Unintended Consequences of Teacher Autonomy and Principal Leadership: Evidence from Teacher–Parent Communication and Teacher Well-Being (ICPSR 305610)
This is the data deposit for the AERA Open paper "Unintended Consequences of Teacher Autonomy and Principal Leadership: Evidence from Teacher–Parent Communication and Teacher Well-Being." Motivated by recent tragedies highlighting teacher stress stemming from parental demands, this study examines the relationships among parent–teacher communication, teacher autonomy, principal leadership, and well-being in South Korea. Analyzing data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 with school fixed effects, we find that increased hours spent communicating with parents are negatively associated with multiple dimensions of teacher well-being. Furthermore, we uncover a critical “autonomy paradox”: although perceived autonomy generally enhances well-being, high levels of autonomy significantly exacerbate the negative association between communication hours and well-being. We also reveal that strong principal instructional leadership fails to mitigate this paradox and may even intensify the perceived burden. These findings challenge the assumption that autonomy or leadership functions as a protective resource. Instead, within high-pressure, bureaucratic systems, autonomy and leadership may operate as a managerial device and source of personal liability characterized by isolated responsibility rather than professional resources.