Abstract
<jats:sec> <jats:title>Purpose</jats:title> <jats:p>This study aims to examine how the quality of principal-teacher relationships, conceptualized through leader-member exchange (LMX), influences teachers' engagement in teacher leadership roles by activating distinct motivational mechanisms. Specifically, it investigates the mediating roles of the affective-identity, social-normative, and non-calculative dimensions of motivation to lead (MTL) in the relationship between LMX and teacher leadership. By situating this model within the centralized and collectivist context of Türkiye, the study seeks to clarify how relational and motivational processes jointly shape the emergence of teacher leadership in hierarchical school systems.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Design/methodology/approach</jats:title> <jats:p>Employing a cross-sectional research design, data were collected from 1,159 teachers working in public schools in Türkiye. The direct, indirect and mediating relationships among LMX, the three dimensions of motivation to lead (affective-identity, social-normative and non-calculative), and teacher leadership were tested using SEM and bootstrapping analyses.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Findings</jats:title> <jats:p>The results indicated that LMX was positively related to teacher leadership both directly and indirectly through all three MTL dimensions. Affective-identity and social-normative MTL exhibit stronger relationships with teacher leadership, whereas non-calculative MTL demonstrated a more limited yet significant association, which was largely realized through social-normative motivation. Mediation analyses revealed that teacher leadership was grounded not only in the relational quality of leader-member interactions but also in motivational mechanisms embedded in professional norms.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Originality/value</jats:title> <jats:p>By integrating relational leadership and motivation to lead perspectives, this study extends relational leadership and MTL theories to the context of informal leadership in schools. It demonstrates that teacher leadership in a hierarchical and collectivist context is constructed through relationally triggered motivational processes.</jats:p> </jats:sec>