From anger to support: how decent work behavior affects emotional support and satisfaction

Purpose The educational literature is always hot on how to make a happy teacher and its influence on students. However, the mechanism of the impacts of decent work remains to be studied. To fulfill this gap, this research investigates the relation of teachers’ decent work behavior with students’ emotional support and satisfaction by mediators such as teachers’ organizational dehumanization, teachers’ anger and teachers’ undermining behavior. Design/methodology/approach About 180 responses were gathered in a four-wave design from the teachers and students of universities that were present in Punjab, Pakistan. The serial mediation was tested by using SPSS software (Preacher and Hayes’ PROCESS MACRO technique). Findings The results found that decent work behavior of teachers decreased their organizational dehumanization perception. Organizational dehumanization, anger and undermining behavior acted as mediators among decent work behavior, students’ emotional support and satisfaction. Practical implications This research is useful for policymakers, managers and educators because it suggests that decent work behavior can reduce dehumanization, anger and undermining behavior of employees. Further, managers can understand that dehumanization can directly and indirectly impact the employees; however, it can be handled by decent work, giving organizational justice, personal growth and training opportunities so that employees feel themselves valuable and important to an organization. Originality/value This is the first study to test the impact of decent work behavior in reducing organizational dehumanization, anger and undermining behavior among teachers while improving emotional support and satisfaction of students in the higher education sector of a developing country.