published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

A three-phase study was conducted. In the first phase, individual interviews were conducted with 15 secondary school teachers to develop indigenous items for assessing teacher burnout and lack of reciprocity. In the second phase, 187 secondary school teachers were included to determine the items of newly-developed instruments and to examine their psychometric properties. In the third phase, the aims were to examine the validity and reliability of each measurement, to analysis the relations between teacher burnout and demographic variables, and to explore the relationship among lack of reciprocity, ERI, meaning of life and teacher burnout in a sample of 509 teachers from 25 secondary schools in Changchun, China. / According to the relationship between teacher burnout and demographic variables, results indicated that younger teachers reported more EE and DP. Teachers of junior rank reported more burnout. Teachers who taught Chinese, mathematics and English reported more experience of EE than teachers who taught other subjects. / Based on the social exchange theory of burnout, the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model, and the existential theory of burnout, the purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship among investment-reward imbalance, meaning of life, and burnout among Chinese secondary school teachers. As one of the key variables in this study, investment-reward imbalance included two operational definitions which were named lack of reciprocity and ERI. / Limitations, theoretical and practical implications of the findings were also discussed. / Results showed that, based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the newly-modified Burnout Measurement consisted of three subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and reduced personal accomplishment (RPA). The self-developed Reciprocity Scale included three dimensions, namely, reciprocity in the relationship with students, intangible reciprocity in the relationship with the school, and tangible reciprocity in the relationship with the school. All measurements in this study were found to possess good validity and reliability. / Structural equation modeling was used to test a set of hypothetic models of the relationship among lack of reciprocity, ERI, meaning of life and teacher burnout. Results showed that, lack of reciprocity in the relationship with students positively influenced FE and RPA. Lack of intangible reciprocity in the relationship with the school was positively associated with RPA. Lack of tangible reciprocity in the relationship with the school was positively associated with EE. Among the three dimensions of lack of reciprocity, lack of reciprocity in the relationship with students is a more important predictor to teacher burnout than other components. ERI was positively associated with EE. Considering the two operational definitions of investment-reward imbalance in the prediction of teacher burnout, lack of reciprocity predicted RPA better than ERI, while ERI predicted EE better than lack of reciprocity. Meaning of life was negatively associated with EE, DP and RPA. In addition, results supported the hypothesis that EE influenced DP on the structure of teacher burnout. / 李歆瑤. / Advisers: Patrick S. Y. Lau; Alvin S. M. Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-03, Section: A, page: 0875. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 138-153). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Li Xinyao.