Connection of work demands, resources and leadership structures to the perceived work-related well-being of early chilhood education centre leaders
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58955/jecer.143249Keywords:
early childhood education centre leader, structures of leadership, job demands and resources, work-related well-beingAbstract
The article examines the individual, work environment and organizational factors associated with the work-related well-being of early childhood education (ECE) centre leaders. It approaches work-related well-being from the perspective of job demands and resources. The data used in the article was collected in autumn 2022 through an electronic survey, which was sent to ECE centre leaders. 113 ECE centre leaders from 34 different municipalities responded to the survey. The data was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and path analysis. In this data, regardless of the leadership structure, ECE centre leaders reported a relatively high number of work-related stressors, and these were associated with perceived job burnout. For leaders who did not have a deputy manager resource at all or had a deputy manager working only occasionally to assist the leader, the number of people managed was associated with perceived stressors. In this dataset, organizational climate was perceived as positive regardless of the leadership structure. Leaders who shared leadership responsibilities full or part-time with an (deputy) leader, a positive organizational climate was not associated with stressors or work fatigue symptoms, while for other leaders there were associations between these factors.
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