Varying school governance models, international comparisons, neoliberal policy reforms, including decentralisation and new public management, have created a complex environment that drive school leaders’ changing roles, responsibilities and newer professional identities (Rinne et al., 2015; Pont, 2020; Apple et al., 2023). Consequently, they face increasing stress and mental health concerns, higher job demands and reduced resources alongside fluctuating decision-making autonomy and thereby, affecting successful schooling processes (Dicke et al., 2018). School leaders acutely experience role ambiguity and overload, as they face uncertainty, complex and unfamiliar tasks (Wang et al., 2021). Moreover, the demands facing school principals are time and work pressures and due to the lack of support on the organizational and supervisory level, they cannot fully focus on educational leadership (Skaalvik, 2023).

Leadership is contextual and culture-specific (Bush and Glover, 2014; Hallinger, 2018). Education policy trends alongside school leadership-related challenges are exposed in their distinct ways in post-Soviet educational systems, such as Estonia and Georgia, the states which underwent transitions in all aspects of their societies over the last three decades. While Estonia has considerable school autonomy (Eisenschmidt et al., 2021), it presents multiple challenges for school leaders to deal with work and be wary of the resources. In the case of Georgia, various educational reforms were launched, the system has been shifting between autonomy and centralization and currently, it retains a centralized school governance model where principal recruitment, teacher selection and professional development are centralized (Gorgodze, 2016). 

Longitudinal studies have been conducted in Estonia to explore school leaders’ well-being (see Oppi et al., 2025). In the case of Georgia, TALIS 2018 provides the data: Georgian school principals reported the dominant stressors, like administrative workload, accountability for students’ achievement, and managing discipline (OECD, 2020). Estonian school principals also reported administrative workload and managing the policy changes. Our previous work on Estonian and Georgian school leaders (Khurtsidze et al., 2025) revealed similarities and differences on how they perceived main tasks, challenges, and resources. From both countries, they were spending considerable time on administrative work and curriculum development. The similar challenges included relations at work, teacher development, and administrative tasks. They also leveraged their own competences as personal resources, although their external resources differed, since Estonian leaders reported more diverse support compared to Georgians. 

Job resources, such as support from colleagues, constructive feedback, functional relations at workplace, and clear roles, are positively related to fulfillment of basic psychological needs, and job resources motivate people extrinsically and intrinsically (Schaufeli & Taris, 2014; Van den Broeck et al., 2016; Bakker et al., 2023) Therefore, we integrate the job demands-resources model (JD-R, Bakker & Demerouti, 2017) and basic psychological needs theory (BPNT) within SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2000), as these theories have been attested among various cultures and unify the understanding of the work conditions which affect leaders’ motivation, stress, and wellbeing. 

The aim of the study is to explore school leaders’ perceptions of their job demands and resources, and their relations to basic psychological needs in Estonian and Georgian educational contexts. We pose the following research questions:

1. How do Estonian and Georgian school leaders perceive their job demands and resources?

2. How do Estonian and Georgian school leaders report their basic psychological needs?  

3. What are the relations between job demands and resources and basic psychological needs across Estonian and Georgian samples?

To explore the relationships between job demands, job resources, and basic psychological need satisfaction, we employed a cross-sectional survey design by conducting online questionnaires with Estonian (n = 464) and Georgian (n = 179) school leaders. The questionnaire was based on the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-II; Pejtersen et al., 2010). Job demands were measured with the following scales drawn COPSOQ-II: Work pace, emotional demands, quantitative demands, and cognitive demands. Some of the items were answered on a five-point scale from 1 (to a very small extent) to 5 (to a very large extent and others were rated on a scale, ranging from 1, “never”, to 5, “always”. One sample item representing job demands is “Do you work at a high pace throughout the day?’’. Job resources were measured using multiple scales from COPSOQ-II: Skill discretion, commitment to the workplace, role clarity and quality of leadership items were answered on a five-point Likert scale from 1 (to a very small extent) to 5 (to a very large extent). The scales, such as, influence, social support from supervisors, social community at work were assessed using a five-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). An example item from job resources include “Can you influence the amount of work assigned to you?”. The basic psychological needs were measured by a 12-item BPNSFS questionnaire adapted from Chen and colleagues (2015), a set of six items assessed the need satisfaction: autonomy (e.g., “I feel a sense of choice and freedom in the things I undertake”), competence (e.g., “I feel confident that I can do things well”), relatedness (e.g.,”I feel connected with people who care for me, and for whom I care”). The items were answered on a five-point Likert-type scale where 1 = “Not true at all” and 5 = “Completely true”. The total Cronbach’s α coefficient for the scale was 0.80. We analyzed the data with R and its base packages and jamovi. We performed CFA on each sample, then we proceeded with MG-CFA on the combined samples to evaluate measurement invariance between both groups. Descriptive statistics and correlational analysis were conducted. SEM and invariance assessment were employed using the lavaan package in R.

Preliminary findings show that Estonian and Georgian participants reported high levels of cognitive demands and average levels of work pace. Across job resources, they showcased differences. Estonian school leaders reported the highest mean level for “role clarity”, while the lowest statistical mean was found for “influence at work”. Georgian respondents reported the highest level of “social community at work”, although “Influence at work” also received the lowest mean score among the job resources. The respondents from both countries reported generally high levels of need satisfaction. A significant difference was found for competence satisfaction, Georgian leaders reported higher compared to their Estonian counterparts. SEM analysis results displayed that job demands (work pace and cognitive demands) were not significant predictors of basic psychological needs for both samples, while the job resources play a role for motivation. For the Estonian sample, the need for autonomy was predicted by the extent of the decision-making at work, including the amount of work, job content, and the choice of collaborators and by commitment (loyalty and affiliation towards the workplace). Moreover, age showed a negative relationship, meaning that older school leaders reported lower autonomy satisfaction. Competence satisfaction was predicted by commitment and the extent how the leader understands work goals, the scope of responsibilities and expectations. Relatedness satisfaction was predicted by commitment, collegial atmosphere and teamwork, and by understanding of the work goals and scope of work. For the Georgian sample, autonomy satisfaction showed more hierarchy, as it was predicted not only by the leader's influence at work but also by quality of leadership, which is their perception of a proficient superior who can support in professional development, work planning, and solving conflicts. Georgian participants’ relatedness need was driven by the sense of social community at work.

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