Examining the Relationships Between Job Characteristics, Emotional Regulation and University Teachers’ Well-Being: The Mediation of Emotional Regulation

Abstract

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This study investigated the associations between university teachers’ emotional job demands, teaching support, and well-being, and examined the mediating effect of emotional regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal and suppression) in the job demands-resources (JD-R) model. The results of a survey of 643 university teachers in mainland China indicated that emotional job demands and teaching support, which facilitated teachers’ use of reappraisal strategies, had desirable effects on their well-being. Reappraisal was beneficial to teachers’ well-being, and suppression was harmful. These findings support the mediation role of emotional regulation, and evidence the applicability of the JD-R model to a higher education context.

Keywords

• emotional job demands
• teaching support
• emotional regulation strategies
• well-being
• ill-being
• the job demands-resources model