How teacher competence predicts work engagement: Structural and configurational pathways through stress, exhaustion, resilience, and fulfillment among secondary PE teachers

Sustaining work engagement among secondary physical education (PE) teachers amid digital reform and institutional marginalization presents significant theoretical and practical challenges. Integrating Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study investigates structural and configurational pathways through which teacher competence influences engagement via occupational stress, emotional exhaustion, occupational resilience, and professional fulfillment. Using data from 1,562 secondary PE teachers in China, structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were employed. SEM results identified a dual-process mechanism: a gain-spiral pathway linking teacher competence to enhanced engagement through resilience and professional fulfillment, and a loss-spiral pathway wherein competence indirectly mitigated engagement through elevated stress and exhaustion. Complementing these linear associations, fsQCA revealed five distinct configurations sufficient for high engagement, demonstrating compensatory and substitutional relationships among competence, resilience, fulfillment, and stress conditions. The findings highlight the coexistence of multiple resource-based routes toward engagement, thereby refining JD-R and COR frameworks within marginalized educational contexts. Practically, these insights suggest targeted, context-sensitive interventions aimed at enhancing teachers' psychological resources while simultaneously reducing occupational strain.