The boundary conditions under which teaching–research conflict leads to university teachers’ job burnout

ABSTRACT

Purpose – This study aimed to examine the boundary conditions under which teaching‌‌–research conflict influences university teachers'‌‌‌ job burnout. Methods – Data from 487 teachers of three universities in China were analyzed with structural equation modeling and other statistical approaches.‌ Findings – (a) Teaching–research conflict was positively linked to job burnout; (b)‌‌ perceived supervisory support (PSS) moderated the effect of teaching–‌research conflict on job burnout, and (c) psychological capital (PsyCap) moderated the effect of teaching–research conflict on job burnout. Implications – Universities should manage to increase teachers' PSS and PsyCap so as to buffer the effect of role conflict on job burnout. Originality/value –‌‌‌ Our findings stress the importance of PSS and PsyCap as important external and internal resources and offer new insights on the boundary conditions of teaching–research conflict influencing teachers’ job burnout.

KEYWORDS:

• Teaching–research conflict
• perceived supervisor support (PSS)
• psychological capital (PsyCap)
• job burnout
• moderating effect
• university teachers

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank reviewers and editors for their insightful comments on the manuscript of this article. We are also grateful for the participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is the phase achievement of the project ‘A Study on the Health Assessment and Public Service Supply of the Floating Elderly Population in Cities,’ supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number 19BRK009].