Perceptions of the school climate’s effect on teacher burnout: the mediating roles of loneliness and emotional labor strategies
摘要
Burnout is an emotional reflection of chronic job stress and reflects how teachers experience and perceive their work environment. However, few studies have explored the relationships between loneliness, emotional labor strategies, and school climate and burnout. Therefore, this study explored the mediating roles of loneliness and emotional labor strategies regarding the school climate’s impact on teacher burnout based on the job demands–resource and resource preservation theories. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used to investigate school climate, burnout, loneliness, and emotional labor as perceived by 2198 elementary and middle school teachers. The results reveal that school climate had significant, negative predictive effects on burnout, and loneliness and emotional labor strategies mediated the relationship between school climate and burnout. However, surface and deep acting had opposite effects, and loneliness and emotional labor strategies mediated the relationship between school climate and burnout. This study has practical significance, indicating that school administrators should develop programs to foster teachers’ use of emotional labor strategies, improve their school climate, and organize various activities to enhance authentic, professional cooperation among teachers and increase teachers’ sense of belonging and accomplishment.