Primary Sources of Job Burnout Among University Teachers in China and Its Impact

Hu Yue

(English Department Tianhua College Shanghai Normal University，Shanghai201815)

Ⅰ．Introduction

Ever since the term “burnout”began to appear with some regularity in the 1970s in America(Maslach，Schaufeli＆Leiter，2001)，the exploration and investigation over this issue never ceases．As evidenced in some national surveys of university professors，the academia is no longer a comparatively low-stress working environment due to both mounting workload and an overwhelming pressure to publish and acquire external research funding(Watts＆ Robertson，2011)．

Examining sources of job burnout among university teachers as well as its detrimental impact upon them would help us come up with possible supporting measures to reduce and alleviate the burnout level．Therefore，the purpose of the present study is to employ qualitative research design methodologies in order to locate possible factors that bring forth burnout among university teaching faculty and sort out possible impact of burnout．With these issues in mind，the following 3 research questions are put forward to guide this study:(1)What are the primary sources of job burnout for university teachers?(2)How does burnout impact their teaching，their relationships with students，their relationships with other faculty and turnover?(3)What supporting measures are needed to mitigate their burnout?

Compared with volume of studies that handle sources and outcome，only a few studies are interested in interventions that would help reduce burnout among employees，still less in implementing measures at organizational level given that individual change is easier to be realized than organizational change．

Despite the extensive amount of literature in this field in US，the burnout study in China is still in its infant stage．Furthermore，to date the university staff still remains to be the understudied occupational group as far as burnout is concerned(Lackritz，2004)no matter whether in China or in US．Another potential gap in the existing teacher burnout literature is the preponderant reliance on quantitative methods．A qualitative approach with open-ended probes and observation factually would allow interviewees to report the meaning of stress from their own perspective，thus shedding more light upon our understanding of this term in a deeper sense．By employing a qualitative approach to study burnout among university professors in China，this research would benefit not only the university teaching staff in the sense of informing them of possible ways to combat burnout，but also the administrators of higher education because they would be more aware of the key to improving productivity and reducing turnover rate in college．

Ⅱ．Methodology

1．Research design

The present study uses collective case study because two cases that are selected are unique to a certain extent．No survey was done prior to the sample selection;therefore，it’s hard to ensure these two cases share commonalities that usually would be identified by phenomenology．Consistent with what’s done in case study，this pilot research intends to investigate multiple cases in real-life setting，trying to see via their eyes sources of burnout as well as its effects．

2．Participants

Two teachers from a public 4-year college in Shanghai were chosen as subjects through convenience sampling．To ensure anonymity and confidentiality of the information，they’re referred to as A and B respectively in the paper．Both of them are female and middle-aged．A has 7 years of teaching experience in this college and at present is seeking the position of associate professor．She mainly teaches undergraduate students in this college．Besides，she is also in charge of master programs in Student Affairs．B has been working in this col-lege for 15 years．In addition to shouldering teaching responsibilities，she has also taken different types of administrative roles here，such as assistant dean，associate dean and intern dean．Currently，she works as the department chair and assistant dean in the School of Education．She obtained the title of associate professor 5 years ago．

3．Interviews and observations

Data are collected via semi-structured interviews I conducted separately with each subject．The face-to-face interview occurred in the interviewee’office and lasted about half an hour．Each interview was audio-taped and transcribed verbatim to facilitate subsequent data analysis．The interview protocol was sent to participants in advance so that they could make some preparation for these questions．The semi-structured mode allows me to probe into what I intend to know in an in-depth manner while at the same time maintaining a feeling of openness and flexibility．

In order to corroborate what’s obtained from interview，observation was done afterwards．Participant A was observed once when she was teaching and the observation lasted 2 hours and a half．Participant B was observed three times during her class，each of which also lasted 2 hours and a half．All the observations were noted with field notes，which are used for triangulation in data analysis．

Ⅲ．Findings

1．Sources of burnout

Neither of them admitted they experienced burnout in their current academic position，which is also proved by evidences gathered from classroom observation．I observed the classroom instruction of both interviewees once respectively．Each observation lasted about 2 hours and a half．During observation time，interviewee A was confident and enthusiastic about her teaching．With excellent time management，she ran her class in a pretty efficient manner．Besides imparting what she expected her students to know，she also welcomed students to express their viewpoints on a free basis，thus，her instruction is engaging and full of sparkling thoughts．When students were arguing over some issues，she would listen patiently before making any claim．When discussion came to a deadlock or proceeded to a wrong direction，she would interrupt skillfully without embarrassing the class and then share her thoughts with students openly and earnestly．Instead of keeping students away，she was quite comfortable in striking natural chat with students even during break．As to interviewee B，what she displayed in classroom teaching also prompts me to come to the conclusion that she’s not feeling burnout for at least the teaching post she’s taking．

Despite the fact that they were not victims of burnout，they did mention some reasons why they didn’t feel burnout．Therefore，the absence of these attributes could be summarized as possible sources of burnout for university teachers in Chi-na．In addition，one interviewee said she felt burnout for her previous administrative role in college，so the cause she gave is also taken into consideration．Lastly，both said they felt overwhelmed sometimes，although only temporarily，thus，what they’d cited to account for their overwhelmed feelings is categorized into the list of sources too．

Lack of autonomy．Having autonomy in the job simply means one can decide over what he wants to do and how he does．When teaching faculty are given the right to choose their own pace of doing things，they would not be overwhelmed by unrealistic workload and endless deadlines．

Lack of social support．A explained in the interview that another reason that accounted for her enthusiasm in the work lies in the supporting ambience in the School of Education．

It stands to reason to argue that if a person works in a situation where people are indifferent towards each other，this person is more likely to suffer burnout．

Pressure of academic title．One prevalent pressure faced by university professors in China is academic title．In this college，a minimum of 3 articles on peer-reviewed journals which enjoy international prominence is a must for associate professor．In addition，professors are expected to obtain favorable teaching evaluation from students on a regular basis as well as provide satisfying services such as committee work．Failure to obtain the title of associate professor doesn’t not only mean lower salary，but also deprives this teacher of opportunity to obtain research grant．Thus，for those professors who are still seeking associate professor title，they’re faced up with immense pressure，both physically and mentally．

Health problems．B mentioned in the interview more than once that a person may suffer from burnout due to bad health condition．

Heavy workload．Both A and B admitted from time to time they felt overwhelmed due to heavy workload．

The job nature．Despite the fact that A didn’t experience burnout for her present job，she did show symptoms of burnout for the previous administrative job she took in a 2-year college．Therefore，the reason she attributed to burnout is worthy of discussion．As a matter of fact，she felt burnout for that job simply because of the job nature．When a job is monotonously repetitive and lacking in creation，it can’t guarantee a sense of fulfillment，which is quite essential．

2．Impact of burnout

When a person starts to demonstrate evidences of burnout，almost every aspect of his life is going to be affected．Four typical aspects that are affected emerge from the data collected from the interviews．

Upon classroom teaching．The burnout a professor suffers may result in low efficiency in classroom teaching．

Upon student-teacher relationship．The burnout a professor suffers may worsen the student-teacher relationship．

Upon relationship with colleagues．The relationship with colleagues could also be impacted by burnout．

Upon turnover．Since A did leave because of the burnout she felt for her previous job，it makes sense to argue one potential effect of burnout is turnover．

3．Supporting measures

Supporting measures to reduce burnout could be categorized into 2 subcategories:(1)measures taken at individual level;(2)measures taken at organizational level．

Individual measures．Both A and B contended that communication is absolutely effective in helping people out of messy situation．By sharing your problems with people and being open about the difficult you’re current in，you are able to obtain not only the understanding but also the support．

Organizational measures．University could also play an important role in reducing the burnout level of teaching faculty．According to A，the college she words in has already taken concrete measures so as to prevent people from developing serious depression．

In addition to focusing on physical healthiness，the university has also concentrate on mental wellbeing of the teaching faculty．

Ⅳ．Discussions

The themes that revealed sources among college professors could be further grouped into 2 categories，individual factors and organizational factors．Health issue is the only individual attribute that can be identified from the interviews while the rest five attributes，namely，lack of autonomy，lack of social support，the pressure to obtain academic titles，heavy workload and job nature，could all be labeled as organizational causes，the location of which clearly validates previous literature(e．g．Friesen ＆ Sarros，1989;Goddard，O’Brien，＆ Goddard，2006;Lee，2011;Watts，2013)．

The fact that organizational factors outnumber individual factors，as shown in the interviews done with these two cases，is also consistent with the conclusion reached by Maslach et al．(2001)who state that burnout is more of a social phenomenon than an individual one．However，such a conclusion should be taken with caution because although the significant role played by these situational attributes is undeniable，individual factors are also important components that are worthy of consideration．One deficiency in extant studies that examine sources of burnout lies in the fact that a large majority of research focuses on a single burnout predictor—either situational attributes or personality variables(Barford ＆ Whelton，2010)．Therefore，results obtained from present study extend past research by combining both individual and situational factors in studying sources of burnout among college teachers in China．

The interview results successfully answer research questions also by showing serious impact that burnout would have upon classroom teaching，relationship between teachers and students，relationship between burnout professors and colleagues，as well as the turnover．Since interviewee A quitted her last job mostly because of the burnout she felt，it stands to reason to argue that burnout has positive relationship with teacher turnover，Such a conclusion is already confirmed in previous studies(Friesen，Prokop，＆Sarros，1988;Duke，1984)，which have found that both experienced teachers and new teachers who suffer from high level of burnout would have a higher likelihood of planning for，and actually leaving the profession．

As to supporting measures，interview data show that both interviewees realize the importance of taking actions both at individual level and at the organizational level．On one hand，sharing one’s issue via communicating and seeking professional help ensure more support would be lent from people around，in particular，people with professional knowledge about how to handle burnout．On the other hand，universities can also make a change in these burnout professors by offering timely help．

Ⅴ．Conclusions and recommendations

Through interviews and observations，the present study has examined possible attributes that might lead to burnout among college teachers in China and explored potential outcomes that result from burnout along with supporting measures both individual and organization could take so as to eliminate burnout symptoms．

However，the generalizability of the findings might have been limited．Neither A and B have mentioned they experience burnout for the current profession．In fact，the very first thing they assert at the very beginning is that they are not overwhelmed at all．Besides the reasons they refer to in the interview ，another possible guess is that people’s reluctance to acknowledge they are not feeling well．Subconsciously，these two interviewees are afraid of negative perception from the interviewer．That’s probably also one of the reasons for preponderant reliance upon quantitative methodology in burnout study to date．Compared with subjective interview in which interviewee can’t hide his/her identity from the interviewer，objective questionnaire makes anonymity possible，which allows interviewee to describe his/her situation in an unreserved manner and thus presenting his/her information more truthfully．This also points out one possible direction for future research．In order to collect more valid data from the interviewees，researchers could take advantage of quantitative research in the first place．That’s to say，questionnaires could be distributed beforehand so as to identify people who do feel burnout for the ensuing interviews．The follow-up interviews could tell us why these persons feel burnout and what consequences they suffer due to burnout．Thus，the mixed re-search design which employs questionnaires to locate potential burnout victims and then uses open-ended probes to obtain in-depth understanding of the burnout experience，would be，as a matter of fact，more helpful in shedding light on this issue．The integration of quantitative and qualitative research designs is recommended for future research．

Notes:

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