This study examined the moderating effect of social support on the relationship between childcare teachers’ basic psychological needs and work engagement.
This study conducted a survey of 257 childcare teachers in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions. T...
This study examined the moderating effect of social support on the relationship between childcare teachers’ basic psychological needs and work engagement.
This study conducted a survey of 257 childcare teachers in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions. The questionnaire consists of items designed to assess basic psychological needs, work engagement, and social support.
The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 19.0 program and PROCESS Macro (v4.2).
The research results are as follows.
First, it was found that the basic psychological needs of childcare teachers had a significant impact on their work engagement.
Second, the social support perceived by childcare teachers was found to have a significant impact on work engagement.
Third, the interaction effect of social support was found to be significant in the relationship between the basic psychological needs of childcare teachers and their work engagement.
This study shows that the effect of childcare teachers' basic psychological needs on work engagement differs according to the perceived level of social support. Therefore, this study presented data that can increase the work engagement of childcare teachers form a childcare administrative perspective. This suggests that, in order to improve the work engagement of childcare teachers, childcare institutions play an important role not only by ensuring that teachers meet their basic psychological needs but also by providing social support.