Leaving the Teaching Profession: Examining the Role of Social Support, Engagement and Emotional Intelligence in Teachers’ Intentions to Quit

Abstract

espanolEste estudio pretende evaluar los factores mediadores y moderadores en la relacion entre el apoyo social organizacional (apoyo percibido de companeros y supervisores) y los niveles de intencion de abandono en una muestra de profesionales de la ensenanza. Especificamente, usando la teoria de demandas y recursos laborales y centrandose en el apoyo social, se examina si el engagement laboral media la relacion entre apoyo social organizacional e intencion de abandono. Ademas, se analiza el posible papel moderador de la inteligencia emocional en el modelo propuesto. La muestra del estudio esta compuesta por 1,297 profesionales de la ensenanza (64.8% mujeres) que trabajaban como docentes de Infantil, Primaria y Secundaria en varios centros del este y sur de Espana. Los resultados principales demostraron que el engagement laboral mediaba totalmente la relacion entre el apoyo social de companeros y supervisores y la intencion de abandono. Los hallazgos mostraron que el nivel de inteligencia emocional de los docentes moderaba significativamente las relaciones indirectas entre el apoyo percibido de companeros y supervisores y la intencion de abandono. Los docentes con un nivel mas bajo de engagement laboral informaron de bajo apoyo de companeros y supervisores, asi como de un bajo nivel de inteligencia emocional. Igualmente, aquellos docentes con bajo engagement laboral y baja inteligencia emocional informaron de mayores niveles de intencion de abandono. Finalmente, se discute la importancia de estos hallazgos para la investigacion basica y aplicada enfocada a la retencion de un capital docente comprometido. EnglishThe study aimed to test mediator and moderator factors in the relationship between workplace social support (i.e., perceived support from colleagues and supervisors) and intentions to quit in a sample of teaching professionals. Specifically, utilizing job-demands-resources theory to focus on social support, we examined whether work engagement mediated the relationship between workplace social support and intentions to quit. Moreover, the potential moderator role of emotional intelligence in the proposed model was tested. The study sample comprised 1,297 teaching professionals (64.8% females) working as preschool, primary, and secondary teachers in several centers in eastern and southern Spain. The main results demonstrated that work engagement totally mediated the relationship between social support from colleagues/supervisors and intentions to quit. The findings showed that teachers' levels of emotional intelligence significantly moderated the indirect paths between perceived support from colleagues/supervisors and intentions to quit. Teachers with the lowest levels of work engagement reported low support from colleagues or supervisors, togetherwith low emotional intelligence. Similarly, highest intentions to quit was reported by those teachers reporting low work engagement and low emotional intelligence. Finally, we discuss the relevance of these findings for basic and applied research seeking to retain a more engaged teaching force.