The Influence Of Rural Teachers’ Emotional Labor On Job Burnout

With the rise of rural revitalization,rural teachers’ material conditions,mental health,and work environment have received increasing attention.As a profession that requires extensive use of emotional labor strategies,rural teachers may face work-family conflicts and job burnout.The study of rural teachers’ emotional labor,work-family conflict,and job burnout can help to deeply explore the psychological characteristics of rural teacher groups,strengthen team building,and enrich the research of rural teachers in the context of rural revitalization in China.In order to explore the impact mechanism of rural teachers’ emotional labor on job burnout and the mediating role of work-family conflict between the two,this study was based on resource conservation theory,effort recovery model,and role conflict theory.Using the "Emotional Labor Scale","Work Family Conflict Scale","Gratitude Scale",and "Teacher Job Burnout Scale",Using the convenient sampling method,a questionnaire was distributed to rural teachers in Shandong Province,and420 valid data were collected.The data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0,PROCESS plugin,and AMOS 23.0.The research results are as follows:1.The scores of emotional labor and various dimensions of rural teachers are at a moderate to high level;Work family conflicts and their various dimensions are at a high level;The level of gratitude is at a moderate to low level;The level of occupational burnout is at a relatively low level.2.Rural teachers’ emotional labor,job burnout,work family conflict,and gratitude have significant differences in demographic variables such as gender,marital status,whether to serve as a class teacher,age and professional title.3.The emotional labor of rural teachers negatively predicts job burnout,with surface behavior dimensions having a positive predictive effect on job burnout,and deep behavior and natural behavior dimensions negatively predicting job burnout;Emotional labor negatively predicts work family conflict;Work family conflict is a positive predictor of job burnout.4.Work-family conflict has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between emotional labor and job burnout among rural teachers.5.Gratitude mediates the relationship between work family conflict and job burnout among rural teachers.Based on the conclusions,three relevant suggestions are proposed for rural teachers to rationally use emotional labor strategies and reduce the level of workfamily conflict and job burnout: providing emotional labor guidance and reasonable gratitude intervention;Attaching importance to teachers’ mental health and alleviating work-family conflicts;Optimize teacher development paths and provide corresponding organizational support.