The Impact Mechanism of Teacher-student Conflict on Burnout of Chinese University Teachers: Based on Northeastern China

In the current global context, the relationship between teachers and students is becoming increasingly alienated, and conflicts between teachers and students always occur frequently, especially in high-pressure subject areas such as STEM. The personal emotional pressure and interpersonal relationship pressure in the work environment brought by these conflicts will make teachers lose their enthusiasm for work and become numb. Existing research rarely pays attention to the relationship between conflicts between teachers and students in colleges and universities and professional burnout of college teachers. This study aims to explore the specific impact mechanism of conflicts between teachers and students in colleges and universities on professional burnout of college teachers. Methodology A questionnaire survey was conducted on 805 college teachers from China, and quantitative analysis was conducted based on the obtained data. The study found that conflicts between teachers and students in colleges and universities can significantly and positively predict the professional burnout of college teachers, and self-efficacy and organizational identification play a significant mediating role in this process, but there is no significant difference in the mediating role of the two. This study has made up for the shortcomings of the “teacher-student relationship” in the cause model of burnout of Chinese university teachers to a certain extent and also provides a new idea and theoretical research basis for the study of university teacher-student relationship and the study of university teacher burnout internationally.