How Psychological Empowerment Affects Early Childhood Teachers' Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Organizational Support and the Moderating Role of Organizational Justice

Background: Teacher turnover is a persistent challenge in early childhood education, and understanding its psychological and organizational determinants is crucial for improving teacher retention. This study aimed to examine how psychological empowerment (PE) influences turnover intention among early childhood teachers, focusing on the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) and the moderating effect of perceived organizational justice (POJ). Methods: A total of 517 early childhood teachers in Harbin, China, participated in a questionnaire survey. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). Independent-sample t -tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to examine differences in turnover intention based on demographic variables, and effect sizes were calculated to assess their explanatory power. Correlation and regression analyses were used to explore associations and predictive effects among PE, POS, POJ, and turnover intention. Mediation and moderation effects were further examined to test the hypothesized relationships. Results: PE significantly predicted POS but did not directly predict turnover intention. POS was negatively associated with turnover intention, demonstrating a full mediating effect. Moreover, the interaction between POS and POJ significantly predicted turnover intention, indicating that POJ moderated the relationship between POS and turnover intention. Conclusions: Psychological empowerment indirectly influences turnover intention through perceived organizational support, and this pathway is conditioned by perceived organizational justice. The findings expand existing theoretical models by revealing a bidirectional relationship between PE and POS and offer empirical insights into the psychological mechanisms underlying teacher retention in the Chinese early childhood education context.