Industrial and Organizational Psychology Studies

The Relationship between Work Overload and Career Plateau in Physical Education Teachers: The Mediating Role of Emotional Stability

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Mahmoud Sheikh 1
sajjad ghorbani 2
Nasser Bay 3

1  Assistant Professor in Sports Management, Azadshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran

2 MA Student in Sport Management, Azadshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran

3 Assistant Professor in Sports Management, Azadshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22055/jiops.2025.47908.1431
Abstract
Introduction
In recent years, despite the increasing importance of the quality of teachers' working life, in the educational systems of many countries, due to reasons such as shrinking policies in recruiting human resources, increasing the working hours of teachers, restructuring organizational structures, changing traditional teaching methods and replacing virtual education methods, and extensive changes in Educational programs have increased the tasks assigned to teachers. The workload has negative consequences for teachers, which needs to be investigated. Based on this, the purpose of the present research was to study the relationship between work overload and career plateau in physical education teachers with the mediating role of emotional stability.
 
Method
This applied study was conducted using the correlational research method. The statistical population of this study included all sport teachers in Golestan province at primary and secondary levels (686 teachers) and the sample size was estimated to be 247 physical education teachers based on Cochran's formula. The selection of the research sample was done using random samling method. The instruments used in this study included three questionnaires of work overload (Yun, 2022), emotional stability (Gagani et al., 2021) and career plateau (Ramgoolam, 2020) that all of which have a five-point Likert scale. The collected data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using statistical software SPSS version 25 and SmartPLS version 4.
Results
The results of the research showed that the relationship between work overload and emotional stability of physical education teachers is negative and significant. Another part of the research results indicated that there is a positive and significant relationship between work overload and the career plateau of physical education teachers. Finally, the results confirmed the significant relationship between work overload and career plateau of physical education teachers with the mediating role of emotional stability.
 
Discussion
Based on the results, it can be concluded that work overload can lead to the formation of negative career consequences such as career plateau by reducing the emotional stability of physical education teachers.

Keywords

Work overload
emotional stability
career plateau
work-life quality
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Industrial and Organizational Psychology Studies
Volume 12, Issue 1
July 2025
Pages 67-80

  • Receive Date 04 September 2024
  • Revise Date 04 December 2024
  • Accept Date 13 January 2025

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