Chinese preschool teachers’ income, work-family conflict, organizational commitment, and turnover intention: A serial mediation model

Abstract

Abstract Increasing teachers’ income has been proved to be an effective strategy to reduce turnover intention. However, relevant empirical evidence for preschool teachers is still insufficient. A total of 1513 preschool teachers from mainland China participated in the current study through random cluster sampling and were administered self-report questionnaires to measure their income, work–family conflict, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. This study used serial mediation models to examine the direct relationship between income and turnover intention, as well as the indirect relationship between the two variables through the independent and serial mediating roles of work–family conflict and organizational commitment. Results showed that among Chinese preschool teachers, (1) the direct relationship between income and turnover intention was not significant; (2) organizational commitment mediated the relationship between income and turnover intention; (3) work-to-family conflict (WFC) mediated the relationship between income and turnover intention, whereas the independent mediating role of family-to-work conflict (FWC) was not significant; and (4) a serial mediating effect of WFC and organizational commitment was observed. These findings have important implications for devising interventions and formulating policies to reduce the turnover intention of preschool teachers.