RESEARCH PAPER A Path to Teacher Happiness? A Sense of Meaning Affects Teacher–Student Relationships, Which Affect Job Satisfaction Shiri Lavy 1 • Shira Bocker 2 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017 Abstract Meaningful work and meaningful relationships at work have been highlighted for their potential desirable consequences for employees and organizations. The present research focuses on teaching, as a potentially meaningful occupation, and suggests that teachers’ sense of meaning at work affects teacher–student relationships, which in turn affect teachers’ job satisfaction. This hypothesized path is examined in two complementary studies. In Study 1, 312 teachers completed self-report measures of their sense of meaning at work, perceived relationships with students, and job satisfaction. Results, based on structural equation modeling analysis, showed a good fit of the data to the theoretical model. In Study 2, 120 teachers completed daily measures of their sense of meaning at work, relationships with students, and job satisfaction. Results, based on HLM analyses, confirmed daily effects of teachers’ sense of meaning on teacher–student relationships, and daily effects of perceived teacher–student relationships on teachers’ job satisfaction. These findings point to a potential path through which teachers’ sense of meaning at work may affect work outcomes and attitudes. The theoretical and practical implications for the effects of meaningfulness and relationships at work for researchers, educators, and orga- nizations are discussed. Keywords Meaningful work Á Teachers Á Teacher–student relationships Á Job satisfaction Á Diary study & Shiri Lavy shirilavy@gmail.com Shira Bocker shirabo@gmail.com 1 The Department of Leadership and Policy in Education, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave., 3498838 Haifa, Israel 2 The Psychology Department, Ariel University, 40700 Ariel, Israel 123 J Happiness Stud DOI 10.1007/s10902-017-9883-9