Investigating the Relationship between Toxic Leadership and Teacher Burnout due to the Mediating Role of Organizational Obstruction and Silence

Teachers face a high workload and pressure due to working conditions. One of the major issues that is usually seen as a reaction to job and organizational pressures among teachers is the phenomenon of burnout. Burnout refers to teachers' severe reactions to their inabilities to successfully adapt to their job stresses and pressures. Discovering the causes of burnout helps to understand how it is motivated. Teacher burnout depends on several factors. The quality of management and leadership in schools is one of the most prominent factors. Not all school leaders are necessarily effective and have the right qualities. This is where the dark edge of leadership (toxic leadership) comes into play as a hidden and strict dimension of leadership. Another factor that causes teachers' burnout is organizational silence. Teachers have information, ideas, and perspectives that can be useful for work and organization. They sometimes express their information and ideas and sometimes remain silent. Organizational silence is a new term that refers to employees' refusal of commenting on organizational and management problems. Another factor that increases the rate of teachers’ burnout is organizational obstruction. Comprehensive materials and emotional supports provided by the Organization of Education increase teachers' desire to stay and work harder in the system of education. However, this organization sometimes shows itself on the other side and diminishes teachers’ morale and hope for the future by creating obstacles in the way of achieving their goals. Such a phenomenon is called organizational obstruction in the organizational studies. A review of the research literature shows that no research at home and abroad has examined the simultaneous relationship of toxic leadership, silence, and organizational obstruction with teachers' burnout so far. Given the research gap mentioned in this study, we aimed to investigate the causes of teachers’ burnout by determining how toxic leaders provide the grounds for teachers' burnout in schools through mediation of organizational obstruction and silence.

The present study pursued  an applied purpose by using a descriptive-correlation method. The study population included all the teachers (2140 people), who were teaching in the schools of District 3 in Shiraz City in the academic year of 2020-2021. The sample size of 324 teachers was determined based on Systematic Random Sampling (SRS) and Cochran's formula. To collect the data, Schmidt’s toxic leadership questionnaire (2008) with 28 items and 5 subscales (offensive leadership, authoritarian leadership, narcissism, ambition, and unpredictability), organizational Obstruction described by Gibney et al. (2009) with 16 items and 4 subscales (interference in job performance, obstruction of personal goals, obstruction of career goals, and inattention to employee well-being), organizational silence described by Dimitres and Vakola (2005) with 13 items and 3 subscales (defensive silence, obedient silence, and friendly silence), and burnout described by Maslash & Jackson (1981) with 22 items and 3 subscales (emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and lack of personal success), were used in the 5-point Likert scale. Data analysis was performed by using structural equation modeling and SPSS and LISREL software.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between toxic leadership and teachers' burnout due to the mediating role of organizational obstruction and silence.The results showed that toxic leadership had a direct, positive, and significant relationship with the variables of burnout, organizational obstruction, and organizational silence at the level of 0.05. Organizational obstruction was directly, positively, and significantly related to burnout. Also, organizational silence had a direct, positive, and significant relationship with burnout. Toxic leadership caused by organizational obstruction had an indirect, positive, and significant relationship with burnout at the level of 0.05. Moreover, toxic leadership caused by organizational silence had an indirect, positive, and significant relationship with burnout at the level of 0.05. Therefore, it could be said that organizational obstruction and silence played a mediating role in the relationship between toxic leadership and burnout.Finally, to reduce teachers’ burnout, it is suggested that the education officials of the 3rd district of Shiraz City choose ethical principals, who are aware of positive and negative aspects and characteristics of different styles. Leadership is concerned with a firm belief in the core mission of education and schools. Managers, who value teachers' opinions, suggestions, and well-being and provide suitable conditions for their success in various fields, must be considered for managing the schools.