Positive emotional demands and psychological distance between teachers and students affect teachers’ work engagement in universities

Abstract

High-quality higher education requires greater work engagement (WE) from university faculty. This paper uses the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and Construal Level Theory (CLT) to investigate the influences of positive emotional demands (PED) and teacher-student psychological distance(T-SPD) on WE and the mediating role of emotional labor (EL). A questionnaire survey involving 316 Chinese college and university teachers was carried out to explore the impacts of these factors on teachers’ WE. The findings showed that (1) PED and T-S PD all have a beneficial effect on WE; (2) PED had positive relationships with surface acting (SA), deep acting (DA), and naturally felt emotion (NFE); (3) T-SPD had negative correlation with SA and positive correlation with DA and NFE; (4) DA and NFE play a partial mediating role between PED, T-SPD, and WE, whereas SA does not mediate these relationships. These findings enrich the theoretical model of university teachers’ WE and offer practical recommendations for enhancing WE among Chinese university educators.

Introduction

The high-quality development of higher education depends on a high level of teaching engagement. The level of teaching engagement not only influences teachers’ mental health but also impacts the effectiveness of their teaching and the holistic development of students. That necessitates a more comprehensive emotional and professional commitment to teaching from university faculty. However, in Chinese higher education, there is still a lack of sufficient teaching engagement among teachers¹. According to Sliskovic et al.‘s definition², teaching engagement is a crucial factor influencing the growth of higher education. Therefore, investigating the mechanisms behind faculty work engagement (WE) and understanding how to ensure faculty remain emotionally invested in teaching is an urgent issue that higher education must address.

Unveiling the mechanisms that influence teaching engagement is a prerequisite for enhancing it. Factors that impact faculty teaching engagement can be broadly classified into the external environment and individual aspects. A faculty member’s inclination to engage in teaching and the extent of their engagement is determined by a comprehensive assessment of various related factors. In recent years, researchers have primarily investigated the factors influencing faculty teaching engagement from the perspectives of individual factors and organizational resources³, such as work values⁴, perceived organization support, and job crafting⁵, but there is insufficient exploration of factors such as the school’s demands for positive emotions and the psychological distance between teachers and students, as well as their effects. Job demands influence teaching engagement⁶ and teachers will consider the demands the environment places on them and the resulting pressures. Job demands may reinforce influence^7,8, appropriate demands and pressures may encourage teachers to increase their engagement, especially since higher education institutions increasingly require university teachers to invest positive emotions in their jobs. According to the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, the demand for positive emotions requires employees to exert physical and psychological effort consistently, which may, therefore, affect the emotional engagement of higher education faculty in their work⁷. Previous researchers have found that job demands can increase employees’ WE⁹, while some researchers, through analysis of related literature, discovered that different types of job demand have varying effects on WE, which necessitates further research^8,10; Current research has primarily concentrated on workers in for-profit organizations¹¹, and other school teachers¹², while teachers in public schools in China possess distinct public attributes. Additionally, the teaching profession has characteristics such as high job stability and less prominent performance incentives. However, research in higher education is still limited, and there is a lack of studies examining its underlying mechanisms³. Meanwhile, research on teachers has primarily emphasized the impact of individual resources on WE; however, there is a lack of examination of job demands and teacher-student psychological distance(T-SPD). Emotional demands and psychological distance between teachers and students have not received sufficient research.

It is well-established that universities are environments where emotional labor (EL) is necessary, as teachers’ work involves various forms of EL¹³. In higher education, emotions play a crucial role in effective teaching¹⁴; teachers perceive the emotions they show in the classes as a skill, and experienced teachers effectively use emotional management techniques during their instruction¹⁵. Although teachers’ EL has been increasingly recognized recently, research on performance-related EL is still incomplete. Current research has mainly focused on examining dimensions and extent of teachers’ EL^16,17, as well as antecedent factors such as work stress¹⁸ and outcome factors such as burnout¹⁹, satisfaction²⁰, and well-being⁸. However, these studies have primarily targeted individual teachers, resulting in a limited understanding of teacher performance variables, such as WE, which is a crucial performance metric. Moreover, many studies focus on teachers in primary education¹³and university administrative staff members²¹ rather than university teachers. Since teachers in universities and colleges differ from their counterparts in fundamental education and administrative staff, their EL is more complex due to their interactions. Therefore, more exploration is still required to research the relationship between university teachers’ EL and WE.

Job demands can affect university teachers’ EL strategies. To meet organizational requirements, teachers must express the emotional state desired by university demands and traditional culture²². University requirements are often presented as emotional rules²³ or performance standards²⁴, providing teachers with guidance on appropriate emotions and expressions, particularly in student interactions. Teachers are obliged to adjust their emotions during teaching to meet the requirements of their university and profession, which can have implications for WE. However, the specific impact of these processes on EL strategies remains unclear and warrants further investigation.

The T-SPD is another significant factor influencing university teachers’ EL strategies. In recent years, the continuous emergence of educational reforms such as “blended teaching” and “flipped classrooms” in Chinese higher education has significantly increased the demands for teacher-student interaction. In the face of the pressures from these educational changes and the diversity of T-SPD, teachers are demanded to use EL judiciously, striving to regulate and control their emotional expressions in order to meet these requirements²⁵ and exhibit the positive emotions required to perform their work according to social and institutional expectations. Recognizing that university teachers are Emotional laborers is widespread, and engaging in EL not only helps create harmonious teacher-student relationships, thereby enhancing teaching quality, but also impacts teachers’ teaching engagement.

To better understand the issues outlined and address gaps in existing research, this study adopts the JD-R model and Construal Level Theory (CLT) to examine the variables that influence WE, including the effects of job demands and T-SPD’s mediating role. The findings of this research could offer new insights that deepen our comprehension of the mechanisms affecting university teachers’ WE. Furthermore, this study aims to provide references for managers in colleges and universities and then improve their management policies.

Literature and hypotheses

Positive emotional demands (PED) and WE

According to the definition of WE²⁶, WE contains three elements: vigor (having high levels of energy and mental resilience while working), dedication (being deeply engaged in the work), and absorption (being fully focused and happily immersed in the work². The state of high WE shows that individuals experience joy, enthusiasm, and other work-related feelings while performing work tasks. Over time, this will lead to a deep commitment and high performance³. The level of a teacher’s WE will influence the teaching methods they adopt and the state of students during the learning process²⁷. Through the teacher’s WE, one can understand the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional participation level during teaching, as well as the degree of their attention being put on students and their learning process.

According to the JD-R model, job demands are one of the work characteristics, reflecting the physiological, psychological, and social costs required to meet and complete the workload in the work process. It affects WE through an adverse independent pathway⁸. Researchers have utilized the JD-R model to examine the relationship between teaching engagement and its antecedents and consequences and have obtained supportive findings²⁸. For the teacher population, job demands are widely regarded as an important explanatory variable predicting adverse work outcomes. That is because a job imposes physiological, psychological, social, and organizational demands on workers, requiring continuous physical and psychological effort²⁹. At the same time, it imposes significant physical and mental exhaustion on workers, forming a ‘depletion pathway’ where job demands negatively affect workers’ perception of positive emotional experiences⁷. With the ongoing development of positive psychology research, WE has gradually been incorporated into teachers’ occupational psychology studies. Compared to the psychological characteristics of burnout, WE is characterized by a high level of joy and inspiration in individuals, representing a positive, pleasant cognitive state associated with work. As positive emotional requirements directly demand emotional investment in work, it is hypothesized that under these demands, PED is expected to increase individuals’ positive emotions at work, thereby positively influencing WE. Based on this premise, Hypothesis H1 is proposed.

H1

PED is significantly positively correlated with WE.

PED and EL of university teachers

EL can be defined into three dimensions: surface acting (SA), deep acting (DA), and naturally felt emotion (NFE). SA refers to the fact that to meet the universities’ emotional requirements for teaching, teachers adjust their external expressions, such as facial expressions and tone of voice, etc., to display emotions they do not genuinely feel. DA involves university teachers using cognitive methods such as self-persuasion and imagination to change their feelings following the emotional demands of teaching, thus displaying the required emotions. The third EL strategy is NFE, which is distinct from SA and DA. It refers to university teachers genuinely experiencing emotions that align with organizational emotional demands. Unlike the first two strategies, NFE does not require conscious management of one’s emotions³⁰. Building upon the work of Morris and Feldman, Yin et al.²⁵ defined the EL in teaching. This concept means that teachers exert their efforts, planning, and control in interpersonal interactions with students and others in university settings to express the emotions the organization expects. Presently, the effective utilization of emotional management skills has become a requirement and skill for high-quality teachers³¹.

The EL university teachers adopt toward students is influenced by PEDs. Job demands in teaching refer to the rules requiring emotional expression in teaching, representing the organization’s or management’s expectations regarding employees’ EL³². The ongoing reforms in higher education require university teachers to employ high emotional intelligence to improve teaching quality³³. In China, more universities advocate for constructing harmonious teacher-student relationships⁷. University teachers, facing multifaceted job demands, are, in turn, influenced by their interactions with students and teaching emotions, especially in their engagement in teaching activities beyond the classroom³⁴, so university teachers may need EL. Apart from external constraints in universities, teachers may also impose self-demands. In China, teaching has long been a respected profession, with traditional cultural adages such as ‘respect the teacher, love the student’ and ‘be a teacher for one day and be a father for a lifetime,’ implying that teachers should genuinely care for students and be responsible for their learning outcomes. Therefore, in China, teachers are not only authoritative figures imparting knowledge but also need to play the roles of parents and friends²⁵. These beliefs are deeply ingrained in every teacher’s heart, considering such actions as appropriate and necessary³⁵.

The perception of emotional display rules employees is their subjective understanding of organizational emotional display rules³⁶. Based on the JD-R model, job demands are significant organizational contextual elements that trigger emotional management among university teachers, representing a work-centric research orientation. Morris and Feldman³⁷ put forward that EL stems from expressing the emotions expected by the organization in interpersonal interactions, and it is rooted in the organizational and socio-cultural expectations of teaching. These emotional demands can be seen as external stimuli, prompting teachers to assess job demands and adopt different EL strategies. SA and DA demand that teachers modify their appearance or cognition to meet organizational requirements. Therefore, the higher the emotional demands university teachers perceive in teaching, the more likely they are to adopt SA and DA strategies. Studies by Han et al.³⁴and Pham & Phan³⁸ support this view, indicating that the higher the demands for teachers’ EL, the higher the SA and DA. Conversely, NFE is the sincere expression from within, requiring no effort based on job demands; it may undermine NFE. Hence, there may be a negative correlation between job demands and NFE. Therefore, the hypothesis is proposed as follows:

H2a

There is a significantly positive correlation between PED and SA.

H2b

There is a significantly positive correlation between PED and DA.

H2c

There is a significantly negative correlation between PED and NFE.

T-SPD and university teachers’ EL

The T-SPD is a crucial cornerstone of higher education, significantly stimulating student interest, enlivening classroom atmosphere, and improving teaching quality. Job demands come from external demands and internal self-requirements, and the T-SPD is one of them. For teachers in Chinese culture, loving students is a traditional virtue, and closeness with students is an indicator to measure whether a teacher is good or not. Many Chinese teachers consider closeness with students a self-requirement, treating students like their own children⁷. Although there are no explicit external requirements for these, they are the internal self-requirements of teachers. Currently, ‘respecting teachers and loving students’ is the mainstream on Chinese university campuses. However, the influence of the intimacy in the relationship between teachers and students on teachers’ WE remains to be examined. Psychological distance refers to individuals’ perception of the distance of objects, people, or environments in various dimensions, using themselves as a reference point³⁹. CLT posits that individuals’ perception of psychological distance (categorized into four facets: spatial, temporal, social, and probabilistic distance) influences their judgment and cognition³⁹. Social distance, as one of the critical dimensions of psychological distance, precisely reflects individuals’ perception of their social relationship with others, indicating the perceived closeness or distance in social relationships⁴⁰. Since teacher-student distance focuses on relational closeness rather than location or time, the social distance dimension is of greater importance.

A teacher’s perception of the closeness or distance of students influences their attitudes and behaviors toward them⁴¹. In interpersonal interactions, individuals evaluate themselves and others and their behaviors. These evaluations regulate interpersonal behavior, making evaluation a crucial aspect of interpersonal processes. However, the teaching engagement of university teachers differs from that of elementary school teachers. In addition to course instruction, university teachers guide students in graduation projects, social practice, professional competitions, and other activities. Thus, the identity of this ‘other’ is critical. From a social psychology perspective, the psychological distance between teachers and students reflects university teachers’ subjective perception of the relational closeness to different students after integrating various social information, leading to emotional effects. That often manifests as psychological attraction, repulsion, closeness, or distance⁴². In line with CLT, individuals tend to describe events using abstract thinking and represent them through high-level construal (holistic processing) when the psychological distance is far. Conversely, the closer the psychological distance is, the more individuals focus on specific behaviors and represent information through low-level construal (detailed and specific processing). In university teaching, teachers and students judge the psychological distance between them, influencing their interpretation, judgment, and actions regarding events. Based on CLT, this paper hypothesizes:

H3

T-SPD is significantly positively correlated with WE in teaching.

Similarly, which EL strategies will be adopted in response to different students is a decision influenced by who the student is. Teachers will choose appropriate EL strategies based on their psychological distance from the student. When dealing with psychologically close students (e.g., their graduate students), teachers are more likely to use DA and NFE. In contrast, teachers are more likely to use SA when dealing with psychologically distant students (e.g., students they rarely interact with). That has been confirmed by previous research³⁵. Therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis:

H4a

T-SPD is significantly negatively correlated with SA.

H4b

T-SPD is significantly positively correlated with DA.

H4c

T-SPD is significantly positively correlated with NFE.

EL and WE

A wide range of emotions are experienced by teachers in their work⁴³. However, their emotions may not necessarily be consistent with or authentic to those they express. Instead, their emotions are frequently restricted by specific emotional requirements associated with the teaching. For instance, when students progress, teachers should display positive emotions such as pride or happiness. Conversely, when students misbehave, teachers should not express their genuine emotions; instead, they should suppress or conceal negative feelings like disappointment and anger⁷. Additionally, teachers should maintain a moderate emotional intensity³³.

Current studies indicated that EL positively impacts WE^44,45. suggested that positive emotions can build individuals’ resources, such as physical resources (for instance, health and physical skills), intellectual resources (like executive control, psychological theories, knowledge), interpersonal resources (e.g., friendships and social support system), as well as psychological resources (for example, optimism, psychological resilience, creativity)⁴⁵. When organizations impose PEDs, teachers strive to exhibit the required emotional states, necessitating active engagement. From the perspective of EL strategies, this might involve SA, DA, and NFE. University teachers prefer DA and NFE in teaching⁷. The more they employ these two strategies, the more proactively they can adjust their cognition, overcome obstacles and difficulties in teaching, and devote more time and energy to their work to achieve teaching goals. Previous studies have shown that this aligns with the resources needed for WE and positively impacts it⁴³. In contrast, SA requires more energy, as it involves pretending to be in a positive emotional state even when experiencing negative emotions, which is a resource-draining process and may impact the subsequent level of WE⁴³. It may even lead to negative attitudes toward work, such as withdrawal behaviors and minimal effort, as supported by research¹³. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H5a

SA significantly negatively affects WE.

H5b

DA significantly positively influences WE.

H5c

NFE significantly positively influences WE.

Education is a process of emotional practice⁴⁶. Ruiter et al.⁴⁷ propose that teaching engagement is a unique form of WE centered around the teacher-student social relationship, manifesting in teachers’ autonomous allocation of behaviors, emotions, cognition, and social resources during instructional activities. Teachers should put a substantial amount of time and energy into actively engaging with students, interacting with them, and fostering communication. That establishes sustained social relationships between teachers and students, uncommon in other professions. Both in and out of the classroom, interactions in school settings evoke emotional experiences for teachers and students, facilitating emotional connections, reducing psychological distances, and fostering dependency between teachers and students⁴⁸. Shortening psychological distances between teachers and students is believed to enhance emotional states in future teaching interactions⁴⁹, thus promoting heightened levels of teaching engagement for educators. This effect may be influenced by factors such as students’ gender and positions as student leaders, as previous studies have indicated that females tend to have shorter psychological distances than males⁵⁰. Student leaders engage with teachers more frequently⁵¹. Hence, it is hypothesized that the T-SPD will affect teachers’ EL in their teaching practices, subsequently influencing teachers’ levels of WE. Therefore, the hypothesis is as follows:

H6a

SA mediates between PED and WE.

H6b

DA mediates between PED and WE.

H6c

NFE mediates between PED and WE.

H6d

SA mediates between T-SPD and WE.

H6e

DA mediates between T-SPD and WE.

H6f

NFE mediates between T-SPD and WE.

Therefore, this study employs a quantitative research approach based on the JD-R Model and CLT to examine the mechanisms of PED and T-SPD’s impact on WE in higher education. This research also delves into the mediating effect of EL to provide empirical evidence for a deeper understanding of the factors influencing WE among university faculty members and offering recommendations and insights for university administrators. The model for this research, which is constructed in line with the above assumptions, is presented in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Hypothesized model.

Methods

Participants and procedures

Data was gathered by distributing and collecting on-site questionnaires among local participants in Shanghai and collecting online responses from teachers in other regions. After completing the questionnaire and having the validity of the online responses confirmed by the experimenter, each subject will receive a red envelope as an incentive. The questionnaire was issued from 20th February 2021 to 30th March 2021, and participants provided written informed consent. Nationwide, 342 questionnaires were distributed. 316 valid responses were returned, the response rate is 92.40%. Among the respondents, males account for 33.9%, and females account for 66.1%. The average age of the participants was 41.23 (SD = 7.15), ranging from 23 to 65 years. Their average teaching experience is 14.28 years (SD = 8.73), varying from 1 to 42 years. For their academic titles, professors accounted for 10.8%, associate professors for 41.5%, lecturers for 41.8%, and teaching assistants for 5.9%. Regarding educational qualifications, people with a doctoral degree account for 57.0%, a master’s degree account for 38.9%, and a bachelor’s degree account for 4.1%. Participants came from a variety of universities. Specifically, “985” Universities account for 8.3%, “211” Universities account for 14.2%, ordinary universities account for 70.9%, and specialist universities account for 6.6%.

Instruments

PED. In this research, positive display rule perceptions established by Diefendorff et al.³² were adopted, comprising four items. For instance, “my organization expects me to demonstrate excitement and enthusiasm in my interactions with students. “This scale adopts a 5-point scoring method, with 1 to 5 representing from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree.’ In this study, Cronbach’s α was 0.91.

T-SPD. This study utilized the Self and Other Intimacy Scale⁵² to assess T-SPD. The scale, represented by seven images of two overlapping circles, assesses intimacy between oneself and others, with scores ranging from 1 to 7, meaning from ‘no overlap at all’ to ‘almost complete overlap,’ where greater overlap indicates a closer psychological distance. Since there is only one question in this scale, this study adopts the test-retest reliability to measure the reliability of this scale. The data of previous studies are regarded as the first measurement (with the same measurement objects), and data of this study are regarded as the second measurement. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the two measurements is calculated as the test-retest reliability of this scale, and the scale’s test-retest reliability value is 0.85.

EL. The EL Strategy Scale, which was established by Diefendorff et al.³² and validated by Huang⁵³, was adopted in the study. This scale consisted of 12 items and was structured into three dimensions: SA, DA, and NFE. It includes six items related to SA, four on DA and two on NFE. The scoring method is 5-point, from 1 to 5, 1 means ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 means ‘strongly agree’. The scale’s Cronbach’s α value is 0.76, SA is 0.71, DA is 0.67, and NFE is 0.63.

WE. The Work Engagement Scale developed by Schaufeli et al.⁵⁴ was adopted. It has three dimensions: vigor, dedication, and absorption, and there are nine questions in total. Responses to the items ranged from 1 to 7, from ‘never’ to ‘always,’ and Cronbach’s α value is 0.89.

Analyses

This paper analyzed the default values. The default values of all variables are no more than 5%, and all the missing data are replaced by the average. SPSS 25 analyzed descriptive statistics, reliability, logistic regression analysis, and other indicators.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Innovative Development, Shanghai Dianji University (protocol code: 2021022002; date of approval: 20th February 2021). Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the investigation.

Results

Common method variance

All the data are from self–filled questionnaires by university teachers, and there may be a problem with standard method variance. Therefore, this study uses Harman’s⁵⁵ single-factor to test the data. The results show that the variance explanation rate of the most significant factor is 28.15%, which is lower than the 40% standard. That indicates that the common method variance of the data in this study is acceptable and that further analysis can be carried out.

Examination of construct validity

The reliability analysis results show that all Cronbach’s α, as depicted in the instruments, ranged from 0.76 to 0.91, suggesting they achieved a satisfactory level. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) will test the PED, T-SPD model fit, EL, and WE. Table 1 shows that the measurement model had the best-fit indices (c2 = 1032.06, df = 479, P < 0.01, RMSEA = 0.068, CFI = 0.92, IFI = 0.92). In contrast, the remaining models had markedly poorer fit indices.

Table 1.

Construct validity analysis.

Model	χ2	df	χ2/df	IFI	TLI	CFI	REMSEA
Measurement model	1032.06	479	2.15	0.92	0.91	0.92	0.068
Three-factor model	1475.52	482	3.06	0.85	0.84	0.86	0.089
Two-factor model	1845.20	484	3.81	0.71	0.68	0.70	0.118
Single-factor model	2589.32	486	5.33	0.66	0.62	0.66	0.131

Note: The single-factor model means all variables are loaded on one factor; the Two-factor model means all variables are loaded on two factors; the Three-factor model means all variables are loaded on three factors.

Descriptive statistics and correlations

The descriptive statistics values of each variable are shown in Table 2. According to Chang, Lin, and Song⁵⁶, values above the mean can be interpreted as high. Therefore, as evidenced by Table 2, the mean value for PED (M = 4.04, SD = 0.64) is much higher than the mean, which means that PED is relatively high. SA (M = 3.08, SD = 0.88) is at a moderate level, while the scores for all other variables are above the mean, around 3.5, implying that these levels are relatively high above the average.

Table 2.

Descriptive statistics and correlations.

Variables	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
1. Sex
2. Age	− 0.02
3. Teaching experience (TE)	− 0.03	0.86***
4. Title	0.04	− 0.68***	− 0.61***
5. Weekly credit hour (WCH)	− 0.05	− 0.06	− 0.03	0.06
6. PED	− 0.01	− 0.01	0.04	− 0.03	0.11
7. T-SPD	− 0.08	− 0.01	− 0.01	− 0.03	− 0.05	0.14*
8. SA	− 0.14*	− 0.21**	− 0.13*	0.13*	0.04	0.26***	− 0.10
9. DA	− 0.00	− 0.19**	0.04	− 0.03	0.022	0.24***	0.15*	0.33***
10. NFE	− 0.04	0.11	0.08	0.02	− 0.039	0.16*	0.18**	− 0.39***	0.38***
11. WE	− 0.09	0.10	0.11	− 0.09	− 0.085	0.28***	0.31***	− 0.01	0.33***	0.39***
Mean (M)	1.68	41.08	14.10	2.43	8.09	4.04	3.81	3.08	3.86	3.78	3.59
Standard deviation (SD)	0.47	7.63	8.94	0.79	4.39	0.64	1.49	0.88	0.67	0.77	0.67

Note: N = 316; *means p < 0.05, ** means p < 0.01, ***means p < 0.001 (two-tailed test).

As shown in Table 2, all other variables, except for SA, exhibit significant positive correlations, warranting further analysis. SA is significantly correlated with PED, DA, and NFE, and it has no correlation with all the other variables. Previous studies have shown that SA may also impact WE, so future research will continue to analyze this.

The mediating effects of EL

According to the hypothesized model in Fig. 1, this paper uses regression path analysis to examine the relationships between PED, three EL strategies, and WE. The stepwise regression method was used to examine the mediating effects of EL. The first step uses WE as the dependent variable (DV). In contrast, PED and T-SPD are used as independent variables (IV) for regression analysis. In the second step, SA, DA, and NFE are respectively used as DV, with PED and T-SPD as IV for regression analysis. In the third step, WE is used as the DV, with PED as the IV for regression analysis; WE is also the DV, with DA and NFE as the IV for regression analysis.

According to the findings of the regression path analysis shown in Fig. 1; Table 3, after controlling for gender and other control variables, PED (β = 0.29, P < 0.001) and T-SPD (β = 0.31, P < 0.001) were found to significantly and positively predict WE, thereby validating H1 and H3 with significant main effects. According to models 2–4, PED significantly and positively predicts SA (β = 0.17, P < 0.01), DA (β = 0.37, P < 0.001), and NFE (β = 0.16, P < 0.01), thus validating H2. T-SPD significantly and negatively predicts SA (β=-0.13, P < 0.05) while significantly and positively predicting DA (β = 0.15, P < 0.05) and NFE (β = 0.20, P < 0.01), validating H4. Models 5–7 show that DA (β = 0.30, P < 0.001) and NFE (β = 0.31, P < 0.001) positively predict WE, validating H5b and H5c; however, SA does not significantly affect WE (β=-0.02, P > 0.05), thus H5a is not validated, necessitating further Sobel test. Sobel test results show that SA does not significantly mediate between PED (Z = 0.57, P > 0.05), T-SPD (Z = 0.64, P > 0.05), and WE; thus, H6a and H6d are not validated. Models 9 and 10 reveal that after controlling for DA and NFE, PED (β_DA = 0.17, P < 0.01; β_NFE = 0.22, P < 0.001) and T-SPD (β_DA = 0.25, P < 0.001; β_NFE = 0.23, P < 0.001) continue to significantly and positively affect WE, albeit with reduced effects. Additionally, DA (β = 0.23, P < 0.001) and NFE (β = 0.23, P < 0.001) still significantly and positively predict teaching WE, indicating partial mediation, thus validating H6b, H6c and H6e, H6f. This study extends the mediation effect using the Bootstrap method, showing that the indirect effect of PED and T-SPD on WE through SA is -0.009, with a 95% confidence interval of [-0.075, 0.051], including 0; hence, H6a is not validated. The indirect effect of DA is 0.172, with a 95% confidence interval of [0.009, 0.410]. The indirect effect of NFE is 0.205, with a 95% confidence interval of [0.050, 0.409], excluding 0, thus validating H6b and H6c. Figure 2 presents the final model.

Table 3.

Results on the mediation effect of EL.

	Model 1 WE	Model 2 SA	Model 3 DA	Model 4 NFE	Model 5 WE	Model 6 WE	Model 7 WE	Model 8 WE	Model 9 WE
Control variables
Sex	− 0.08	− 0.11	− 0.02	− 0.07	− 0.09	− 0.08	− 0.06	− 0.06	− 0.05
Age	0.02	− 0.39*	− 0.06	0.28*	0.02	0.04	− 0.06	0.06	− 0.00
TE	0.006	0.18	0.08	− 0.06	0.06	0.04	0.07	0.03	0.05
Title	− 0.03	− 0.02	− 0.01	0.19*	− 0.03	− 0.03	− 0.08	− 0.01	− 0.04
WCH	− 0.09	0.02	0.02	− 0.05	− 0.09	− 0.09	− 0.07	− 0.09	− 0.08
Independent variables
PED	0.29***	0.17**	0.37***	0.16**				0.17**	0.22***
TPD	0.31***	− 0.13*	0.15*	0.20**				0.25***	0.23***
Mediating variables
SA					− 0.01
DA						0.30***		0.23***
NFE							0.31***		0.23***

Note: N = 316; * indicates p < 0.05, ** indicates p < 0.01, *** indicates p < 0.001.

Fig. 2.

The final model of the study. Note: N = 316; * indicates p < 0.05, ** indicates p < 0.01, *** indicates p < 0.001.

Discussions

The influence of PED

This study examined the impact of PEDs in universities on EL. The findings indicated that PED had a positive relationship with teachers’ SA, DA, and NFE and had a significant positive predictive influence on WE. Hypotheses H1 and H2 were supported, suggesting that when organizations impose demands on teachers, they will adopt EL strategies to increase WE to meet organizational demands, aligning with findings by Mișu et al.³. Whether teachers are willing to invest in teaching and how much effort they put in are decisions made after considering various factors. Job demands influence teachers’ WE; teachers should consider the environmental demands placed on them and the resulting pressures. Appropriate demands and pressure can promote increased teacher engagement, but excessive demands and pressure can lead to counterproductive effects. According to the JD-R, job demands can enhance the impact of job resources on engagement through an amplification effect²⁹. When organizations require teachers to display positive emotions and feel significant pressure, they are more likely to utilize resources to enhance WE effectively.

Furthermore, in line with the broaden-and-build theory, an individual’s momentary thought actions will be expanded by positive emotions; the same is valid for promoting more open and flexible thinking, generating more problem-solving strategies, and increasing focus on work. From this study, the current demands placed on emotions by organizations should not be excessive. If such demands create excessive pressure, they may have the opposite effect on WE. Besides teaching, Chinese university teachers have other responsibilities like research and community service, where teaching plays a minor role in career advancement and development, necessitating teachers to have higher dedication and responsibility. In high-pressure environments, university teachers may find it challenging to fully immerse themselves in teaching, redirecting time and energy toward research and other areas more relevant to personal interests.

This study also found that PEDs significantly impact university teachers’ EL. When organizations impose positive emotional job demands on teachers, they adopt different EL strategies (SA, DA, and NFE) to enhance emotional expressions consistent with the organizational demands; these findings are consistent with Zheng et al.‘s⁷ research. Universities that set teacher work demands also provide corresponding resources and social support. However, how university teachers perceive organizational support matters is very important; viewing it as external motivation and supplemental resources can lessen the depletion of resources brought about by work demands and boost their work motivation. They will adjust their behaviors according to the requirements of the universities, thus increasing SA. On the other hand, if teachers consider job resources as internal motivation, they motivate them to transform their mindsets from within during work, focusing on self-development and growth, thereby boosting the adoption of DA and NFE. The findings also support that the JD-R model is valuable in understanding the factors influencing someone’s EL strategies. These findings suggest that job-positive demands within teaching impel university educators to employ various acting approaches, such as SA and genuine emotions (DA and NFE), in their interactions with students to adjust their emotions in teaching. Emotions motivate teachers to adopt acting strategies when interacting with students, including SA and authentic emotions (DA and NFE), to deal with the requirements for teaching emotions in the organization.

The influence of T-SPD

The results of this study show that the closer the T-SPD, the greater the level of WE, supporting Hypothesis². Conversely, when the psychological distance is more significant, there is more SA. In contrast, a closer psychological distance is associated with increased DA and NFE, supporting Hypothesis 4, which is consistent with the findings of Ruiter et al.⁴⁷. Compared to the past, contemporary Chinese university students exhibit more distinct personalities, aiming for independence, and are less inclined to engage with teachers actively, often appearing passive and sensitive in communication. Therefore, teachers have become the proactive party in building teacher-student relationships under organizational demands. During interactions with students, teachers perceive and evaluate the relationships with their students. In relationships with closer psychological distances, emotional expressions tend to be more genuine³⁵, while in distant or conflicted relationships, expressions are more limited, and in relatively dependent relationships, there is a tendency towards more SA (faking and hiding emotions).

Teachers evaluate their relationships with students in teaching and adopt different EL strategies. Firstly, which strategy teachers choose depends on the psychological distance with students, which is determined by assessments of interactions with students. These assessments consider current events and past student interactions, influencing the EL strategy toward specific students⁵⁶. Secondly, teachers interpret events involving students, meaning that their emotional reactions can be amplified or diminished based on the T-SPD. The closer the psychological distance, the more authentic the expression of their emotions (i.e., more DA and NFE). Particularly in very close student-teacher relationships, teachers are more willing to consider the other person genuinely. However, when facing students with a distant psychological distance, teachers may need to exert more effort in expressing the appropriate emotions required (i.e., less DA and NFE) to prevent adverse incidents with students with unfavorable relationships.

The mediating role of EL

The results indicate that DA and NFE can significantly positively predict WE, while SA shows no significant relationship with WE. That supports hypotheses H1, H3, H5b, and H5c but does not support hypothesis H5a. That suggests the effectiveness of EL on WE and highlights how different EL strategies impact WE among university and college teachers. That is by the consistent results of Sezen-Gultekin et al.⁵⁷. Just as the JD-R model shows, DA and NFE represent a gain process that reduces emotional exhaustion for teachers, allowing them to invest more energy in their teaching work. Furthermore, utilizing strategies of DA and NFE ensures behavioral and cognitive consistency, avoiding cognitive-emotional dissonance. Despite various organizational demands and increasing job complexity, dedicated teachers believe in their impact on students. They are willing to put their best efforts forward⁵⁸. Through DA and NFE, teachers’ behaviors and inner thoughts align, leading individuals to have positive emotional experiences in teaching. That facilitates recognizing favorable aspects of their work, thus reducing daily work stress and facilitating a transformation from positive cognition to positive behavior. Consequently, WE becomes more positive.

The results of this study show that SA shows no significant relationship with WE. According to the references, SA is a process of resource depletion. Work stress arises once individuals’ limited resources are depleted⁵⁹, reducing WE⁶⁰. However, under university demands, university teachers not only have to increase their WE but must also display positive emotions as required. These job demands burden individual resources, and to protect existing resources and prevent further depletion, they may resort to SA, leaving them with fewer resources for teaching engagement⁶¹. As a result, SA has no impact on WE. Moreover, current studies mainly concentrated on psychological health variables such as job burnout or satisfaction, and the research has mainly targeted elementary education teachers. WE is a direct and vital indicator of teachers’ professionalism, and the vast majority of university teachers hold doctoral degrees, having established solid professional confidence through extensive professional learning and research. Even if they employ surface-acting strategies, it may not affect them. Additionally, some scholars’ research results indicate a negative correlation between SA and WE⁵⁸, prompting further exploration in future studies. This study added value to the current body of literature by offering empirical proof of the impact of university teachers’ EL on WE. Therefore, it is recommended that schools aiming for more engaged teachers foster an environment that allows teachers to exhibit EL.

Regarding the mediating roles of DA and NFE, when PED and T-SPD are much more significant, teachers can re-perceive job demands through DA, actively adjust their internal feelings, and identify with the value and significance of the work from the bottom of their hearts²⁶. For example, they can view job demands as opportunities to improve teaching quality rather than sources of stress. Communicating empathetically with students can increase teachers’ identification with their work and increase work-engaged behaviors. Meanwhile, NFE can strengthen teachers’ positive perception of their own WE. When teachers naturally express positive emotions such as enthusiasm and care to students, these emotions can influence the students and make teachers identify more with the value of their investment in teaching in their hearts through NFE². That, in turn, strengthens their perception and behaviors of WE, such as devoting more time, energy, and emotions and injecting vitality into their work.

Implications

Authentic strategies are the best choice for university teachers

As the results show in this study, DA and NFE significantly predict WE. Therefore, facing adult university students, university teachers should wisely employ authentic EL strategies, specifically using DA and NFE. However, currently, influenced by the globalization of higher education, some universities adopt management practices similar to businesses, emphasizing transparent performance relationships between input and output. The various requirements of the universities can motivate teachers. However, at the same time, teachers also significantly deplete their emotions, leading them to experience burnout and engage in harmful behaviors involving SA at work⁵⁷. University teaching requires innovation, and excessive external interventions and demands can undermine autonomous exploration. Given this, universities should respect the work features of university teachers and build a relatively flexible institutional environment. This environment should collaborate with teachers to cultivate positive work attitudes, encourage the use of DA and NFE strategies in their work, establish a harmonious alignment between emotions and behaviors, leverage the positive effects of individual EL, and consequently increase their engagement in work.

Demands from universities should be accompanied by resource support

Traditional teaching management has typically emphasized the articulation of demands while overlooking the emotional states of teachers themselves and the support for their resources. Colleges and universities have relatively high requirements on teachers’ positive emotions in teaching, which fosters teachers’ awareness of WE and EL. This study shows that SA, DA, and NFE are all enhanced. However, persisting in this manner will have a particular influence on teachers’ physical and psychological well-being. Therefore, universities should appropriately optimize work demands, integrating teaching objectives, student development, and teacher development, among other aspects. By combining challenging demands with developmental requirements, they can encourage teachers to enhance their WE levels continuously.

Moreover, continuous enhancement of relevant resource support is necessary, such as training on emotion regulation methods and offering platforms and opportunities for emotional release. This approach helps avoid additional energy depletion and emotional exhaustion resulting from job demands. It improves teachers’ abilities to engage in DA and NFE to enhance their work engagement. When providing resource support, universities should focus on harnessing the intrinsic motivation of university teachers, prioritizing their rights and well-being, and making teachers realize the relationship among job demands, work efficiency, and personal goals. By allowing teachers to feel the care and support of the organization genuinely, universities can assist teachers in using more NFEs in teaching and reducing acting behaviors.

University teachers should emphasize teacher-student relationship Building

With the expansion of enrollment in Chinese universities, teachers face hundreds or even more students in large-class teaching settings, making engaging in practical and in-depth communication with them difficult. Students’ initiative is critical to building harmonious teacher-student relationships. However, the use of the Internet and the continuation of high school study habits have led to a decrease in student initiative. Universities need to encourage students to participate more in teaching activities, adapt to their roles at the university level, change the passive mentality of depending on others from high school, cultivate independent learning habits, and empower students to take on active roles in their learning. Furthermore, universities should actively explore educational models that promote interaction between teachers and students and facilitate student development. That can be achieved by implementing smaller class sizes, discussion-based teaching models, and enhancing teacher-student interaction to reduce the psychological distance between them, effectively fulfilling the educational role. Thirdly, schools should create diverse communication channels, establish routine communication mechanisms across multiple platforms, promote emotional exchanges and collaboration among teachers, strengthen teachers’ sense of organizational belonging and identity with the school, and enhance their willingness to invest in their work.

University teachers should pay attention to establishing teacher-student relationships and continuously update and improve themselves to satisfy students’ thirst for knowledge and guide them. Only by “becoming close to their teachers” can students “believe in their ways,” “heed their teachings,” and establish harmonious teacher-student relationships, which are essential prerequisites for conducting practical teaching activities and enhancing teaching quality. It is necessary to exercise and enhance teaching skills and adopt different teaching methods based on student characteristics, care for students’ needs, create more space for expression, increase shared experiences, and enhance relationships, becoming good mentors and friends to students.

University administrators should develop more incentives

Incentive factors include elements and methods that effectively satisfy teachers’ material and psychological needs⁶². They aim to eliminate teacher dissatisfaction, maintain work efficiency, and further stimulate enthusiasm and initiative in their work⁶³. Regarding material incentives, the salary levels in Chinese universities do not differ significantly from other professions. Therefore, non-material incentive factors are more crucial for current teacher dedication but tend to be overlooked by policies. Research has shown that compared to labor-intensive employees, providing non-material incentives to knowledge-based workers can yield better motivational effects, increasing their dedication and reducing professional burnout. Therefore, universities should emphasize non-material incentives while strengthening material incentives. By exploring motivational factors for teacher dedication at the individual, organizational, and societal levels—such as job autonomy, job fit, decision-making involvement, and career development pathways—universities can stimulate teachers’ intrinsic motivation, induce positive behaviors, unleash their potential, and encourage teachers to engage in their work with enthusiasm. Teachers should be able to find happiness in their roles, achieve fulfillment in their careers, and gain a sense of societal honor.

Teachers should improve their own emotion regulation ability and professional identity

University teachers are usually quickly surrounded by various work affairs, leading to feelings of resistance and reluctance, making it difficult to increase their work dedication. EL acts like the primary operating system of individuals, and whether the outcomes result from proactive or passive behavior can significantly differ. The results of this study demonstrate that engaging in DA and NFE is essential for enhancing work dedication. Therefore, from the teachers’ perspective, university teachers should enhance their abilities in DA and NFE through various means. That includes actively strengthening emotional management awareness and regulation skills, facing roles and job demands with an optimistic mindset, and using personal strengths and strategies to transform these into positive emotional experiences. On the other hand, teachers need to enhance their professional understanding and identification, deepen their role awareness, increase professional commitment and sense of belonging, and approach emotional demands set by the university with a positive work attitude. Teachers can engage in their work with a fuller range of emotions by cultivating a genuine love for their work and care for students from within.

Conclusions

Based on the JD-R model and CLT, this research explored the relationships among PED, T-SPD, EL, and WE for college teachers, specifically including the following steps: (1) based on analyzing the existing literature, we conducted a research model based on the JD-R model and CLT; (2) we gathered data through a survey and employed logistic regression analysis to validate the relationships among the variables outlined in our framework; (3) Based on the obtained conclusions, we put forward implication recommendations for administrators of universities and colleges.

This study obtained the following vital conclusions: (1) In Chinese universities, PED of teaching and T-SPD positively predicted teachers’ WE. Specifically, the more PED universities place on teachers, the more teachers can engage in their work, and the closer the T-SPD, the more engaged teachers are. (2) PEDs were directly correlated with SA, DA, and NFE. (3) T-SPD was negatively related to SA and positively related to DA and NFE; specifically, bringing teachers and students closer together reduces conflict in the relationship and enhances the expression of authentic emotions, as well as preventing teachers from faking or suppressing their genuine emotions in order to meet the demands, and also promotes teachers’ wellbeing. (4) DA and NFE partially mediate the relationship between PED, T-SPD, and WE. SA plays an unmediated role.

This study has several innovations. (1) We adopt the JD-R model and CLT to explore mechanisms affecting teachers’ WE; this study supports the applicability of the two theories in university settings. The results can provide new evidence, which helps to gain a better understanding of the impacts of PED and T-SPD on WE, as well as the mediating role of university teachers’ EL. (2) This study found that T-SPD has a significant influence on both teachers’ EL and WE, validating the use of the JD-R model and CLT in the field of education and expanding new research perspectives by analyzing the impact of teachers’ WE from the perspective of teacher-student interaction. (3) The findings suggest university administrators should strengthen measures to enhance university teachers’ WE and EL; colleges and universities should also attach greater importance to teachers’ emotions, offer organizational resources to support them, and then build a friendly teacher-student relationship.

This study had limitations that should be considered that call for further research. Firstly, all variables in this paper were measured using self-filled forms. Although this study’s detection of standard method bias meets statistical requirements, there may still be a social desirability effect and may lead to artificial inflation of correlations among analyzed variables; future research could consider obtaining data from multiple sources to provide a more accurate analysis. Secondly, the cross-sectional design used in this study resulted in the inability to analyze changes in EL over time. There is no way to know the impact of changes in EL on WE, so future research could explore this using a longitudinal design. Thirdly, even though the sample size in this study is representative, this study had a limited number of samples, and it is not known whether there will be differences for different regions and types of colleges and universities; future studies may consider an extensive sampling in order to correct for possible errors. Fourthly, the samples chosen were from Chinese universities. Nevertheless, it remains to be determined whether the situation is the same for university teachers in other countries, and future studies should be carried out.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, J.Z.; methodology, J.Z.; software, S.W.; validation, S.W.; formal analysis, J.Z.; investigation, J.G.; resources, J.G.; data curation, J.Z.; writing—original draft preparation, J.Z. & S.W.; writing—review and editing, Y.G., J.G. and C.L.; visualization, C.L.; supervision, J.Z.; project administration, Y.G.; funding acquisition, J.Z.

Funding

This research was funded by Humanities and Social Science Youth foundation of Ministry of Education of China, grant number 18YJC880144. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Data availability

Data can be obtained upon request to the corresponding author.

Declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.