How faculty support impact physical education teachers'career satisfaction: A chain mediation model

For physical education (PE) teachers in primary and secondary schools, career satisfaction serves as a key indicator of professional identity and job engagement, playing a crucial role in occupational stability and teaching efficacy. This study aims to investigate the effect of PE teachers' perceived faculty support on their career satisfaction, while examining the mediating roles of professional self-concept and work engagement within this relationship. A sample of 733 primary and secondary school physical education (PE) teachers was recruited to test the proposed chain mediation model. Data analysis was conducted in two stages: First, SPSS 23.0 was utilized for general descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis. Subsequently, structural equation modeling (SEM) with maximum likelihood (ML) estimation was performed using AMOS 17.0 to examine the hypothesized relationships among faculty support, career satisfaction, professional self-concept, and work engagement. The mediation analysis revealed three significant indirect pathways: (1) The isolated mediation effect through professional self-concept accounted for 19.43 % of the total effect (β = 0.102, 95 % CI = [0.031, 0.171]); (2) The pathway through work engagement alone explained 23.05 % of the total effect (β = 0.121, 95 % CI = [0.041, 0.268]); and (3) The serial mediation through both professional self-concept and work engagement contributed an additional 14.86 % (β = 0.078, 95 % CI = [0.029, 0.149]). Collectively, these indirect effects constituted 57.33 % of the total effect (β = 0.301, 95 % CI = [0.198, 0.418]), with all pathways demonstrating statistical significance as indicated by bias-corrected confidence intervals excluding zero. These results suggest that(1)faculty support demonstrates a significant positive association with PE teachers' career satisfaction; and (2) professional self-concept and work engagement function as sequential mediators in this relationship. This pattern reveals a mechanism that integrates psychological and behavioral processes: institutional support fosters professional self-perception, which subsequently enhances work engagement, leading to improved career satisfaction. These results underscore the need for policymakers to (a) implement institutional measures that strengthen faculty support systems, and (b) develop teacher development programs targeting professional identity construction, as dual strategies for enhancing occupational well-being in educational settings.