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Burnout, Selfefficacy, and Successful

Intelligence among Chinese Prospective
and Inservice School Teachers in Hong
Kong
David W. Chan

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Published online: 16 May 2007.

To cite this article: David W. Chan (2007) Burnout, Selfefficacy, and Successful Intelligence
among Chinese Prospective and Inservice School Teachers in Hong Kong, Educational
Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology, 27:1, 33-49, DOI:
10.1080/01443410601061397
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Educational Psychology
Vol. 27, No. 1, February 2007, pp. 3349

Burnout, Self-efficacy, and Successful

Intelligence among Chinese
Prospective and In-service School
Teachers in Hong Kong
David W. Chan*
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
10DavidChan
27
davidchan@cuhk.edu.hk
00000February
2007
Educational
10.1080/01443410601061397
CEDP_A_206045.sgm
0144-3410
Original
Taylor
2007
and
&
Article
Francis
(print)/1469-5820
Francis
Psychology
Ltd
(online)

This study assessed the three components of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation,
and reduced personal accomplishment), perceived self-efficacy, and the three triarchic abilities
(analytical, synthetic, and practical) of successful intelligence in a sample of 267 Chinese prospective and in-service teachers in Hong Kong. The aim was to explore and examine the contribution
of the blending or integration of the triarchic abilities to the three components of teacher burnout
and perceived self-efficacy. While there were subtle gender and teaching-experience differences, the
general findings suggested that the triarchic abilities, especially practical abilities, could independently contribute to teachers sense of personal accomplishment as well as perceived self-efficacy.
The interactive combination of the triarchic abilities could be most important in contributing negatively to emotional exhaustion. The implications of these findings for interventions to combat
teacher burnout and enhance job engagement are discussed.

Since the pioneering work of Kyriacou and Sutcliffe (1978a, 1978b, 1979, 1980),
teacher stress has been recognised as a widespread problem and has become a global
concern in recent years (e.g., Boyle, Borg, Falzon, & Baglioni, 1995; Dick &
Wagner, 2001; Kyriacou, 1987, 1998, 2001). While common sources of teacher
stress have often been identified in different settings (see Dunham, 1992; Travers &
Cooper, 1996), it is understood that teachers rarely react uniformly to these
common stressors (Milstein & Farkas, 1988). Specifically, some teachers might
develop more psychological symptoms than others, varying from mild frustration,
anxiety, and irritability to emotional exhaustion and more severe psychosomatic and
depressive symptoms (e.g., Dunham, 1992; Farber, 1984a, 1984b; Kyriacou &
*Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT,
Hong Kong. Email: davidchan@cuhk.edu.hk
ISSN 0144-3410 (print)/ISSN 1469-5820 (online)/07/01003317
2007 Taylor & Francis
DOI 10.1080/01443410601061397

Downloaded by [University of Hong Kong Libraries] at 16:43 15 November 2014

34 D. W. Chan
Pratt, 1985; Kyriacou & Sutcliffe, 1978b; Schonfeld, 1992; Seidman & Zager,
1991). In general, the more severe individual negative affective experience has often
been described as teacher burnout.
However, the term burnout did not come to be used with regularity until the
1970s in the United States. Freudenberger (1974), for example, used it to describe
the phenomenon of physical and emotional exhaustion with associated negative attitudes arising from intense interactions when working with people. In subsequent
studies, the phenomenon was found to be quite common in a variety of human
service occupations, including among health care and mental health care professionals, social welfare workers, lawyers, and business organisation employees (e.g.,
Golembiewski, Munzenrider, & Carter, 1983; Maslach & Jackson, 1978, 1982;
Pines & Maslach, 1978; Raquepaw & Miller, 1989; Stevens & ONeill, 1983). To
foster systematic research on burnout, Maslach and Jackson (1986) developed the
Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), a standardised measure that has gained widespread acceptance in studies of burnout. Specifically, burnout is conceptualised as
encompassing the tripartite components of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduced personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion refers to the
feeling of being emotionally drained by intense contact with other people; depersonalisation refers to negative attitudes or callous responses toward people; and
reduced personal accomplishment refers to a decline in ones sense of competence
and of successful achievement in working with people (Maslach, 1986; Maslach &
Jackson, 1986).
Research interest in burnout soon spread to studies of the teaching profession,
resulting in an accumulating body of studies on teacher burnout (e.g., Anderson &
Iwanicki, 1984; Beck & Gargiulo, 1983; Belcastro, Gold, & Hays, 1983; Belcastro &
Hays, 1984; Blas, 1982; Capel, 1987, 1989; Gold, 1984, 1985; Iwanicki, 1983;
Iwanicki & Schwab, 1981; Kremer & Hofman, 1985; Schwab & Iwanicki, 1991).
The extensive interest in teacher burnout led to the development of a special version
of the MBI for teachers (MBI-Education Form; Maslach & Jackson, 1986).
More recently, Maslach and her colleagues have extended studies of burnout in
human services to job burnout in different work settings that may or may not
involve working and interacting extensively with people (Maslach, 2003; Maslach,
Jackson, & Leiter, 1996; Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). Parallel to this extension, they have also reconceptualised the three burnout components of emotional
exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduced personal accomplishment in human
services as three dimensions of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy applicable to all
occupations. Specifically, it has been postulated that exhaustion and cynicism could
emerge from the presence of work overload and social conflict, and inefficacy or
lack of efficacy is said to arise from a lack of relevant resources. Further, in this
reformulation, job burnout has been regarded as reflecting a lack of personjob fit,
thus highlighting the importance of interaction between person and work environment, and suggesting that effective interventions to enhance individuals efforts and
resources need to take into consideration their interactions with organisational
efforts and resources.

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Successful Intelligence 35
While many variables at the personal and organisational levels might have important impacts on teacher burnout, specific key background variables have also
received research attention (see Byrne, 1999). Of particular interest were gender and
years of teaching experience. In terms of gender differences, depersonalisation has
been consistently observed to be significantly higher in men than in women among
elementary and high school teachers (e.g., Anderson & Iwanicki, 1984; Byrne, 1991;
Schwab & Iwanicki, 1982). However, inconsistent findings have been observed for
other components of burnout. For example, some studies have found significantly
higher levels of emotional exhaustion in female than in male elementary and university educators (e.g., Byrne, 1991); other studies have found the reverse to be true
(e.g., Byrne, 1991), or reported no significant gender differences (e.g., Maslach &
Jackson, 1986). Similarly, some studies have reported significantly greater feelings of
reduced personal accomplishment in female high school teachers (e.g., Anderson &
Iwanicki, 1984) and university professors (Byrne, 1991); other studies have reported
no significant differences in elementary or secondary school teachers (e.g., Schwab
& Iwanicki, 1982). In terms of differences in teaching experience, research findings
are relatively sparse, even though years on the job would appear to be important (see
Byrne, 1999). Specifically, Anderson and Iwanicki (1984) reported significantly
lower levels of perceived personal accomplishment in teachers with teaching experience of 1324 years, compared to other groups of teachers; no significant differences
were reported for emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Thus, the background variables of gender and teaching experience warrant further investigation.
In recent years, the Hong Kong educational system has become the target of widespread scrutiny and criticism, propelling incessant waves of education reform (see
Education Commission, 2000). Having to implement these reform measures, teachers are pressed to do more work with no additional or even fewer resources, while
receiving fewer rewards and less recognition for their efforts. Worse still, teachers are
also blamed for ever-declining academic standards and student achievement, as well
as the increasingly severe behavioural problems of students in primary and secondary schools (see Chan, 2000). To help students with emotional and behavioural
problems, some teachers are appointed as guidance teachers, with responsibilities for
providing counselling services and group guidance activities to students (Education
Commission, 1990). Working under such conditions of increased work stress and a
sense of inconsequentiality (see Farber, 1999), guidance and non-guidance teachers
alike could be more prone to burnout.
It is therefore no surprise that teacher burnout in Hong Kong has become a popular
topic for research studies (e.g., Chan, 2003; Chan & Hui, 1995; Mo, 1991; Yuen,
Lau, Shek, & Lam, 2002). The reasons for such burgeoning research interest and
concern are evident. Teacher burnout could be a problem with potentially serious
consequences for the teaching careers of the teachers concerned as well as for the
learning outcomes of their students. Thus, the considerable implications for teachers
well-being, and their performance relative to students and colleagues, cannot be overlooked. More specifically, teacher burnout might impair the quality of teaching, and
adversely affect teachers appraisal and tolerance of students misbehaviour, possibly

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36 D. W. Chan
leading to job dissatisfaction, work alienation, physical and emotional ill-health, and
teachers leaving the profession (see Kokkinos, Panayiotou, & Davazoglou, 2005;
Vandenberghe & Huberman, 1999; Wong, 1989; Wong & Li, 1995).
Comparing studies of Hong Kong Chinese teachers with large-scale studies of
American and Canadian teachers (e.g., Byrne, 1991; Maslach & Jackson, 1986), it
was found that Hong Kong Chinese teachers were comparable in scores for
emotional exhaustion, lower to comparable in scores for depersonalisation, and
consistently lower in scores for personal accomplishment. The consistently low
scores for personal accomplishment, for both guidance and non-guidance teachers,
were puzzling and warrant further investigation, which may lead to the development
of effective interventions for reducing burnout through enhancing self-efficacy or
sense of personal accomplishment.
Regarding the development of intervention strategies to combat burnout, it is now
considered more productive to focus on job engagement, the antithesis of burnout,
to promote or enhance vigour, involvement, and self-efficacy, rather than on burnout to reduce emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and lack of personal accomplishment (Leiter, 1992; Maslach, 2003; Maslach et al., 2001; Schwarzer &
Greenglass, 1999). In this connection, Kelchtermans and Strittmatter (1999), for
example, have suggested that the symptoms of burnout would be reduced in environments in which teachers experience professional growth, self-efficacy, and
perceived success in their career progression. Accordingly, intervention efforts
should centre on providing opportunities for individual development, perhaps
through the enhancement of organisational life.
From a different perspective, intervention efforts could also be based on conceptualising personality or personal variables as coping resources that could promote
personjob fit, reinforce job engagement, and enhance self-efficacy. In this connection, Sternbergs (1985, 1997, 2000) theory of successful intelligence, which is centred
on an individuals ability to succeed in life, could be most relevant. Specifically,
Sternberg (2003) defined successful intelligence as the ability to succeed in life according to ones personal standards and within ones sociocultural context by capitalising
on ones strengths and compensating for ones weaknesses to adapt to, shape, and
select environments using analytical, synthetic, and practical abilities. In brief, analytical abilities are involved when one dissects, understands, and solves problems.
Synthetic abilities are involved when one creatively copes with novel problems and
problem situations. Practical abilities are involved when one applies analytical and
synthetic abilities to pragmatic problems. Thus, in this framework, personal abilities
or resources are viewed in the context of personenvironment interactions, suggesting
that job engagement could be promoted with the enhancement of a well-managed
balance of these three individual abilities (Sternberg, 2003).
With the view that the triarchic abilities of successful intelligence, separately or
interactively, might contribute to enhanced self-efficacy or personal accomplishment
in particular, and to increased job engagement or reduced job burnout in general,
the present study aimed to examine the relationship between successful intelligence
and burnout in a sample of Chinese prospective and in-service teachers in Hong

Successful Intelligence 37

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Kong. Specifically, the components of burnout, the triarchic abilities of successful

intelligence, and perceived self-efficacy were separately assessed; the correspondence
of self-efficacy and personal accomplishment was examined; and the blending of the
triarchic abilities, as additive terms and as multiplicative terms, in predicting components of burnout and self-efficacy was explored in a series of regression analyses.
Gender and teaching experience differences among prospective and in-service teachers were also considered throughout the analyses.
Method
Participants
In all, 267 prospective and in-service school teachers (98 men and 169 women)
enrolled in the teacher education program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
participated voluntarily in the study. These participants were between the ages of 21
and 50 (M = 27.50, SD = 5.36); 30% of them (30 men and 50 women) were
prospective teachers with no teaching experience, and 70% (68 men and 119
women) were in-service teachers with teaching experience ranging from 1 to 20
years (M = 4.67, SD = 3.84).
Procedure
Participants responded anonymously in small groups of about 30 to three self-report
scales assembled in a questionnaire. The three scales aimed to assess: (1) their triarchic (analytical, synthetic, and practical) abilities of successful intelligence; (2) their
experience of burnout in terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and
personal accomplishment; and (3) their perceived self-efficacy with respect to working with students. In responding to questions relevant to burnout and teaching experience, prospective teachers, unlike in-service teachers with classroom teaching
experience, were asked to refer to their experience in the eight-week teaching practice they had undertaken prior to this study. The English versions of these scales
were used, as all participants in this study indicated that they had no problems
responding in English. All participants were assured that the data would be kept
confidential and would be used for research purposes only.
Measures
Successful intelligence. The Successful Intelligence Questionnaire (SIQ), developed
by Sternberg and Grigorenko (2002), assesses successful intelligence based on
responses to 36 items describing activities reflecting analytical, synthetic, and practical abilities. This study employed a version that presents the items as first-person
statements describing activities which reflect the relevant triarchic abilities, and
participants responded by indicating the extent to which each of the 36 statements
was descriptive of them using a six-point scale ranging from 0 (Least descriptive)

38 D. W. Chan

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to 5 (Most descriptive). The relevant items can be aggregated to yield a score on

analytical abilities (12 items, e.g., I compare and contrast different points of view),
a score on synthetic abilities (12 items, e.g., I come up with new ideas), and a score
on practical abilities (12 items, e.g., I put into practice things that I have learned).
Burnout. The Education Form of the 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)
was used in this study (Chan & Hui, 1995; Maslach & Jackson, 1986). Participants
were requested to evaluate each item in terms of the frequency of their feelings,
ranging from 0 (Never) to 6 (Every day). Three scales represent the three
components of burnout: emotional exhaustion (nine items, e.g., I feel emotionally
drained from my work), depersonalisation (five items, e.g., I feel I treat some
students as if they are impersonal objects), and personal accomplishment (eight
items, e.g., I have accomplished many worthwhile things in this job). High scores
on the first two scales and low scores on the last scale are indicative of burnout. The
psychometric properties of the scales in studies with the Hong Kong Chinese population have been reported by Chan and Hui (1995).
Perceived self-efficacy. Participants perceived self-efficacy was assessed using
Schwarzer-Wegners 10-item Self-Efficacy Toward Helping Scale (SETH;
Schwarzer, 1993). The use of the SETH was deemed to be appropriate, as teachers
have to meet the social and emotional needs as well as the learning needs of
students. In completing the SETH, respondents were asked to judge how accurately
each item described them using a four-point scale ranging from 1 (Not at all true)
to 4 (Exactly true). A total score can be obtained by summing the scores of the
five positively keyed items (e.g., I have sufficient communication skills to cheer up
someone who is experiencing stress) and the reverse scores of the five negatively
keyed items (e.g., It is difficult for me to express empathic understanding). The
psychometric properties of SETH have been reported in Schwarzer (1993).
Results
The item responses of the 267 prospective and in-service teachers to the SIQ, the
MBI, and the SETH were aggregated and scored by summing the relevant items to
yield scale scores. Table 1 shows the scale means and standard deviations when relevant items were aggregated to yield scores on the triarchic abilities of successful
intelligence, the three burnout components, and perceived self-efficacy. Particularly
worthy of note are the scores on the burnout components, indicating moderate levels
of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, but high or nearly high levels of
reduced personal accomplishment (when compared with normative data as reported
in Maslach and Jackson, 1986). It can also be seen that all the scales except one had
relatively high internal consistency (above .70). The exception was the depersonalisation scale, which had a somewhat lower value (.67), as would be expected of a
scale with a small number of items.

Successful Intelligence 39
Table 1. Means, standard deviations, and internal consistency of the triarchic abilities of
successful intelligence, perceived self-efficacy, and burnout of prospective and in-service teachers
(n = 267)
No. of
items

SD

Cronbachs

Successful intelligence
Analytical abilities
Synthetic abilities
Practical abilities

12
12
12

37.59
34.44
38.86

7.73
8.53
7.11

.87
.87
.86

Men > women

Perceived self-efficacy

10

27.70

3.87

.75

Women > men

ME > LE/NE

9
5
8

24.54
10.66
30.51

9.90
5.08
6.82

.87
.67
.79

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Intelligences

Burnout
Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization
Personal accomplishment

Significant
group difference

Note. Mean ratings of scales assessing the triarchic abilities of successful intelligence, perceived
self-efficacy, and the three components of burnout are in the range of 05, 14, and 06,
respectively. Cronbachs is the Cronbachs alpha internal consistency measure. The significant
group differences are the results from univariate analyses of variance as a follow-up to multivariate
analysis. ME = more experienced; LE = less experienced; NE = no experience.

Gender and Teaching Experience Group Differences

To explore whether there were significant gender differences and teaching experience differences in teachers successful intelligence, perceived self-efficacy, and the
three components of burnout, separate analysis of variance (ANOVA) or multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were conducted.
As 30% of the respondents were prospective teachers with no experience, and
93% had 10 or fewer years of experience, it was deemed appropriate to trichotomise
the sample. Consequently, the sample was divided into three groups: no teaching
experience (prospective teachers, 30%), one to three years of teaching experience
(novice or less experienced teachers, 36%), and four or more years of teaching experience (relatively more experienced teachers, 34%).
A 2 3 (gender by experience) ANOVA was conducted on the SETH scores. The
main effect of gender, the main effect of experience, and the interaction effect of
gender and experience were evaluated with F-values of 5.72 (df = 1/261, p < .05,
partial 2 = .02), 8.55 (p < .001, df = 2/261, partial 2 = .06), and .60 (p > .05, df =
2/261, partial 2 = .01) for perceived self-efficacy. The finding of a significant gender
main effect indicates that female teachers reported greater self-efficacy than male
teachers. Post hoc tests using the Bonferroni procedure on the main effect of experience indicated that the more experienced teachers reported greater self-efficacy than
the less experienced and the prospective teachers, who did not differ from each other
with respect to reported self-efficacy.

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40 D. W. Chan
Similarly, two separate 2 3 (gender by experience) MANOVAs were conducted
on the scores of the three triarchic abilities and the three components of burnout.
For triarchic abilities, the results indicated that the overall gender main effect was
significant (Wilks = .93, F [3,259] = 6.41, p < .001, partial 2 = .07), but the
overall main effect of experience and the interaction effect of gender by experience
were nonsignificant (p > .05). A univariate ANOVA was then conducted on each of
the triarchic abilities scores as a follow-up test to the significant MANOVA gender
main effect. Using the Bonferroni procedure to adjust for multiple tests, each
ANOVA was evaluated at the value of .05/3 or .0167. The results indicated that men
reported higher scores on analytical abilities than did women (F [1,261] = 15.20, p <
.001, partial 2 = .06).
For the three components of burnout, the results indicated that the overall gender
main effect was significant (Wilks = .94, F [3,259] = 5.87, p < .001, partial 2 =
.06), as was the overall main effect of experience (Wilks = .94, F [6,518] = 2.84,
p < .01, partial 2 = .03), but the interaction effect of gender by experience was
nonsignificant (p > .05). Subsequent univariate ANOVAs on each of the burnout
scores were conducted as a follow-up test to the significant MANOVA gender and
experience main effects. Using the Bonferroni procedure to adjust for multiple tests,
each ANOVA was evaluated at the value of .05/3 or .0167. The results indicated
that none of the gender or experience differences reached statistical significance.
However, the differences in personal accomplishment among the experience groups
were substantial and approached statistical significance (F [2,261] = 4.02, p = .019,
partial 2 = .03). Subsequent post hoc tests using the Bonferroni procedure indicated that the more experienced teachers had higher levels of personal accomplishment than the prospective teachers, who did not differ significantly from the novice
teachers. The significant gender and experience group differences are summarised in
Table 1.
Successful Intelligence, Burnout, and Perceived Self-Efficacy
Table 2 presents the intercorrelations among the triarchic abilities, the three burnout
components, and perceived self-efficacy. It can be seen that the three triarchic abilities of successful intelligence correlated most highly and significantly with each
other, and substantially and significantly with perceived self-efficacy and the
personal accomplishment component of burnout. The burnout components of
emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation correlated most highly and significantly
with each other. As expected, the burnout component of personal accomplishment
correlated most substantially and significantly with perceived self-efficacy, the
antithesis of reduced personal accomplishment in burnout. On the other hand,
depersonalisation correlated minimally with all variables except emotional exhaustion and perceived self-efficacy.
To explore further how a balance or combination of the triarchic abilities could
contribute to burnout and perceived self-efficacy, a series of multiple linear regression analyses were conducted using the triarchic abilities as predictors. In these

Successful Intelligence 41
Table 2.

Correlation matrix of successful intelligence, perceived self-efficacy, and burnout of

prospective and in-service teachers (n = 267)

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Successful intelligence

Analytical abilities (ANA)

Synthetic abilities (SYN)
Practical abilities (PRA)
Emotional exhaustion (EE)
Depersonalization (DP)
Personal accomplishment (PA)
Perceived self-efficacy (SETH)

Burnout

ANA

SYN

PRA

EE

DP

PA

.55***
.51***
.14*
.01
.18**
.19**

.61***
.04
.01
.33***
.28***

.21***
.10
.36***
.36***

.64***
.05
.12*

.05
.21***

.40***

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001

regression analyses, scores for the three predictor variables (analytical, synthetic, and
practical abilities) were centred by subtracting the mean score for each variable
from each score for that variable in order to reduce problems of multicollinearity
(Aiken & West, 1991). The results of the regression analyses are summarised in
Table 3.
Specifically, separate sets of multiple regression analyses were performed to
predict the four criterion measures of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation,
personal accomplishment, and perceived self-efficacy. For each of the criterion
measures, four sets of analyses were conducted, using the enter procedure in the
first three sets and the stepwise procedure in the fourth set. The first set of regression analyses used the three separate triarchic abilities as predictors (Set 1 predictors)
to examine the main effects of an additive combination of abilities. The second set of
analyses used two ordered sets of predictors, with Set 1 predictors (separate triarchic
abilities) entered first, followed by Set 2 predictors (interaction terms, pairs of abilities: analyticalsynthetic, analyticalpractical, and syntheticpractical), and the
changes in R 2 and F were assessed to evaluate whether the Set 2 predictors (interaction terms) predicted the criterion measures over and above the Set 1 predictors
(main effect terms). The third set of analyses used all Set 1 and Set 2 predictors
together with the three-way interaction term (analyticalsyntheticpractical), and the
incremental variances were assessed. The fourth set of analyses used all predictors
(the separate triarchic abilities, the three two-way interaction terms, and the threeway interaction term) with the stepwise procedure to retain significant predictors.
Based on a comparison of the results from these analyses, it can be seen that
adding Set 2 and Set 3 predictors to Set 1 predictors did not account for a significantly greater proportion of variance in the three burnout components and
perceived self-efficacy than using Set 1 predictors alone (see Table 3). In other
words, adding two-way and three-way interaction terms of triarchic abilities did not
improve the prediction of the three burnout components and perceived self-efficacy
over and above that provided by the individual predictors of main effect terms of

.16

4
.13
.14
.14
.14

.15

.15

.15

.14

.00
.01
.01

.05

.07
.07

.06

Adjusted R2

.02
.00

.00

.02

.02
.00

.02
.01

R2 change

13.72***
8.03***
7.06***
39.46***

39.67***

7.80***

8.96***

15.47***

1.28
1.56
1.42

14.38***

4.06***
3.94***

6.16***

3/263
6/260
7/259
1/265

1/265

7/259

6/260

3/263

3/263
6/260
7/259

1/265

6/260
7/259

3/263

df

2.16
1.22

.89

2.23

1.83
.54

1.90
3.03

F change

Practical
Practical
Practical
Practical

Synthetic
Practical
Synthetic
Practical
SP
Synthetic
Practical
SP
Practical

Synthetic
Practical
Practical
AP
Synthetic
Practical
ASP

Significant predictor

4.13***
3.82***
3.97***
6.28***

2.47*
3.70***
2.74**
2.53*
2.31*
2.86**
2.69**
2.29*
6.30***

2.26*
3.51***
-2.98**
2.33*
2.19*
2.46*
3.79***

Note. Analysis Set 1 predictors are the three triarchic abilities, analytical abilities (A), synthetic abilities (S), and practical abilities (P). Analysis Set 2
predictors include two ordered subsets, with Set 1 predictors entered first, followed by interaction terms of pairs of abilities (A S; A P; and S P), and
F change is evaluated with F(3,260) after controlling for the effects of Set 1 predictors. Analysis Set 3 includes three ordered subsets, with Set 1 and Set 2
predictors entered first, followed by the interaction term of all three abilities (A S P), and F change is evaluated with F(1,259) after controlling for the
effects of Set 1 and Set 2 predictors. Analysis Set 4 includes all Analysis Set 3 predictors using stepwise procedure. Stepwise criteria are .01 or less as
probability of F to enter, and .05 or above as probability of F to remove.
*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001

.14
.16
.16
.15

.17

1
2
3
4

.17

Perceived self-efficacy

.15

Personal
accomplishment

.05

4
.01
.04
.04

.09
.10

2
3

1
2
3

.07

R2

Analysis set

Depersonalization

Emotional exhaustion

Criterion

Table 3. Multiple regression analyses for the prediction of burnout and perceived self-efficacy using ordered sets of predictors of the triarchic
abilities and their interactions (n = 267)

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42 D. W. Chan

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Successful Intelligence 43
triarchic abilities, suggesting that multiplicative combinations of triarchic abilities do
not add to the prediction. Specifically, among the four criterion measures, personal
accomplishment and perceived self-efficacy were most predictable, in terms of
having the largest amount of variance accounted for in the prediction (about 15%).
Depersonalisation was least predictable and could not be significantly predicted by
the triarchic abilities. On the other hand, practical abilities were generally the most
significant predictor of perceived self-efficacy, personal accomplishment, and
emotional exhaustion. The results of the stepwise procedure also indicated that a
multiplicative combination of all three triarchic abilities could be the most important predictor of emotional exhaustion, suggesting that the interaction among the
triarchic abilities could be a better representation than the additive combination in
predicting emotional exhaustion.
Since the MANOVA and ANOVA analyses indicated that gender had a significant
effect on successful intelligence, burnout, and perceived self-efficacy, and teaching
experience had a significant effect on burnout and perceived self-efficacy, it was of
interest to repeat the above multiple regression analyses separately for men and for
women, and for prospective teachers, less experienced teachers, and more experienced teachers. To simplify, only the stepwise analyses were performed. In general,
the patterns of results found for the total sample appeared to apply to both men and
women, with some subtle differences. Notably, depersonalisation in men was significantly predicted by the multiplicative combination of triarchic abilities, consistent
with past findings that men can be more depersonalised than women. For prospective teachers and teachers with different levels of teaching experience, a slightly
different patterns of results emerged. Notably, personal accomplishment was
predictable for prospective and less experienced teachers, but not for more experienced teachers, with practical abilities emerging as the most important predictor.
The results of regression analyses performed separately for prospective, less experienced, and more experienced teachers are summarised in Table 4.
In summary, the general findings suggest that each of the triarchic abilities could
contribute independently and positively to perceived self-efficacy and personal
accomplishment. In particular, the positive contribution of practical abilities was
most salient and representative, given the substantial association among the burnout
components. In addition, the findings also suggest that the triarchic abilities could
interactively contribute negatively to emotional exhaustion, for both men and
women and for more experienced teachers.
Discussion
The present results extend previous findings on the burnout of Hong Kong Chinese
teachers by examining the relationships among burnout components, perceived selfefficacy, and the triarchic abilities of successful intelligence. As expected, there was a
substantial association between personal accomplishment, the component of burnout
scored in the reverse direction, and perceived self-efficacy, the component of job
engagement which is the antithesis of burnout, supporting the close correspondence

44 D. W. Chan
Table 4. Multiple regression analyses for the prediction of burnout and perceived self-efficacy
using as predictors the triarchic abilities and their interactions separately for prospective teachers,
less experienced teachers, and more experienced teachers

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Criterion
Prospective teachers (n = 80)
Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization
Personal accomplishment
Perceived self-efficacy
Less experienced teachers (n = 96)
Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization
Personal accomplishment
Perceived self-efficacy
More experienced teachers (n = 91)
Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization
Personal accomplishment
Perceived self-efficacy

R2

Adjusted
R2

df

.17
.11

.16
.10

16.37***
9.46**

1/78
1/78

.08

.15
.17

.07

.14
.16

7.82**

16.56***
19.50***

.09

.14

.07

.13

8.23**

14.24***

Significant
predictor

Practical
AP

4.05***
3.08**

1/94

1/94
1/94

Practical

2.80**

1/89

1/89

ASP

Practical
Practical

Practical

4.07***
4.42***
2.87**

3.77***

Note. Separate regression analyses for prospective teachers (no teaching experience), less
experienced teachers (one to three years of experience), and more experienced teachers (four or
more years of experience) use the three triarchic abilitiesanalytical abilities (A), synthetic abilities
(S), and practical abilities (P)and their interaction terms (A S; A P; S P; and A S P) as
predictors using a stepwise procedure. Stepwise criteria are .01 or less as probability of F to enter,
and .05 or above as probability of F to remove.
*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001

and at the same time the distinctness of the two constructs. Both perceived self-efficacy
and personal accomplishment were more predictable than other burnout components
when the triarchic abilities were used as predictors.
As burnout could be conceptualised as arising from a lack of personjob fit, it was
of interest to assess successful intelligencepersonal resources for adjusting to or
accommodating the work environment, leading to different levels of burnout or,
conversely and more positively, to different levels of job engagement. In general, the
findings in this study indicate that the relationships between successful intelligence
and teacher burnout are complex: there was variability in the patterns of relationships for prospective, less experienced, and more experienced teachers, and perhaps
to a lesser degree for male and female teachers. Consistent with past findings, there
was suggestive evidence that male teachers had higher, although not significantly
higher, levels of depersonalisation than female teachers, and depersonalisation was
more predictable from the interaction of the triarchic abilities for male teachers than
for female teachers. Nonetheless, regardless of the different gender or experience
groupings, practical abilities invariably emerged as the best predictor of personal

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Successful Intelligence 45
accomplishment and perceived self-efficacy, and the interactive blending of analytical, synthetic, and practical abilities appeared to be the best predictor of emotional
exhaustion. It is plausible that practical abilities represent an integration of abilities
applied to real-life problems, and concrete and tangible success experience could
lead to a greater sense of personal accomplishment and self-efficacy. On the other
hand, a failure to use the triarchic abilities interactively might engender or reflect
emotional exhaustion.
The present findings certainly have implications for developing preventative interventions. Specifically, the finding that perceived self-efficacy and different components of burnout, especially emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment,
could be significantly predicted by the blending of analytical, synthetic, and practical
abilities combined additively or multiplicatively suggests that teaching to enhance
successful intelligence could be an effective means of combating burnout or enhancing job engagement (see Sternberg, 2002). Since successful intelligence involves
abilities to adapt, shape, and select environments, the teaching of successful intelligence as an intervention strategy could be in line with the notion that situational and
organisational approaches are more effective than individual-centered approaches
(see Maslach, 2003). Further, since perceived self-efficacy and personal accomplishment can be predicted by practical abilities, one would expect that the teaching of
pragmatic and tacit knowledge about teaching and teaching-related tasks could be
the most effective means of combating teacher burnout or increasing job engagement through enhancing a sense of self-efficacy or personal accomplishment. Such
intervention efforts should be highly relevant for Hong Kong Chinese teachers as
they have been found to score consistently low on personal accomplishment, both in
past studies and in the present study. Nonetheless, while there is evidence that
teaching successful intelligence could raise student achievement (Sternberg, 2002),
the effectiveness of teaching successful intelligence to teachers to help them combat
burnout and increase engagement warrants careful investigation in future studies.
In the interpretation of regression analyses in this study, it was generally implied
that different levels of triarchic abilities (the predictor variables) contributed to different degree of burnout (the criterion variables), assuming that the predominant direction of influence was from triarchic abilities to burnout. However, one should
exercise caution in interpreting these findings, as reverse directionality is possible and
bidirectional influences are likely. Admittedly, the present study had many other
limitations. Other limitations or concerns are the small sample size, the fact that this
sample of teachers could be more motivated as they are students in pre-service and
in-service training, and the difficulty of generalising the present findings based on this
selective sample to the larger population of Hong Kong Chinese teachers. Indeed,
one wonders whether the higher rather than lower levels of personal accomplishment
in the more experienced group of teachers, contrary to findings in past studies (see
Anderson & Iwanicki, 1984), had to do with teachers greater engagement in teaching in this sample (although the experienced groups in the two studies were not
equivalent in terms of years of experience). Thus, the need for cross-replication studies with more representative samples of teachers should be emphasised.

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46 D. W. Chan
One other limitation of this study was its sole reliance on data from self-report
measures and psychometric assessment. Such use could result in inflated relations
among variables because of method variance and the possibly carryover of preexisting response tendencies. While objective measures such as observation-based
measures are not without problems, it is recognised that interviews and anecdotal
material could be valuable. The narratives of these teachers, who have to confront a
great variety of stressors and changes in the nature of their work as a result of education reform measures, would provide further insight into the areas of teacher burnout and the blending of triarchic abilities in maximising personjob fit to enhance
job engagement for teachers.
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