Preservice teachers' work stress, self-efficacy, and occupational commitment in four countries

Abstract

In this study, we examine the teaching-related stress, self-efficacy, and occupational commitment of preservice teachers from two culturally western and two culturally eastern countries. The sample included 1,187 participants from Canada (n0379), England (n0203), Hong Kong (n0211), and Thailand (n0394). Self-efficacy partially reduced (mediated) the effect of stress from student behavior and from workload on commitment in three of four contexts. Mediation tests with country as moderator revealed significant differences in the strength of the mediating effect across the four contexts. The results suggest that teachers' self-efficacy changes the way in which work stress influences the commitment to continue teaching, although cultural milieu influences the nature of the relationship according to context. © Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisboa, Portugal and Springer Science+Business Media BV 2012.