Investigating the relationship between psychological capital and deviant workplace behaviors with regard to the mediating role of burnout among elementary school teachers in Shiraz

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychological capital and workplace deviant behaviors via the mediating role of burnout among elementary school teachers in Shiraz.For this purpose, 349 teachers were selected by multistage cluster sampling and responded to a self-report questionnaire including the Psychological Capital Scale, Deviant Behavior, and Burnout.The technical properties of the scales were also verified.The findings showed that the components of psychological capital (self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience) have indirect negative effects through mediating the dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, pessimism, and inefficiency) which is statistically significant (p<0.01).The most indirect effect on workplace deviant behaviors (-0.14) belonged to resilience.Moreover, the most direct effect on deviant behaviors in the workplace was related to emotional burnout (0.32) which was statistically significant (0.01).Meanwhile, the explained variance of workplace deviant behaviors was 0.30.Meanwhile, in the fitted model, 30% of the variance of deviant workplace behaviors was explained by psychological capital and burnout.Overall, the results showed that strengthening psychological assets such as optimism, hope, self-efficacy and psychological resilience in primary school teachers greatly reduces their burnout, which reduces deviant behaviors in the workplace and develops individual and group behaviors of teachers in the workplace.