Date of Award
6-19-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
Ibrahim Duyar
Abstract
Teachers across the United States are experiencing declining psychological well-being due to increasing job demands and insufficient workplace resources. In Arkansas, this imbalance contributes to burnout, attrition, and persistent teacher shortages, affecting not only educators but also students, schools, and communities. Job resources are positively associated with well-being, whereas job demands are negatively associated with well-being. Understanding the job resources and demands influencing teacher well-being is critical to sustaining a stable and effective teaching workforce. The purpose of this non-experimental and predictive study was to examine the influence of job demands and resources on the psychological well-being of currently licensed and practicing Arkansas K–12 teachers. The Thriving From Work Model (TFWM), a Job Demands-Resources Approach, guided the study. The TFWM positions work-life integration, basic job needs, and job design as both strain mechanisms and protective factors, depending on context. The study investigated whether the demands of a lack of work-life integration, a lack of basic job needs for thriving at work, or a lack of a structured job design predicted psychological well-being and whether greater clarity of work-life integration mediated these relationships. Data were collected through an anonymous electronic questionnaire using select items from the Thriving From Work Questionnaire, distributed via statewide professional networks, and yielded a convenience sample of 299 responses from currently licensed and practicing K-12 teachers in Arkansas. Multivariate analyses, including regression, structural equation modeling, and bootstrap-based mediation, were conducted to examine predictive relationships among variables. Results indicated that the demands of having a lack of work-life integration, lack of basic job needs being met to thrive at work, and lack of positively structured job design significantly negatively predicted psychological well-being. Having a higher resource of work-life integration partially mediated the relationships among the demand of having an unsupportive job design, the demand of having greater job needs, and psychological well-being. These findings highlight the importance of strengthening workplace resources to support teacher well-being and retention. Future research should explore additional contextual and organizational influences to further inform policy and practice. Keywords: Job Demands-Resources model, Thriving From Work Questionnaire, job demands, job resources, teacher retention, and teacher psychological well-being.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Erstine, Amy C., "Examining The Influence of Job Demands and Resources on the Psychological Well-Being of Arkansas Teachers" (2026). Student Theses and Dissertations. 1186.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/1186
