Impact of Perceived Organizational Support on Early Childhood Teachers’ Career Success in an Inclusive Education Context

Abstract

Recent calls and general interest have increased to strengthen preschool and special education’s inclusivity to empower early childhood teachers’ professional development. In response, this study explores the mediating role of early childhood teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education in the relationship between perceived organizational support and career success and the moderating role of empathy in the mediation path. A questionnaire survey conducted among early childhood teachers from a city in Shandong Province was used as the research instrument. The analysis, based on 414 valid responses, found that (1) perceived organizational support had a significant positive impact on career success; (2) inclusive education attitudes played a partially mediating role between perceived organizational support and career success; and (3) empathy negatively moderated the first half of the mediation path. Compared to more empathetic participants, perceived organizational support had a significantly stronger positive predictive effect on attitudes toward inclusive education of less empathetic participants. This result confirms the relationship between early childhood teachers’ organizational support, inclusive educational attitudes, and career success. In addition, it provides an empirical reference for improving early childhood teachers’ inclusive education knowledge and competency.