) stated that hopeful people typically have a habit of savoring and can appreciate the meaning of past events and the pursuit of goals in their life circumstances. Rego et al. (2014) demonstrated that employees’ positive emotions are positively correlated with their perceived hope. C. W. Chen and Chi (2017) found that positive emotions such as interest, focus, and optimism have a direct effect and predictive power on perceived hope.

In summary, savoring beliefs can enhance an individual’s positive emotions through the appreciation and experience of positive events, which is conducive to increasing the individual’s perceived hope. Therefore, this study concludes that:

Hypothesis 2 (H2): Workplace savoring beliefs positively impact perceived workplace hope among senior high school principals.

The Relationship Between Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope and Workplace Resilience

Perceived hope is demonstrated when people persist in their efforts after encountering failures or setbacks (Snyder et al., 1983). To date, the most consistent finding in research on hope is that people with higher levels of hope expect positive outcomes, believe in their ability to achieve that goal, and are more likely to experience growth in response to stress (Affleck & Tennen, 1996; Davis et al., 1998; Ledesma, 2014; Liu et al., 2017; Park et al., 1996; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996).

Many theoretical and empirical studies have shown that hope has predictive power for resilience (Colla et al., 2022; Goodman et al., 2017; Ledesma, 2014). Snyder et al. (2004) suggested that enhancing perceived hope can help individuals adapt to and cope with the negative emotions that arise from adversity. People with high perceived hope have a better psychological adjustment (Kwon, 2002). Furthermore, high levels of perceived hope are associated with better outcomes in physical health, psychological adjustment, and psychotherapy (Snyder, 2002). That is to say, these people are less likely to be affected by negative emotions when faced with complex challenges (Snyder et al., 2006). Thus, perceived hope is essential to resilience (Rivera et al., 2021).

In summary, people with high levels of perceived hope can be specific and positive in pursuing and setting goals. Additionally, they can flexibly adopt various methods to pursue dreams, and have strong confidence and willpower in achieving them. The self-affirmation and self-efficacy that come from achieving goals are more effective in enabling individuals to recover and adapt quickly when faced with setbacks and challenges, and to immerse themselves in positive emotions. Therefore, this study concludes that:

Hypothesis 3 (H3): The perceived workplace hope positively impacts workplace resilience among senior high school principals.

The Relationship Among Principals’ Workplace Savoring Beliefs, Perceived Workplace Hope, and Workplace Resilience

Many findings indirectly confirm or imply that perceived hope may mediate the relationship between savoring and resilience. Rego et al. (2014) demonstrated that employees’ perceived hope partially mediates the relationship between positive affect and creativity. This result echoes BABTOPE that positive emotions will help people to respond creatively, elastically, and rebound (Fredrickson, 2001, 2002). Reappraisal of adverse events buffers the association between negative event intensity and decreased daily gratitude, and enjoying positive events buffers the association between negative event intensity and increases in anger, annoyance, and average negative affect (Doorley & Kashdan, 2021). Positive event explanations can enhance resilience through the effect of hope (Wu et al., 2014). The sense of hope plays a significant mediating role in the cognitive evaluation process of individual emotions. Individuals’ positive traits, such as self-esteem and life goals, can be catalyzed by hope, allowing them to think positively, maintain good interpersonal interactions, and seek help promptly to reduce and suppress negative emotions (Lai et al., 2011). Sytine (2019) noted that when more job resources are available, enjoying positive experiences may reduce burnout symptoms, thereby benefiting employees’ mental health.

In summary, it is clear that savoring beliefs positively impacts perceived hope and resilience and can enhance positive emotions through immersion in positive events, which helps to increase one’s perceived hope. People with high levels of perceived hope are more effective in improving resilience and immersing themselves in positive emotions. In summarizing the above literature, this study proposes the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 4 (H4): The perceived workplace hope among senior high school principals mediates between workplace savoring beliefs and workplace resilience.

Methodology

The Participants and the Sampling Process

The study population included 513 public and private senior high school principals in Taiwan in 2021. To ensure the sample’s objectivity, fairness, and representativeness, a stratified random sample was conducted based on public and private schools with a sampling rate of 70%. A total of 359 principals were randomly selected to complete the paper-based questionnaire. An informed consent form was attached to each paper-based questionnaire sent to each principal, detailing the study’s objectives, how to answer the questionnaire, and a request for principals to complete the questionnaire personally. Each questionnaire came with an envelope for principals to mail the consent form and questionnaire to us individually upon completion. After 3 months, in addition to the 15 invalid questionnaires returned due to the incomplete filling in of forms and missing values, there were 302 valid questionnaires returned, with a reasonable return rate of 84.12%. Table 1 shows the demographic information of the background variables of the study sample, of which 66 were female, and 236 were male, with an average age of 55.6 years. Regarding the highest education level, principals with a master’s degree accounted for the most significant proportion at 62.6%.

Table 1.

Demographic Information of the Sample (N = 302).

Demographics	N	Percentage
Gender
Female	66	21.9
Male	236	78.1
Degree
B.S.	25	8.3
M.S.	189	62.6
Ph.D.	88	29.1

Measures

Descriptions for Measures

Principals’ Workplace Savoring Beliefs Scale This study developed the Principals’ Workspace Savoring Beliefs Scale concerning the savoring beliefs-related scales established by Bryant (2003), J. Chen and Zhou (2017), Hurley and Kwon (2013), J. L. Smith and Bryant (2016), and J. L. Smith and Hollinger-Smith (2015). The scale contains three factors: savoring through anticipation, savoring the moment, and savoring through reminiscence. The answer scoring is based on a 6-point Likert scale (strongly disagree = 1, strongly agree = 6), with higher scores indicating a higher savoring beliefs of respondents.

Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope Scale This study developed the Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope Scale concerning the perceived hope-related scales established by Adams et al. (2010), Jarden and Jarden (2016), and Motanpotra and Biswas (2018). The scale contains three factors: goals, agency thoughts, and pathways thoughts. The answer scoring is based on a 6-point Likert scale (strongly disagree = 1, strongly agree = 6), with higher scores indicating a higher perceived workplace hope of respondents.

Principals’ Workplace Resilience Scale This study developed the Principals’ Workplace Resilience Scale concerning the resilience-related scales established by Manzano García and Ayala Calvo (2013), Tsai (2018), and Wang et al. (2017). The scale contains four factors: overcoming difficulties, resource support, vitality restoration, and positivity and optimism. The answer scoring is based on a 6-point Likert scale (strongly disagree = 1, strongly agree = 6), with higher scores indicating a higher workplace resilience of respondents.

Questionnaire Item Development

After carefully reviewing and summarizing the literature about research variables, the first draft of the three scales was developed, oriented toward principals’ school operations, with each question beginning with the phrase “In school operations.” Upon the completion of the first draft of these scales, 12 experts and scholars were invited to review the questionnaire to construct expert validity, including three university professors, three senior high school principals with a doctoral or master’s degree, three junior high school principals, and three elementary school principals. Based on their generous and vital suggestions for revision, we carefully revised some of the questions considered unclear, semantically complex, and with similar textual content to ensure each question’s representativeness, accuracy, and readability.

Questionnaire Reliability Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis for Measures

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with a sample of 140 principals to remove inappropriate questions and assess the scales’ reliability and validity. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed using principal components analysis (PCA) to estimate factor loading. At the same time, the Varimax method was adopted to conduct a direct oblimin to remove items with a factor loading below 0.400 (Hair et al., 1998).

Principals’ Workspace Savoring Beliefs Scale

The EFA results of the Principals’ Workspace Savoring Beliefs Scale are shown in Table 2. The three factors of savoring through reminiscence, savoring through anticipation, and savoring the moment were analyzed with eigenvalues of 3.480, 3.341, and 2.705. The cumulative variance explained was 63.505%, and Cronbach’s α was .884, indicating that the scale has good construct validity and internal consistency.

Table 2.

Exploratory Factor Analysis Results of Principals’ Workspace Savoring Beliefs Scale.

Items	Factor 1 savoring through reminiscence	Factor 2 savoring through anticipation	Factor 3 savoring the moment
After having a good time, I do not like to recall it. (r)	0.833
It is a waste of time to recall happy times of the past. (r)	0.817
It is better not to recall happy times in the past. (r)	0.784
Remembering happy times of the past makes me feel happy.	0.677
I like remembering the happy times I have experienced to recall them later.	0.621
I like to recall the good times of the past.	0.591
I feel joy when I think something good is about to happen.		0.746
I do not always expect good things to happen soon. (r)		0.740
Expecting that something good is about to happen is a waste of time. (r)		0.702
I feel happy when I think of a good time that is about to happen.		0.690
Imagining that something good is about to happen will bring me joy.		0.674
Expecting that something good is about to happen will bring me happiness.		0.658
I can maintain enjoyment by thinking or doing something when good things happen.			0.811
I can experience the good things that happen to me entirely.			0.797
I know how to create good moments.			0.725
Eigenvalue	3.480	3.341	2.705
Variance explained	23.200%	22.271%	18.034%
Total variance explained	23.200%	45.471%	63.505%
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin, KMO	0.869
Bartlett’s test of sphericity	χ² = 1,010.958***

Note. (r) = reverse coded items.

***

p < .001.

Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope Scale

The EFA results of the Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope Scale are shown in Table 3. The three factors of agency thoughts, pathways thoughts, and goals were analyzed with eigenvalues of 3.645, 3.455, and 2.714. The cumulative variance explained was 65.429%, and Cronbach’s α was .894, indicating that the scale has good construct validity and internal consistency.

Table 3.

Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope Scale Exploratory Factor Analysis Results.

Items	Factor 1 agency thoughts	Factor 2 pathways thoughts	Factor 3 goals
My goal is to further my studies and improve the professional image of a principal.	0.812
I will require myself to further my studies or continue to learn to enhance the professional knowledge of a principal.	0.792
When I encounter setbacks at work, I will face them head-on and not retreat.	0.673
I will seek assistance when I encounter obstacles in handling school affairs.	0.619
If I work hard, I will eventually achieve my work goals.	0.612
I will wait patiently when I encounter a bottleneck and believe that I will get better.	0.576
My experience will help me to solve problems in handling school affairs.		0.831
Even if the problem is complicated, I will try to find a solution.		0.810
In the face of difficulties, I always try to find a solution and do not give up easily.		0.751
There are many ways to deal with the problems I encounter at work.		0.712
When I encounter a difficulty at work, I will solve it using different strategies.		0.626
I often feel powerless in my current job. (r)			0.818
The experience of failing to deal with school affairs has always been on my mind. (r)			0.785
I feel bored by the complexity of principals’ duties. (r)			0.677
I can achieve the educational goals I have set for myself in school operations.			0.644
Eigenvalue	3.645	3.455	2.714
Variance explained	24.297%	23.036%	18.096%
Total variance explained	24.297%	47.333%	65.429%
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin, KMO	0.879
Bartlett’s test of sphericity	χ² = 1,180.942***

Note. (r) = reverse coded items.

***

p < .001.

Principals’ Workplace Resilience Scale

The EFA results of the Principals’ Workplace Resilience Scale are shown in Table 4. The four factors of overcoming difficulties, resource support, restoration of vitality, and positivity and optimism were analyzed with eigenvalues of 4.433, 2.802, 2.008, and 1.763. The cumulative variance explained was 68.792%, and Cronbach’s α was .874, indicating that the scale has good construct validity and internal consistency.

Table 4.

Principals’ Workplace Resilience Scale Exploratory factor analysis results.

Items	Factor 1 overcoming difficulties	Factor 2 resource support	Factor 3 vitality restoration	Factor 4 positivity and optimism
I will not back down easily when I encounter difficulties handling school affairs.	0.837
I will not back down easily, even if I experience a serious setback at work.	0.815
I am energetic even when I encounter difficulties in handling school affairs.	0.801
I become even stronger when faced with overwhelming pressure in handling school affairs.	0.780
I will try various methods to solve the problems in school operations.	0.762
I see the difficulties at work as training.	0.748
I seek help from experienced principals or a good friend when encountering problems in school operations.		0.883
I have someone to consult with to help me solve problems in handling school affairs.		0.792
I always have someone to support me in adversity, so I do not feel isolated.		0.664
Some senior faculty are willing to help me when I am facing trouble.		0.662
I always feel nervous and worried when it comes to the handling of school affairs. (r)			0.854
It takes me a long time to recover from a setback. (r)			0.696
I am an optimistic person.			0.554
Often, no one is willing to lend a helping hand when I experience a setback. (r)				0.711
I feel that life is full of setbacks, and I feel hopeless. (r)				0.678
I will give my best in everything I do.				0.676
eigenvalue	4.433	2.802	2.008	1.763
variance explained	27.709%	17.514%	12.547%	11.021%
total variance explained	27.709%	45.224%	57.771%	68.792%
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin, KMO	0.823
Bartlett’s test of sphericity	χ² = 1,225.357***

Note. (r) = reverse coded items.

***

p < .001

Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Measures

The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the three scales was conducted with a sample of 302 principals, and the results are shown in Table 5. Therefore, three scales had good construct validity (Bentler & Bonett, 1980; Bollen, 1989; I. H. Chang, 2011; Cziraky, 2004; Hair et al., 1998, 2010; Hu & Bentler, 1999; Kline, 2016; McDonald & Ho, 2002).

Table 5.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Model Fit Results for Measures.

Statistical inspection	Principals’ workspace savoring beliefs scale	Principals’ perceived workplace hope scale	Principals’ workplace resilience scale	Criterion
Absolute fit measures
χ²/df	1.859	2.552	2.478	$≦$ 5
GFI	0.937	0.918	0.912	$≧$ 0.90
AGFI	0.907	0.874	0.873	$≧$ 0.90
RMR	0.057	0.027	0.049	$≦$ 0.08
SRMR	0.057	0.050	0.061	$≦$ 0.08
RMSEA	0.053	0.072	0.070	$≦$ 0.08
Relative fit measures
NFI	0.925	0.918	0.906	$≧$ 0.90
RFI	0.903	0.890	0.879	$≧$ 0.90
IFI	0.964	0.949	0.941	$≧$ 0.90
NNFI	0.953	0.930	0.924	$≧$ 0.90
CFI	0.963	0.948	0.941	$≧$ 0.90
Parsimonious fit measures
PNFI	0.722	0.743	0.709	$≧$ 0.50
PGFI	0.752	0.682	0.737	$≧$ 0.50

Results

ANOVA Analysis of Background Variables in the Research Variables

The results of the variance analysis of background variables are shown in Tables 6 and 7. Regarding gender, the results of the independent sample t-test showed no significant difference between the perceptions of female and male principals on any factors of the three scales. As for education level, the results of the one-way ANOVA analysis showed that the overall difference in perceived workplace hope and workplace resilience reached a significant level. Additionally, the Scheffé posthoc tests showed that principals holding a master’s or doctoral degree had higher levels of the variables in perceived workplace hope and workplace resilience than those with a bachelor’s degree.

Table 6.

T-Test for Gender of Studied Variables.

Scale	Gender	N	Mean	S.D.	t
Principals’ workspace savoring beliefs scale	Female	66	4.78	0.56	1.096
Principals’ workspace savoring beliefs scale	Male	236	4.70	0.54	1.096
Principals’ perceived workplace hope scale	Female	66	5.04	0.44	0.110
Principals’ perceived workplace hope scale	Male	236	5.03	0.47	0.110
Principals’ workplace resilience scale	Female	66	4.93	0.50	0.760
Principals’ workplace resilience scale	Male	236	4.88	0.47	0.760

***

p < .001.

Table 7.

One-Way ANOVA for the Degree of Principals.

Scale	Degree	N	Mean	S.D.	F	Scheffé posthoc tests
Principals’ workspace savoring beliefs Scale	B.S.	25	4.49	0.57	2.770*
	M.S.	189	4.76	0.53
	Ph.D.	88	4.70	0.56
Principals’ perceived workplace hope scale	B.S.	25	4.71	0.45	6.990*	B.S., M.S. > Ph.D.
	M.S.	189	5.05	0.45
	Ph.D.	88	5.08	0.47
Principals’ workplace resilience scale	B.S.	25	4.61	0.53	5.101*	B.S., M.S. > Ph.D.
	M.S.	189	4.92	0.46
	Ph.D.	88	4.90	0.48

p < .05.

Testing the Extent of the Common Method Variance (CMV)

A Harman’s one-factor test was adopted to examine the Common Method Variance (CMV) extent to determine whether this study had common method variance. The results of exploratory factor analysis with an unrotated factor solution showed that nine factors with eigenvalues greater than one were extracted from all questions in the three scales, with the most significant variance explained being 31.617%. According to the existing literature, common method variance did not affect the results of this study (Podsakoff et al., 2012).

Means and Correlation

Table 8 shows that the three scales, Principals’ Workspace Savoring Beliefs Scale, Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope Scale, and Principals’ Workplace Resilience Scale, were highly correlated and reached a significant level.

Table 8.

Mean, Standard Deviation, and Correlation Coefficients of the Research Variables.

Scale	Mean	SD	(1)	(2)	(3)
(1) Principals’ workplace savoring beliefs scale	4.72	0.544	1
(2) Principals’ perceived workplace hope scale	5.03	0.467	0.504***	1
(3) Principals’ workplace resilience scale	4.89	0.479	0.576***	1.809***	1

***

p < .001.

Mediation Effect Path Analysis

In this study, SPSS PROCESS Macro Model 4 (Hayes, 2013) was used to conduct a mediation effect path analysis, which is shown in Figure 2 and Table 9. In Model 1, workplace savoring beliefs significantly predicted workplace resilience with a B value of 0.507, a β value of .576, and a t value of 12.195 (p < .001). In Model 3, with the intervention of perceived workplace hope, the B value decreased to 0.198, the β value decreased to .225, and the t value decreased to 6.061 (p < .001), but workplace savoring beliefs still significantly predicted workplace resilience. Further analysis revealed that perceived workplace hope accounted for 60.98% of the mediation effect for workplace savoring beliefs in predicting workplace resilience, with a Z value of 8.876 (p < .05). This result shows that perceived workplace hope has a partial mediation effect between workplace savoring beliefs and workplace resilience.

Figure 2.

Mediation model diagram.

Table 9.

Mediation Model Analysis.

Predictor	Principals’ workplace resilience (Y)								Principals’ perceived workplace hope (M)
	Model 1				Model 3				Model 2
	B	β	t value	p	B	β	t value	p	B	β	t value	p
Constant	2.502		12.684	.000	0.368		2.095	.037	2.991		14.711	.000
Principals’ workplace savoring beliefs (X)	0.507	.576	12.195	.000	0.198	.225	6.061	.000	0.433	.504	10.105	.000
Principals’ perceived workplace hope (M)					0.714	.696	18.765	.000
Quantification of mediation effects					c = 0.507c = 0.198c − c’ = 0.309				a = 0.433b = 0.714a × b = 0.309
Intensity of mediation effects (%)					60.98
Mediation effect testSobel test (Z)					8.876 (p < .05)

Discussion

The correlation analysis showed that principals’ workplace savoring beliefs were significantly correlated with workplace resilience, with a correlation value of .576. The simple regression analysis showed a standardized regression coefficient β value of .576 and a t value of 12.195 (p < .001), which validated the research hypothesis 1 (H1) that workplace savoring beliefs have a positive impact on workplace resilience among principals. Therefore, the findings of this study echo previous related studies (Alim et al., 2012; W. J. Chang & Chen, 2019; Cohn et al., 2009; Fredrickson, 2001; S. S. Lee et al., 2024; B. W. Smith et al., 2008; J. L. Smith & Hollinger-Smith, 2015; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2007).

The correlation analysis showed that principals’ workplace savoring beliefs were significantly correlated with perceived workplace hope, with a correlation value of .504. The simple regression analysis showed a standardized regression coefficient β value of .504 and a t value of 10.105 (p < .001), which validated the research hypothesis 2 (H2) that workplace savoring beliefs have a positive impact on perceived workplace hope among principals. Therefore, the findings of this study echo previous related studies (Bryant, 2003; C. W. Chen & Chi, 2017; McCullough, 2002; Rego et al., 2014; Seligman, 2002b).

The correlation analysis showed that perceived workplace hope was significantly correlated with workplace resilience, with a correlation value of .809. The simple regression analysis showed a standardized regression coefficient β value of .809 and a t value of 23.879 (p < .001), which validated the research hypothesis 3 (H3) that perceived workplace hope has a positive impact on workplace resilience among principals. Therefore, the findings of this study echo previous related studies (Kuan, 2012; Lai et al., 2011; H. M. Lee & Chen, 2008; Rivera et al., 2021; Snyder et al., 2006).

Regarding mediation effect analysis, with the intervention of perceived workplace hope, the B and β values of workplace savoring beliefs on workplace resilience decreased but still had a significant predictive power of .001. Perceived workplace hope accounted for 60.98% of the mediation effect for workplace savoring beliefs in predicting workplace resilience, with a Z value of 8.876 and a significant mediation effect of .05. The results validated research hypothesis 4 (H4) that principals’ perceived workplace hope has a mediation effect between workplace savoring beliefs and workplace resilience, clearly clarifying the relationship among the three and further identifying the factors that affect principals’ workplace resilience.

Implications

This study has both theoretical and practical implications. Regarding theoretical implications, we first clarified the mediation role of principals’ perceived workplace hope in workplace savoring beliefs on workplace resilience by deriving a mediation model and empirical studies. This critical finding provides empirical evidence to understand the factors and pathways associated with principals’ workplace resilience. Moreover, this finding has important implications for assisting principals in enhancing workplace resilience when facing school operations challenges. We recommend that educational authorities and school leaders adopt positive psychology strategies to improve the psychological capabilities of leaders, such as positive psychology interventions (PPIs) (Su-Keene & DeMatthews, 2022). In addition, psychological capital can also be adopted to increase principals’ psychological well-being and reduce occupational burnout (Malekitabar et al., 2017), which in turn enhances their workplace resilience.

Concerning practical implications, this study revealed that principals with good workplace savoring beliefs could enhance their resilience when encountering setbacks in school operations through the mediation effect of perceived workplace hope. It is suggested that principals develop workplace savoring beliefs, set clear and feasible goals, employ multiple approaches, and have a strong ambition for achieving their goals to savor positive experiences and thereby further elicit positive emotions. In doing so, principals will be equipped with more positive energy to adapt to pressure and challenges and to recover from setbacks.

The study also showed that principals possessing a master’s or doctoral degree have higher levels of perceived workplace hope and workplace resilience than those only possessing a bachelor’s degree. We believe that measures for principals to further their studies by pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree can be established to provide them with systematic professional growth in education and create channels for experience exchange and resource sharing.

Finally, we suggest that educational authorities establish a mentor-apprentice model. By participating in a principals’ reading club or small discussion groups, mentors and principals can share their successful experiences in school operations, which will provide diversified and flexible methods and resources to support them. In addition, this will help principals improve the achievement rate of school operation goals, create a positive cycle, and gain a good level of perceived workplace hope and resilience promptly. These will help set goals and maintain a sense of direction for their schools, positively impacting school members’ willingness to follow their principals’ lead, even in a challenging environment (Jacobson et al., 2005).

Limitations and Future Recommendations

The study process was prudently conducted but still demonstrated the following limitations. First, about background variables, the differences in this study in perceived workplace hope and workplace resilience were higher among principals with a master’s or doctoral degree than those with a bachelor’s degree, and it is suggested that the reasons for these differences could be further investigated in subsequent studies. Second, regarding research variables, this study focused on savoring beliefs, perceived hope, and resilience. At the same time, positive psychology includes many other variables, such as mindfulness, flow, and flourishing, in addition to the abovementioned variables. It is suggested that subsequent studies can be conducted based on other positive psychology variables or psychological theories. Third, as for the target population, this study was conducted on principals of senior high schools; therefore, it is suggested that subsequent studies may expand the target population to include principals of elementary schools, junior high schools, and even universities to compare further the differences in research variables among principals at different education stages and to establish a more complete theoretical model. Fourth, in terms of data processing, SPSS PROCESS Model 4 was used to examine the effectiveness of this study. It is suggested that subsequent studies may include other related variables to expand the research model and adopt appropriate statistical analysis methods to derive the structural model and the mutual influence relationship among the variables.

Conclusions

This study investigated the relationship among Taiwan senior high school principals’ workplace savoring beliefs, perceived workplace hope, and workplace resilience. Further, it determined the positive impact of workplace savoring beliefs on workplace resilience. The results of this study showed that perceived workplace hope mediated the relationship between workplace savoring beliefs and workplace resilience, which provided a helpful insight into the relationship between principals’ workplace savoring beliefs and workplace resilience. Additionally, the finding has theoretical and practical implications for principals to enhance workplace resilience by cultivating workplace savoring beliefs and enhancing workplace resilience through the indirect effect of increasing perceived workplace hope.

Footnotes

The authors wish to thank an anonymous referee’s valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper and the professional English-language editing service,QBook,for the editorial assistance.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Science and Technology Council of the Republic of China: [Grants MOST 109-2511-H-018 -015 -MY3,and NSTC 112-2410-H-018-027-MY3].

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of research ethics.

ORCID iD

Shu-Hsuan Chang

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

References

Adams

V. H.

III Snyder

C. R.

Rand

K. L.

O’Donnell

E. A.

Sigmon

D. R.

Pulvers

K. M.

(2010). Hope in the workplace. In handbook of workplace spirituality and organizational performance (pp. 257–268). Routledge.

Affleck

Tennen

(1996). Construing benefits from adversity: Adaptotional significance and dispositional underpinnings. Journal of Personality, 64(4), 899–922.

Alim

T. N.

Lawson

W. B.

Feder

Iacoviello

B. M.

Saxena

Bailey

C. R.

Greene

A. M.

Neumeister

(2012). Resilience to meet the challenge of addiction: Psychobiology and clinical considerations. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 34(4), 506.

Allison

(2012). The resilient leader. Educational Leadership, 69(4), 79–82.

Bentler

P. M.

Bonett

D. G.

(1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88(3), 588–606. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.88.3.588

Bollen

K. A.

(1989). Structural equations with latent variables (Vol. 210). Wiley.

Bryant

F. B.

(2003). Savoring Beliefs Inventory (SBI): A scale for measuring beliefs about savoring. Journal of Mental Health, 12(2), 175–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/0963823031000103489

Bryant

F. B.

(2021). Current progress and future directions for theory and research on savoring. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 771698. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.771698

Bryant

F. B.

Veroff

(2007). Savoring: A new model of positive experience. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

10.

Bunnell

(2012). Marketing the school ‘revisited’: The complexity of leadership dilemmas. In Oplatka

Hemsley-Brown

(Eds.), The management and leadership of educational marketing: Research, practice and applications (Vol. 15, pp. 87–106). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

11.

Caleon

I. S.

Ilham

N. Q. B.

Ong

C. L.

Tan

J. P. L.

(2019). Cascading effects of gratitude: A sequential mediation analysis of gratitude, interpersonal relationships, school resilience and school well-being. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 28(4), 303–312. https://doi.org/10.1007/S40299-019-00440-W

12.

Carver

Ismail

Reed

Hayes

Alsaif

Villanueva

Sass

(2021). High levels of anxiety and psychological well-being in college students: A dual factor model of mental health approach. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 5(1), 32–41.

13.

Chang

D. R.

(2016). Reasons and corresponding strategies for principals’ retirement boom from the motivational theory perspective. Taiwan Education, 699, 42–45.

14.

Chang

I. H.

(2011). A study of the relationships among distributed leadership, teacher academic optimism and student achievement in Taiwanese elementary schools. School Leadership & Management, 31(5), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2011.614945

15.

Chang

W. J.

Chen

K. J.

(2019). A study of positive thinking mobile learning system to support college students’ learning disturbances and resilience. International Journal on Digital Learning Technology, 11(3), 81–113.

16.

Chen

C. W.

Chi

L. K.

(2017). The prediction of positive emotion and sports hope to precompetitive state anxiety and self-handicapping among collegiate tennis players. Physical Education Journal, 50(2), 193–206.

17.

Chen

Zhou

(2017). Savoring as a moderator between positive life events and hopelessness depression. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 45(8), 1337–1344. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.6235

18.

Cheng

H. H.

(2009). Administrative dilemmas of junior high school principals: Sources, disturbance and causes. Journal of Research in Education Sciences, 54(3), 175–210.

19.

Cheng

Y. C.

(2023). The cornerstone of visionary leadership: Construction and verification of a principals’ school management imaginative capability scale (PSMICS). The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 32(6), 729–742.

20.

China Central News Agency. (2022). Average daily decrease of 509 people in 2021. https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202201105009.aspx

21.

Cohn

M. A.

Fredrickson

B. L.

Brown

S. L.

Mikels

J. A.

Conway

A. M.

(2009). Happiness unpacked: Positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience. Emotions, 9, 361–368. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015952

22.

Colla

Williams

Oades

L. G.

Camacho-Morles

(2022). “A new hope” for positive psychology: A dynamic systems reconceptualization of hope theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 809053.

23.

Cranston

N. C.

(2002). School-based management, leaders and leadership: Change and challenges for principals. International Studies in Educational Administration, 30(1), 2.

24.

Cziraky

(2004). LISREL 8.54: A program for structural equation modelling with latent variables. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 19(1), 135–141. https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.767

25.

Davis

C. G.

Nolen-Hoeksema

Larson

(1998). Making sense of loss and benefiting from the experience: Two constructs of meaning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(2), 561.

26.

Doorley

J. D.

Kashdan

T. B.

(2021). Positive and negative emotion regulation in college athletes: A preliminary exploration of daily savoring, acceptance, and cognitive reappraisal. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 45, 598–613.

27.

Fredrickson

B. L.

(2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.56.3.218

28.

Fredrickson

B. L.

(2002). Positive emotions. In Snyder

C. R.

Lopes

S. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 120–134). Oxford University Press.

29.

Fredrickson

B. L.

(2013). Positive emotions broaden and build. In Plant

E. A.

Devine

P. G.

(Eds.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 47, pp. 1–53). Academic Press.

30.

Goodman

F. R.

Disabato

D. J.

Kashdan

T. B.

Machell

K. A.

(2017). Personality strengths as resilience: A one-year multiwave study. Journal of Personality, 85(3), 423–434.

31.

Hair

J. F.

Anderson

R. E.

Tatham

R. L.

Black

W. C.

(1998). Multivariate data analysis. Prentice Hall.

32.

Hair

J. F.

Black

W. C.

Babin

B. J.

Anderson

R. E.

(2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Prentice-Hall.

33.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. The Guilford Press.

34.

Helland

M. R.

Winston

B. E.

(2005). Towards a deeper understanding of hope and leadership. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 12(2), 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/107179190501200204

35.

L. T.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118

36.

Huang

Zhang

(2022). Perceived social support, psychological capital, and subjective well-being among college students in the context of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 31(5), 563–574. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00608-3

37.

Hurley

D. B.

Kwon

(2013). Savoring helps most when you have little: Interaction between savoring the moment and uplifts on positive affect and satisfaction with life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(4), 1261–1271. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9377-8

38.

Jacobson

S. L.

Johnson

Ylimaki

Giles

(2005). Successful leadership in challenging US schools: Enabling principles, enabling schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 43(6), 607–618. http://doi.org/10.1108/09578230510625700

39.

Jarden

(2016). Positive psychological assessment for the workplace. In Oades

L. G.

Steger

M. F.

Fave

A. D.

Passmore

(Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell handbook of the psychology of positivity and strengths-based approaches at work (pp. 415–437). Wiley.

40.

Katsigianni

E. A.

Ifanti

A. A.

(2021). Investigating the triangle: The school principal’s role, term of office, and school improvement in Greece. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 51(4), 912–931. https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432211009900

41.

Kinkley

I. C.

Yun

J. T.

(2019). Student population change in rural Illinois schools and its implications for school leaders. The Rural Educator, 40(1), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.35608/ruraled.v40i1.532

42.

Kline

R. B.

(2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed.). Guilford Press

43.

Kuan

Y. H.

(2012). Study on factors of career self-efficacy and career barriers of university students: A case study of National Chung Hsing University. The Journal of Educational Science, 11(2), 93–117.

44.

Kwon

(2002). Hope, defense mechanisms, and adjustment: Implications for false hope and defensive hopelessness. Journal of Personality, 70(2), 207–231. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.05003

45.

Lai

Y. C.

Luh

W. M.

Tung

Y. Y.

(2011). The effects of self-esteem, life goals, hope, and campus interpersonal relationships on the depressive mood of college students in Taiwan. Bulletin of Educational Psychology, 42(4), 677–699.

46.

Ledesma

(2014). Conceptual frameworks and research models on resilience in leadership. Sage Open, 4(3), 2158244014545464.

47.

Lee

H. M.

Chen

M. T.

(2008). Potential association among occupational hope beliefs, occupational resilience and organizational virtuous behaviors for the preschool teachers. Contemporary Educational Research Quarterly, 16(4), 155–198.

48.

Lee

S. S.

Lee

S. H.

Choi

(2024). Do art lovers lead happier and even healthier lives? Investigating the psychological and physical benefits of savoring art. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 18(3), 279–286. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000441

49.

Lin

C. C.

(2021, August 16). National audit office encourages the addition of public kindergartens due to the poor enrollment in high schools and vocational high schools. Chinatimes.com. https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20210816000395-260114?chdtv

50.

Lin

J. Y.

Yang

Y. H.

(2015). Study of retirement boom among principals in elementary and junior high schools in Taiwan. Journal of National Taichung University: Education, 29(2), 65–91.

51.

Liu

S. R.

Kia-Keating

Modir

(2017). Hope and adjustment to college in the context of collective trauma. Journal of American College Health, 65(5), 323–330.

52.

H. Y.

Cheng

C. L.

(2021). Peer victimization and negative emotions of junior high school students: Examining the moderating role of hope. Secondary Education, 72(3), 39–57.

53.

Luthans

Youssef

C. M.

(2004). Human, social, and now positive psychological capital management: Investing in people for competitive advantage. Organizational Dynamics, 33(2), 143–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2004.01.003

54.

Malekitabar

Riahi

Malekitabar

A. R.

(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 Behavioral Sciences, 11(1), e4507. https://doi.org/10.5812/ijpbs.4507

55.

Manzano García

Ayala Calvo

J. C

. (2013). Psychometric properties of Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale in a Spanish sample of entrepreneurs. Psicothema. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2012.183.

56.

Maulding

W. S.

Peters

G. B.

Roberts

Leonard

Sparkman

(2012). Emotional intelligence and resilience as predictors of leadership in school administrators. Journal of Leadership Studies, 5(4), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.20240

57.

McCullough

M. E.

(2002). Savoring life, past and present: Explaining what hope and gratitude share in common. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 302–304. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1448873

58.

McDonald

R. P.

M. H. R.

(2002). Principles and practice in reporting structural equation analyses. Psychological Methods, 7(1), 64–82. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.7.1.64

59.

McMakin

D. L.

Siegle

G. J.

Shirk

S. R.

(2011). Positive Affect Stimulation and Sustainment (PASS) module for depressed mood: A preliminary investigation of treatment-related effects. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 35, 217–226.

60.

Motanpotra

K. T.

Biswas

U. N.

(2018). Psychological capital and workplace emotions among Indian nurses. Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(1), 135. https://doi.org/10.15614/ijpp.v9i01.11758

61.

Park

C. L.

Cohen

L. H.

Murch

R. L.

(1996). Assessment and prediction of stress-related growth. Journal of Personality, 64(1), 71–105.

62.

Patterson

J. L.

Kelleher

(2005). Resilient school leaders: Strategies for turning adversity into achievement. ASCD.

63.

Podsakoff

P. M.

MacKenzie

S. B.

Podsakoff

N. P.

(2012). Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 539–569. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100452

64.

Rego

Sousa

Marques

e Cunha

M. P.

(2014). Hope and positive affect mediating the authentic leadership and creativity relationship. Journal of Business Research, 67(2), 200–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.10.003

65.

Reid

D. B.

(2021). US principals’ sensemaking of the future roles and responsibilities of school principals. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 49(2), 251–267. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143219896072

66.

Reid

D. B.

Creed

B. M.

(2023). Visible at night: US school principal nontraditional work-hour activities and job satisfaction. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 51(5), 1123–1140.

67.

Rivera

Shapoval

Medeiros

(2021). The relationship between career adaptability, hope, resilience, and life satisfaction for hospitality students in times of COVID-19. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 29, 100344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2021.100344

68.

Salces-Cubero

I. M.

Ramírez-Fernández

Ortega-Martínez

A. R.

(2019). Strengths in older adults: Differential effect of savoring, gratitude and optimism on well-being. Aging & Mental Health, 23(8), 1017–1024.

69.

Seligman

M. E. P.

(2002a). Positive psychology, positive prevention, and positive therapy. Handbook of Positive Psychology, 2, 3–12.

70.

Seligman

M. E. P.

(2002b). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. Free Press.

71.

Smith

B. W.

Dalen

Wiggins

Tooley

Christopher

Bernard

(2008). The brief resilience scale: Assessing the ability to bounce back. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15(3), 194–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705500802222972

72.

Smith

J. L.

Bryant

F. B.

(2016). The benefits of savoring life: Savoring as a moderator of the relationship between health and life satisfaction in older adults. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 84(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415016669146.

73.

Smith

J. L.

Hanni

A. A.

(2019). Effects of a savoring intervention on resilience and well-being of older adults. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 38(1), 137–152.

74.

Smith

J. L.

Hollinger-Smith

(2015). Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults. Aging & Mental Health, 19(3), 192–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2014.986647

75.

Snyder

C. R.

(1995). Conceptualizing, measuring, and nurturing hope. Journal of Counseling & Development, 73(3), 355–360. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.1995.tb01764.x

76.

Snyder

C. R.

(2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249–275. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1304_01

77.

Snyder

C. R.

Higgins

R. L.

Stucky

R. J.

(1983). Excuses: Masquerades in search of grace (No. 341). Wiley-Interscience.

78.

Snyder

C. R.

Irving

Anderson

J. R.

(1991). Hope and health: Measuring the will and the ways. In Snyder

C. R.

Forsyth

D. R.

(Eds.), Handbook of social and clinical psychology: The health perspective (pp. 285–305). Pergamon.

79.

Snyder

C. R.

Lehman

K. A.

Kluck

Monsson

(2006). Hope for rehabilitation and vice versa. Rehabilitation Psychology, 51(2), 89–112. https://doi.org/10.1037/0090-5550.51.2.89

80.

Snyder

C. R.

Shorey

H. S.

Berg

(2004). Hope: The imperative human motive. In Craighead

W. E.

Nemeroff

C. B.

(Eds.), The Concise Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioral science (pp. 440–441). Wiley.

81.

Su-Keene

DeMatthews

(2022). “Savoring” the joy: Reducing principal burnout and improving well-being through positive psychology interventions. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 95(5), 210–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/00098655.2022.209762

82.

Sytine

A. I.

(2019). The role of savoring positive experiences when faced with challenge and hindrance demands: A longitudinal study [Doctoral dissertation, Clemson University].

83.

Sytine

A. I.

Britt

T. W.

Sawhney

Wilson

C. A.

Keith

(2019). Savoring as a moderator of the daily demands and psychological capital relationship: A daily diary study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 14(5), 641–648.

84.

Tedeschi

R. G.

Calhoun

L. G.

(1996). The posttraumatic growth inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 455–471.

85.

Tintoré

Cunha

R. S.

Cabral

Alves

J. J. M.

(2022). A scoping review of problems and challenges faced by school leaders (2003–2019). Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 50(4), 536–573. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143220942527

86.

Tsai

C. H.

(2018). Frustration tolerance: A study of resilience of junior high and elementary school principals. The Journal of Educational Science, 17(1), 85–111.

87.

Tseng

J. C.

(2005). Job and stress analysis and corresponding strategies for private senior high school principals. School Administrators, 38, 31–50.

88.

Tugade

M. M.

Fredrickson

B. L.

(2007). Regulation of positive emotions: Emotion regulation strategies that promote resilience. Journal of Happiness Studies, 8(3), 311–333. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-006-9015-4

89.

Turk

E. W.

(2018). Principals’ perceived relationship between emotional intelligence, resilience, and resonant leadership throughout their career. Widener University.

90.

Wang

(2017). Resilience, leadership and work engagement: The mediating role of positive affect. Social Indicators Research, 132(2), 699–708. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1306-5

91.

P. R.

M. N.

Hsin

Y. W.

(2014). The verification of model among explanatory style for good events, enhanced hope, and resilience: The example of students with learning disabilities. Journal of Special Education, 40, 1–33.

Mediating Effect of Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope on the Relationship Between Workplace Savoring Beliefs and Workplace Resilience

Abstract

Plain language summary

Keywords

Introduction

Theoretical Background and Hypotheses

The Relationship Between Principals’ Workplace Savoring Beliefs and Workplace Resilience

Relationship Between Principals’ Workplace Savoring Beliefs and Perceived Workplace Hope

The Relationship Between Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope and Workplace Resilience

The Relationship Among Principals’ Workplace Savoring Beliefs, Perceived Workplace Hope, and Workplace Resilience

Methodology

The Participants and the Sampling Process

Measures

Descriptions for Measures

Questionnaire Item Development

Questionnaire Reliability Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis for Measures

Principals’ Workspace Savoring Beliefs Scale

Principals’ Perceived Workplace Hope Scale

Principals’ Workplace Resilience Scale

Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Measures

Results

ANOVA Analysis of Background Variables in the Research Variables

Testing the Extent of the Common Method Variance (CMV)

Means and Correlation

Mediation Effect Path Analysis

Discussion

Implications

Limitations and Future Recommendations

Conclusions

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

Ethical Approval

ORCID iD

Data Availability Statement

References