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Article

A Study on the Mechanism of Spiritual Leadership on Burnout of Elementary and Secondary School Teachers: The Mediating Role of Career Calling and Emotional Intelligence

by
Jing Li
1,2,
Soon-Yew Ju
2,3,*,
Lai-Kuan Kong
2,4 and
Nana Jiang
1,2,*
1
School of Teacher Education, Heze University, Heze 274015, China
2
Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies, City University Malaysia, Petaling Jaya 46100, Malaysia
3
Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang Branch, Raub Campus, Raub 27600, Malaysia
4
Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang Branch, Raub Campus, Raub 27600, Malaysia
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9343; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129343
Submission received: 8 May 2023 / Revised: 6 June 2023 / Accepted: 8 June 2023 / Published: 9 June 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educational Research in the Era of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development)
Browse Figures
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
Leadership style has become an important construct in the research literature on alleviating burnout among elementary and secondary school teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of spiritual leadership, career calling, and emotional intelligence on teacher burnout. Purposive sampling was utilized in this study to obtain data from 380 elementary and secondary school teachers in Heze City, Shandong Province, China. SmartPLS software was used to establish a partial least squares structural equation model to verify the research hypothesis. The results indicated that there was a significant negative direct relationship between spiritual leadership, career calling, emotional intelligence, and teacher burnout. There was a direct and significant positive relationship between spiritual leadership on career calling and emotional intelligence. In addition, spiritual leadership influenced teacher burnout through two mediating variables: career calling and emotional intelligence. The results broadened the understanding of the intrinsic relationship between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout and explained the mediating role of career calling and emotional intelligence in spiritual leadership and teacher burnout. Based on the findings, elementary and secondary school leaders should practice spiritual leadership styles to stimulate teachers’ career calling and emotional intelligence in order to reduce teacher burnout.

1. Introduction

Sustainable development is the theme of human social development in the 21st century, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in Agenda 2030 have become global development goals. Education plays a fundamental role in progressing SDGs, and sustainable development education is the key to attaining sustainable development [1]. Sustainable development education aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education. As participants and facilitators of sustainable development education, teachers carry great challenges as they not only deal with challenging students and parents but also handle heavy teaching and administrative tasks daily [2]. As a result, teachers are at a high risk of burnout [3]. Teacher burnout refers to a fatigue syndrome consisting of three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment, and depersonalization, which are generated by the long−term work stress of the teacher group. Emotional exhaustion is defined as the individual’s extremely emotional and affective fatigue under extreme stress; reduced personal accomplishment is defined as the individual’s low value and meaningful assessment of self; and depersonalization is defined as the individual’s negative and insensitive attitude toward students [4]. Teacher burnout is a typical behavioral symptom of teachers’ low job satisfaction, decreased enthusiasm for and loss of interest in work, and emotional detachment and indifference as a result of long−term stress at work. A study by Wu et al. [5] found that burnout in elementary and secondary school teachers in China has not been alleviated, but become more severe than a decade ago. Teacher burnout not only adversely affects teachers’ psychological health [6], but may also affect their support and commitment to sustainable development education in the 21st century [7]. Teachers can only achieve sustainability if they manage their burnout to the extent that they can self−regulate it [8]. Therefore, exploring the causes and solutions of burnout in elementary and secondary school teachers has become a common concern in Chinese society.
Domestic and international studies have shown that teacher burnout is influenced by both internal and external factors [9]. Internal individual factors include gender, personality, beliefs, age, marital status, well−being, emotional intelligence, etc.; external organizational environment factors include teachers’ economic income, career advancement opportunities, organizational climate, etc. [10]. In recent years, as research on this issue has intensified, scholars have turned to the perspective of leadership styles. Studies have shown that transformational leadership [11,12], principal instructional leadership [13], integrity leadership [14], and emotional leadership [15] are all negatively related to teacher burnout. Spiritual leadership, as a new leadership style, may also be an important external environmental factor in alleviating teacher burnout. Spiritual leadership, as a new leadership model that focuses on intrinsic motivation, pays more attention to the spiritual dimension of employees at work. Leaders influence and lead members to develop a sense of spiritual presence by establishing spiritual−level attitudes and behaviors to achieve organizational goals [16]. Research has shown that spiritual leadership can reduce burnout among corporate employees [17] and healthcare workers [18] who were chosen as the participants. However, in the field of education, there is little literature on the relationship between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout, which warrants further in−depth exploration.
Career calling is a powerful, meaningful, and positive emotion that an individual experiences while performing a job. Studies revealed that career calling significantly predicted teacher burnout [19]. As a personal trait, emotional intelligence is an important factor in maintaining teachers’ physical and mental health. Fiorilli et al. [20] and Ding et al. [21] revealed that teachers’ emotional intelligence significantly negatively predicts teacher burnout. Therefore, spiritual leadership is likely to affect elementary and secondary school teacher burnout through career calling and emotional intelligence.
Therefore, this study takes Chinese elementary and secondary school teachers as participants to investigate the mechanism of spiritual leadership on teacher burnout in the Chinese context. At the same time, career calling and emotional intelligence were introduced as mediating variables to test their effects on the relationship between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout. It is expected that the findings of this study will help schools to implement organizational management practices, provide schools with optimized choices for leadership styles, promote schools to pay attention to teacher burnout and strive to help teachers alleviate job burnout and promote teachers’ sustainable development.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis

2.1. Spiritual Leadership and Teacher Burnout

Fry [16] proposed a causal model of spiritual leadership theory on the basis of the intrinsic motivation model. This causal model emphasizes that the goal of spiritual leadership is to satisfy the needs of followers for spiritual survival by calling and membership, create a shared vision and value of individuals, teams, and organizations, and ultimately promote higher levels of organizational outcomes. Therefore, spiritual leadership is a behavioral approach to leadership effectiveness that intrinsically motivates and satisfies subordinates based on the spiritual presence of a sense of calling and identity, and consists of three dimensions: vision, hope/faith, and altruistic love [22]. According to related literature, spiritual leadership has a positive and significant influence on individual spiritual well−being [23], job satisfaction [24], innovative behavior [25], organizational citizenship behavior [26], organizational commitment and performance [27], and organizational trust [28]. Recent studies have shown that spiritual leadership can reduce job burnout [17,18] and deviant behavior at work [29]. Spiritual leadership enhances workplace spirituality, positively predicts employee well−being [30], and mitigates burnout [31] by portraying an organizational vision that makes employees feel meaningful and valuable at work, giving them hope and faith, and altruistic love [18]. In the education field scenario, a principal’s spiritual leadership enhances teachers’ sense of career calling and values by planning a school development vision for teachers; builds confidence and hope for teachers so that they can have more courage and perseverance to overcome difficulties and setbacks at work; and, coupled with the altruistic love given to teachers to enable them to feel the warmth and strength of the collective, enhances teachers’ job satisfaction and enthusiasm and mitigates teacher burnout. Therefore, this study proposes the hypothesis:
H1: 
Spiritual leadership is significantly negatively correlated with teacher burnout.

2.2. Spiritual Leadership, Career Calling, and Teacher Burnout

Career calling may provide an intermediary between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout. Career calling is a positive psychological state in which individuals integrate their work with personal and social meaning, hope their work to be valuable to society, and experience intrinsic pleasure and self−fulfillment in their careers [32]. In modern society, no organization can function well without being driven by its calling, especially in public schools that are not profit−oriented. Employees who are motivated by their calling and initial intention in an organization are more likely to align organizational expectations with self−expectations in the process of career development and self−growth and are more likely to find meaning and value in their lives and work. According to empirical research, spiritual leadership has a significant positive effect on the career calling of public sector employees, and nurses [33,34]. Chang et al. [35] also found this causal relationship in a survey of 333 participants across industries. According to spiritual leadership theory, spiritual leadership, as an external situational factor, motivates individuals with intrinsic motivation, such as career calling, which drives individuals to dedicate themselves to their work, achieve self−worth, and experience inner joy [18]. Also, career calling is considered a protective factor against burnout. Liao et al. [36] found that people with a higher career calling had a clearer self−concept at work, felt relatively less stress, were less likely to be in a depressed mood, and had better coping strategies for professional challenges. Studies have demonstrated that career calling negatively and significantly affects teacher burnout [11,19,37]. Thus, we propose that:
H2: 
Spiritual leadership is significantly positively correlated with career calling.
H3: 
Career calling is significantly negatively correlated with teacher burnout.
H4: 
Career calling mediates the direct link between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout.

2.3. Spiritual Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and Teacher Burnout

Emotional intelligence may be a mediating variable between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout. An individual’s ability to evaluate, express, manage, and utilize his or her own and others’ emotions is called emotional intelligence, which consists of four dimensions: self emotional appraisal, others’ emotional appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion [38]. Although emotional intelligence depends on individual demographic factors and personality traits to some extent [39], research has shown that organizational contextual factors, such as leadership behaviors, can also influence employees’ emotional intelligence [40]. Studies have shown that inclusive leadership by elementary school principals significantly and positively correlates with teachers’ emotional intelligence [41] and transformational leadership of hotel managers has a significantly positive effect on employees’ emotional intelligence [42]. Spiritual leadership, as a type of leadership behavior, may also be able to provide good preconditions for teachers to better identify and navigate their own and others’ emotions through behaviors such as visionary motivation, trust, and selfless care. The principal’s spiritual leadership behavior allows teachers to feel the principal’s support and trust in their work, which satisfies their psychological needs and leads to positive emotional experiences. Positive teacher emotions better enable teachers to recognize and understand their own and others’ emotions, to be good at controlling their own emotions, and to be able to transform their positive emotions into motivation and the ability to behave. Therefore, principals’ spiritual leadership can improve teachers’ emotional intelligence. Also, research has shown that emotional intelligence is an important factor in maintaining teachers’ physical and mental health and that teachers’ emotional intelligence significantly and negatively predicts teacher burnout [43,44,45]. Teachers with good emotional intelligence are able to adaptively regulate their emotions, attitudes, and behaviors to avoid burnout symptoms when they are exposed to external work stress. Therefore, we propose the hypotheses:
H5: 
Spiritual leadership is significantly positively correlated with emotional intelligence.
H6: 
Emotional intelligence is significantly negatively correlated with teacher burnout.
H7: 
Emotional intelligence mediates the direct link between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout.
In summary, spiritual leadership may indirectly predict teacher burnout through the mediating roles of career calling and emotional intelligence. Self−determination theory is a motivational process theory about individuals’ self−determined behaviors proposed by Deci and Ryan. The theory suggests that the social environment can boost an individual’s internal motivation by meeting basic psychological needs and facilitating the internalization of external motivation, which in turn influences individuals’ behavioral choices [46]. Therefore, based on self−determination theory and the previously described spiritual leadership theory, this study investigated the internal mechanisms of principals’ spiritual leadership on elementary and secondary school teachers’ burnout from the perspectives of individual characteristics and emotions and then verified the intermediary roles of career calling and emotional intelligence in the relationship between spiritual leadership and teachers’ burnout. This is critical for alleviating burnout and promoting sustainable teacher development in elementary and secondary schools. The hypothesized model is shown in Figure 1.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Participants

A purposive sampling method was employed in this study, and elementary and secondary school teachers in Heze City, Shandong Province, China were selected as participants. Questionnaires were distributed using the Questionnaire Star online platform, and prior to conducting the online survey, the researcher solicited the teachers’ willingness to participate, and informed them of the purpose of the study and the anonymity of the questions to be answered. A total of 454 questionnaires were collected. After excluding invalid questionnaires, 380 questionnaires were found usable, with an effective rate of 84%. Among the validly returned questionnaires, 87 (22.9%) were male teachers and 293 (77.1%) were female teachers, and the sample was dominated by female teachers. The descriptive statistics showed that 106 (27.9%), 181 (47.6%), and 93 (24.5%) respondents were aged under 30 years old, 31−45 years, and 46 years old and above, respectively. The teaching experience ranges were 5 years and below, 6−10 years, 11−15 years, 16−20 years, 21−25 years, and 26 years and above, with numbers and frequencies of 126 (33.2%), 80 (21.1%), 42 (11.1%), 24 (6.3%), 30 (7.9%), and 78 (20.5%), respectively. The survey data also showed that the numbers of teachers with junior title, intermediate title, associate title, and senior title were 214 (56.3%), 113 (29.7%), 52 (13.7%), and 1 (0.3%), respectively. The numbers of teachers with college degree, bachelor’s degree, and master’s degree or above were 42 (11.1%), 309 (81.3%), and 29 (7.6%), respectively. The descriptive analysis also reflects that 216 (56.8%), 128 (33.7%), and 36 (9.5%) teachers were from elementary school, middle school, and high school. Finally, 177 (46.6%) teachers were from rural schools, while 203 (53.4%) teachers were from urban schools.

3.2. Measurement

3.2.1. Teacher Burnout

This study used the Maslach Burnout Inventory−Educators Survey (MBI−ES) developed by Maslach et al. [47] and then revised by Wu et al. [48] according to the Chinese cultural context. The scale consists of 3 dimensions of emotional exhaustion (EE), reduced personal accomplishment (RPA) and depersonalization (DE), with 22 items, such as “I feel that teaching drains me emotionally and emotionally”, “Students are willing to talk to me when they have a problem”, “I feel that students are dissatisfied with the way I handle problems”. The Cronbach’s alpha values were 0.944, 0.933, and 0.817, respectively. The scale is scored on a Likert 7−point scale (1 for never and 7 for always), where the reduced personal accomplishment dimension is reverse scored. Higher scores indicate greater burnout.

3.2.2. Spiritual Leadership

This study adopted the Spiritual Leadership Questionnaire developed by Tang et al. [49] based on the Fry Scale [22] and modified it for the Chinese context. The scale consists of 3 dimensions of vision (VI), hope/faith (HO), and altruistic love (AL), with 14 items, and was modified to fit the educational context, such as “I understand and am committed to the vision of my school” “I am persistent and willing to go the extra mile to help my school succeed because I have faith in my school” “School leaders communicate with teachers from time to time to find out what teachers think,” etc. The Cronbach’s alpha values were 0.942, 0.955, and 0.919, respectively. The scale is scored on a Likert 5−point scale (1 means completely disagree, 5 means completely agree), with higher scores indicating a more pronounced spiritual leadership style.

3.2.3. Career Calling

The Brief Calling Scale (BCS), developed by Dik et al. [50] and translated by Zhang [51] through a two−way translation, was used in this study. The scale consists of 2 dimensions of BCS−Presence (PR) and BCS−Search (SE), with 4 items, modified for educational contexts, such as “I have a calling for the teaching profession”, and “I am trying to figure out my calling in my career”. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.920 in one case and 0.951 in the other. The scale is scored on a Likert 7−point scale (1 means very disagree, 7 means very agree), with higher scores indicating a stronger career calling.

3.2.4. Emotional Intelligence

The Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) developed by Wong and Law [38] was used in this study. The scale consists of four dimensions: self emotional appraisal (SEA), others’ emotional appraisal (OEA), use of emotion (UE), and regulation of emotion (RE), with 16 items, such as: “I know my emotions well” “I have a good insight into others’ feelings and emotions “ “I often encourage myself to do my best” “I can control my temper when I encounter difficulties”. The Cronbach’s alpha values for the subscales were 0.939, 0.938, 0.917, and 0.945, respectively. The Cronbach’s alpha value for the emotional intelligence scale was 0.879. The scale is scored on a Likert 5−point scale (1 means strongly disagree, 5 means strongly agree), with higher scores indicating greater emotional intelligence.

3.2.5. Control Variables

Gender was added as a control variable, since studies revealed that gender significantly influenced job burnout [52], career calling [53], and emotional intelligence [54]. Similarly, the control variables also included age, as age also had an effect on job burnout [55], career calling [56,57], and emotional intelligence [58]. By including gender and age as control variables, this study effectively addresses any potential confounding factors they might introduce in relation to the endogenous variables. This adjustment enables us to examine the unique impacts of the variables under study, thereby enhancing the robustness and accuracy of our research findings.

3.3. Data Analysis

SPSS 26 and SmartPLS 4.0 were used as statistical tools in this study to assess the data through partial least squares modeling (PLS−SEM). PLS−SEM is recommended to analyze the data due to the formative measures in the research model [59]. Hair et al. [59] suggests employing PLS−SEM to predict the effects of dependent variables and the relationships between variables. This method has gained widespread attention in the field of educational research. Therefore, the method was chosen for this study.

4. Results

4.1. Common Method Bias

When examining causal relationships between exogenous and endogenous variables, common method bias (CMB) may occur if the same methods are employed for measurement [60]. We used both procedural and statistical approaches to process the data to avoid CMB. In terms of procedural design, the researchers explained to the respondents that this survey was anonymous, that the results of the survey had no impact on individuals, and that the options were not right or wrong. Also, when designing the questionnaire, the researchers distinguished the scoring ranges of exogenous and endogenous scales. For the statistical analysis procedure, we used the full collinearity test proposed by Kock [61]. According to this approach, a variance inflated factor (VIF) value greater than 5.0 indicates a serious concern with CMB. The VIF values for this study, presented in Table 1, were all found to be less than 5.0. Therefore, this study was not affected by CMB.

4.2. Measurement Model

Following the approach proposed by Anderson and Gerbing [62], a two−step procedure was implemented to analyze the mediating effects, i.e., the measurement model and the structural model.

4.2.1. Measurement Model (Reflective)

Construct reliability and convergent and discriminant validity were conducted to assess the measurement model. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients (CA) were examined in the study to assess the construct reliability. In addition, composite reliability (CR) tests were performed to determine the reliability of the constructs. The values of CA and CR are shown in Table 2 for VI (0.942, 0.963), HO (0.955, 0.965), AL (0.919,0.965), PR (0.920,0.961), SE (0.951, 0.976), SEA (0.939, 0.957), OEA (0.938, 0.956), UE (0.917, 0.942), RE (0.945, 0.961), EE (0.944, 0.954), RPA (0.933, 0.946), and DE (0.817, 0.872), respectively. Emotional intelligence is a reflective higher−order construct, according to the measurements of Iliceto and Fino [63], and SEA, OEA, UE, and RE are lower−order constructs. According to Table 2, the CA and CR values for emotional intelligence were 0.879 and 0.916. According to Hair et al. [59], construct reliability is established if the values of CA and CR are higher than 0.70. This study found that these values exceeded the criteria suggested by Hair et al. [59], indicating that construct reliability has been established. According to Hair et al. [64], loadings greater than 0.5 are acceptable. As shown in Table 2, all indicators scored above 0.5 except VI4, VI5, HO2, and DE5, which were eliminated due to low loading. We tested the convergent validity by obtaining the AVE. From Table 2, and found that the values of AVE ranged from 0.583 to 0.953, all of which exceeded the 0.50 criteria, indicating that convergent validity was established. We investigated discriminant validity with the heterotrait–monotrait (HTMT). Discriminant validity was established if HTMT values were less than or equal to 0.90 [65]. Table 3 shows that all HTMT values were less than 0.90, indicating that the measurement model had obtained satisfactory discriminant validity.

4.2.2. Measurement Model (Formative)

As measured by Fry et al. [66] and Yang and Fry [18], spiritual leadership is a formative higher−order structure, while VI, HO, and AL are lower−order structures. Dik et al. [50] and Zhang [51] showed that career calling is the formative higher−order structure of PR and SE. From the measurements of Anvari, Kalali, and Gholipour [67], burnout is a formative higher−order structure of EE, RPA, and DE. Therefore, the researchers adopted the formative measures advocated by Hair et al. [59].
VIF is frequently employed to evaluate the covariance of formative indicators. When the value of VIF is less than 5, it indicates that no covariance problem exists [59]. As shown in Table 4, the VIF values of all indicators meet the definition of Hair et al. [59], so there is no covariance problem. As suggested by Hair et al. [48], researchers need to assess the statistical significance and relevance of the indicator weights. Table 4 indicates that all lower−order constructs are significant, except for AL, which is not significant. However, Hair et al. [59] suggested that if the indicator weight is not significant, but its loading value is high (i.e., ≥0.50) or significant, then this indicator should be retained. Table 4 shows that although the weight of the AL indicator is not significant, its loading value is 0.871, which is greater than 0.5, so the AL indicator should be preserved. As proposed by Hair et al. [59], we further evaluated each indicator’s relevance. The indicator weights fit the definition of Hair et al. [59] of the “−1 to +1“ interval. Thus, the data in Table 4 confirm that the convergent validity of the formative higher−order constructs has been established for spiritual leadership, career calling, and teacher burnout.

4.3. Structural Model

Since spiritual leadership, career calling, and teacher burnout were considered to be reflective−formative higher−order constructs, a two−step approach was implemented. Following the suggestion made by Hair et al. [59], we used a bootstrapping technique with 5000 samples. In the previous discussion, we have confirmed that the collinearity in this study is not severe, as all VIF values in this study are less than 5. Then the next standard evaluation criteria to be considered include the coefficient of determination (R2), effect size (f2), predictive correlation (Q2), and statistical significance and correlation of path coefficients.
First, the influence of control variables such as gender and age on the dependent variables was examined in this study. Results showed that gender had no significant impact on teacher burnout (β = −0.125, t = 1.231, p > 0.05), career calling (β = −0.020, t = 0.198, p > 0.05), and emotional intelligence (β = −0.020, t = 0.236, p > 0.05). Similarly, the effect of age on teacher burnout (β = −0.058, t = 1.433, p > 0.05), career calling (β = 0.018, t = 0.429, p > 0.05), and emotional intelligence (β = 0.012, t = 0.323, p > 0.05) was not significant. Next, the researchers evaluated the research hypothesis. The results of direct and indirect effects in this study are presented in Table 5 and Figure 2. Five direct hypotheses were tested in this study. The results of the PLS−SEM study are as follows. (H1) Spiritual leadership has a negative and significant effect on teacher burnout (β = −0.186, t = 2.974, p < 0.01). (H2) Spiritual leadership has a positive and significant impact on career calling (β = 0.642, t = 20.437, p < 0.01). (H3) Career calling has a significant negative impact on teacher burnout (β = −0.254, t = 3.750, p < 0.01). (H5) Spiritual leadership has a positive significant influence on emotional intelligence (β = 0.677, t = 22.754, p < 0.01). (H6) Emotional intelligence has a negative significant effect on burnout (β = −0.318, t = 4.454, p < 0.01). According to Chin [68], the R2 value should be larger than 0.1. Table 5 illustrates that the R2 values of all endogenous variables are within the defined threshold. The results found that 44.6% variance occurred in teacher burnout, interpreted by spiritual leadership, career calling, and emotional intelligence, 40.8% variance occurred on career calling by spiritual leadership, and 45.4% variance occurred in emotional intelligence by spiritual leadership. As suggested by Cohen [69], effect sizes were determined by f2 values, which were described as small, medium, and large when the f2 values were 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35, respectively. The results indicated that spiritual leadership had a large effect on career calling (f2 = 0.700) and emotional intelligence (f2 = 0.842), while spiritual leadership, career calling, and emotional intelligence had a small impact on job burnout. These results support hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H5, and H6.
To enhance the predictive power, two mediating variables were introduced within the research framework: career calling and emotional intelligence. Preacher and Hayes [70] suggested that a way to determine if an indirect effect holds is to check that the upper and lower confidence intervals do not have zero. The results indicated that (H4) the indirect impact of career calling on the relationship between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout was negative and significant, β = −0.163, t = 3.780, p < 0.01. Since the results did not have zero between the lower and upper confidence intervals, hypothesis H4 was supported. Additionally, (H7) the indirect impact of emotional intelligence on the relationship between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout was negative and significant, β = −0.215, t = 4.301, p < 0.01. Similarly, research hypothesis H7 was supported.
In addition, following the suggestion of Chin [71], we used the predictive correlation Q2 to calculate the predictive accuracy of the structural model. The value of Q2 was obtained by the blindfolding procedure. If the value of the endogenous structure Q2 is greater than zero, it indicates that the structural model has predictive accuracy. According to Hair et al. [59], Q2 values greater than 0, 0.25, and 0.50 indicate small, medium, and large predictive relevance of the PLS−path model. The data in Table 5 indicate that all values of Q2 are greater than 0, indicating that Q2 refers to sufficient predictive relevance. In addition, the Q2 for the SL −> CC and SL −> EI path models are greater than 0.25, indicating that they have medium predictive relevance.

5. Discussion

Teacher burnout is an important factor affecting the sustainability of education in the 21st century [7]. Teachers with chronic burnout will be less engaged in education and teaching and will become apathetic and impatient with students [72], which will prevent students from developing the knowledge, skills, and values needed for sustainable development. In recent years, academics have begun to explore ways to alleviate teacher burnout from the perspective of organizational leadership behaviors. Therefore, this study explored the correlation between spiritual leadership and burnout among elementary and secondary school teachers in a Chinese context and the mediating roles of career calling and emotional intelligence.
Spiritual leadership is a new leadership construct in the field of leadership theory and organizational behavior. This study explored the relationship between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout in Chinese elementary and secondary schools, and the findings demonstrated that spiritual leadership significantly and negatively affected teacher burnout. This result is consistent with the findings of Fry and Yang [73] and Pong [74]. Spiritual leadership aims to focus on teachers’ spirituality in the workplace, meet their spiritual needs [16], improve teachers’ self−efficacy [75], stimulate teachers’ enthusiasm for work, promote teachers’ spiritual well−being, and reduce teachers’ burnout [76,77].
Further research suggests that spiritual leadership indirectly influences teacher burnout through career calling. Spiritual leadership satisfies teachers’ spiritual needs and demonstrates selfless care for them, which stimulates the inner motivation of teachers and enables them to have higher confidence and enthusiasm for teaching and working ability, thus enhancing their career calling [78]. When teachers with a high career calling perceive humanistic care and warmth, they feel a strong motivation and engagement in carrying out sustainable development education, a strong identity and responsibility for teaching work, and aspiration to realize self−worth and social value through hard work [79]. Teachers with a high career calling are able to self−internalize the objective successes they have achieved professionally into positive subjective success experiences [80]. With a strong career calling, they are more committed to the teaching profession and are not prone to job burnout [81]. Thus, career calling acts as a mediator between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout. Spiritual leadership alleviates teacher burnout by stimulating teachers’ career calling. The results of the study confirmed this mediating hypothesis.
The findings also validated the second mediating relationship, that is, spiritual leadership alleviates teacher burnout by enhancing teachers’ emotional intelligence. Spiritual leadership enables teachers to feel supported by school leaders in their work through organizational behaviors such as vision motivation, caring, and trust in teachers, which in turn enhances teachers’ confidence and self−efficacy in accomplishing their teaching tasks [82], helps teachers generate positive affective experiences, and enhances teachers’ emotional intelligence [83,84]. Teachers’ positive emotions provide continuous motivational support for them to engage in sustainable development education [1]. Teachers with high emotional intelligence have a well−developed ability to assess the emotions of self and others. In the face of stress and dilemmas, they are able to manage and apply their emotions well, respond to frustrations and dilemmas with positive behaviors, turn work stress into work motivation, and turn work crises into work opportunities, thus effectively alleviating teacher burnout symptoms [85,86]. Therefore, spiritual leadership alleviates teacher burnout by regulating teachers’ emotional intelligence.

6. Conclusions and Implications

Although transformational leadership, principal instructional leadership, and integrity leadership are negatively related to teacher burnout, less literature has examined the relationship between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout, and it was unclear how spiritual leadership affects teacher burnout. The objective of this research was to fill this knowledge gap. The study analyzed a sample of 380 elementary and secondary school teachers who evaluated their leaders’ leadership style and their own levels of career calling, emotional intelligence, and job burnout. The study found that spiritual leadership of principals had a significant negative effect on burnout of elementary and secondary school teachers. Moreover, the principals’ spiritual leadership was found to negatively affect teacher burnout by mediation of career calling and emotional intelligence.
Elementary and secondary school teachers, as agents of change, are able to influence and encourage the next generation to contribute to the sustainable development goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda [87]. Therefore, this study has some theoretical and practical value.
Theoretically, first and foremost, it provides a new perspective and new ideas to the related research of teacher burnout, enriches and improves teacher burnout theoretical research, and expands the research field and research results of teacher burnout. Second, the findings broaden the understanding of the intrinsic relationship between leadership style and teacher burnout and enrich the literature on spiritual leadership, thus enabling the value of spiritual leadership to be understood by more scholars and laying the foundation for further in−depth research on leadership theory in the field of education. At the same time, this study verified the intermediary role of career calling and emotional intelligence between spiritual leadership and teacher burnout, which led to a more thorough understanding of how spiritual leadership influences teacher burnout, thus enriching the research on the mechanisms of spiritual leadership on teacher burnout.
In practice, studying the relationship between spiritual leadership and burnout among elementary and secondary school teachers in the Chinese context is beneficial for both individual teachers and organizational management. From the perspective of individual teachers, the findings of the study are beneficial to Chinese elementary and secondary school teachers’ rational understanding of burnout, so that they can strengthen their self−assessment, find effective ways to prevent and alleviate burnout, and contribute to the development of high−level and high−quality elementary and secondary school teachers in China. Qualified and skilled primary and secondary school teachers provide equal and inclusive education for every student and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development education goals [88]. From the perspective of organizational management, the findings provide new ideas to the school administration department of elementary and secondary schools to scientifically manage teaching staff. Educational administrations have a clearer understanding of the impact of school leadership styles and behaviors on teacher burnout to enhance the principals’ spiritual leadership to stimulate teachers’ career calling and emotional intelligence, thereby alleviating teacher burnout and promoting sustainable teacher development. By fostering a generation of educated, involved, and active global citizens, elementary and secondary school teachers contribute to building a sustainable society for all.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, J.L.; Formal analysis, J.L. and S.-Y.J.; Investigation, N.J.; Methodology, S.-Y.J.; Supervision, S.-Y.J. and L.-K.K.; Writing—original draft, J.L.; Writing—review & editing, L.-K.K. and N.J. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. The review board of Heze University exempted the research for ethical approval, as it is a survey-based study. The study obtained the consent of participants, and they filled out the questionnaires willingly.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article; further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Sustainability 15 09343 g001 550
Figure 1. Hypothesized model.
Figure 1. Hypothesized model.
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Sustainability 15 09343 g002 550
Figure 2. Hypothesis testing.
Figure 2. Hypothesis testing.
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Table
Table 1. Full collinearity testing.
Table 1. Full collinearity testing.
ALDEEEHOOEAPRRPARESESEAUEVI
3.093 1.361 1.319 4.621 1.415 2.402 1.048 1.495 1.233 2.260 2.552 3.921
Note: Altruistic Love (AL); Depersonalization (DE); Emotional Exhaustion (EE); Hope/Faith (HO); Others’ Emotional Appraisal (OEA); Presence (PR); Reduced Personal Accomplishment (RPA); Regulation of Emotion (RE); Search (SE); Self Emotional Appraisal (SEA); Use of Emotion (UE); Vision (VI).
Table
Table 2. Construct reliability and convergent validity assessment.
Table 2. Construct reliability and convergent validity assessment.
ConstructItem CodeOuter LoadingCACRAVE
Vision (VI) 0.9420.9630.897
VI10.929
VI20.966
VI30.945
Hope/faith (HO) 0.955 0.965 0.847
HO10.907
HO30.916
HO40.915
HO50.931
Altruistic Love (AL) 0.9190.9430.805
AL10.872
AL20.914
AL30.885
AL40.916
Presence (PR) 0.9200.9610.926
PR10.961
PR20.963
Search (SE) 0.9510.9760.953
SE10.978
SE20.975
Self Emotional Appraisal
(SEA)		 0.9390.9570.847
SEA10.879
SEA20.936
SEA30.947
SEA40.918
Others’ Emotional Appraisal (OEA) 0.9380.9560.843
OEA10.873
OEA20.950
OEA30.940
OEA40.907
Use of Emotion (UE) 0.9170.9420.801
UE10.875
UE20.878
UE30.927
UE40.900
Regulation of Emotion (RE) 0.9450.9610.859
RE10.921
RE20.943
RE30.915
RE40.930
Emotional Intelligence (EI) 0.8790.9160.732
SEA0.859
OEA0.814
UE0.891
RE0.856
Emotional Exhaustion (EE) 0.9440.9540.720
EE10.846
EE20.878
EE30.858
EE40.855
EE50.874
EE60.798
EE70.902
EE80.771
Reduced Personal Accomplishment
(RPA)		 0.933 0.946 0.686
RPA10.683
RPA20.785
RPA30.867
RPA40.869
RPA50.880
RPA60.789
RPA70.868
RPA80.864
Depersonalization (DE) 0.817 0.872 0.583
DE10.876
DE20.721
DE30.880
DE40.742
DE60.554
Note: VI4, VI5, HO2, and DE5 were deleted due to low loading.
Table
Table 3. Discriminant validity assessment (HTMT).
Table 3. Discriminant validity assessment (HTMT).
ConstructALDEEEHOOEAPRPRARESESEAUE
DE0.361
EE0.412 0.410
HO0.880 0.378 0.351
OEA0.431 0.262 0.230 0.396
PR0.571 0.455 0.292 0.637 0.467
PRA0.603 0.390 0.393 0.600 0.620 0.505
RE0.410 0.415 0.242 0.495 0.426 0.563 0.507
SE0.375 0.193 0.230 0.331 0.328 0.410 0.359 0.278
SEA0.578 0.315 0.269 0.573 0.736 0.627 0.639 0.456 0.286
UE0.618 0.383 0.363 0.680 0.656 0.685 0.753 0.605 0.320 0.727
VI0.815 0.361 0.382 0.899 0.470 0.665 0.591 0.503 0.343 0.573 0.663
Table
Table 4. Convergent validity for formative higher−order constructs.
Table 4. Convergent validity for formative higher−order constructs.
Constructs Higher−OrderConstructs
Lower−Order		Outer WeightSample MeanT Valuep ValueOuter LoadingVIF
SLVI0.4980.501 4.5270.0000.9593.667
HO0.3900.385 3.3050.0010.9534.768
AL0.1730.172 1.6070.1080.8713.216
CCPR0.9140.910 21.5850.0000.9851.173
SE0.1860.187 2.5280.0110.5371.173
TBEE0.3180.314 4.1680.0000.5781.176
RPA−0.734−0.729 6.9730.000−0.8961.162
DE0.2510.245 3.0910.0020.6341.281
Note: Spiritual Leadership (SL); Career Calling (CC); Teacher Burnout (TB).
Table
Table 5. Hypotheses testing.
Table 5. Hypotheses testing.
HypothesisRelationshipBetaT Valuesp ValuesR2f2Q2VIF
H1SL −> TB−0.186 2.974 0.003 0.4460.030 0.215 2.142
H2SL −> CC0.642 20.437 0.000 0.4080.700 0.252 1.003
H3CC −> TB−0.254 3.7500.000 0.060 1.960
H4SL −> CC −> TB−0.163 3.780 0.000
H5SL −> EI0.677 22.754 0.000 0.4540.842 0.321 1.003
H6EI −> TB−0.318 4.454 0.000 0.087 2.122
H7SL −> EI −> TB−0.215 4.301 0.000
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Li, J.; Ju, S.-Y.; Kong, L.-K.; Jiang, N. A Study on the Mechanism of Spiritual Leadership on Burnout of Elementary and Secondary School Teachers: The Mediating Role of Career Calling and Emotional Intelligence. Sustainability 2023, 15, 9343. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129343

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Li J, Ju S-Y, Kong L-K, Jiang N. A Study on the Mechanism of Spiritual Leadership on Burnout of Elementary and Secondary School Teachers: The Mediating Role of Career Calling and Emotional Intelligence. Sustainability. 2023; 15(12):9343. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129343

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Li, Jing, Soon-Yew Ju, Lai-Kuan Kong, and Nana Jiang. 2023. "A Study on the Mechanism of Spiritual Leadership on Burnout of Elementary and Secondary School Teachers: The Mediating Role of Career Calling and Emotional Intelligence" Sustainability 15, no. 12: 9343. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129343

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