Reflection of social capital in educational processes: emotional literacy and emotional labor context

• Published in: Asia Pacific education review Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 27 - 43
• Main Authors: Alemdar, Melek, Anılan, Hüseyin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-03-2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; 교육연구소
• Subjects: Data Analysis; Education; Emotional Intelligence; Emotional Response; Emotions; Foreign Countries; High School Teachers; Interpersonal Competence; Learning Processes; Literacy; Path Analysis; Predictor Variables; Social Capital; Social skills; Structural equation modeling; Student teacher relationship; Teacher Effectiveness; 교육학; Turkey; Emotional labor; Structural equation model; Social capital; Emotional literacy
• ISSN: 1598-1037; 1876-407X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12564-021-09701-0

Previous attempts to explain teachers’ educational effectiveness have mostly focused on personal traits, organizational commitment, pedagogical content knowledge or the passion for education, and so on. We want to highlight that social skills—competencies that enable teachers to interact effectively with others—might contribute to the teachers’ well-being with the help of emotional regulation. Using the hypothesis that building positive relationships and relating to others emotionally may lead to positive outcomes in the educational process, the aim of this study was to explore the effect of teachers’ emotional literacy skills and emotional labor behaviors on their social capital. A structural equation model was developed to describe the cause–effect relationship between the variables. The population investigated in the study consisted of high school teachers in the central districts of Eskişehir, Turkey, in the 2017–2018 academic year and the sample included 399 teachers taken from seven different school types using the stratified sampling method. Data analysis was performed using correlation and descriptive analysis, the structural validity of the scales was determined by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and the validity of the structural equation model was tested by running a path analysis—the model was acceptable. The results of the analyses indicate that there are positive effects of emotional literacy on emotional labor and emotional labor on social capital. In addition, emotional labor had a full mediating effect in the relationship between emotional literacy and social capital. Possible explanations of the results, limitations, and suggestions for the study are discussed.