Early childhood teachers play a pivotal role in developing infants and toddlers and hold a crucial position in supporting their holistic growth and development. Recent studies have emphasized that the organizational environment and member behaviors gr...
Early childhood teachers play a pivotal role in developing infants and toddlers and hold a crucial position in supporting their holistic growth and development. Recent studies have emphasized that the organizational environment and member behaviors greatly influence job satisfaction and intention to stay. In particular, due to the nature of early childhood education, increasing teachers' engagement in their roles and long-term intention to stay is essential to maintaining the quality of education and strengthening teachers' professionalism. To enhance early childhood teachers' intention to stay, there is growing recognition of the need for proactive measures to improve organizational health and enable teachers to solve problems and lead change autonomously. Therefore, early childhood education institutions should implement appropriate measures to address turnover among early childhood teachers and sustain high-quality educational services. Consequently, this study explores ways to improve teachers' intention to stay, a crucial factor for enhancing the quality of education services for infants and toddlers.
In terms of research methods, a survey was conducted over approximately six weeks, from June 2, 2024, to July 18, 2024, targeting teachers working in early childhood education. Among the collected questionnaires, 595 were used for the final analysis, excluding those with missing data or 15 uncommitted responses. Based on the existing literature, this study structurally analyzed the relationship between organizational health, leading behavior, organizational commitment, and intention to stay. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied for data analysis, with SPSS 22.0 and Smart PLS 4.0 statistical programs used to verify data accuracy and test the research hypotheses. Statistical verification was conducted based on the collected data.
The main research findings are as follows. This study analyzed the effects of organizational health in early childhood education and early childhood teachers' leading behaviors on organizational commitment and intention to stay and empirically examined the relationship among each factor. First, organizational structure, leadership, positive frame formation, and relationship enhancement all showed positive effects on organizational commitment. In particular, relationship enhancement had the strongest impact. Second, the effect of organizational commitment on retention intention was not statistically significant. Third, organizational structure, leadership, positive frame formation, and relationship enhancement had positive effects on retention intention, with organizational structure having the strongest impact. These results suggest that environmental factors within the organization and leadership strategies play crucial roles in promoting organizational commitment and retention intention.
The implications of this study are as follows. First, to enhance teachers' organizational commitment and intention to stay, child-care institutions should prioritize establishing a stable organizational structure and reinforcing the director's leadership. Since the director's leadership is key to building teachers' trust and job satisfaction, systematic education and support are required to develop managerial leadership. Second, based on findings that positive framework formation and relationship enhancement can contribute to teachers' organizational commitment and intention to stay, child-care institutions should support effective communication and cooperation among teachers, creating an environment that promotes autonomy and initiative. Third, given that organizational commitment does not directly lead to intention to stay, child-care institutions should devise policies to encourage long-term retention by improving working conditions and welfare benefits rather than relying solely on strategies to increase commitment.
The limitations of this study and directions for future research are as follows. Although the effects of organizational health in early childhood education and teacher-led behavior on intention to stay were analyzed, the sample was limited to a specific region, making it challenging to establish long-term causal relationships, and other variables were not sufficiently considered. In future research, it will be necessary to address these limitations by expanding the sample size, conducting longitudinal studies, considering generational characteristics, and exploring new mediating variables. To provide more practical implications that can contribute to improving the retention intentions of early childhood teachers, in-depth analyses and diverse research methods should be applied.