Work overload and emotional exhaustion in university teachers: Moderating effects of coping styles

Abstract

Changes in the education system in Ecuador have increased the workload of university teachers, producing stress and burnout. This study analyses the relation between work overload, coping styles and emotional exhaustion in a sample of 202 university teachers by using a hierarchical regression model analysis. The results show that work overload and evasive coping are positively related to emotional exhaustion, while active coping is negatively related to emotional exhaustion. Evasive coping moderated the relationship between work overload and emotional exhaustion so that teachers who use more evasive coping in situations of high work overload experience less burnout than teachers who use this coping style less. Finally, we discuss the limitations of this study and its theoretical and practical contributions for university professors in Latin American contexts.