Abstract:

Teachers' attitudes and behaviours have been studied for the past few decades, but recently, especially due to changes following Covid-19, a new concept named 'quiet quitting' has emerged. This term refers to the widespread phenomenon of employees setting limits to their employers and insisting on their unwillingness to go beyond job requirements. This study explored the relationships between principals' authentic leadership (AL) and teachers' organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and burnout, mediated by teachers' organizational commitment, while distinguishing between the teachers' level and the schools' level. 1,179 Israeli teachers from 69 schools participated in this study. The data analysis was undertaken via Multi-level Structural Equation Modeling (MSEM). The models were estimated through the Mplus program. Results indicate that organizational commitment mediated the relationship between AL and burnout on both the teachers' and the schools' level. Organizational commitment mediation regarding the relationship between AL and OCB was confirmed for the teachers' level only. OCB positively correlated to burnout on the schools' level only. These findings clarify the concept of 'quiet quitting' among teachers where the collective OCB is not mediated by the strength of collective emotional bonds. In fact, it seems to be a positive trend serving to reduce burnout among teachers who overwork themselves. These findings can help enlighten school leaders regarding their staff's behaviour as well as the school climate they wish to cultivate.

Keywords:

Authentic leadership, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behaviour, burnout.