Nursery Teachers’ Emotional Labor And Its Relationship With Job Satisfaction And Intent To Leave

In Western countries, the economy has been changed from manufacturing type into servicetype since twenty to thirty years ago. In all types of service industries, the employees need tomanage their emotions to match the requirement of the organizations, hence the concept of“emotional labor”appeared. Emotional Labor is an emerging field of Western organizationbehavioristics and second language learning. Along with psychic science’s further exploring intohuman’s inward world, the researchers found that emotion had immense influence on human’slife and work. The phenomenon of emotional labor and its negative effect has got progressivelyaware. But most of the studies are focused on service industries, and very few concentrated onsuch profession as a nursery teacher. Nursery teachers are in the front line of teaching, and matchthe condition of professional and technical vocation which is”type of emotional labor”presented by Hochschild. Emotional labor not only influences on their own sound mind and body,and their work effectiveness, but also on their education objects–the children’s mind and body.Basing on the analysis of the home and abroad documents concerning emotional labor, thisstudy comes the relevant concept and theory of emotional labor, using questionnaire, targetingnursery teachers, makes initial research of their emotional labor and relationship and itsrelationship with job satisfaction and intent to leave. Through statistical analysis methods such asvariance analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis, etc., this study investigatesnursery teachers’emotional labor and its relationship with job satisfaction and intent to leave,and the intermediate role of job satisfaction between emotional labor and intent to leave.This study comes to conclusion in the aspects as follows:1. Generally, nursery teachers’emotional labor is in a higher level, the descending order in alldimensions of emotional labor’s average value is: passive deep acting, active deep acting,surface acting. As demographic variable, age, seniority, and title are key factors effectingnursery teachers’emotional labor.2. Nursery teachers’job satisfaction is in a higher level. In all dimensions, the average value ofnursery teachers’social desirability satisfaction is the lowest, average value of colleaguerelationship satisfaction is the highest. As demographic variable, age, marital status,education, character of kindergarten are fundamental factors effecting nursery teachers’jobsatisfaction. 3. Nursery teachers’intent to leave is in the lower level. As demographic variable, age, maritalstatus, seniority, title, organization, characteristic of kindergarten are key factors effectingnursery teachers’intent to leave.4. Surface acting of emotional labor and job satisfaction are negatively correlated in variousdimensions. Active deep acting and job satisfaction are remarkably positively correlated infour dimensions, passive deep acting and job satisfaction are positive correlated in fivedimensions, surface acting and intent to leave are dramatically positive correlated. Passiveand active deep acting are negatively correlated with intent to leave substantially. Jobsatisfaction and intent to leave are negatively correlated significantly in most of the ninedimensions.5. The character of kindergarten is the important demographic factor impact on teachers’intentto leave. Organizing satisfaction, passive deep acting, reward and interest satisfaction,colleague relationship satisfaction and working strength satisfaction have negative impactson nursery teachers’intent to leave.6. Organizing satisfaction and colleague relationship satisfaction have part intermediate effectbetween passive deep action and intent to leave.