Moderating effect of work stress on the relationship between workload and professional identity among in-service teachers

This study examined the moderating effect of work stress on the association between teachers’ workload and professional identity. We hypothesized that teachers who report low workload with low work stress would present high professional identity, teachers who report high workload with high work stress would present low professional identity, and teachers with high work stress would present low professional identity. The model was tested using PROCESS macro in SPSS based on a large sample of 18,227 teachers from rural areas in five provinces of China. Results indicated that teachers’ work stress negatively affected the relationship between workload and professional identity. Contributions and implications for practice are discussed.