Management and Entrepreneurship in Sport

Management and Entrepreneurship in Sport

The Effect of Social Support on the Career Thriving of Physical Education Teachers: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety Climate

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Azadshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran
2 Master of General Psychology, Department of Psychology, Azadshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran.
3 Department of Sports Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Sports Sciences, Gonbad Kavos University
10.48301/jmes.2026.574333.1131
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of social support on the career thriving of physical education teachers, with the mediating role of the psychological safety climate. A survey research method was employed to conduct this study. The statistical population consisted of 706 physical education teachers in Golestan province, from which 250 teachers were selected as a sample based on the Cochran formula. Data were collected using three standardized questionnaires: social support (Vander Heide, 2003), psychological safety (Edmondson & Lei, 2014), and career thriving (Porath et al., 2012). The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed through face and content validity assessments. In a preliminary study, the reliability coefficients for the social support, psychological safety, and career thriving questionnaires were 0.824, 0.839, and 0.779, respectively. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS version 25 and Smart PLS version 4 software. The results indicated that social support has a positive and significant effect on the psychological safety climate from the perspective of physical education teachers. Additionally, social support positively and significantly influenced the career thriving of these teachers. Finally, the mediating role of the psychological safety climate in the relationship between social support and career thriving was confirmed. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that enhancing social support for physical education teachers may lead to beneficial outcomes, such as fostering a psychological safety climate and improving their career thriving.
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