Petrović, Dora (2025) Profili ličnosti učitelja u ranoj fazi karijere te njihova radna angažiranost i sagorijevanje. PhD thesis, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Filozofski fakultet.
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Abstract
Cilj ove doktorske disertacije bio je identificirati profile ličnosti učitelja u ranoj fazi karijere te ispitati razlike u njihovoj radnoj angažiranosti i sagorijevanju. Istraživanje je provedeno u okviru istraživačkog projekta „Uloga ličnosti, motivacije i socio-emocionalnih kompetencija u profesionalnoj dobrobiti učitelja u ranoj fazi karijere“ koji je financirala Hrvatska zaklada za znanost. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 599 predmetnih učitelja s do 5 godina radnog iskustva u nastavi koji su ispunili mrežni upitnik distribuiran putem e-pošte. Pomoću analize latentnih profila identificirani su profili dimenzija i faceta ličnosti učitelja u okviru modela velikih pet (Soto i John, 2017a), a razlike u radnoj angažiranosti i sagorijevanju ispitane su primjenom BCH metode. Identificirana su četiri distinktivna profila dimenzija ličnosti: otporni (59.90 %), izrazito otporni (25.65 %), prosječni (9.52 %) i kontrolirajući (4.93 %). Isti profili identificirani su na temelju faceta ličnosti, ali je njihov redoslijed zastupljenosti bio izmijenjen. Izrazito otporni učitelji iskazali su najvišu radnu angažiraniranost i najniže sagorijevanje, dok su učitelji prosječnog profila imali najnižu radnu angažiranost i najviše sagorijevanja. Na razini pojedinih aspekata radne angažiranosti i simptoma sagorijevanja dobiveni su diferencirani rezultati koji su omogućili dubinski uvid u dinamiku dimenzija i faceta ličnosti pojedinog profila u odnosu s profesionalnom dobrobiti. Rezultati naglašavaju važnost razvoja diferenciranih strategija podrške učiteljima u ranoj fazi karijere kako bi se povećala njihova dobrobit i zadržavanje u profesiji. --------------- IN ENGLISH: The aim of this doctoral dissertation was to identify personality profiles of early-career teachers and to examine differences in their work engagement and burnout. The study was conducted within the research project “The role of personality, motivation and socio-emotional competences in early-career teachers’ occupational well-being”, funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. A total of 599 subject teachers with up to five years of teaching experience participated in the study by completing an online questionnaire distributed via e-mail. Using latent profile analysis, teacher personality profiles were identified based on the Big Five model (Soto & John, 2017a), and differences in work engagement and burnout were examined using the BCH method. Four distinct personality profiles were identified: resilients (59.90%), highly resilients (25.65%), ordinaries (9.52%), and overcontrollers (4.93%). The same profiles were identified based on personality facets, although their prevalence ranking differed. Highly resilients showed the highest work engagement and the lowest burnout, whereas ordinaries demonstrated the lowest work engagement and the highest burnout. At the level of specific aspects of work engagement and burnout symptoms, differentiated results were obtained, providing an in-depth insight into the dynamics of personality dimensions and facets within each profile in relation to occupational well-being. The findings highlight the importance of developing differentiated support strategies for early-career teachers in order to enhance their well-being and retention in the profession. --------------- EXTENDED SUMMARY: Introduction. The global teacher shortage is an increasingly urgent issue, posing a serious threat to the quality of education. This crisis is driven by both the declining attractiveness of the teaching profession and high attrition rates. Croatia is no exception, with subject teachers in STEM fields being particularly affected (Domović & Drvodelić, 2024). The beginning years of teaching are especially critical, as this is when most teachers decide whether to remain in the profession or leave (Fantilli & McDougall, 2009; Van Den Borre et al., 2021). Teachers' occupational well- being has been identified as a key factor in their retention in the profession (Madigan & Kim, 2021a). At the same time, the teaching profession is recognized as one of the most stressful occupations, with teachers being at high risk of compromised well-being (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2009). Moreover, teachers' professional well-being is essential not only for their own health but also for the quality of their instruction and their students' academic success (Hakanen et al., 2006; Madigan & Kim, 2021b). While teachers' well-being is influenced by both individual and contextual factors, research has predominantly focused on the latter (Angelini, 2023), leaving personal determinants an area still in need of further exploration. Although research interest in the role of personality in explaining aspects of teachers' occupational well-being is increasing, recent meta-analyses on the relationship between personality and teacher burnout remain inconclusive (Kim et al., 2019; Roloff et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2022). Furthermore, studies on the relationship between personality and teacher work engagement are still scarce (Perera et al., 2018). Given that current findings cannot yet be generalized, there is a need for further research on personal determinants of teachers' occupational well-being (Kim et al., 2019). Additionally, existing research mostly relies on an outdated conceptualization of burnout (Maslach & Jackson, 1981), making it important to explore the relationship between personality and a more recent burnout model that includes four distinct symptoms (Schaufeli et al., 2020). Similarly, the adaption of work engagement for the teaching profession was developed only a decade ago (Klassen et al., 2013), and further research is needed to clarify its relationship with teachers' personality. Research on teacher personality often lacks a strong theoretical foundation in personality theories and does not incorporate recent methodological advancements in personality assessment (Gönz, 2017). This study addresses this gap by adopting the Big Five model (Soto & John, 2017a), the Five-Factor Theory of Personality (McCrae & Costa, 1996, 2008), and the Job Demands-Resources Theory (Bakker et al., 2023) as its theoretical foundation. Furthermore, it represents a methodological advancement in studying teachers' personality and occupational well-being by employing a person-centered approach. To date, only one study has explored teacher personality profiles (Perera et al., 2018), and no research has specifically examined personality profiles of early-career teachers. Given the high attrition rates during the early years of teaching, a person-centered approach could offer valuable insights into the role of personality in teachers' occupational well-being. Beyond domain-level personality profiles, facet-level profiles provide a more nuanced understanding of personality structure and differentiation, yet remain scarce in the literature (Kokkinos et al., 2024). Facet-level analysis enables a more precise identification of personality profiles and enhances the accuracy of their interpretation, which are key objectives of the person-centered approach (McCrae & Costa, 2021). Despite its potential, only a few studies have identified personality profiles at the facet level, highlighting the need for replication of such profiles in teacher samples (Ratchford et al., 2022; Kokkinos et al., 2023; Kokkinos et al., 2024). Study Aim. The aim of this doctoral dissertation was to identify personality profiles of early-career teachers based on Big Five personality domains and facets and to examine whether teachers’ work engagement and burnout differ depending on their personality profiles. The study outlines three research problems. First problem was to identify personality profiles of early-career teachers based on personality domains. Second problem was to identify personality profiles of early- career teacher based on personality facets. And finally, the third problem was to examine the differences in work engagement and burnout among teachers across different personality profiles based on personality domains and facets. Methodology. Procedure. The study was conducted as part of the broader research project "The role of personality, motivation and socio-emotional competences in early-career teachers’ occupational well- being" funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. In the study paricipated early-career subject teachers employed in primary schools in Croatia, by completing an online questionairre distributed via e-mail. To ensure a representative sample of early-career teachers in Croatia, all public primary schools offering a regular curriculum (a total of 872 schools) were contacted and school principals assisted in the recruitment process of early-career teachers in their schools. Participation was voluntary, data anonymity was ensured, and informed consent was obtained before participation. The study was approved by the Ministry of Science, Education, and Youth, as well as the Ethics Committee of the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb and the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Sample. The study included 599 early-career teachers with up to five years of teaching experience, employed as subject teachers in 281 primary schools across Croatia, representing 32% of all primary schools in the country. On average, participants had 2 years and 7 months of work experience (M = 31.78 months, SD = 17.73). The sample predominantly consisted of female teachers (81%), with an average age of 31 years (M = 30.58, SD = 5.76). The sample was diverse in terms of subjects taught, covering 18 different school subjects. Instruments. Teacher personality was assessed using the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2; Soto & John, 2017). BFI-2 measures five personality domains and 15 personality facets, and consists of 60 items, with 12 items per personality domain and 4 items per personality facet. Participants rated their agreement with items describing their personality on a Likert scale. Work engagement was measured using the Engaged Teacher Scale (ETS; Klassen et al., 2013), which assesses overall work engagement and its four aspects: emotional engagement, cognitive engagement, social engagement with students, and social engagement with colleagues. The questionnaire consists of 16 items, with four items for each aspect. Participants rated how frequently they experienced or behaved in ways described in the statements on a frequency scale ranging from "never" to "always." Burnout was assessed using the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT-23; Schaufeli et al., 2020), which measures overall burnout and its four primary symptoms: exhaustion, psychological detachment, impaired cognitive functioning, and impaired emotional functioning. The extended version of the questionnaire, consisting of 23 items, was used. Exhaustion was measured with eight items, while each of the other three symptoms was assessed with five items. Participants rated how often they experienced the described feelings at on a frequency scale ranging from "never" to "always." Statistical analysis. The statistical analyses in this study were conducted in six steps using SPSS and Mplus. In the first step, the structure and mechanism of missing data were examined, and intraclass correlations (ICC1) were calculated. The second step involved analyzing descriptive statistics, assessing measure reliability, testing distribution normality, and calculating Pearson correlations. In the third step, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test factorial validity of personality, work engagement and burnout measures. The fourth step involved identifying latent personality profiles through latent profile analysis (LPA) at the domain and facet level of personality. Both confirmatory and exploratory approaches were employed, testing models with different variance and covariance constraints. In the fifth step, the structure of the identified profiles was described, and differences in personality domains and facets between profiles were tested using Wald’s test with Bonferroni correction. Additionally, the relationship between personality profiles and teacher gender was examined using multinomial logistic regression. In the final step, differences between profiles in work engagement and burnout were tested implementing the BCH approach. The differences were tested both at overall results and specific aspects of work engagement and burnout. In the model including work engagement, gender was added as a covariate. Results and discussion. At the personality domain level, four distinct personality profiles were identified: resilients (59.90 %), highly resilients (25.65 %), ordinaries (9.52 %), and overcontrollers (4.93 %). The resilient profile is characterized by high levels of extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness, alongside below-average negative emotionality. The highly resilient profile shares the same shape but exhibits significantly higher extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness, as well as significantly lower negative emotionality. The ordinary profile is characterized by average levels across all traits, while the overcontroller profile features average extraversion but above-average agreeableness, conscientiousness, negative emotionality, and openness. These personality profiles were replicated at the facet level, although their prevalence slightly changed: resilients (45.45 %), highly resilients (33.80 %), overcontrollers (11.18 %), and ordinaries (9.57 %). The facet-level analysis provided deeper insights into personality differences: among extraversion facets, energy was the highest in all profiles, particularly in resilients. Within agreeableness, trust emerged as the lowest-scoring facet, especially among overcontrollers. Additionally, anxiety stood out as an especially pronounced facet of negative emotionality in overcontrollers. Negative emotionality was the most differentiating trait at the domain level, whereas conscientiousness and extraversion were the least differentiating. At the facet level, negative emotionality facets and productivity distinguished profiles the most, while openness facets showed the least differentiation between the four profiles. Examining differences in work engagement and burnout revealed distinct patterns of occupational well-being across personality profiles. Highly resilient teachers demonstrated the highest overall work engagement, followed by resilients and overcontrollers, while ordinaries reported the lowest engagement. In cognitive engagement, all profiles differed significantly: highly resilients ranked highest, followed by overcontrollers, resilients, and ordinaries. Similarly, highly resilients showed the strongest emotional and social engagement with colleagues and students, followed by resilients and overcontrollers, who did not significantly differ, and with ordinaries reporting the lowest levels. Highly resilients reported the lowest overall burnout, followed by resilients, while overcontrollers and ordinaries experienced the highest burnout. The same pattern was observed for exhaustion, the primary symptom of burnout. However, overcontrollers and resilients did not differ in cognitive impairment, both experiencing it more frequently than highly resilients but less frequently than ordinaries. Highly resilients exhibited the lowest emotional impairment, whereas the other three profiles did not significantly differ. Psychological distancing varied significantly across all profiles, with highly resilients reporting the lowest levels, followed by resilients, overcontrollers, and ordinaries, who exhibited the highest levels. Conclusion. This study is the first to identify personality profiles of early-career teachers, including an analysis at the facet level. These findings offer deeper insights into the interplay of personality traits and facets in early-career teachers and their role in teachers' work engagement and burnout. By complementing previous variable-centered research, the results underscore the need for tailored support strategies to promote teachers' occupational well-being and retention.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Language: Croatian. - Title in English: Personality profiles of early-career teachers and their work engagement and burnout. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Učitelji u ranoj fazi karijere, ličnost učitelja, facete ličnosti, profesionalna dobrobit učitelja, pristup usmjeren na osobu (early-career teachers, teacher personality, personality facets, teacher occupational well-being, person-centred approach) |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| Depositing User: | Karolina |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Aug 2025 10:18 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Aug 2025 10:53 |
| URI: | http://idiprints.knjiznica.idi.hr/id/eprint/1228 |
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