Session Information
26 SES 01 A, World School Leadership Study: Practice and Resilience
Symposium
Contribution
There is an extensive body of research on job stress and burnout among teachers (Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008; Hakanen, Bakker & Schaufeli, 2006), but a lack of studies on the professional health of school leaders aside from few studies on job satisfaction and strain (Huber, 2013). This study focuses on complex analyses, using structural equation modelling, of important predictors of workaholism and burnout among school leaders such as job satisfaction, work engagement, enthusiasm, self-efficacy, stress resistance, resilience, core self-evaluations, ambiguity tolerance and personality. The study was conducted in eleven countries (ten in Europe and Australia). Our sub-sample for these selected findings is from five of these countries (N=1217 school leaders). The data allows a comparison of the countries and between educational leaders of different kinds (aspiring, new established, experienced). Work engaged individuals show high resilience while working. Self-efficacy as a predictor of work engagement influences the endurance while coping with stress (Bakker, 2010). Several findings show the relationship of self-efficacy and ambiguity tolerance with the internal locus of control, which promotes engagement coping strategies and its benefit in times of organizational change associated with uncertainty and stress (Judge et al., 1999). Besides enhancing functions, self-efficacy may also lead to overconfidence in one’s abilities leading to an inappropriate persistence (Whyte, Saks, and Hook, 1997), which in turn may lead to workaholism. Van Beek, Taris and Schaufeli (2011) report the relationship of workaholism and work engagement. Meta-analytic reviews and diary studies show the importance of high core self-evaluations for the perception of less stressors and strain and the use of problem-solving coping strategies, which leads to higher job performance and satisfaction (Kammeyer-Mueller, Judge & Scott, 2009). For neuroticism a lot of research shows the relationship with stress perception and the use of maladaptive coping strategies. Both extraversion and openness are associated with a humorous dealing with stress and (also for consciousness) with a problem-focused coping style (Connor-Smith & Flachsbart, 2007).
References
Connor-Smith, J.K., Flachsbart, C. (2007). Relations between Personality and Coping: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,93, 1080-1107. Hakanen, J.J., Bakker, A.B., Schaufeli, W.B. (2006). Burnout and work engagement among teachers. Journal of School Psychology,43(6), 495-513. Huber, S.G. (2013). Forschung zu Belastung und Beanspruchung von Schulleitung. In S.G. Huber (Eds.), Jahrbuch Schulleitung 2013 (S. 222-240). Köln: Wolters Kluwer Deutschland. Judge, T.A., Thoresen, C.J., Pucik, V., Welbourne, T.M. (1999). Managerial Coping with Organizational Change: A Dispositional Perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology,84, 107-122. Kammeyer-Mueller, J.D., Judge, T.A., Scott, B.A. (2009). The role of core self-evaluations in the coping process. Journal of Applied Psychology,94(1), 177-195. Bakker, A.B. (Ed.) (2010). Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research. New York: Psychology Press. Schwarzer, R., Hallum, S. (2008). Perceived teacher self-efficacy as a predictor of job stress and burnout: mediation analyses. Applied Psychology: an International Review,57, 152-171. Van Beek, I., Taris, T.W., Schaufeli, W.B. (2011). Workaholic and work engaged eymployees: Dead ringers or worlds apart? Journal of Occupational Health Psychology,16(4), 468-482. Whyte, G., Saks, A., Hook, S. (1997). When success breeds failure: The role of self-efficacy in escalating commitment to a losing course of action. Journal of Organizational Behavior,18, 415–432.
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