The impact of influential others on student teachers’ dropout intention – a network analytical study

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have shown that the number of teachers in Germany is decreasing dramatically. In contrast, the rate of student teachers discontinuing their studies is rather high, and further increases the shortage of teachers. To address this issue, we investigated student teachers’ social support networks by using a social network approach. Guided by the social cognitive career theory, the mediating role of barriers (i.e. perceived disapproval of influential others towards the chosen career path) on the relationship between supports (i.e. social support quality) and students’ dropout intention was analysed. Data were collected from 165 German student teachers at the beginning of their studies and six months later. In summary, this study has identified students’ perception of influential others’ disapproval towards their chosen career path as a boundary condition for the indirect effect of social support on their dropout intention.

KEYWORDS:

• Social cognitive career theory
• social support
• social network analysis
• student dropout

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Carina Bargmann and the whole project team for their help in the data collection and management.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest concerning the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research [Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung] under Grant [number 01JA1609].

Notes on contributors

Stefanie Powazny

Stefanie Powazny is a phd student at the Department of Work, Organizational and Social Psychology at the Technische Universität Braunschweig in Germany. Her research interests concern students’ social networks and their effect on career-relevant outcomes.

Simone Kauffeld

Simone Kauffeld is a professor at the Department of Work, Organizational and Social Psychology at the Technische Universität Braunschweig in Germany. Her research interests concern various aspects, for instance, competences, team and leadership, career and coaching, and organisation and work design.