Job Demands, Social Support, and Burnout among Public Senior High School Teachers, Ghana

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the extent to which job demands and social support predict burnout of public senior high school (S.H.S.) teachers in Ghana, and to determine the mediating effect of job resources in the relation between job demands and burnout among these teachers. Employing a quantitative survey, 1028 public S.H.S. teachers were selected using purposive and voluntary sampling methods. A questionnaire adopted from pre-existing standardized instruments yielded composite reliability between 0.94 and 0.98. Data was analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and multiple linear regression. Results revealed a high level of job demands (M = 3.23, SD = 0.43), social support (M = 3.02, SD = 0.54), and burnout (M = 3.33, SD = 0.92) among the teachers. Also, multiple linear regression results indicate that job demands, and social support predict burnout of the teachers. Furthermore, social support is a partial mediator of the effect of job demands on teacher’s burnout. Therefore, perceived high level of burnout is an effect of high levels of job demands, which poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of these teachers and compromises teaching quality in Ghana’s S.H.S. However, this challenge can be prevented or reduced by providing more social support to the teachers. Hence, government, management, and other educational stakeholders need to provide a strong safety leadership in all matters that concerns teacher’s health and safety. The school administrators and teachers are also encouraged to promote social support vertically and horizontally.