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Primary school teachers in China: associations of organizational justice and effort–reward imbalance with burnout and intentions to leave the profession in a cross-sectional sample

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Abstract

Objective

We examined associations of organizational justice (OJ) and effort–reward imbalance (ERI) with burnout and intentions to leave the teaching profession (ILTP) among primary school teachers in China.

Methods

Six primary schools located in Wuhan, China, were randomly selected from three different socioeconomic areas in 2010. In total, these schools employed 533 teachers, and 436 of these (82 %) participated in a cross-sectional survey. OJ and ERI were assessed by 13-item and 10-item questionnaires, respectively. Burnout was measured using the emotional exhaustion subscale of the Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory. ILTP were operationalized based on the frequency of thoughts about turnover during the past year. Logistic regression-based odds ratios (ORs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated separately for OJ and ERI. In a second step, these work stress scales were entered into the same regression model.

Results

Separate regression models suggested moderate to strong associations of OJ and ERI with burnout and ILTP. After simultaneous adjustment, the overall OJ score remained associated with burnout and ILTP, but ERI appeared to be the stronger and more consistent determinant of both outcomes. For instance, an increase of 1 standard deviation of the ERI score was associated with an OR of 2.60 (95 % CI 1.97–3.43) for burnout and with an OR of 2.26 (95 % CI 1.66–3.08) for ILTP.

Conclusions

Organizational justice and in particular ERI appeared to be determinants of burnout and ILTP among primary school teachers in China.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Prof. Norito Kawakami and Prof. Mika Kivimäki for their invaluable support and suggestions related to the development of the Chinese version of the organizational justice questionnaire.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Medical Sociology, Centre for Health and Society, Medical Faculty, University of Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Adrian Loerbroks & Jian Li

  2. Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicine, Mannheim Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

    Adrian Loerbroks & Raphael Herr

  3. Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Heng Meng

  4. Wuhan Academy of Educational Science, Wuhan, China

    Min-Li Chen

  5. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Raphael Herr

  6. Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Medical Faculty, University of Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Peter Angerer & Jian Li

Authors
  1. Adrian Loerbroks
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  2. Heng Meng
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  3. Min-Li Chen
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  4. Raphael Herr
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  5. Peter Angerer
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  6. Jian Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adrian Loerbroks.

Additional information

Adrian Loerbroks and Heng Meng have contributed equally to this study.

Requests of the Chinese version of the Organizational Justice questionnaire and the Effort–Reward Imbalance Questionnaire to Dr. Jian Li.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 Exploratory factor analysis of the 13-item organizational justice questionnaire using principal axis extraction and varimax rotation
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Loerbroks, A., Meng, H., Chen, ML. et al. Primary school teachers in China: associations of organizational justice and effort–reward imbalance with burnout and intentions to leave the profession in a cross-sectional sample. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 87, 695–703 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-013-0912-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-013-0912-7

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