A meta-analytical investigation on the relationship between emotional labour and teacher efficacy in the Chinese context

ABSTRACT

There has been no consensus in previous studies on the relationship between teacher emotional labour strategies and teacher efficacy. Considering the context-dependent nature of emotional labour, we synthesised past findings on this relationship through a meta-analysis in the Chinese context. Based on 17 studies with 8,547 Chinese teachers, emotional labour strategies (i.e. surface acting, deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotions) varied by their effects on teacher efficacy. Deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotions were significantly positively associated with efficacy whereas surface acting showed no significant relationships. Moderator analyses indicated that teaching levels significantly moderated the teacher efficacy-emotional labour strategy relationship.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher efficacy
• emotional labour
• Chinese context
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Data will be available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peishan Huang

Peishan Huang is a PhD student in Faculty of Education at University of Macau. Her research interests focus on early childhood education and teacher emotions.

Mingming Zhou

Mingming Zhou is now Professor in Faculty of Education at University of Macau. Her research interests focus on positive psychology, emotion, and motivation.