The Relationship between Emotional Labor Strategies and Job Performance of Rotating Teachers: A Latent Profile Analysis

Background: In China, the policy of rotating teachers between urban and rural schools has been implemented to reduce educational disparities and ensure equitable access to quality education. These teachers face unique professional and emotional challenges during the rotation process, making their emotional labor a critical factor influencing their job performance. This study aimed to explore the relationship between rotating teachers’ emotional labor strategies and job performance. Methods: This study conducted a cross-sectional survey among 577 rotating teachers selected through stratified random sampling from primary and secondary schools in mainland China. Date were collected using the Teacher Emotional Labor Scale and the Teacher Job Performance Scale. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to identify distinct categories of emotional labor strategies: indifferent, moderately engaged, naturally invested, proactively adjusted, and emotionally elevated. Results: Teachers in the naturally invested and proactively adjusted types demonstrated relatively higher job performance scores, followed by those in the emotionally elevated type. In contrast, teachers in the indifferent and moderate engagement types exhibited comparatively lower scores (F = 25.858, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.153). These findings indicate a practical significance, suggestion that flexible and adaptive use emotional labor strategies is strongly associated with enhanced job performance. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that rotating teachers’ job performance differs significantly across distinct emotional labor profiles, with balanced and adaptive emotional regulation emerging as a key determinant of higher performance. By identifying and characterizing individual-centered emotional labor profiles, the study advances understanding of how emotional regulation contributes to teachers’ professional effectiveness. These results underscore the importance of providing systematic and personalized support to help rotating teachers develop adaptive emotional regulation skills. Targeted guidance should enable teachers to appropriately express and adjust their emotions, thereby avoiding both excessive and insufficient emotional labor and promoting sustainable professional development.