The role of sense of mission in rural physical education teachers’ turnover intention: a moderated mediation model

The viability of the physical education teachers in rural areas is critical in the sustainability of the quality of the rural education system and the balance of holistic development of the students. Nevertheless, such teachers still experience a high turnover intention. In addition to external policy actions, other aspects need to be looked at internally on the psychological processes that lead to their readiness to stay in the job. The research follows the Job Demands-Resources Model and Resource Conservation Theory to develop a moderated mediation model and discuss the change of sense of mission on turnover intention among the rural physical education teachers. The research is aimed at examining the mediating variable of occupational burnout and the moderating variable of social support. Methods: Four hundred and thirty six physical education teachers in the township primary and secondary schools in Henan Province, Sichuan Province, and Gansu Province were surveyed by clustering sampling method. The Chinese versions of the Vocational Calling Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Perceived Social supportive Scale as well as Job leaving intention Scale were used as Research instruments. The SPSS 26.0 and the PROcess macro (Model 59) were used to analyze the data. Findings: The correlation analysis results demonstrated that there was a positive correlation between the sense of mission and social support, and a negative correlation between the sense of mission and occupational burnout and turnover intention. Sense of mission had a direct and indirect (through occupational burnout) decrease in turnover intention. Conclusion: The effects of sense of mission on burnout, and the effects of burnout on turnover intention are buffered by social support- this effect was the greatest in conditions of a low level of social support. Occupational burnout mediates the mediating role of sense of mission on the turnover intention, social support moderates the first stage (sense of mission to occupational burnout) and the second stage (occupational burnout to turnover intention) of the mediating process. The results point to a mediated moderation process and indicate that the stabilization of the rural population of physical education teachers should be done through reinforcing the sense of mission in the teachers and the creation of a strong social support network at the same time. These measures will assist in alleviating work burnout and eventually decrease the turnover probability.