From support to pressure: the multiple associated effects of differential leadership patterns on the workplace behavior of university teachers in western China.

Introduction: Although differential leadership is prevalent in Chinese organizations, its multiple effects on the workplace well-being and behavior of university teachers remain under-explored. Drawing on social comparison and professional identity theories, this study investigates how differential leadership predicts job performance, turnover intention, and burnout among western Chinese university teachers. Methods: This study utilized a complementary design: a scenario experiment (Study 1, Findings: The results revealed a consistent serial indirect path through social comparison and professional identity. Differential leadership positively predicted social comparison, which in turn diminished professional identity, subsequently relating to lower job performance and higher turnover intention and burnout. Furthermore, psychological capital served as an important boundary condition in Study 2. Notably, the two-study pattern suggests a possible temporal heterogeneity: sudden "outgroup exclusion" evoked immediate psychological withdrawal where the moderating role of psychological capital was not significant in Study 1, whereas the buffering association involving psychological capital was statistically evident in Study 2's cross-sectional field data. Discussion: The findings expand the boundaries of localized leadership theories in higher education by demonstrating that the impacts of differential leadership on teachers' workplace outcomes appear to vary across relational positions and time scales. However, because Study 2 used cross-sectional self-report data, the long-term mechanism should be interpreted as a correlational rather than causal process. The study provides valuable empirical guidance for enhancing university governance transparency to mitigate disorganized comparison pressures.