Teachers’ work-related well-being in times of covid-19: the effects of technostress and distance learning

Abstract

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the first measures implemented in Italy was the transition from frontal teaching to e-learning. The sudden need to use technologies to perform their job has added a source of stress to teachers’ work, the so-called technostress. The difficulties experienced in this transition may also have affected the perception of work-related well-being, although other variables, such as the perception of the meaningfulness of work, could alleviate this sense of uneasiness. The study aims to examine the relationships between technostress, distance learning, pleasure in working and meaningful work perceptions among 219 teachers from different school grades through a moderated mediation model. The results confirmed negative associations between technostress and pleasure in working, although this relationship varied according to the levels of perceived meaningfulness. Analyzing the factors related to teachers’ perceptions of their work, both in general and during the pandemic situation, is useful for tracing new coping strategies and planning interventions to implement new teaching methods. Further implications concern the protective role of meaningful work, and the low attention given to this aspect, in Italy, in the selection of teachers.