Calling, character strengths, career identity, and job burnout in young Chinese university teachers: A chain-mediating model

Many studies have reported the risk factors of teachers’ job burnout. However, few studies have analyzed the potential positive factors, such as character strengths and calling, that may reduce job burnout and promote effective job-burnout interventions. Therefore, this study examined whether character strengths and calling could influence the job burnout of young Chinese university teachers. Moreover, it also examined the chain-mediating effect of calling and career identity on character strengths and job burnout. Data were collected from 447 young university teachers (under 39 years old) who completed the 12-item Brief Strengths scale, Chinese Job Burnout scale, three-dimension Calling scale (Employee version), and Career Identity scale. Results showed that: (1) character strengths significantly negatively affected job burnout, (2) calling played a partial mediating role between character strengths and job burnout, and (3) career identity mediated the relationship between calling and job burnout. Therefore, character strengths not only have a direct influence on job burnout, but also through the mediating chain of calling and career identity. In conclusion, young university teachers should focus on using their character strengths to improve their calling, enhance their career identity, and reduce job burnout. Relevant suggestions for university leaders, administrators, counselors, and future researchers are also offered.