Factors affecting job transfer intention of teachers in the three southern provinces of Thailand

• Main Author: Kittichokwattana, Patipat
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: HD58.7 Organizational Behavior.; HF5549-5549.5 Personnel Management. Employment
• Online Access: https://etd.uum.edu.my/10819/1/permission%20to%20deposit-grant%20the%20permission-s901024.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/10819/2/s901024_01.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/10819/
• Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia

Job transfer refers to the voluntary or self-initiated relocation of work within an organization. In understanding the driving factors behind teachers’ job transfer, the regulatory focus theory can be a useful analytical tool. Based on this theory, the emotional and behavioral outcomes of individuals are influenced by how they fit into and react to various psychological states of regulatory failure within the work environment, such as organizational values, scope and workload, and work community support. This study examines the link between regulatory failure and teachers' intentions for job transfer in the selected provinces of southern Thailand. It also investigates how these factors can lead to job burnout and feelings of despair among the teachers due to the failure to meet their goals. Using a quantitative and cross-sectional survey research design, a total of 351 teachers from public primary schools in the three southern provinces of Thailand were randomly selected as the research sample. The required data was collected through a set of questionnaires administered to the participants. The data collected from the survey was analyzed using the partial least square structural equation model. The results show that factors like community, values, regulatory failure, and job burnout had a collective impact on teachers’ job transfer intention, but with a relatively low level of predictive accuracy. A mediation analysis reveals an indirect-only mediation effect of job burnout towards the relationship between organizational values and teachers' intention for job transfer. It also identifies a serial mediation effect, where regulatory failure and job burnout play influential roles in the relationship between community and teacher's intention for job transfer. The research findings also reveal that the risk of suffering burnout is much higher for teachers that perceive their profession to be too stressful or demanding. These findings provide a better understanding of the psychological mechanism of regulatory focus of teachers and formulate appropriate interventions to improve teacher retention.