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IJEM
35,4
768
Received 2 August 2019
Revised 20 April 2020
14 December 2020
1 February 2021
Accepted 3 February 2021
International Journal of
Educational Management
Vol. 35 No. 4, 2021
pp. 768-788
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0951-354X
DOI 10.1108/IJEM-08-2019-0278
Teachers’ psychological well-being
role of emotional intelligence and
resilient character traits in
determining the psychological
well-being of Indian
school teachers
Kannu Priya Kamboj and Pooja Garg
Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee,
Roorkee, India
Abstract
Purpose – The substance of the present study lies in analysing the extent to which intrinsic factors like
emotional intelligence and resilient character traits impact the psychological well-being of school teachers. It
prominences the mediating role of resilient character traits in the relationship between emotional intelligence
and psychological well-being of teachers.
Design/methodology/approach – This cross-sectional survey study recruits a sample of 200 school
teachers across the state of Haryana, India, with the help of a convenience sampling technique.
Findings – The findings from parallel multiple mediation indicate perseverance as a significant mediator and
predictor of psychological well-being among factors of resilient traits, and self-reliance emerges as an
inconsistent, yet significant mediator in the relationship between emotional intelligence and well-being of
teachers. The direct effect of emotional intelligence on psychological well-being also emerged as statistically
significant. Additionally, the female school teachers show higher emotional intelligence and resilience as
compared to the male school teachers.
Practical implications – The research is not an unmitigated work in the exploration of a causal relationship
between the study variables. However, the study draws practical suggestions for improving the perseverant
and emotionally intelligent behaviour of teachers for better emotional and psychological adjustment at work. It
acknowledges the role of school administration and education policymakers in furthering the betterment of
teachers’ psychological state for improved performance and effectiveness. Also, teamwork, stress reduction
and leadership building appeared to be helpful contributors to enhance the perseverance and emotional
intelligence among teachers.
Originality/value – Studies in the field of school administration rarely address the psychological well-being
of school teachers as their concern. This study accentuates the impact of intrinsic antecedents of psychological
well-being, which is neither well conceptualised in Indian studies nor is causally related to any psychological
constructs. Therefore, it remarkably contributes to the literature in the field of educational management and
leadership, providing an insight into the psyche of teachers from “the Orient”.
Keywords Emotional intelligence, Meaningfulness, Perseverance, Self-reliance, Psychological well-being
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The cognitive, emotional and physical investment of teachers to sail through the challenges
of contemporary educational context has led to increased stress and burnout (Shukla and
Trivedi, 2008) consequently impacting their well-being at work. Psychological well-being
plays a pivotal role in teachers’ motivation for any academic or non-scholastic involvement
within the school. It also reinforces their job satisfaction, organisational citizenship behaviour
and self-esteem (Sehgal et al., 2017). Scholars have associated teachers’ psychological well-
being with health management environment and job satisfaction (Ho, 2000), workplace
spirituality, intentions to stay, teachers’ career choices (Aboobaker et al., 2019) and regulatory
focus at work (Brenninkmeijer et al., 2010). On the other hand, organisational psychology Psychological
studies have highlighted the role of personality traits and EI in employees’ psychological well-being of
well-being (Higgs and Dulewicz, 2014). The focus of such research work on different samples,
with little emphasis on teachers’ perspectives, led to scarce literature in the field of
Indian school
educational management in India. teachers
The Indian education system is at the pedestal of significant paradigm shift importantly
because of the change in social perception about significant educational stakeholders. The
increased displacement of aggression onto the teachers and school staff by students, lack of 769
inclination towards education reinforced by the lack of trust in schools and raised misuse of
child protection laws by both parents and children especially towards high school teachers
are in headlines often. Additionally, the expectations from the school administration have led
to the increased abdication of teaching jobs, heavy workloads, tension about job security,
lamentable student–teacher ratio and lack of healthy work–life balance deteriorating the
teachers’ work conditions. Unfortunately, the policymakers, educational administrators and
leaders pay little attention to the voice of teaching staff. Most policies and interventions in
education are student-centric or result oriented, including the new education policy. Amidst
such unsafe workplace environment, teachers are facing extreme difficulties managing their
work–life balance, work performance and consequently their well-being.
Different employee-related factors, such as, emotional intelligence (as a competency) and
resilience show association with teachers’ efficacy and well-being at work (Gu and Day, 2007).
Alongside, Western researchers designed various modules to elevate EI among pre-service
school teachers (Vesely et al., 2014). However, scarce literature addressing the antecedents of
psychological well-being, especially in the teaching profession motivated the present study to
address this research gap. Based on the interactionist perspective, emphasis on teachers’
attributes, values and traits as a contributor to their well-being forms the theoretical base for
the current research. Therefore, this study strives to explore: “How much do emotional
intelligence and resilient character-traits, namely meaningfulness, perseverance and self-
reliance, contribute to the psychological well-being of school teachers?”.

2. Conceptualisation of variables
2.1 Emotional intelligence (EI)
Over the past three decades, EI has been conceptualized in different ways by many theorists,
which includes the specific abilities approach, the integrative model approaches and the
mixed-model approaches to EI (Mayer et al., 2008). Though differently conceived, these
approaches to EI are complimentary and not exclusionary; therefore, it is difficult to outline
either perspective of EI as the ultimate solution. However, the integrative models approach
and mixed model approach gained substantial emphasis over past five years of research in
Indian educational management literature (Rajan and Subashini, 2019; Rao et al., 2018). The
lacuna of studies to emphasise equally on EI as an ability or a trait essential for efficient
teaching in schools motivates the authors to consider the idea of trait EI as proposed by
Schutte et al. (2009).
Schutte et al. (2009), based on the literature using their EI scale for over a decade, provided
confirmatory evidences to prove the four-factor structure of EI. The organizational literature
ever since the updated version of the Schutte et al. (2009) EI theory reported deviant results in
the factor composition of their measurement model. Yet the authors preferred to choose their
trait-based concept of EI because of the strong confirmatory evidence for the four-factor
structure and applicability of the concept in Indian organizational context (Chirania and Dhal,
2018; Arunachalam and Palanichamy, 2017).
Professionals enabled with the clarity about their and other’s emotions and emotional
experiences are likely to lead an emotionally healthy life (Schutte et al., 2002). They
IJEM emphasized that higher trait emotional intelligence is characteristic of higher positive mood,
35,4 having implications on the teacher’s well-being, coping, adaptation and engagement at work

2.2 Resilience character traits

Luthar et al. (2000) emphasised on the need to precisely define the perspective to
understanding resilience in a particular context, in order to draw meaningful inferences.
770 Therefore, considering the objectives of the present study, to emphasise on the intrinsic traits
of a teacher as predictors, the authors opportunely utilize the character-based perspective to
resilience among teachers. It is usually difficult to differentiate between “hardiness” and
“resilience character traits” prima facie; however, it is important to define their fundamental
characteristics for greater conceptual clarity. Hardiness is referred to the personality trait
associated with good health, perseverance and better performance in stressful times (Bartone,
2007). Resilience, on the other hand, differs from hardiness as it is predominantly the
morality-driven learned behaviour in terms of “character-trait” of an individual to fight (or
bounce) back in times of adversities and trauma, maintaining a healthy functioning life
(Wagnild and Collinns, 2009).
The present study, therefore, aims to emphasise on the character-based aspects of resilient
individuals with a focus on Wagnild and Young (1993) interpretation claiming resilience as
“indicating an individual’s emotional endurance and characterises persons who exhibit
courage and adaptability in the wake of crisis and life’s misfortunes”. They postulated five
different character traits of resilient individuals, namely equanimity, meaningfulness,
perseverance, self-reliance and existential aloneness. The present study, though, utilised the
three traits as extracted by Oladipo and Idemudia (2015) from the latter conceptualisation,
described as follows:
Meaningfulness, defined as “the understanding that life is meaningful and valuable”
(Oladipo and Idemudia, 2015), which indicates the presence of two common aspects of
meaningfulness in life, a global schema to perceive one’s life as meaningful and the belief
that there is an inherent meaning in life. In positive psychology, this construct has been
associated mainly with purpose, significance, fulfilment and attain a sense of purpose and
meaningfulness in interpersonal relationships (Frankl, 1978), and terror management
theory provides a way to find meaningfulness in life through human consciousness
(Greenberg et al., 1986). While hope theory relates it with self-control and self-esteem
(Snyder et al., 2002), narrative psychology emphasises the construction of life stories and
subsequent meaning-making processes as integral to the essence of the construct of
meaningfulness (Schiff, 2012). Maslow (1943) described it as one of our fundamental
life needs.
Perseverance is “the ability to keep going, even after setbacks” (Oladipo and Idemudia,
2015). When faced with difficulties and life challenges, people show different coping
behaviours, which are a reflection of their personal beliefs. If people can sail through in a
positive stride, despite adversities, they are considered to be perseverant. In schools, this trait
is of utmost importance for their staff as managing and dealing with children of diverse age
groups and their parents, require patience, endurance and ability to overcome various
emotional turmoil with a zeal to manage classrooms better.
Self-reliance, defined as “the belief that one is aware of their skills and limitations” (Oladipo
and Idemudia, 2015), emphasises the inner state of mind reflecting the confidence on one’s
potentials and abilities to cope with adversities. In an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1841),
the concept of “self-reliance” was introduced as a philosophy which needs to be cultivated
through our life experiences and is not an inherent capacity. A self-reliant school teacher can
juggle between different responsibilities, discipline her classroom and work progressively to
help students with their innovative learning techniques. However, in collectivist cultures like
India, the need to conform to the social norms, values and beliefs is high, leading to a threat in Psychological
the development of traits like self-reliance among individuals. well-being of
Indian school
2.3 Psychological well-being teachers
Disabato et al. (2016) ventured into conceptualising the construct of “well-being”, in
consequence outlined two essential dimensions: (1) hedonia, referring to the positive
emotional states like Diener and Emmons’ (1984) model of subjective well-being and (2) 771
eudaimonia, which refers to the presence of potentials and strengths built through meaning
making like Ryff’s (1989) multifaceted model of psychological well-being. Though the
suggestions for application of the integrative model of well-being gained prominence
(Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoic, 2012), yet the discriminant validity among several measures
of hedonia and eudaimonia concerns researchers over years. Disabato and his colleagues (2016)
empirically established that the higher correlation of eudaimonic well-being towards hope and
grit (involving goal-directedness) indicated the strife to attain one’s full potential as an essential
component of eudaimonic well-being. The strikingly important feature certainly hints the
meaningful goal-directed behaviour in eudaimonic well-being, as opposed to hedonia.
One’s evaluations and perceptions about oneself play a crucial role in their mental health,
impacting their well-being and work performance inevitably. Teaching, as a profession, not
only requires healthy subjective experiences and sense of happiness, but most importantly, it
requires teachers to be able to feel complete and gratified with their work, so as to connect
with students better for maximum positive outcomes. However, the composition of
eudaimonic well-being is still under-explored, but the concept of psychological well-being
by Ryff and Singer (2008) is, by far, the most comprehensively outlined model of
understanding the concept (Hui et al., 2018; Gangadharan, 2017), through eudaimonic
perspective. Therefore, the authors choose to operationalise psychological well-being using
Ryff and Singer (2008) eudaimonic view of psychological well-being as a multifaceted
construct involving six different dimensions.
Ryff and Keyes (1995) introduced a six-factor model of psychological well-being,
incorporating dimensions namely:
favourable evaluations of oneself and one’s past life (Self-acceptance), a sense of continued growth
and development as a person (Personal Growth), the belief that one’s life is purposeful and
meaningful (Purpose in Life), the possession of quality relations with others (Positive Relations with
Others), the capacity to manage effectively one’s life and surrounding world (Environmental
Mastery), and a sense of self-determination (Autonomy) (p. 720).
This conceptualization of psychological well-being is certainly debatable for being
incomplete, yet it forms a significant part of the eudaimonic well-being as it attempts to
define an individual’s perception about his/her ability to experience the euphoria of reaching
his/her full potential as an employee. Such perceptions about oneself with regard to one’s
work–life act as a major catalyst in boasting the performance and engagement at work (Zeng
et al., 2019; Adil and Kamal, 2016). Psychological well-being, in the present study, accentuates
the optimal psychological functioning, meaning and self-actualization teachers attain in their
work life experiences. Teachers, indisputably, require to have a balanced state of mind and
some meaningful experience leading to their goal to enhance significantly their students’
performance and achievement. Therefore, the scrutiny of teachers’ psychological well-being
by school authorities is the need of the hour.

3. Theoretical framework and hypotheses development

Inspired by the interactionist perspective, the present study postulates the significance of
individual capabilities and abilities in determining their well-being, health and motivation in
a given workplace with several adversities and difficulties (Denzin, 2016). Additionally, the
IJEM complexities of emotional development govern our decision of studying its impact on one’s
35,4 well-being, as suggested by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions by
Fredrickson (2004). It advocates that over time, positive emotions build one’s skills and
resources, by broadening their awareness and encouraging novelty and exploratory
thoughts and actions. Fredrickson and Joiner (2002) suggest that the upward spirals of
positive emotions usually counterbalance the impact of any adverse circumstances on an
individual, ultimately resulting in quality of emotional and psychological well-being. This
772 theory forms the conceptual background for the present study to investigate the impact of
emotional intelligence and resilience developed henceforth on one’s overall well-being.
Researches based in other workplaces raise concerns about the lack of serious thought on
the relationship between the present study variables (Rathnakara, 2014; Shaheen and
Shaheen, 2016). Barring a study by Ahuja (2014) on Indian business school faculties, little
have Indian scholars delved deeper into the importance of psychological well-being in
workplaces such as educational institutions. Studies in a western context involving these
variables are either student-centric (Landa et al., 2010) or conducted on other professions
involving equally high emotional labour, for instance, nursing (Montes-Berges and Augusto,
2007). Additionally, studies in educational management focus on either development of EI
through training or otherwise (Vesely et al., 2014) or on enhancing well-being (Cenkseven-
Onder and Sari, 2009), with little clarity about the causal relationship and its significance.
Literature in the field of educational management and administration indicates several
instances of the positive impact of having emotionally intelligent teachers in schools on their
students’ satisfaction (Maamri and Majdalani, 2019), students’ emotional regulation (Li and
Tian, 2019), teachers’ life satisfaction (Landa et al., 2006), pre-service teachers’ well-being
(Vesely et al., 2014), workplace social support and teacher burnout (Ju et al., 2015). This
literature conjectures implications of well-being and EI; yet significant research gaps
including scarcity of work addressing teaching population in India and lack of direct causal
association of EI and psychological well-being led the researchers to pave the following
hypothesis:
H1. Emotional intelligence positively relates to the psychological well-being of school
teachers.
Furthermore, Schneider et al. (2013) conducted a longitudinal study to accentuate that EI
ability facilitates increased positive and reduced negative affect, acting as a resilient stress
factor. Poulou (2007) has emphasised on the importance of social resilience, through social
and emotional learning framework in the teachers’ perception towards students social and
emotional competency building. Similarly, Maulding et al. (2012) highlight the positive
correlation between emotional intelligence, resilience and leadership characteristics among P-
12 school administrators. The relationship between emotional intelligence and resilience
among teachers relate to an extent with studies done on other professions, for instance, social
work students (Selwyn and Bhuvaneshwari, 2018) and Malaysian school teachers (Ngui and
Lay, 2020). Thus, literature, in the field of educational management and leadership indicates a
lack of studies on teacher-specific emotional and profession needs on their coping behaviour
and strengths.
While resilience is considered a mix of traits like meaningfulness, perseverance and self-
reliance, the literature fails to do justice to the interrelationship of these variables and its
causal relationship with emotional intelligence. Studies in educational management
emphasise on the aspects like meaningfulness of classroom experiences among students
(Thuen and Bru, 2000) and the impact of emotionally intelligent teachers on constructs like
student satisfaction (Maamri and Majdalani, 2019) and alike, as discussed above.
Additionally, Rothmann and Hamukangandu (2013) suggested that calling orientation
plays a significant role in promoting psychological meaningfulness and consequently work
engagement among school teachers. Similarly, another study by Robertson-Kraft and Psychological
Duckworth (2014) emphasised that trait-level perseverance predicts the effectiveness and well-being of
retention of novice teachers in school. However, research evidence does not throw light
accurately on the relationship of meaningfulness, perseverance and self-reliance with
Indian school
emotional intelligence among teachers. Therefore, considering the impact of each of these teachers
variables on teachers, the study hypothesises that:
H2a. Emotional intelligence positively relates to meaningfulness. 773
H2b. Emotional intelligence positively relates to perseverance.
H2c. Emotional intelligence positively relates to self-reliance.
Moreover, few pieces of research like a study by Pretsch et al. (2012) bring to light the positive
association between resilience and psychological well-being among teaching staff as opposed
to the non-teaching team in schools. Otherwise, resilience, as a concept, has been related to
one’s psychological well-being in rare studies. Various researchers have highlighted the
implicit role of some psychological constructs like optimism (Seligman, 2002), coping
(Richardson et al., 2013), internal locus of control, self-efficacy, self-awareness, finding
meaning in adverse situations and sense of purposeful living (Wilson, 2002) in the
relationship between resilience and psychological well-being. However, the literature
suggests little evidence explicitly supporting this relationship among the sample of school
teachers. Therefore, the present study hypothesises:
H3a. Meaningfulness positively relates to the psychological well-being of school
teachers.
H3b. Perseverance positively relates to the psychological well-being of school teachers.
H3c. Self-reliance positively relates to the psychological well-being of school teachers.
Additionally, a psychologically healthy teacher can make adjustments at work, shows
emotional maturity during classroom management, has high frustration tolerance, able to
have better problem-solving and decision-making abilities, has a higher sense of personal
worth and a greater sense of responsibility towards students’ academic learning. It reflects
the need for better emotional and personal skills and competencies among the school teachers
for effective functioning at work. Several studies have correlated psychological well-being
and teacher resilience with other psychological constructs like job satisfaction, work
effectiveness (Day and Kington, 2008), work engagement (Parker and Martin, 2009),
organisational learning process (Anderson and Sice, 2016), mindfulness-based training
(Mahfouz, 2018), and many more. Based on the broaden-and-built theory, an emotionally
intelligent teacher is bound to show higher resilience which signifies the ability one possesses
to overcome challenges in life as a part of the developmental process and enhances one’s
strengths and consequently improves well-being (Archana et al., 2017). It indicates the
relevance of training the teaching staff for better emotional and psychological strengths and
abilities, which eventually will impact their psychological well-being, hence benefitting the
educational institutions with a healthier and productive workforce. The present study,
therefore, attempts to explore the impact of EI on the psychological well-being of school
teachers, through the different resilient character traits, namely meaningfulness,
perseverance and self-reliance.
H4a. Meaningfulness mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and
psychological well-being.
H4b. Perseverance mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and
psychological well-being.
IJEM H4c. Self-reliance mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and
35,4 psychological well-being.

4. Research methodology
4.1 The setting of the study
The state of Haryana, India, is rambling in terms of literacy rate with just 75.55% in the 2011–
774 2018 population census, along with a significant divide in male–female literacy ratio.
Additionally, the worsening conditions of the primary education in this state have aggravated
the lack of academic calibre to compete with students from other states culminating into lack of
better opportunities and lack of faith in the education system to fetch a better living. The
increased drop-out rates of students have also been very rampant because of the lack of
teachers or infrastructure in schools. Lack of attention towards the needs of teachers had
reinforced a lack of interest by the eligible candidates to opt to teach as a profession, leading to a
shortage of efficient teachers. Although the state government has taken initiatives to overcome
the teaching staff and infrastructural issues, yet it requires a comprehensive analysis of the
education system through both student- and teacher-centric perspectives. Teachers in the state
of Haryana (India) reported high levels of psychological distress with a better coping
mechanisms by the male teachers as opposed to the female teachers (Dagar and Mathur, 2016).
It is seldom associated with the gendered roles in the Indian society and the pressure of the
corresponding responsibilities, which add on to the work pressures female teachers undergo.
Secondly, the nature of employment or type of school (public or private) had little impact on the
teacher’s psychological health. Therefore, the authors attempt to address the psychological
aspects of school teachers in the state of Haryana (India) contributing significantly to their
psychological well-being. This teacher-centric view of psychological health within schools will
provide the educational managers and leaders an overview to the crucial factors determining
their psychological well-being, which is considered a requisite for better student–teacher
engagement and learning outcomes at schools.
4.2 Participants and procedure
The current research enrols a sample of 200 school teachers from public and private schools
from the state of Haryana, India, including both males and females. Inclusion criteria state the
requirement of primary education teachers on regular payroll with a minimum experience of
at least 18 months in the same institution. The study excludes kindergarten teachers from the
sample selection process. The demographic details of the school teachers and the schools are
elaborated in Table 1 as follows:
All the schools in select districts were contacted online with a meagre response rate,
leading to in-person visits to the schools for data collection. The researcher undertook school

Per cent
Frequency (%)

Gender Male 77 38.5

Female 123 61.5
Marital status Married 170 85
Unmarried 30 15
Educational qualification Graduate 72 36
Post-graduate 120 60
Table 1. >Post-graduate 8 4
Demographic Nature of organisational Public schools (under Govt. of Haryana, 132 66
Information of the structure India)
sample (n 5 200) Private schools (autonomous) 68 34
visits using a convenience sampling technique to shortlist schools based on accessibility to Psychological
the school staff. However, several problems like absenteeism (especially in public schools), well-being of
lack of sufficient staff and fear of being monitored by some government authority led to
reluctance in participation in the study.
Indian school
Additionally, considering the language barriers, all the scales were then translated into teachers
Hindi, following the protocols enlisted by Gudmundsson (2009). A panel of three Hindi
language experts translated the scales, which was followed by back translations by three
different English language experts. Before commencing with data collection, analysis of 775
factor-structure, model-fit indices, reliability and validity testing, including exploratory and
confirmatory factor analysis for each of the instrument provided the base to further
analytical process (details provided in supplementary files). The data collection process
incorporated all these translated scales.
4.3 Measures
4.3.1 Schutte self-report emotional intelligence test (SSEIT). It is a 33-item self-report inventory
(Likert-scale ranging from 1, strongly agree to 5, strongly disagree) used to measure general
emotional intelligence, which according to Schutte (1998) comprises four essential aspects:
emotion perception, utilising emotions, managing self-relevant emotions and managing
others’ emotions. It is closely related to the EQ-I model of emotional intelligence and
structured based on the EI model by Salovey and Mayer (1990). As an addendum to their
previously published work on the Emotional Intelligence Scale, Schutte et al. (2009) answered
all the concerns about the factor structure, reliability and validity of the scale. They evidently
explained the scale for use in self-reflection by the individuals to know their emotional
functionality in the context of career goals and experience of emotional problems at
workplace. The scale’s internal consistency was 0.87 and 0.78 test–retest reliability for a total
score. Some of the examples of the statements include “I am aware of my experiences as I
experience them”, and “I have control over my emotions.”
4.3.2 Wagnild and Young resilience scale (1993). This survey employs the three-factor
structure of the Wagnild and Young resilience scale as refined by Oladipo and Idemudia
(2015). Meaningfulness, defined as the understanding that life is meaningful and valuable,
was assessed on 16-items using a seven-point scale. Perseverance, defined as the ability to
keep going, even after setbacks, was assessed by three items using a seven-point scale, and
the belief that one is aware of their skills and limitations as self-reliance, was assessed on
three-items using a seven-point scale.
4.3.3 Ryff’s psychological well-being Scale (1989). Ryff classified the concept of
psychological well-being into six distinct categories. It includes a sense of self-
determination (autonomy), the capacity to manage effectively one’s life and the
surrounding world (environmental mastery) and an understanding of continued growth
and development as a person (personal growth). Rest of them includes the belief that one’s life
is purposeful and meaningful (purpose in life), the possession of quality relations with others
(positive relationships with others) and positive evaluations of oneself and one’s past life (self-
acceptance). A six-point answering format used for all the items on the scale, ranging from 1
(totally disagree) to 6 (totally agree). The alpha coefficients of the sub-scales varied from 0.80
to 0.95, whereas that of the total scale score was 0.82. Certain items in the scale were reverse
coded. Statements included on this scale are like “In general I feel confident and positive about
myself”, and “I often feel overwhelmed by my responsibilities.”

4.4 Plan of analysis

The data collected were analysed using statistical software SPSS v23 and AMOS v23. The
descriptive analysis and hypothesis testing are undertaken as per the suggestions by Hayes
(2018) using parallel multiple mediation analysis using SPSS MACROS.
IJEM 5. Results
35,4 5.1 Descriptive analysis
The descriptive statistics, including mean, standard deviations and Pearson’s correlation
among all the study variable, are displayed in Table 2 as follows:

5.2 Hypothesis testing

776 The baseline hypothesised model as shown in Figure 1 is a parallel multiple mediation model,
tested as per the claims of Hayes (2018) that correlation between study variables is no more a
mandate for mediation to occur. Furthermore, he adds that partial or complete mediation
provides little information about the direct and indirect effect of the mediators for which the
emphasis is on the regression coefficients. The present study utilised bootstrap method
(Hayes, 2018) by using bias-corrected confidence intervals (95 per cent) for testing the
significance of the indirect effect of the independent variable (emotional intelligence) on the
dependent variable (psychological well-being) through the mediators (meaningfulness,
perseverance and self-reliance) with 5,000 bootstrap samples.
To test for common method bias, the researcher conducted Harman’s single-factor test,
with all the variables: emotional intelligence, meaningfulness, perseverance, self-reliance and
psychological well-being, allowed to load onto one factor (Hair et al., 2006). The results of
factor analysis for single factor loading showed less than 50% total explained variance.
These results provided evidence that common method bias was not a problem for this study.
The question posed by the present study was well answered by the results which revealed
that the variance in well-being (R2 5 0.125, p < 0.0001) was accounted for by meaningfulness,
perseverance, self-reliance and EI altogether. Results from Table 3 indicated that all these

Mean (SD) EI M1 M2 M3 PWB

Age (in years) 39.27 (12.75) – – – – –

Work experience (in years) 9.68 (8.45) – – – – –
Emotional Intelligence (or EI) 40.21 (5.27) 1 – – – –
Meaningfulness (M1) 23.73 (4.27) 0.580** 1 – – –
Table 2.
Mean, standard Perseverance (M 2) 17.14 (3.65) 0.411** 0.728** 1 – –
deviations and zero- Self-reliance (M3) 17.21 (3.30) 0.462 **
0.675 **
0.556 **
1 –
order correlations of all Psychological well-being (or PWB) 55.41 (10.24) 0.334** 0.167** 0.051** 0.074** 1
the variable Note(s): *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed); ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-
under study tailed)

Meaningfulness

Emotional Psychological
Intelligence Well-being

Figure 1.
The baseline Perseverance
hypothesised model
reflecting parallel
multiple mediations
among study variables
Self-reliance
variables with regression coefficients as perseverance (1.72, p < 0.01), self-reliance ( 0.91, Psychological
p < 0.01), and EI (0.26, p < 0.01) significantly predicted the well-being among school teachers, well-being of
except meaningfulness (0.001), thereby validating H1, H3b and H3c. Results from Table 2 also
revealed significant positive zero-order correlation among the study variables, accepting the
Indian school
alternate hypothesis H1, H3a, H3b, and H3c, which stated that “psychological well-being will teachers
be positively related to emotional intelligence (r 5 0.334, p < 0.01), meaningfulness (r 5 0.167,
p < 0.01), perseverance (r 5 0.051, p < 0.01) and self-reliance (r 5 0.074, p < 0.01)”. Although to
say that hypothesis H3a is accepted based on mere correlation coefficients would be partially 777
correct as the regression coefficients of meaningfulness for psychological well-being are
statistically insignificant (refer Table 3).
Very high levels of variance in meaningfulness (R2 5 0.431, p < 0.0001), perseverance
(R2 5 0.339, p < 0.0001), and self-reliance (R2 5 0.245, p < 0.0001) were explained by the
manipulations of emotional intelligence among school teachers (refer Table 3). Additionally,
results from Table 2 revealed the significant positive correlation between EI and the three
resilient character traits meaningfulness (r 5 0.580, p < 0.01), perseverance (r 5 0.411,
p < 0.01) and self-reliance (r 5 0.462, p < 0.01), validating acceptance of H2a, H2b and H2c,
which stated that there will be a positive correlation between EI and the three resilient
character traits namely meaningfulness, perseverance and self-reliance (see Figure 2).
Furthermore, the indirect effects through meaningfulness, estimated as 0.0009, revealed
statistical insignificance as the confidence intervals include a zero point. That means
meaningfulness is not a significant mediator in the relationship between EI and well-being of
school teachers. Another specific indirect effect of EI on well-being modelled through
perseverance estimated 0.214 (p < 0.01). It indicated that those school teachers with higher
levels of EI have higher levels of well-being by 0.214 units as a result of being perseverant.
The third specific indirect effect through self-reliance estimated as 0.136 (p < 0.01) reflected
an inconsistent mediation signifying school teachers with higher EI will have lower well-
being by 0.136 units as a result of being self-reliant. Therefore, the only significant mediator
in the relationship between EI and psychological well-being is perseverance as a resilient
character trait, validating H4b, while rejecting H4a and H4c.

eM1
1

Meaningfulness
a1 = 0.68* eY
b1 = 0.001
1

c’ = 0.26*
Emotional Psychological
Intelligence Well-being
eM2
a2 = 0.12** 1 b2 = 1.72*

Perseverance
a3 = 0.15**
b3 = –0.91*

Self-reliance
Figure 2.
A statistical diagram of
the parallel multiple
1 mediation model for
psychological well-
eM3 being revealing all path
coefficients
Note(s): *significance at 0.05 level; **significance at 0.01 level
 35,4

778
IJEM

Table 3.
Regression

mediation model
errors and model

depicted in Figure 1
coefficients, standard

summary information
for the parallel multiple
Consequents
Meaningfulness (M1) Perseverance (M2) Self-reliance (M3) Psychological well-being (Y)
Antecedents Coeff SE p Coeff SE p Coeff SE p Coeff SE p

Emotional Intelligence (X) a1 5 0.68 0.06 <0.001 a2 5 0.12 0.01 <0.001 a3 5 0.15 0.02 <0.001 c’ 5 0.26 0.11 <0.05
Meaningfulness (M1) – – – – – – – – – b1 5 0.001 0.15 0.99
Perseverance (M2) – – – – – – – – – b2 5 1.72 0.63 <0.05
Self-reliance (M3) – – – – – – – – – b3 5 0.91 0.40 <0.05
Constant 19.69 5.39 <0.001 -0.22 1.19 0.85 2.94 1.79 0.10 39.88 8.46 <0.001
R2 5 0.43 R2 5 0.34 R2 5 0.25 R2 5 0.13
F (1,198) 5 149.94; p < 0.001 F (1,198) 5 101.69; p < 0.001 F (1,198) 5 64.22; p < 0.001 F (4,195) 5 6.96; p < 0.001
Note(s): N 5 200. SE, standard error of measurement; coeff, regression coefficients; p, significance level
5.3 Extended analysis Psychological
Since the study sample shows a remarkable gender disparity, it enlightens the authors to well-being of
further investigate whether any gender-related differences existed in the occurrence of the
study variables, namely, emotional intelligence, resilience and psychological well-being.
Indian school
Table 4 below illustrates the detailed statistical analysis of independent samples t-test teachers
concerning these three study variables.
The results above in Table 4 reveal that there are statistically significant differences in the
means across different gendered groups of teachers for two of the study variables, namely, 779
emotional intelligence and resilience. It signifies that female school teachers are bound to
have higher levels of emotional intelligence and resilience as opposed to the male school
teachers, clearly giving them an edge in classroom management and teaching experiences.

6. Discussion
Following the existing OB literature, this study indicates a significant contribution of
emotional intelligence and resilient-character trait of perseverance among school teachers,
contributing greatly to their psychological well-being and consequently impacting the field of
educational management significantly. Furthermore, this study highlights an inverse impact
of the resilient character trait of self-reliance in the relationship between trait EI and
psychological well-being of school teachers, while meaningfulness emerges out as not a
strong mediator. Finally, the analysis of difference of perceived psychological well-being
between two gendered groups illuminate the nuances from the impact of working experiences
of the marginalised gender group in a highly patriarchal society like India.
The answer to the research question posed by the findings suggests “perseverance” as one
of the significant predictors of well-being and mediator in the relationship between emotional
intelligence and psychological well-being of school teachers. It implies that the ability to
bounce back, despite adversities, plays a significant role in the lives of Indian school teachers’
sense of well-being, besides high levels of emotional intelligence. Globally, researchers have
methodically studied the relationship of the perseverance of efforts with psychological
well-being (Sallies et al., 2014; Vainio and Dankantaite, 2016) emphasising the incremental
impact of perseverance. Wagnild and Young (1993), while introducing their resilience scale,
outlined perseverance character trait as “the act of persistence despite adversity or
discouragement” (p. 167). They identified it as a cognitive trait, with a strong emphasis on an

Mean
Mean SD difference df t F Sig

Emotional intelligence
Male 94.29 14.14 Equal variance assumed 2.32 198 1.32 4.77 0.030
Female 96.61 10.69 Equal variance not 2.32 129.79 1.24
assumed
Resilience
Male 112.21 21.05 Equal variance assumed 2.86 198 1.12 12.72 0.001
Female 115.07 15.02 Equal variance not 2.86 124.30 1.04
assumed
Table 4.
Psychological well-being Independent samples
Male 63.73 14.84 Equal variance assumed 8.77 198 4.18 0.41 0.525 t-test for all the study
Female 72.50 14.17 Equal variance not 8.77 155.88 4.14 variables based on the
assumed gender of the study
Note(s): 479 5 total number of words participants
IJEM individual’s willingness to either reconstruct one’s life or to continue with the struggle with
35,4 utmost self-discipline. Wagnild’s view of perseverance is different from the concept of
“perseverance of effort (POE)” as a component of the psychological construct of “grit” and
contextualises as an essential trait for high achievers of their most valued life goals
(Duckworth, 2016; Duckworth et al., 2007). Thus, the concept of “perseverance”, under study
here, aligns majorly with the coping orientation, whereas the concept of POE centres around
the achievement orientation. It suggests that the literature on POE is insufficient, in terms of
780 conceptualisation and implications, therefore, warrants the attention to the concept of
“perseverance” from different perspective. It is essentially important to outline this
differentiation in order to draw attention towards the central role the results from the present
study accentuate in the educational management literature. The inclination of the scant
literature on role of perseverance in educational management merely as achievement
orientation does not justify the construct in entirety. Therefore, the present study illuminates
the high significance perseverance has on the psychological well-being of the school teachers.
Educational management literature suggests that focus of previous researches on the
external or interpersonal factors to comprehend the mental state of school teachers has been
predominant over the years. However, the present study shows the significance of the
intrinsic or personal attributes of the school teachers for the improvement of their
psychological health. Few pieces of research in educational management, for instance, a
study by Ivcevic and Brackett (2014), have emphasised on the positive association between
conscientiousness, grit and emotion regulation ability for school success. This scarcity of
literature supports the results revealed by the present study for better teacher performance
and well-being at work, especially in Indian schools. Clearly, psychologically well teachers
feel enabled and empowered to establish better student–teacher interaction and relationship,
help students advance in their academics through innovative teaching techniques, manage
classrooms and discipline the students by orienting them towards their academic pursuits
and targets. The interest in the psychological aspects of groups from “The Orient” has always
attracted the attention of researchers globally, considering the cultural infusion and varied
insights it offers, which substantiate the gravity in arguments related to the antecedent
factors of well-being among Indian school teachers.
Interestingly, this study offers an intriguing finding that “self-reliance” has an
inconsistent mediating effect on the relationship between emotional intelligence and
psychological well-being, despite its statistically significant positive correlation with these
variables. It is a reverse observation in the data received from the Indian school teachers as
opposed to the hypothesised framework. It suggests that teachers with higher acceptance of
their potentials and limitations (self-reliance) tend to show lower levels of well-being,
notwithstanding the high levels of emotional intelligence. Teaching as a profession demands
not only in terms of student outcomes but also before class preparation of the teachers
involving them to work in teams with constant monitoring over their class handling and
dealing with curriculum-related needs.
The authors contend to emphasize on the collaborative work practices within educational
institutes and the high need to show coherence with the group, for which increased self-
reliance may rather reflect as a deviant behaviour. However, today’s employees find work
engaging when specific liberty and personal space is available for their creative inputs; yet
educational management may allow teachers their creative liberty to a limited extent as the
risk of negative consequences may cost dearly to the students and stakeholders involved.
Studies from educational management across cultures have revealed that teamwork is one of
the essential aspects of effective teaching process within schools and have shown its
effectiveness for better teacher performance (Bouwmans et al., 2017; Chantathai et al., 2015;
Garg and Rastogi, 2006). Therefore, these results fill the literature gap by providing insights
from the educational management perspective.
 Additionally, an insignificant mediation by “meaningfulness” also draws attention as it Psychological
indicates that there is a chance that some extraneous variables might influence its relationship well-being of
with psychological well-being among Indian school teachers. This finding attributes to the
complicated nature of the concept of meaningfulness and its casual association with well-being.
Indian school
The operationalisation of psychological well-being in the present study is highly inclined teachers
towards endeavour for meaningfulness, which confounds with its other measures (Disabato
et al., 2016). Therefore, the insignificant mediation by meaningfulness as a character trait of
teachers in causal link between trait EI and psychological well-being is in line with the previous 781
literature. Besides, the strong correlation between meaningfulness and psychological well-
being further substantiate the argument of meaning orientation in the concept of psychological
well-being as defined in the present study.
Lastly, the results reveal that the emotional intelligence of school teachers also contributes
significantly to their psychological well-being. Most studies indirectly recommend the
implications of emotional intelligence on psychological well-being in schools through variables
like life satisfaction (Landa et al., 2006), workplace social support (Ju et al., 2015) and self-efficacy
(Salami, 2010). Additionally, Richardson et al. (2013) argued that emotional coping, a mix of both
emotional competence and perseverance, has a positive association with the teachers’
psychological well-being. The results from this study are focussed on the competence or
acquired skill of emotional coping, rather than trait-based EI, which might characterise a
teacher’s behaviour and decision- making guided by higher sensitivity towards one’s and
other’s emotions. Therefore, the results from the present study suggest that there is a strong
positive association between emotional intelligence and psychological well-being of teachers,
which fills in a significant gap in positive organisational psychology as well as educational
management literature. Besides, the extended analysis adds significant nuances to the results
reflecting the gendered perspective to the occurrence of emotional intelligence and resilience
among school teachers in India. The antecedents of psychological well-being in this study
reflect the significant differences across genders, that means female school teachers in India
show higher emotional intelligence and resilience, which ultimately results in higher
psychological well-being. These results correspond to the gendered roles and expectations
from different groups in Indian culture, wherein women are naturally expected to be able to
reflect higher resilience, emotional intelligence, empathy, emotional maturity and ability to
accommodate with different situations (Kakar and Kakar, 2009). The present results show
consistency with the existing social norms with respect to the gendered roles in Indian culture.

7. Practical implications
The results from the present study imply that the community including both researchers and
practitioners like educational administrators, leaders and policymakers should focus on
different levels of interventions that require implementation for the betterment of teaching
staff in Indian schools. At the institutional level, the principals and institutional managers
should hold responsibilities for making prudent choices during recruitment of teaching staff,
concerning their engagement, personal compatibility, personality, competencies, strengths
and weakness and other professional traits. It will help the stakeholders manage and monitor
the mental health of their teaching staff to an extent, so as to ensure that the students can get
maximum positive inputs from their teachers. The results from the extended analysis also
imply the attention recruiters and managers need to pay on the capacity building of the male
teachers through raining and developmental activities for staff. Various training programs
and workshops for team-building and capacity-building, along with therapeutic relaxation
sessions using meditation, mindfulness, learned optimism, creative visualisation and
emotional coping strategies should be encouraged.
At the governance level, a requirement to undertake exhaustive needs assessment and
risk analysis for teachers’ well-being and mental health and to check their endurance,
IJEM perseverance and competencies are crucial. It will help the policymakers, recruiters and
35,4 leaders to accordingly make decisions about policies and programs to help elevate teachers’
well-being at work. A review of policies for teacher development in the Indian educational
system and the results from the present study reinforce the idea about the need for a revised
teacher-training program based on their psychological needs. Recent publications in
happiness studies highlight the important role of teachers’ psychological well-being for
students; and schools’ well-being (Quinlan et al., 2019). Thus, the authors urge the
782 policymakers and educational managers in India to be equally mindful about the teachers’
psychological needs and help in creating a flourishing culture for teachers.
Additionally, use of IT-based interventions, for instance, the introduction of various web-
based applications to homework and results management effortlessly for teachers, execution of
various portals or technical gadgets for improved pedagogy in order to make classroom
learning interesting, should be encouraged. Provisions for such technological advancement in
schools as teaching aids need to ensure that teachers’ workload is reduced and help them bring
out more substantial teaching time. In the crisis situations, like in case of COVID-19, a pandemic
forcing humans globally to isolate themselves and practice social distancing, teachers with
higher emotional intelligence and perseverance will be able to perform optimally and help their
students’ make better use of the online teaching sessions and other academic activities.
The suggestions by American Psychological Association for building perseverance
among adults including a list of activities like acceptance for change in life, avoiding
visualisation of problems as insurmountable, self-discovery, taking decisive actions and
many more, need to be inculcated in institutional capacity building programs for teachers.
Practising cognitive restructuring may also boast ones’ levels of resilience at the workplace.
Seligman (2002) emphasised on the “explanatory style” of dealing with setbacks in life,
incorporating three aspects, namely permanence, pervasiveness and de-personalisation,
which need enhancement among teachers for building perseverance.

8. Limitations and recommendation for future research

Firstly, the study focuses on a limited cultural context of North Indian states (or Hindi
speaking state) for a sample selection of teaching staff. Secondly, the cross-sectional study
design with self-report surveys of teachers gives a narrow vision into the status quo of
teachers’ well-being at work. Thus, it is recommended to incorporate longitudinal or time-
series study designs with varied sources of data about the sample psychological phenomena
for an in-depth understanding with comparative analysis along with various methodological
tools. Use of mixed-methods or multi-method studies in order to unravel the detailed nuances
of the causal relationship between the variables under study in educational management
literature makes a good action point for future researchers.
Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2004) suggested that generosity or acts of kindness inspire
greater liking by others, appreciation, gratitude, prosocial reciprocity and subsequently
enhancing one’s levels of happiness. Studies also support that a short-term happiness-
enhancing activity can increase one’s psychological well-being (Lyubomirskyet al., 2004). On
the contrary, some researchers believe certain dispositional aspects, like emotional and social
competence of one’s individuality, as predictors of the optimum level of happiness or well-
being, through the concepts like hedonic adaptation (Frederick and Loewenstein, 1999) or the
hedonic treadmill (Brickman and Campbell, 1971). Though the present study attempts to
highlight eudaimonic well-being as a consequence of intrinsic traits of teachers like emotional
intelligence and perseverance, yet the acceptance of literature on impact of hedonic well-being
on these character traits, eventually increasing one’s psychological well-being, opens the
scope for future studies.
Lastly, an extension of the present study in order to assess the student outcomes like
cognitive learning, academic performance, skills enhancement or overall psychological
development, and many alike, may provide a real-time evaluation of the impact of Psychological
psychological well-being among Indian teachers. well-being of
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Appendix
The supplementary material is available online for this article.

Corresponding author
Pooja Garg can be contacted at: pooja.garg@hs.iitr.ac.in

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