Effort-reward Imbalance and Burnout among EFL Teachers in Iran

Subject Areas :

Mehdi Haseli Songhori ¹ , Alireza Atashpanjeh ² , Maryam Noori Sadegh ³

1 - Department of English Language, Zahedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zahedan, Iran
2 - Department of English Language, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
3 - Department of English Language, Zahedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zahedan, Iran

Received: 2021-01-02 Accepted : 2021-05-20 Published : 2021-10-01

Keywords: Job Stress, EFL teachers, teacher burnout, ERI Model,

Abstract :

Understanding the relationship between job stressors and burnout among English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher using the Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model in Iran is under-researched. Through a cross-sectional research design, the study aimed at investigating the EFL teachers’ burnout using the variables in ERI model. To this aim, 105 EFL teachers filled in ERI questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey (MBI-ES). The quantitative data were analyzed through Pearson correlation coefficient analysis to examine the relationship between variables in ERI model and burnout dimension. The results indicated that there was a positive significant relationship between effort and overcommitment and all three burnout dimensions but a negative relationship between reward subscale and depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. The multiple regression analysis was also used to identify ERI subscales as predictors of burnout dimensions. The results revealed that ERI model variables had a moderate amount of variation in depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment and a small amount of variation in emotional exhaustion.

References:

Akbari, R., & Eghtesadi Roudi, A. (2020). Reasons of burnout: The case of Iranian English language teachers. Psychological Studies, 65, 157–167.

Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands‐resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22, 309-28.

Bakker, A. B., Killmer, C. H., Siegrist, J., & Schaufeli, W.B. (2000). Effort–reward imbalance and burnout among nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 31(4), 884–891.

Bayani, A. A., & Bagheri, H. (2018). Exploring the influence of self-efficacy, school context and self-esteem on job burnout of Iranian Muslim teachers: A path model approach. Journal of Religion and Health, 59, 154–162. doi: 10.1007/s10943-018-0703-2

Bayani, A. A., Bagheri, H., & Bayani, A. (2013). Influence of gender, age, and years of teaching experience on Burnout. Annals of Bio-logical Research, 4(4), 239-243

Brouwers, A., & Tomic, W. (2000). A longitudinal study of teacher burnout and perceived self-efficacy in classroom management. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16, 239–253.

Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. New York: Longman.

Chan, D. (2003). Hardiness and its role in the stress–burnout relationship among prospective Chinese teachers in Hong Kong. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 381–395.

Chang, M. L., & Taxer, J. (2020). Teacher emotion regulation strategies in response to classroom misbehavior. Teachers and Teaching, 1-17.

Collie, R. J., Shapka, J. D., Perry, N. E., & Martin, A. J. (2016). Teachers’ psychological functioning in the workplace: Exploring the roles of contextual beliefs, need satisfaction, and personal characteristics. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(6), 788-799.

Cowie, N. (2011). Emotions that experienced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers feel about their students, their colleagues and their work. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(1), 235-242.

Cramer, D., & Howitt, D. L. (2004). The Sage dictionary of statistics: A practical resource for students in the social sciences. London: Sage.

Fortunatti, C. P., & Palmeiro-Silva, Y. K. (2017). Effort–reward imbalance and burnout among ICU nursing staff: A cross-sectional study. Nursing Research, 66(5), 410-416.

Gorgievski, M. J., Van der Heijden, B. I., & Bakker, A. B. (2019). Effort-reward imbalance and work-home interference: a two-wave study among European male nurses. Work & Stress, 33(4), 315-333.

Gold, Y., & Roth, R. (2005). Teachers managing stress and preventing burnout. London, England: The Falmer Press.

Greenberg, M. T., Brown J. L., & Abenavoli, R.M. (2016). Teacher stress and health effects on teachers, students, and schools. Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from http://prevention.psu.edu/uploads/files/rwjf430428.pdf.

Hakanen, J., Bakker, A., & Schaufeli, W. (2006). Burnout and work engagement among teachers. Journal of School Psychology, 43, 495–513.

Harrison, W. D. (1983). A social competence model of burnout. In B. A. Farber (Ed.), Stress and burnout in human service professions (pp. 29–39). Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Haseli Songhori, M., Ghonsooly, B., Afraz, S. (2018). Language teacher immunity among Iranian EFL teachers: A self-organization perspective. Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7(1), 128–143.

Hiver, P., & Dörnyei, Z. (2017). Language teacher immunity: A double-edged sword. Applied Linguistics, 38(3), 405-423.

Hong, J. Y. (2012). Why do some beginning teachers leave the school, and others stay? Understanding teacher resilience through psychological lenses. Teachers and Teaching, 18(4), 417-440.

Horwitz, E. (1996). Even teachers get the blues: Recognizing and alleviating language teachers’ feelings of foreign language anxiety. Foreign Language Annals, 29(3), 365–372.

Jachens, L., Houdmont, J., & Thomas, R. (2019). Effort–reward imbalance and burnout among humanitarian aid workers. Disasters, 43(1), 67-87.

Jepson, E., & Forrest, S. (2006). Individual contributory factors in teacher stress: The role of achievement striving and occupational commitment. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(1), 183-197.

Jones, B. K. (2016). Enduring in an “impossible” occupation: Perfectionism and commitment to teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 67(5), 437-446.

Karasek, R., & Theorell, T. (1990). Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life. Basic Books, New York, NY.

Kyriacou, C. (2001). Teacher stress: Directions for future research. Educational Review, 53(1), 27-35.

Lehr, D., Hillert, A., & Keller, S. (2009). What can balance the effort? Associations between effort-reward imbalance, overcommitment, and affective disorders in German teachers. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 15(4), 374-384.

Leiter, M. P., & Maslach, C. (2003). Areas of worklife: A structured approach to organizational predictors of job burnout. Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being, 3(1), 91-134.

Loerbroks, A., Meng, H., Chen, M. L., Herr, R., Angerer, P., & Li, J. (2014). Primary school teachers in China: associations of organizational justice and effort–reward imbalance with burnout and intentions to leave the profession in a cross-sectional sample. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 87(7), 695-703.

Mahmoodi‐Shahrebabaki, M. (2019). Teacher burnout. In J. I. Liontas (Ed.), The TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching (pp. 1–8). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. doi:10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0964

Marmot, M., J. Siegrist, T. Theorell, & A. Feeney (1999). Health and the psychosocial environment at work. In M. Marmot, & R. Wilkinson (Eds.), Social determinants of health (pp. 97–130). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1986). Maslach burnout inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2000). Burnout. In G. Fink (Ed.), Encyclopedia of stress (pp. 358–362). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2008). Early predictors of job burnout and engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 498–512.

Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103-111.

Maslach, C., Jackson, S. E., & Leiter, M. P. (1996). Maslach burnout inventory manual (3rd Ed.). San Francisco: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397–422.

Näring, G., Briët, M., & Brouwers, A. (2000). Beyond demand-control: Emotional labor and symptoms of burnout in teachers. Work and Stress, 20, 303–315.

Parker, P., Martin, A., Colmar, S., & Liem, G. (2012). Teachers’ workplace well-being: Exploring a process model of goal orientation, coping behavior, engagement, and burnout. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 503–513.

Pfitzner-Eden, F. (2016). I feel less confident so I quit? Do true changes in teacher self-efficacy predict changes in preservice teachers' intention to quit their teaching degree?. Teaching and Teacher Education, 55, 240-254.

Rahmati, T., Sadeghi, K., & Ghaderi, F. (2019). English as a foreign language teacher immunity: An integrated reflective practice. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 7(3 (Special Issue)), 91–107.

Ren, C., Li, X., Yao, X., Pi, Z., & Qi, S. (2019). Psychometric properties of the effort-reward imbalance questionnaire for teachers (Teacher ERIQ). Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1-12.

Richards, K. A. R., Hemphill, M. A., & Templin, T. J. (2018). Personal and contextual factors related to teachers’ experience with stress and burnout. Teachers and Teaching, 24(7), 768-787.

Richards, K. A. R., Levesque-Bristol, C., Templin, T. J., & Graber, K. C. (2016). The impact of resilience on role stressors and burnout in elementary and secondary teachers. Social Psychology of Education, 19(3), 511-536.

Roohani, A., & Dayeri, K. (2019). On the relationship between Iranian EFL teachers' burnout and motivation: A mixed methods study. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 7(1), 77–99.

Schrier, L. L. (2008). The overwhelmed generation and foreign language teacher preparation: Developing strategies to work with the mental health challenges of preservice teachers. Foreign language annals, 41(2), 282-309.

Siegrist J. (1996) Adverse health effects of high-effort/low reward conditions. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1, 27–41.

Siegrist, J. & Li, J. (2020). Effort-reward imbalance and occupational health. In T. Theorell (Ed.), Handbook of socioeconomic determinants of occupational health (pp. 1-28). New York: Springer.

Siegrist, J. (2017). Applying occupational health theories to educational stress and health: Evidence from the effort-reward imbalance model. In T. McIntyre, S. McIntyre, & D. Francis (Eds), Educator stress (pp. 223-235). New York: Springer.

Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2010). Teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout: a study of relations. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 1059–1069.

Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2017). Still motivated to teach? A study of school context variables, stress and job satisfaction among teachers in senior high school. Social Psychology of Education, 20(1), 15–37.

Slišković, A., Burić, I., & Macuka, I. (2017). The voice of Croatian elementary school teachers: Qualitative analysis of the teachers’ perspective on their profession. Teachers and Teaching, 23(5), 518-531.

Sutton, R. E., & Harper, E. (2009). Teachers' emotion regulation. In L.J. Saha & A.G. Dworkin (Eds.), International handbook of research on teachers and teaching (pp. 389-401). Springer, Boston, MA.

Tang, J. J., Leka, S., & MacLennan, S. (2013). The psychosocial work environment and mental health of teachers: a comparative study between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 86(6), 657-666.

Unterbrink, T., Hack, A., Pfeifer, R., Buhl-Grießhaber, V., Müller, U., Wesche, H., ... & Bauer, J. (2007). Burnout and effort–reward-imbalance in a sample of 949 German teachers. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 80(5), 433-441.

Violanti, J. M., Mnatsakanova, A., Andrew, M. E., Allison, P., Gu, J. K., & Fekedulegn, D. (2018). Effort–reward imbalance and overcommitment at work: associations with police burnout. Police quarterly, 21(4), 440-460.

Wieczorek, A. L. (2016). High inhibitions and low self-esteem as factors contributing to foreign language teacher stress. In D. Gabryś-Barker & D. Gałajda (Eds.), Positive psychology perspectives on foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 231-247). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Zurlo, M. C., Pes, D., & Siegrist, J. (2010). Validity and reliability of the effort-reward imbalance questionnaire in a sample of 673 Italian teachers. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 83(6), 665-674.