How School Climate Influences Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion: The Mediating Role of Emotional Labor

TLDR: Investigation of primary and high school teachers in Mainland China revealed that teachers’ perceptions of the school climate negatively affected surface acting but positively affected deep acting, and surface acting positively predicted emotional exhaustion, and deep acting had no significant effect on emotional exhaustion.

Abstract: Currently, in China, improving the quality of teachers’ emotional labor has become an urgent need for most pre-kindergarten through 12th grade (p–12) schools because the new curriculum reform highlights the role of emotion in teaching. A total of 703 primary and high school teachers in Mainland China were investigated regarding their perceptions of school climate, emotional labor strategy and emotional exhaustion via questionnaires. The findings revealed that the teachers’ perceptions of the school climate negatively affected surface acting but positively affected deep acting. Surface acting positively predicted emotional exhaustion, and deep acting had no significant effect on emotional exhaustion. Moreover, emotional labor mediated the relationship between the teachers’ perceptions of the school climate and emotional exhaustion. Programs aimed at improving the school climate and the teachers’ use of appropriate emotional labor strategies should be implemented in schools in Mainland China.