Interplay of psychological reactance, burnout, and spiritual intelligence: A case of Iranian EFL teachers

Abstract

Despite the fact that teaching has been construed as a profoundly emotional activity, scant information is revealed regarding the adverse emotional demands encountered by teachers or how these affect teachers’ well-being. The present study aimed to examine the relationship among teacher burnout, psychological reactance, and the mediating role of spiritual intelligence in a sample of 270 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. Three scales were employed to measure the aforementioned constructs. It was revealed that there was a positive association at the individual level between burnout and reactance, and negative associations between spiritual intelligence with burnout and reactance. Further, results of bootstrapping resampling procedure revealed that spiritual intelligence mediated the relationship between burnout and reactance. It seems that paying attention to the areas of spirituality is of particular significance; perchance, there is a sense of requirement for teachers to enhance spiritual intelligence for abstaining burnout. Findings accentuate the need for teacher training courses to raise awareness of emotional demands and implement strategies to promote emotion regulation skills in both experienced and recently qualified teachers.