When the Going Gets Tough: Direct, Buffering and Indirect Effects of Social Support on Turnover Intention

This article was published in Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 26, Issue 6,
Author(s): Georgia Pomaki, Anita DeLongis, Daniela Frey, at al., ‘When the Going Gets Tough: Direct, Buffering and Indirect Effects of Social Support on Turnover Intention’, Pages 1340-1346, Copyright Elsevier (August 2010).

The authors examined the role of social support in turnover intention among new teachers.

First, the authors tested and found evidence for a direct negative relationship between social support and turnover intention.

Second, the authors tested the social support buffer hypothesis.
The authors found that teachers with higher social support had lower turnover intention in the face of higher workload, compared to teachers with lower support.

Third, the authors examined a mediational hypothesis..
The authors found that social support acts indirectly, through job satisfaction in relation to turnover intention.
These findings suggest that social support can be a valuable resource for new teachers.