Antecedents consequences and buffers of burnout among indian primary school teachers

Abstract

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY newlineThis study examines the antecedents, consequences and buffers of job burnout among newlinegovernment primary school teachers. In order to achieve this objective, the study has used job demands and resources model and Conservation of Resources model and categorized the antecedents (general job demands, emotional job demands, work/family interference) newline,consequences (absenteeism, somatic symptoms , pro-social behavior) and moderator(emotional intelligence)into two conceptual models (I and II). Data were collected from 713 primary school teachers working in the government schools of Chhattisgarh using a questionnaire survey. The findings of model 1 reveal that general job demands and emotional job demands in a school newlineenvironment significantly correlated with burnout, which in turn has increased somatic newlinesymptoms and decreased prosocial behavior. However, the association of burnout with newlineabsenteeism was insignificant. Emotional intelligence was found to buffer the adverse newlineassociations of general job demands and emotional job demands on burnout. These findings help in identification of general job demands and emotional job demands as determinants of teacher burnout and somatic symptoms and prosocial behavior as consequences. Further, it helps in identifying practical ways of reducing burnout caused by job demands by recognizing emotional intelligence as a potential resource to be developed through training and development of teachers. The results of the model II reveal that work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW) are positively associated with burnout. The association of WIF was newlinefound to be stronger than FIW with burnout. Moreover, EI was found to significantly moderate the associations of WIF and FIW with burnout. The findings further strengthen the importance of emotional intelligence as a resource to mitigate the association of antecedents of burnout with burnout. which in turn has increased somatic symptoms and decreased prosocial behavior.