Mindfulness as Moderator Against Emotional Exhaustion Due to Online Teaching During COVID-19 Pandemic: An Investigation Using Job Demands-Resources Model and Conservation of Resource Theory

Abstract

On the basis of the Conservation of Resource (COR) theory and using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study examines the relationships among job demands and job resources of online teaching (JD-OT and JR-OT), perceived instructional efficacy of OT (PIE-OT), mindfulness in teaching (MiT), and emotional exhaustion (EE) to understand the psychological stress experienced by teachers engaged in OT and how mindfulness has moderating effects on relieving anxiety and preventing burnout. A total of 476 teachers with OT experience completed online a self-report survey with items adapted from related scales. The hypotheses were validated using structural equation modeling. Causal relationships were assessed using path analysis, and multi-group analysis was performed to examine the moderating effect of MiT. JD-OT has significant and negative impact on PIE-OT, JR-OT has significant and positive impact on PIE-OT, and PIE-OT has significant and negative impact on EE. Moreover, PIE-OT mediates the positive relationship of JD-OT with EE and the negative relationship of JR-OT with EE. The moderating role of MiT in the relationship of JD-OT and JR-OT with PIE-OT was also validated. In OT work environments, teachers have great need and desire for JR, which can have a positive impact on PIE. Mindfulness training contributes to improving OT efficacy and reducing EE. Enhancing teachers’ MiT enables them to deal with demands from work and their superiors and motivates them to respond with ease to the stressful external environment.

The impact of role conflict on turnover intention among faculty members: A moderated mediation model of emotional exhaustion and workplace relational conflict

“…In terms of the frameworks of COR theory ( Hobfoll, 1989 ) and job demand-resources (JD-R) theory ( Demerouti et al, 2001 ), negative situations deplete valued resources, and employees attempt to reduce threats and prevent the potential loss of those resources. Such depletion prevents faculty members from coping with tense and negative events such role conflict, thus leading to emotional exhaustion due to their continuous attempts at resource protection ( Hsieh et al, 2021 ; Bakker et al, 2022 ). A substantial amount of research has investigated the mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationships between different stressor variables, such as abusive supervision ( Ali et al, 2022 ), psychological empowerment ( Ding, 2021 ), job crafting ( Shin et al, 2020 ), and role stress ( Wen et al, 2020 ), and employees’ turnover intention.…”

“…As indicated previously, faculty members can experience negative emotions on the job due to their different stressful and demanding job roles, which requires them to employ coping strategies to prevent or minimize such exhaustion ( Frone, 2000 ; Wright and Larson, 2022 ), thus consuming their resources ( Hsieh et al, 2021 ; Bakker et al, 2022 ). Since those resources are limited, the regular demands of workplace relational conflict may compete with the regular demands of role conflict.…”

Bi-directional work-family conflict of home-based teachers in Taiwan during COVID-19: application of job demands-resources model

“…A recent study of Hong et al (2021) attributed high WIF conflict to teachers' work overload. The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent switch to OT has caused teachers to feel anxious, stressed and depressed (Cheng and Lam, 2021;Hsieh et al, 2021). However, these studies have not explored the possible influence of OT work environment on FIW of teachers.…”

“…(2021) attributed high WIF conflict to teachers' work overload. The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent switch to OT has caused teachers to feel anxious, stressed and depressed (Cheng and Lam, 2021; Hsieh et al. , 2021).…”

The Curvilinear Relationship Between Dissatisfaction With the Status Quo and Innovative Behavior

“…In the early stage, it was mainly used to explain the nature of stress and the coping strategies when individuals face stressors (Hobfoll et al, 2018). For more than 20 years, COR theory has been continuously developed and widely used in the research fields of work family conflict, emotional exhaustion, and organizational citizenship behavior (Halbesleben et al, 2014;Astakhova, 2015;Anjum et al, 2020;Trzebiatowski and Triana, 2020;Hsieh et al, 2021). COR theory divides resources into four categories: material resources, conditional resources, self-resources and energy resources (Hobfoll, 1989).…”