The relationship between teachers' implicit beliefs about students' intelligence and social behavior and their self-efficacy, work engagement and job satisfaction: A structural equation modeling study

"In this study, it was aimed to explain the relationship between pre-school, primary, secondary and high school teachers' implicit beliefs about students' intelligence and social behaviors and their self-efficacy, work engagement and job satisfaction. 'Causal research design' was used in the study. The population of the study consists of 4632 teachers working in pre-school, primary, secondary and high schools in Siirt province in the 2022-2023 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 563 volunteer teachers in 143 schools, which were previously determined by using cluster sampling method, one of the sampling types. In determining the sample, firstly, the distribution of the number of teachers according to pre-school, primary, secondary and high schools was taken from Siirt Provincial Directorate of National Education. The data were collected using Implicit Beliefs, Self-Efficacy, Work Engagement and Job Satisfaction scales, confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis and analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling. The research tests three hypotheses to investigate the relationships of the variables: Teachers' implicit beliefs about students' academic abilities/skills and social behaviors are a significant predictor of self-efficacy (H1); Teachers' implicit beliefs about students' academic abilities/skills and social behaviors are a significant predictor of work engagement (H2); Teachers' implicit beliefs about students' academic abilities/skills and social behaviors are a significant predictor of job satisfaction (H3). The results of the study confirmed all hypotheses and showed that teachers' implicit beliefs about students' academic abilities/skills and social behaviors significantly predicted their self-efficacy, work engagement and self-efficacy. These results suggest that developing positive implicit beliefs can enhance teachers' engagement and well-being in the profession. When teachers believe that intelligence and social behaviors can change, they will be more likely to engage in ways that foster growth, resilience, and learning gains, and may increase their sense of fulfillment and commitment to their role. Keywords: Implicit belief,fixed mindset, growth mindset, work engagement, job satisfaction, self-efficacy "