Influence of personality on work engagement and job satisfaction among young teachers: mediating role of teaching style

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether young teachers’ Big Five personality traits relate to work engagement and job satisfaction directly and indirectly via teaching style, specifically autonomy-supportive and controlling styles. A total of 1887 Chinese teachers (Mage = 27.30, SD = 2.93) completed an online questionnaire. Results from structural equation modeling revealed significant effects of teachers’ personalities on work engagement and job satisfaction, showing that both teaching styles mediated the relationship between four of the personality traits (except extraversion) and work engagement and job satisfaction. Higher openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and lower neuroticism related more with autonomy-supportive teaching and less with controlling teaching; these four traits in turn related more with work engagement and job satisfaction. Findings highlight the role of personality and teaching style in teacher-related outcomes and indicate the necessity of promoting an adaptive teaching style to facilitate teacher development.