The Relationship Between Occupation Stereotypes and Turnover Intention of Private Kindergarten Teachers in China-Mainland: A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

In China-mainland, the high turnover rate of private kindergarten teachers has long bothered relevant scholars and policymakers. In the current research, we recruited 692 teachers from Chinese private kindergartens as participants, and then used a questionnaire survey to investigate the relationship between the occupation stereotypes held by private kindergarten teachers on their turnover intention and the acting mechanisms between them. The results of data analyses demonstrated a significantly positive correlation between the occupation stereotypes held private kindergarten teachers and their turnover intention, reflecting those private kindergarten teachers with negative occupation stereotypes were more likely to left the organization in future. Further data analyses showed that personal control sense played a partially mediating role between occupation stereotypes and turnover intention, indicating that private kindergarten teachers with stronger occupation stereotypes tended to perceive lower personal control sense and lower personal control sense further enabled them to generate the intention of leaving the organization. Moreover, we also found that the above mentioned mediation was further moderated by the intolerance of uncertainty of participants (IU) — compared to private kindergarten teachers with high IU, those private kindergarten teachers with low IU were more likely to generating the intention of leaving the organization resulting from the low personal control sense induced by their negative occupation stereotypes. The present research firstly demonstrates the significant correlation between occupation stereotypes and turnover intention of kindergarten teachers in China Mainland, and also provides a meaningful guideline for Chinese government to alleviate the separation tendency of private kindergarten teachers.