The effect of a burnout on the relation between
external networks and performance of primary
schools
A quantitative study about the possible mediating effect of a burnout on the relation between external networks and performance of primary schools in the Netherlands
Dorien Veenstra S1373072
Thesis Public Administration, track public management Supervisor: Dr. P. E. A. van den Bekerom
Second reader: W. J. van Noort
Leiden University
Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs June 2018
1 Table of contents
Summary 2
Chapter 1 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Research question and relevance 5
1.3 Thesis structure 6
Chapter 2: Literature review and theoretical framework 7
2.1 Schools Performance 7
2.2 Managerial networking 8
2.2.1 External networking 9
2.2.2 External networking and performance 11
2.3 Burnout and occupational stress 13
2.3.1 Occupational stress 13
2.3.2 Burnout 15
2.3.3 Work engagement 16
2.4 Hypotheses 17
Chapter 3: Research design 18
3.1 Data collection 18
3.2 Measurement 19
Chapter 4: research results 22
4.1 Analysis 24 4.2 Results 25 Chapter 5: Conclusion 29 5.1 Discussion 29 5.2 Practical implications 31 5.3 Limitations 32 References 34
2 Summary
This research examined if there is a mediating effect of a burnout, on the relation between external networks and the performance of primary schools in the Netherlands. Moreover, I distinguished between different dimensions of external networking and researched how different categories of external networks influence the performance.
The data consists of 671 primary schools and principals of primary schools. In 2011 external networking and burnout is examined through a survey, including questions of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9” (UWEs-9). In 2012 the performance of schools is examined, through the average CITO scores of children per school.
The results show that networking with more local government actors have a negative effect on performance. These findings partially support the expectation that burnout mediates the relationship between external networking and performance.
3 Introduction
The environment of public organizations is getting increasingly complex due to constant changing elements in the environment which affect the organization (Johnson & Scholes, 2002). The different political, economic, social, environmental and technical elements affect organizations and a manager has the responsibility to bring those elements together (Emery & Trist, 1965). Bringing those elements together gives difficulties for managers as the elements are unpredictable. The networks, especially of public organizations, are wide spread among multiple interdependent organizations (O’Toole, 1997; O’Toole & Meier, 2015; Rainey 2009). A term that is associated with external networking is “managing outward”, because it contains managerial networking with actors in the environment of the organization (O’Toole, Meier & Nicholson-Crotty, 2005). Public organizations face more diverse stakeholders than their private counterparts, which requires a lot of managerial effort. In contradiction to private organizations who can choose to network on a low level. Networking is therefore very
important for managers of public organizations, to maintain good relationships with the stakeholders and provide resources. Moreover, a manager is required to manage different networks to the advantage of an organization (Andrews, Boyne, Meier, O'Toole Jr & Walker, 2011). For this, networking has a positive effect on the performance of a public organization (O’Toole & Meier, 2017; Torenvlied et al, 2013; Akkerman, Torenvlied & Schalk, 2012; Walker, Andrews, Boyne, Meier & O’Toole, 2010; Brass, Galaskiewicz, Greve & Tsai, 2004).
With the focus on public organizations, this research is in particular about primary education. Schools are a typical example of public organizations and often used in managerial networking literature. When focussing on elements in the environment of schools, the
constant innovation of technology and therefore knowledge, changes the schools’
environment constantly (Thomas & Brown, 2011). A recent new regulation called ‘passend onderwijs’ is an example of a changing political element. Passend onderwijs refers to the new regulation from the government, where children with special needs stay in regular education as long as possible. To get the children with special needs the help they need to reach their optimal level of performance, a principal needs to prioritize external networking. When a child for instance needs guidance to deal with behavioural problems, in the old system the child is advised to transfer to special education. In contradiction, to passend onderwijs, where the principals have to arrange special guidance in the school. To accomplish appropriate help, the manager needs to require knowledge from an orthopedagogic institution or a school with
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special education. Therefore, external networking is more necessary in the current schools’ environment.
Positive effects of external networking on performance are found in research (Gray, Jesson, Goldstein, Hedger & Rasbash, 1995; Hicklin, O’Toole Jr & Meier, 2007; O'Toole Jr & Meier, 2011). There are two ways in which a manager can apply external networking (O’Toole Jr & Meier, 2011). First the principal can exploit resources in the environment for the primary process of the organization. Secondly, external networks can be used to gain resources as buffer or protection for negative shocks in the environment. Particularly in primary schools, this can appear in the form of principals of small schools networking with principals of larger schools. In such a case, the schools will have buffers for when they have insufficient resources in case of a crisis. Consequently, the performance could increase.
On the other side, O’Toole and Meier (2015) argue that the complexity might increase, which in turn, may lead to a negative effect of networking on performance instead of a
positive effect. They state that too much external contacts goes at the expense of internal management, for the simple reason that managers can’t put effort in external networking and internal management at the same time. So consequently, the time and relative opportunity costs of maintaining relations with external actors increase (Provan & Sydow, 2009). At a higher level of external networking the costs become too high and the benefits of external networking decrease. Indeed, Hicklin, O’Toole Jr & Meier (2008) point out that the relation between external networking and performance is a classic case of diminishing returns, which means the relation has an inverse U shape. Practically this means that at a low level of external networking, public organizations’ performance is positive. But at a certain point the costs become too high and the external networking is not beneficial for the organizational performance anymore.
The particular moment of this tipping point is unclear in current literature and needs to be investigated. A possible explanation for the tipping point could be that when trying to find a balance between internal management and external networking, the manager experiences a high amount of occupational stress. Too much occupational stress leads to exhaustion and decreased work engagement (Ekka, 2016). Work engagement is characterised by the aspects high energy and high identification with work (Yu, Wang, Zhai, Dai & Yang, 2015). More precise, employees with high work engagement experience work with enthusiasm and positive feelings (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter & Taris, 2008). Because work engagement is characterized by high energy and high identification with work, it is the opposite of a burnout.
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A burnout has negative consequences for the organization because the characteristic
exhaustion lead to less working hours or dropout. As a result it can lead to decreased internal management which is reflected in staff instability. Staff instability is negative for the level of experience in a school and therefore, the public organizational performance (Ji et al., 2014). Through this mechanism, burnout influences performance in a negative manner.
To conclude, current literature partially implicates a possible negative relation between external networks and performance, which is mediated by increasing occupational stress and burnouts among principals in the educational system.
1.2 Research question and relevance
This research is focussing on the following question: What is the mediating effect of a
burnout on the relation between external networking and the performance of a primary school in the Netherlands?
As is common in public management research, empirical scholarship mainly focusses on networking and performance (Hicklin et al., 2007; Muijs, West & Ainscow, 2010;
Andrews et al., 2011; Meier et al., 2015), and on the relation between a burnout and
performance (Freudenberger, 1974; Carson, Baumgartner, Matthews, & Tsouloupas, 2010; Abenavoli, Jennings, Greenberg, Harris & Katz, 2013; Haverinen-Shaughnessy, Shaughnessy, Cole, Toyinbo & Moschandreas, 2015; Ekka, 2016). In contrast, it is as yet unknown which factor influences the diminishing returns of external networking on performance increases with a high amount of external networking. Therefore, answering this research question is an important addition to the existing literature. Furthermore, this research focusses on primary schools because primary schools are highly suitable for research about public organizations. Education is often used for managerial networking studies and to test our hypotheses it is important to have existing empirical studies with comparable contexts available. Another reason to choose primary schools is because of the increasingly complexity of principals’ tasks in secondary schools, compared to primary schools. In secondary schools the
distribution of tasks is different, principals can divide their tasks among other employees with shared responsibilities. Principals in primary education only work with teachers who don’t have the same responsibility. This makes it a uniform group, which is easy to study. The focus is also on primary schools because of data which is availabile. Therefore, in this research, only primary schools are included to make this research more feasible.
6 1.3 Thesis structure
This thesis is structured with chapters to ensure easy reading. In chapter 2 the relevant theories about external networking, occupational stress and a burnout, and schools
performance will be explained. Also the theoretical framework will be explained in detail. Chapter 3 will explain the research design. It contains the data collection, methods, operationalisation of the main concepts and control variables. In chapter 4 the research analysis and results will be outlined. Finally, chapter 5 covers conclusions, which includes a discussion of the research findings, implications and a possible direction for future research.
7 Chapter 2: Literature review and theoretical framework
This chapter is divided into four different parts. The first part will explain school’s
performance. The second part will explain how managerial networking is conceptualized. It also describes different reasons for external networking and the relation between external networking and performance. The third part will focus on occupational stress and the mediating effect of a burnout in the relationship between external networking and performance. Finally, the hypotheses will be outlined.
2.1 Schools’ performance
As a result of the policy changes, it is important to take the possible influence of partnerships between schools on networking activities of school principals into consideration. Initially, the performance of schools and other actors is not an easily defined concept (Gray et al., 1995). According to O’Toole Jr and Meier (2011), performance consists of four components namely efficiency, effectiveness, equity and public satisfaction. Public organizations typically have multiple standards to determine if the organizations performance is meeting the goals of the organization, so different components of performance are applicable to education. Regarding education, efficiency refers to the costs per child. If children graduate in the regular time lapse or sooner than that, the costs decrease. However, when children get held back a year or need more guidance to achieve the minimum performance, the costs increase. This is not just in a negative way, sometimes it is necessary to provide more guidance in a class where the performance gap between children is high, which results in more costs as well. The second component is effectiveness, which refers to how many children graduate per year, or the average grade of the children. When the average grade is high, this means the education was effective and taught the children enough to keep them on the right level. In contrast, when the average grade is low, the education did not teach the children sufficient information,
compared to other schools. The third component equity is the chance of children getting a degree with the same facilities and same treatment as the other students. Putting children in a school where discrimination or racism is present, makes the chances unequal and unfair. Finally, the last component is public satisfaction, which is the extent to which children and parents are satisfied with the quality and quantity of education. There can be a lot of differences between the parent and children’s satisfaction. Foe example, parents may be focussed on the level of education and competence of the teachers. However, children may concentrate more on the hours education per day. So, the parent and child may have other priorities especially for the goals of good education.
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The four components of O’Toole Jr and Meier (2011), efficiency, effectiveness, equity and public satisfaction, are often combined in research on school’s performance and measured as students’ performance (Haverinen-Shaughnessy et al., 2015; Gray et al., 1995). To specify, if students’ performance is high, this means the efficiency is high because students with high performance cost less. Furthermore, the effectiveness of children is also represented in performance of students because eventually when children perform well, the number of children going to a higher level of secondary education increases. The next component is equity, which is included in the performance of students, because when children are not treated equally, they tend to perform more poorly than fairly treated children (Ogbu & Simons, 1998). Finally, public satisfaction is also related to students’ performance because when children perform well, the satisfaction will be high and vice versa (Verkuyten & Thijs, 2002; Shore & Martin, 1989). This mutual relation can be explained by the idea that children think they are smart and are therefore satisfied with the school. In reverse, when the children are satisfied with school they are more motivated to work harder (Verkuyten & Thijs, 2002). To conclude, in this research we use the average grades of students per school.
2.2 Managerial networking
A distinction can be made between ego networks and whole networks. Whole networks concentrate on each tie among a set of actors, and when complexity of the whole network increases the effectivity is a liability (Provan & Lemaire, 2012). For example, all ties of a partnership between schools and organizations in a certain area, make up a whole
network. Ego networks on the other hand, focus on the ties of an individual actor. The ties of one school with organizations in the environment are an example of this. In this research we focus on ego networks because we are interested in the effect of networking on a burnout of an individual.
Managerial networking is managerial behaviour concerning networking. More specifically, networking can be seen as the frequency of interaction with external actors or organizations (Meier & O’Toole, 2005). The frequency reflects priorities and the amount of time a manager is putting into networking. On the other hand, it can be said that beside the frequency, the multiple operational actions of a manager (activating, framing, mobilizing and synthesizing) should also be included (McGuire, 2002). A downside of this approach is that when applying this approach to complicated networks, not all networks are easily divided between those different actions. For example, activating refers to the set of behaviors as regards the selection of certain actors to achieve organizational goals. Approaching special
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education to attain knowledge about an unknown learning disability can be seen as activating because contact with special education is a choice to involve them in the network. However, framing refers to the set of behaviours used to integrate a network structure and identifying actors’ roles. Hence, approaching special education can also be seen as framing because more knowledge about learning disabilities can contribute to the schools’ structure.
Another approach of defining managerial networking is focussing on the strategy of external networking. A strategy of public organizations is defined as a way to improve the performance, especially applied to external networking and the significance to the
environment (Boyne & Walker, 2010). Miles, Snow and Pfeffer (1979) call the different approaches to the socioeconomic, political and physical environment, the ‘strategy content’. Moreover, they state four ideal strategies, namely ‘prospector’, ‘defender’, ‘analyser’ and ‘reactor’. A prospector strategy emphasizes innovation and the search for new opportunities. Prospectors are experimental with the environment and curious about new things. In contrast, a defender prefers efficiency and transparency and thus focusses on procedures and seeking stability. The analyser strategy is in between the two strategies above. This means an analyser prefers to remain the original outline of the organization, but they also use a part of their activities to experiment. Finally, the reactors strategy, which is where the organization has no real strategy but reacts immediately on the environment but does not anticipate. Each of those strategies can be effective, depending on the environment of an organization (Miles, Snow & Pfeffer, 1979). Moreover, Miles and Snow (1984) also state that each strategy can be
effective, depending on the environment. In a dynamic environment, the prospector strategy is possibly a more effective strategy than the defender strategy. However, reactors are always performing on a lower level than prospectors and analysers because there is no fundamental management approach. For the purpose of this research, only frequency and scope are taking into account because these measure the behavior of the manager. And the behavior of the manager is important when examining the effect of too many external networking.
2.2.1 External networking
The goals of the external activities of a manager can be conceptualized in two ways. First as managerial networking with the intention to exploit resources in the environment for the primary process of an organization. And second, to gain buffers for negative shocks in the environment (O’Toole Jr & Meier, 1999; 2011). Galaskiewicz (1985) divides the motivation for external networking into four different categories, namely: providing resources, managing uncertainties, political advocacy and obtaining organizational legitimacy. Providing resources
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for the primary process of an organization is important for public organizations because typically they are interdependent on other actors and organizations in the environment (Andrews et al., 2011). The dependency is certain because every public organization needs resources such as money, information, people, knowledge or power (Schalk, van den Bekerom, & van der Heijden, in press). By approaching different actors in the external environment, managers can provide this different kind of resources in advantage of the organization. For instance, schools’ principals can network with interest groups to gain knowledge about strategies and requirements in the future. Additionally, networking with government agencies can provide information about policies in the future, for which
preparation is an asset. Nevertheless, the environment also imposes restrictions, such as legal requirements and performance standards (Schalk et al., in press). These restrictions are necessary for good conditions for the employees of public organizations, for example safe working conditions. Moreover, it is important for primary schools to maintain a good
relationship with teachers’ education (In Dutch: Pabo), to provide high quality new teachers. Therefore, providing resources is an important reason for a manager to prioritise external networking.
Secondly, gaining buffers for negative shocks in the environment can back an organization up in turbulent times (O’Toole & Meier, 2011). The environment has many unpredictable elements, that can cause environmental setbacks in the organization and
therefore can cause unstable situations. By maintaining proactive relations with other actors in the environment, information and resources can be used for production in time of crisis
(Meier et al., 2015). To illustrate, an unexpected decrease in students could affect the income of schools, which could cause problems for investments and paying employment. When resources are provided, knowledge can be used to attract more students, or interest groups can provide a bigger budget.
Another important reason for managers to put time and effort in external networking is political advocacy (Galaskiewicz, 1985). As a public organization, you can for example become part of an employers’ organization to combine methods or other information.
Furthermore, primary schools are a contemporary part of a partnership with different schools and close involved actors and organizations like special education schools. This way a school can elaborate about policies concerning children with special needs.
Lastly, obtaining organizational legitimacy is a goal of networking because relations with external actors or organizations can enlarge the trust in the organization (Schalk et al., in press). Trust of the environment is therefore important to the legitimacy of the organization.
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In addition, in a partnership with organizations who have a good reputation, being associated with those organizations is good for the legitimacy. Particularly for primary schools,
organizational trust is important and associated with organizational commitment of teachers (Yilmaz, 2008).
2.2.2 External networking and performance
There is a large amount of literature on the relation between networking and performance (Hicklin et al., 2007; Muijs, West & Ainscow, 2010; Andrews et al., 2011; Meier et al., 2015). O’Toole and Meier (1999) designed a model, addressed in other literature, that explains performance of public services. The foundation of this model is in the open system theory (O’Toole & Meier, 2011). This model is in accordance with the theory of Galaskiewicz (1985) about reducing uncertainties and providing resources in the environment. In the model of O’Toole and Meier (2011), organizational performance is composed of past performance, threats from the environment, the internal stability, internal management and external networking. External networking influences performance by providing buffers for the organization and exploit resources. In the model the intern management and external networking interact and affect each other in a specific way. Internal management includes different functions, combined in the term POSDCORB (O’Toole & Meier, 2011). This term stands for planning, organizing, staffing, directing, co-ordinating, reporting and budgeting of public managers. According to this model, external management, together with intern
management, has the function to recover for the instability of the organization. Stability consists of mission stability, procedural stability, production stability and personnel stability. Instability in an organization can result from quickly rotating employment. It is expected that the more radical a environmental change occurs, the more unstable the production process becomes, and as a result the performance decreases. However, intern management with the focus on structural an procedural stability can increase the stability and therefore the performance of the organization. External networking focussed on exploiting resources contribute to the organizational production stability. Indeed, internal management and external networking can contribute to preventing and recovering from the instability in an organization.
A manager can take several actions in order to improve on performance. A distinction can be made between those actions, namely short and long term (Muijs et al., 2010). In the short term, schools can improve performance to share methods with other schools, these are not fundamental changes. In contradiction the long-term actions are for principals to evolve
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systems with other schools, have contact with other leaders in the external network and provide support from networks to attract new leaders (Muijs et al., 2010). Additionally, research shows that improvement of programs led by external parties gives the advantage that schools can co-construct and therefore help each other to further reach their goals. Instead of investing in programs that might not work, because they are not accurately applicable to the context of the school (Hicklin, O’Toole Jr & Meier, 2007).
Furthermore, the relation between networking and performance can be unequal for different types of network relations. That is to say that different types of stakeholders have different available information and resources, plus they have different power and interests (Torenvlied, Akkerman, Meier and O’Toole Jr, 2013; Akkerman & Torenvlied 2011; Schalk, 2011; Walker et al. 2010). For example, Walker et al (2010) found no effect between external networking of public managers with political officials and professional organizations on performance, but a positive effect of external networking with user groups on performance. Akkerman and Torenvlied (2011) divide the stakeholders into five types, namely operational; program development; professional; scientific; and political. These types are based on two different aims of network contacts, specifically contacts that focus on short versus long term barriers and contacts that focus on different areas in the environment. They found that schools where the managers uses operational ties, and program development ties, are more likely to have a higher percentage of graduated children and a lower rate of drop-out rates than schools with only operational ties. Operational ties aim at supporting ordinary everyday routines of running the educational program. For example, contacts with pre-entry schools to require information about the level of prior education. Program development ties are ties that aim to support further development of the educational program. For instance, contacts with teachers’ education, in order to support student exchange. In this research, the networks are divided into government actors, local government actors and interest groups, corresponding with earlier research (Van den Bekerom, Torenvlied & Akkerman, 2015; Torenvlied & Akkerman, 2012).
However, some literature (O’Toole and Meier, 2015; Milward & Provan, 2003) states that too many external networks might influence the relation between networking and
performance in a negative manner. Different reasons are mentioned among which the
substitution effect. This effect is defined with the simple explanation that a manager cannot be at two places at the time and has to divide his attention among all of his relationships. As a result, the quality of the relationship may decrease (Schalk, 2015). Moreover, the compromise effect is applicable in a situation with many networks. This effect stands for the differences in beliefs between the manager and other networks, who may become irreconcilable. To
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maintain satisfaction for all networks, compromises have to be made. However, if this always results in a compromise, the results become average on all dimensions. For example,
innovative solutions are hard to achieve because these are often radical deviations from the status quo and rather unlikely to support by many partners. As a results partners may get frustrated (Schalk, 2015).
Hicklin et al., (2008) calls the particular point when the performance is negative influenced by external networking, diminishing returns. They examine superintendents of Texas school districts and their network activities. They find that at a low level of networking activities the schools experience more benefits than costs from contact with other actors. However, at a higher degree of networking activities, the returns diminish and the costs become higher than the benefits. Torenvlied and Akkerman (2012) find the same results in Dutch primary schools. The same results are found in the context of the Dutch Social Support Act (SSA, 2007), for professional stakeholder organizations in local governments’ policy making (Schalk, 2015). The results show that there is an inverted U-shaped relation between professional involvement and social contacts. Thus, a lower level of professional involvement results in more benefits than costs and in contrast, a higher level of professional involvement shows diminishing returns.
Although several studies show the diminishing returns effect, the underlying mechanism of this effect is yet unknown. A possible explanation is that with too many
network relations, a manager experiences a high amount of occupational stress. Consequently, a high amount of stress can lead to a burnout and less attention for internal management and therefore on the performance. Therefore, it can be conducted that a possible negative effect can be explained by a burnout of principals in the educational system.
2.3 Burnout and occupational stress 2.3.1 Occupational stress
Stress is a broad concept for which no clear definition exists. It is known that stress is associated with seven out of ten main causes of death, such as the cardiovascular disease, which makes stress a serious problem (Quick & Henderson, 2016). The triggers of stress can be related to environmental events which provoke a reaction of a person (Liu, Yang & Yu, 2015). The environmental event work is an example that can cause stress, therefore this particular form is called occupational stress. To specify, work related factors refer to task related stress, individual stress and organizational stress (Liu, Yang & Yu, 2015).
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The concept occupational stress is similar to the concept stress. It is hard to determine because occupational stress is not a disease, however it does influence mental conditions, and therefore also physical conditions in many ways (Quick & Henderson, 2016). Moreover, a big part of occupational stress is specific per discipline. Concerning the public sector, there are several symptoms appropriate to describe occupational stress such as feeling irritable, anxiety, hypertension and chronic cynicism. If these symptoms increase and/or remain for a longer period (depending on personal characteristics), occupational stress can result in long term problems like reduced personal performance and sleep disorders and eventually it can evolve in a burnout (Liu, Yang & Yu, 2015). Having a burnout means that when the occupational stress gets too high, the employee cannot meet the task requirements at work. These requirements can vary in quantity, quality and work pace.
An important explanation for occupational stress is working long hours (Van der Hulst, 2003). It is assumed that the human body and mind need time to recover from stress, and do not get that when the working hours are too long. A typical example of this is
workaholism, where someone has a high level of job strain and health complaints as a result of too much work (Taris, Schaufeli & Verhoeven, 2005). Another cause of occupational stress and a burnout is not being able to cope with work under high pressure. Work pressure is the overload of tasks accompanied with increased job requirements (Bakker, Demerouti, 2007). There is no general formula for work pressure because individual differences in coping with pressure at work, are very important in the development of occupational stress. Individual differences can be divided into two groups namely vulnerability and protection (Quick & Henderson, 2016). Within vulnerability, there is also lower socio-economic status, which can influence coping by not having learned coping skills and the exposure to more extreme circumstances at work. This is similar to behaviour like anger and hostility, which can lead to a complex feeling of competitiveness and the urge to exaggerate many achievements. This behaviour is also negative for coronary problems. Finally, there is social isolation which can also lead to unhappiness. Protection consists of strong relationships with others and
personality hardiness, which both lead to better emotional regulation and commitment. In short, one employee may experience the occupational stress on a whole different level than the other, depending on the overall mental and physical condition of the employee
(Jettinghoff, van Dijk & Scheeren, 2014).
According to the education in the Netherlands, recent findings show that 35% of the teachers in primary and secondary schools experience too much occupational stress (Van Grinsven, Elphick & Van der Woud, 2012). The teachers are asked two questions about the
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occupational stress. First how they think the pressure is at work, from very high to low. Secondly, how they experience work, from too heavy to bearable. Indeed, 35% of the teachers found the pressure at work too high and experiences work as too heavy, which means they are in the danger zone. They controlled for background variables like region (north, middle, south), age, size of the school and denomination (public, Catholic, Protestant Christian and remaining) (Van Grinsven, Elphick & Van der Woud, 2012).
2.3.2 Burnout
Burnout is a term used since 1974 for a symptom of emotional exhaustion observed in the working environment (Freudenberger, 1974). Nowadays in scientific literature using the term burnout, we refer to an emotional and physical reaction, as the result of an individual not being able to cope with occupational stress (Yu et al., 2015). This emotional reaction refers to attitudes and irritated behavior like giving curt answers. The physical reaction refers to headaches and fatigue so eventually stress can lead to a depression. Central concepts of a burnout are exhaustion and lack of dedication to the job. The continuum in those concepts are “energy” and “identification” (Gonza´lez-Roma, Schaufeli, Bakker, & Lloret, 2006).
Keeping in mind that pressure at work can be a cause of a burnout, research shows that among professionals, work pressure is the highest in education (Abenavoli et al. 2013; Carson et al. 2010; Kyriacou 2001; Troman and Woods 2000). The reason behind this, is that several factors in schools increase psychological stress among principals. In primary education, the division between normal- and special education for instance, gives challenges for principals. It could be challenging to maintain good contact with special education, in order to require information about mental disorders. To manage these challenges, the principal needs to put time and effort in external networking. For a principal, networking demands different tasks with a strategy to make decisions: what kind of investments contribute to the schools’ goals and what are the risks (Walker et al., 2010). If the strategy lacks, the external activities are not manageable and will increase too high. Moreover, time management will become a problem and therefore will cause stress. When such psychological stress is not processed adequately, less work engagement, less passion for managing and a lower experience of enthusiasm will follow and eventually this can result in a burnout (Yu et al., 2015).
To conclude, too many external networking activities influence the occupational stress of the manager and therefore the chance of a burnout increases (Freudenberger, 1974). A burnout influences the capacity of managers to stay in charge of internal management, for example by declined energy and loss of focus (Bakker, Demerouti & Verbeke, 2004).
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Moreover, internal management influences diverse dimensions of stability. Personnel stability for instance affects the organizational performance (Ji et al., 2014).
2.3.3 Work engagement
Despite the downsides of work pressure, there is also a positive side, which could work as a medicine against a burnout, that is work engagement. Work engagement is the opposite of a burnout in different elements. Namely, in contradiction to people with a burnout, engaged employees experience enthusiasm and a positive feeling associated with work, in contrast to the negative feeling and experience of too many challenges (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter, & Taris, 2008). Therefore, work engagement refers to a work related positive state of mind of employees, characterized by vigor, absorption and dedication (Bakker et al., 2008; Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonza´lez-Roma, & Bakker, 2002). Vigor refers to the level of mental resilience and energy at work, the persistency to overcome difficulties that you come across and the willingness to put effort into work. Absorption is defined as having full concentration, being attached to work and having the sense that time passes quickly (Hakanen, Schaufeli & Ahola, 2008). Dedication refers to enthusiasm, the sense of being significant to the organization and pride of the work you are doing. As mentioned before, these characteristics should not be confused with workaholism because although the concepts look alike, there is a big difference between them. One of these is that workers do not have the compulsive drive that workaholics have. The motivation to work is enjoyment, instead of an addiction. In the characteristics vigor, absorption and dedication, the same continuum can be found as in a burnout, with only the opposite expression. The continuum energy is expressed in strength instead of exhaustion and the continuum identification is expressed in cynicism instead of dedication. To conclude, work engagement is defined as high energy and strong identification with work, and burnout is defined as low energy and poor identification with work (Hakanen et al., 2008). Moreover, because in different aspects work engagement is the opposite of a burnout, in this research work engagement is seen as robust control variable.
Research shows that work engagement has a positive relationship with service climate, which is a part of work environment (Salanova, Agut, Peiró, 2005). The service climate is built by the shared perceptions among employees about organizational practices, concerning customer service. A part of the reaction of the employees, resulting from the shared
perceptions, is work engagement. Thus, the higher the work engagement, the higher the service climate. Moreover, service climate influences employee performance which can be seen as a measurement of organizational performance (Salanova et al., 2005; Snow, 2002).
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This complies with more recent research, which proves a positive relationship between work engagement and job performance (Bakker et al., 2008). In summary, it is very important for both teachers and principals to keep the work environment healthy by engaging in work.
2.4 Hypotheses
Leading from the literature it is expected that there is a parabolic relation between the external networking partners and the performance of the school. This parabolic relation refers to the expectation that with more external networking partners, the performance of the school will become better. When the balance between internal management and external networks becomes unmanageable, networking becomes ineffective and diminishes returns on the performance of the school (Hicklin, O'Toole Jr & Meier, 2007). This is caused by time
management, which refers to the time and effort a principal can put in external partners versus internal management. Then, the unbalance between internal and external management causes occupational stress and therefore a burnout.
In addition it is expected, that there is a positive relation between the external networking partners and a burnout of principals. Plus, as a robust control variable, work engagement is expected to have a negative relation with external networking. This means that when there is more external networking and time management becomes too complex, burnout increase and work engagement decreases. To illustrate, figure 1 shows the conceptual model used.
18 Chapter 3: Research design
3.1 Data collection
To test the hypothesis of this thesis, data is used from primary schools, obtained by
integrating two data sets of primary schools in the Netherlands. The first data set consists a survey among Dutch primary schools conducted in 2010. This data is used in earlier studies with somewhat similar comparable research design, but the focus on different main variables (Van den Bekerom et al., 2015, Van den Bekerom, 2016). The survey contains information about managerial networking, burnout, work engagement, work experience as director and working hours of principals in primary education.
The second data set is from the Dutch Inspectorate of Education, which contains information about the indication of performance of Dutch primary schools. The two data sets were matched with each schools’ identification number, which is determined by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. This is a four-digit code, which makes the administration for the ministry clearer by identifying schools. After a listwise deletion of missing values and correcting for outliers, the number of observation is 671 schools. The outliers are deleted when the value is more than 3 times the standard deviation from the mean1.In the following paragraph the measurements and control variables are discussed.
In the analyses, the datasets are combined in SPSS with the aim to discover the mediating relation of burnout between external networking and performance. In the analysis, a mediation analysis is used to examine the underlying mechanism. The first step is to examine if there is a relation between external networking and performance. The dependent variable is performance. The second step is whether is there is a relation between external networking and burnout. The main dependent variable in this study is the performance of primary schools. The control variables are included in the analysis.
This is an explanatory, cross-sectional research based on different cases to explain the effect of external networking on school performances. Therefore, the goal is to generalize the results to all the primary schools in the Netherlands. This research focusses on the number of external networks of the year 2010/2011 and the performance of schools in the year 2011. In this research the unit of analysis are primary schools in the Netherlands.
19 3.2 Measurement
External networking. The independent variable of this study is the amount of external networking of principals in primary education. To control for different types of actors, the variable is divided into three categories, namely: networking with national government actors, networking with local government actors and networking with interest groups. The
distribution is adopted from earlier research where the same data is used (Van den Bekerom et al., 2015, Van den Bekerom, 2016). In earlier research, the validity of this distribution is proven. The first category, national government actors, includes the following actors and organizations: Dienst Uitvoerend Onderwijs (DUO, translation: financial agency CFI), this is a semi-autonomous government agency responsible for the finances. The Dutch ministry department of education, culture and science, this is part of the national government of the Netherlands and they are authoritative of programs and policies regarding education. Test suppliers are companies who develop standardized tests for primary education. And the inspectorate of Education supervises school performances and check performance indicators. The four national government actor items form a scale with intermediate strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.70).
The second category is local government actors, which consist alderman, who are part of the local government and the leading administrators. The members of city council are important actors in the local decision making process. The municipal department of
education, the main local government administration, the authoritative of implementing local policies regarding education. The three items of local government actors form an intermediate level of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.65).
The third category of interest groups are labour unions, which legate the rights of teachers and other staff, employer organizations, which legate the rights of school principals and the primary education council, an employers’ organization in primary education for school boards. The three interest groups together have an intermediate level of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.61).
The external networks will be measured by a survey, send to the principals of primary schools in the Netherlands. The survey consists of a list with 41 potential types of
organizations and actors in the environment of the school, leading from organizations and actors in de region. The principals were asked about their interaction with the organization, operationalized with the frequency divisions: “daily”, “weekly”, “monthly”, “several times per year”, “yearly” and “never”.
20 Burnout and work engagement. The mediating variable burnout and the robust control work engagement are measured with the “Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9” (UWEs-9; Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006). The questions capture meaningfulness, well-being and
enthusiasm, which are characteristics of a burnout, as explained in 2.3.2. The survey also includes questions about vigor, absorption and dedication, which are characteristics of work engagement as explained in 2.3.2. The variable burnout will be assessed through nine questions with a UWES-9 scale, for example “I am not that enthusiastic like I were before” and “I am tired when I get out of bed in the morning” (Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006). The items of the scale have a high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .87). The
opposite variable, work engagement, is assessed through nine questions of the UWES-9 scale, for example, “I have lots of energy” and “I am proud of my work” (Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006). These two variables are, as explained in section 2.2, considered as the opposite of each other so therefore work engagement is used as robust control variable. The items of work engagement have a high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92).
Schools performance. The dependent variable of this study is measured with the average CITO-score of the children per school, which is tested with a standardized test in 2011. The children are around the age of 11 when they complete this test, with the goal to partially determine the level of secondary education on the results of the CITO-score. Dutch primary schools are obligated to use tests that comply with the criteria of the Committee on Test Affairs of the Netherlands (Translation: Commissie Testaangelegenheden Nederland). Therefore, in most schools the “CITO” test is used in approximately 75% of all the primary schools. Further, the CITO-score is divided into three sub-tests, namely language (100 questions), arithmetic (60 questions) and study competence (40 questions). The total score of these 200 questions in total are between 501 and 550. The average in 2010 was 536.5 (OCO, 2010).
Controls. Different control variables are included in the analysis that might influence the relation between external networks, burnout, work engagement and performance. To start: work experience as director is included, because this performance characteristic could influence differences between directors. Namely, the resilience of the principal can influence the performance of a manager (Quińones, Ford & Teachout, 1995.). To measure this variable, principals are asked how many years experience they have as principal within the primary educational system. Further, the variable working hours of principals is included. Since the
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hours spend on work can influence the chance of a burnout, because too much working hours is related to inflated levels of stress (Van der Hulst, 2003). To measure working hours, the survey asked how many hours the principals spend on the job in the week.
In the analysis, the environmental characteristic denomination will be included as control variable.To include the variable in the analysis, denomination is divided as a dummy with public schools with the value 1 and non-public schools coded as 0. The non-public schools are Catholic, Protestant Christian and generally special educated schools,
anthroposophical, reformed liberated, Hindu, Islamic, reformational and schools that are mixed. The distribution of this variable is chosen because religious education and non-religious education is considered as a characteristic of the school. The reason why this variable is included in the analysis, is because the environment can influence the complexity of the organization and the organizational structure.
22 Chapter 4 Research Results
Showed in our conceptual model above (see figure 1), it is expected that the relation between external networking and performance is mediated by burnout and work engagement. To test the hypotheses, a mediation analysis is conducted (Baron and Kenny, 1986). Thereafter, a few steps are executed before the mediation analysis. First the missing values are taken from the data, therefore only the complete cases are taken into account in the analyses, which were 736 cases. Secondly, the outliers are removed from the data when the score was more than 3 times the standard deviation from the mean. Eventually there were 671 cases left. Thirdly, the descriptive statistics are analysed, showed in table 1.
The data shows that the principals of primary schools have contact with 2.44 national government actors as a part of their external network. The average values are between 1.25 and 4. The skewness is .02, which means that the variable national government actors is approximately normal distributed, because values below 2 are considered normal with a sample size above 400 (Kim, 2013). The kurtosis is -.47 and leads to the same conclusion, because values below 7 are considered normal. The values of local government actors are between 1.00 and 4.00, with an average of 2.11. The skewness of local government actors is .22 and the kurtosis is -.58. This means that the variable local government actors is also normal distributed. The principals have an average of 1.89 interest groups in their external network, with a skewness of .63 and a kurtosis of -.29. Therefore, the variable interest groups is also normal distributed. Interest groups is the category of external networking with the lowest mean and national government actors have the highest mean. This means that principals have on average more contact with national government actors than contact with interest groups. For all categories of external networking, the standard deviation is less than one, which means that the data is not wide spread.
Burnout has a minimum of 0.00 and a maximum of 3.33. The principals experience the average of 1.11 burnout symptoms with a standard deviation of .68. The skewness is .61 and the kurtosis .14. These results show that burnout is normal distributed and the values are not wide spread. Work engagement has a minimum of 1.56 and a maximum of 6.00. The principals experience an average of 4.18 work engagement symptoms. The skewness is -.23 and the kurtosis is -.45, which means work engagement is normal distributed. The
performance of the students has a minimum of 524 and a maximum of 546, the average CITO score of the students is 535.33. The standard deviation of performance is 3.76, the skewness is -.48 and the kurtosis is .40. This data means that the data is not wide spread.
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The control variables work experience and working hours are both normal distributed. The range of years for principal to work as director is from 0.00 till 32.00. The average is 7.76 years and the standard deviation is 7.76. This means the values are wide spread. Skewness is 1.40 and kurtosis is 1.13, which is relative high but according to the standardised rule the variable is still normal distributed (Kim, 2013). Working hours has the range of 2.90 till 75.00 hours per week for being a manager. The mean is 45.50 which means the principals have a high amount of working hours a week, considering a general working week in the Netherlands is 40 hours a week (Beer, 2009). The standard deviation is 9.83, the skewness is -.57 and the kurtosis is 1.13 which means working hours is normal distributed. The distribution of
denomination is showed in figure 2, in this data non-public schools is the biggest category.
Table 1
Descriptive statistics of main variables
Variable N Min. Max. M SD Skewness Kurtosis
External networking
National government actors 671 1.25 4.00 2.44 .60 .02 -.47
Local government actors 671 1.00 4.00 2.11 .72 .22 -.58
Interest groups 671 1.00 4.00 1.89 .73 .63 -.29 Burnout 671 .00 3.33 1.10 .68 .61 .14 Work engagement 671 1.56 6.00 4.18 .88 -.23 -.45 Performance 671 524 546 535.33 3.76 -.48 .40 Work experience 671 .00 32.00 7.76 7.46 1.40 1.13 Working hours 671 2.90 75.00 45.50 9.83 -.57 1.13 Denomination 671 0 1 .37 .48 .56 -1.70 Figure 2 Distribution of denomination
24 4.1 Analysis
For the next step of the analyses, a Spearman correlation is used for the cohesion between the main variables (external networks, burnout, work engagement and performance) and the control variables (experience as director, working hours and denomination). To take the denomination into account, it is distributed into public and non-public schools. Further, a mediation analysis is conducted to test the hypotheses.
The correlation results of the main variables and control variables are showed in table 2. The results show no significant relation between performance and the other main variables, as well as the control variables. However, there is a strong positive correlation between national government actors and working hours (ρ (671) = .114 p <.001) and national government actors and denomination (ρ (671) = .108 p <.001). This positive relation with working hours means that when a manager maintains many contacts with national
government actors, the working hours are also increasing. The positive relation with denomination means that public schools maintain more contact with national government actors. Additionally, there is a moderate correlation between local government actors and work engagement (ρ (671) = .089 p <.05). This shows that many local government actors are associated with more work engagement of the manager in the school. There is a strong positive correlation between local government actors and the control variables working hours (671) = .162 p <.001) and experience as director (671) = .137 p <.001). This shows that a high amount of contact with local government actors, relates to more working hours and more experience of managers. Furthermore, interest groups have a strong correlation with working hours (671) = .173 p <.001) and a moderate correlation with denomination (671) = .094 p <.05). These results show that there is more contact with interest groups in public schools and more contact with interest groups is associated with more working hours. Other strong
correlations exist between the different categories of external networking, which shows that the different networking scales indeed measure separate aspects of managers’ networking behaviour.
Furthermore, there is a strong positive correlation between burnout and experience as director (671) = .131 p <.001). This means that when a manager has more experience, he also has more symptoms of a burnout. There is a moderate correlation between burnout and denomination (671) = -.082 p <.05). This shows that on average, in non-public schools the principals experience more symptoms of burnout. A strong positive correlation exists between work engagement and working hours (671) = .158 p <.001). This means that when a manager works more hours in a week, he also enjoys more work engagement. Another strong
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correlation is found between work engagement and experience as directors (671) = -.121 p <.001). This shows that a manager with more experiences, enjoys less work engagement. A moderate correlation exists between work engagement and denomination (671) = .103 p <.05). This means that in public schools, principals experience more work engagement. At last, there is a moderate correlation between working hours and denominations (671) = .090 p <.05). This shows that in public schools the average of working hours of a manager is higher. Because the control variables correlate with all main variables, they are taken into account in the mediation analyses.
Table 2
Correlation table of main variables and control variables
Variabele (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (1) Performance 1.000 (2) National government -.004 1.000 (3) Local government -.030 .258** 1.000 (4) Interest groups .020 .474** .235** 1.000 (5) Burnout .023 .032 -.062 .049 1.000 (6) Work engagement -.013 -.009 .089* .073 -.490** 1.000 (7) Working hours .026 .114** .162** .173** .037 .158** 1.000 (8) Experience as director .005 -.011 .137** -.035 .131** -.121** .009 1.000 (9) Denomination .062 .108** .063 .094* -.082* .103* .090* -.015 1.000 Note. N = 671 * p < .05 (2-tailed) ** p < .001 (2-tailed) 4.2 Results
The hypotheses are tested by performing the mediation analysis of Baron and Kenny (1986). They outline an approach with four steps to test the indirect effect of the possible mediating variable (M) on a relation between the independent (X) and the dependent variable (Y). The relationships between the three variables are tested by conducting several regression analyses. At the first step, the direct effect of X on Y is conducted by a simple regression analysis. At the second step, the indirect effect of X on M is conducted by a simple regression analysis. The third step contains the other indirect effect of M on Y, by a simple regression analysis. The last step contains a multiple regression analysis of the effect of X and M on Y. The
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purpose of this approach is to show that, although correlation results show nonsignificant results, there can be a relationship with a mediator in between the variables. Thus, if step 1 to step 3 is significant and when controlling for M, at step 4, the relation is no longer significant. This indicated a full mediation effect. If X is still significant at step 4, the findings show a partial mediation.
Table 3 shows the results of the mediation analysis with the dependent variable performance. In order to determine the possible mediating factor of burnout and work engagement, the different steps are proceeded.
Step 1 the relation between external networking and performance is analysed, with the control variables working hours, work experience and denomination.
Step 2 the relation between external networking, burnout is analysed with the same control variables. The independent variable external networking, is multiplied with itself with the purpose to examine the effect at the point of diminishing returns.
Step 3 the relation between burnout and performance is analysed.
Step 4, external networking and burnout are the independent variable and performance the dependent variable.
The model in step 1 is marginally significant (F (9, 670) = 1.141, p < 0.001). In accordance with our expectations, the model shows that interest groups are an individual predictor of performance (b = 2.286; p < 0.05). This means that when a manager has more contact with interest groups, the performance of a school increases. The quadrant of interest groups is also significant (b = -.510; p < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that principals with a high amount of contact with interest groups, have a decreasing performance.
In contrast with our expectations, step 2 for burnout is not marginally significant (F (9, 670) = 2.902, p > 0.05). However, denomination (b = -.121, p < 0.05) and experience as director (b = 0.012, p < 0.001) significant predictors of burnout. This means that there is more burnout in non-public schools. Plus, more experience as director is a predictor of more
burnout. The model at step 2 for work engagement is significant (F (9, 670) = 4.183, p < 0.001). In this model, denomination and working hours are positively predictors of work engagement and work experience is a negative predictor. This model shows that in public schools there is more work engagement and when working hours increase, work engagement also increases. In addition, more work experience partially causes less work engagement.
Moreover, at step 3 for both burnout and work engagement as predictors for performance, the models are marginally significant. However, neither burnout as work engagement as the control variables are found to be an individual predictor. At step 4 the
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model for burnout is marginally significant (F (11, 670) = 1.075, p < 0.001). Only two variables are predictors, namely interest groups (b = 2.287, p < 0.05) and the quadrant of interest groups (b = -.510, p < 0.05). This means that interest groups contribute positive on performance, until a certain level, where the interest groups contribute negative on
performance. The same results are showed in step 4, controlling for work engagement. An overview of the regression results are given in figure 3.
28 Table 3
Main effects model; mediation analysis for performance; ordinary least squares regression
Performance (step1) Burnout (step 2) Work engagement (step 2) Performance (step 3) Performance (step 3) Performance (step 4) Performance (step 4)
b/se b/se b/se b/se b/se b/se b/se
Categories external networks
National government -2.611 (1.661) .125 (.298) -.229 (.380) -2.610 (1.663) -2.638 (1.662) Local government -.661 (1.083) -.219 (.194) .052 (.248) -.663 (1.085) -.655 (1.083) Interest groups 2.286* (1.063) .267 (.190) .143 (.243) 2.287* (1.066) 2.303* (1.064) National government x national government .545 (.334) -.014 (.060) .023 (.076) .545 (.335) .548 (.334) Local government x local government .088 (.243) .025 (.044) .015 (.056) .088 (.243) .090 (.243) Interest groups x interest
groups -.510* (.243) -.051 (.044) -.017 (.056) -.510* (.244) -.512* (.243) Mediators Burnout .041 (.216) -.007 (.217) Work engagement -.125 (.169) -.119 (.170) Controls Denomination .499 (.304) -.121* (.054) .156* (.069) .484 (.303) .500 (.304) .498 (.305) .518 (.305) Years experience -.001 (.020) .012** (.004) -.010* (.005) -.005 (.020) -.006 (.020) -.001 (.020) -.002 (.020) Work hours .0001 (.015) .003 (.003) .013** (.003) .002 (.015) .004 (.015) .0000 (.015) .001 (.015) Constant 536.822** (2.386) .762 (.427) 3.659** (.545) 535.059** (.731) 353.543** (.924) 536.827** (2.394) 537.259** (2.467) N 670 670 670 670 670 670 670 R² .015 .038 .054 .004 .005 .015 .016 Note. N = 670 * p < .05 (2-tailed) ** p < .001 (2-tailed)
29 Chapter 5: Conclusion
The main assumption of this thesis is that too many external networks negatively affect schools’ performance. External networking can be stressful for managers and therefore cause burnout or less work engagement. Consequently, through inconsistent staff stability, the performance will decrease. Leading from this theory, our hypotheses were conducted.
The findings of this research partially provide support for the main hypothesis. The outcome indicates that a manager with a high level of contact with interest groups influences the performance of the school in a negative manner. In addition, the results assume that in non- public schools there are more burnouts among principals and that more experienced principals are a negative predictor of burnout. These findings do not confirm the mediating relation of burnout on the relation between external networking and performance. However, this mediating effect had not been given the needed attention in managerial networking literature. So, this research is the first step to a comprehensive understanding of the indirect effects on external networking and performance.
This chapter reflects on the results of the analyses in combination with the research questions. Further, the limitations of this research are discussed and the implications for further research are suggested.
5.1 Discussion
The main question of this research is whether burnout has a mediating role on the relation between external networking and performance in public organizations. This research shows a negative relation between the main variables external networks and performance. More specific, interest groups are proven to be an individual predictor of performance. Interest groups have a positive influence on performance, the quadric variable however has a negative influence on performance. This means that a manager with a high amount of contact with interest groups is bad for the performance of the school. These findings suggest that contact of the manager with interest groups are used to require buffers and the buffers are beneficial to the school. This way managerial networking with interest groups contribute to the
performance of schools. In contrast, on a high level the interest groups cost too much time and effort and the manager can not balance the internal management and external networking anymore. In this way, interest groups influence performance in a negative way. These
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caused by too much external networks and therefore influence performance in a negative way (O’Toole & Meier, 2015; Messing & Bouma, 2011; Milward & Provan, 2003).
Leading from the expectation that the relation between external networking and performance may be unequal for different types of networks, the results support this expectation. Local government actors have a negative relation with performance, in
contradiction to national government actors and interests groups who have a positive relation with performance. This could be explained by literature about different stakeholders with different power (Torenvlied et al., 2013; Akkerman & Torenvlied 2011; Schalk, 2011; Walker et al. 2010). It could also be explained by the earlier findings that the position of the school within the hierarchy of the network with local government actors matters (Walker, O’Toole & Meier, 2007). Assuming schools are low in the hierarchy, networking with the local
government actors is not beneficial for the performance with many networks.
Further, in contradiction with the hypothesis, there is a positive relation found between local government actors and work engagement. This means that when a manager has many contact with many local government actors, the work engagement is high. However, this is in conflict with the literature about the relation between a large number of external networks and decreased work engagement (Ekka, 2016; Cooper & Melhuish, 1980). A possible explanation for this result is the psychological perspective of different coping strategies among teachers, when they experience a lot of stress (Richards, 2012). Research shows that one of the top five coping strategies is “I tend to have a positive attitude no matter what is going on”. This means that the work engagement is not decreasing as a result of stress caused by many external networks. In addition, there is a positive relation found between the main variable external networks and the control variable working hours. This means that with many external networks, the manager has more working hours. This is a logical relation, assuming external networks take time and effort to initiate and maintain (Provan & Sydow, 2009).
Our results show that there was a negative relation between burnout and work engagement, as expected. This means, when a manager has more symptoms of a burnout he has a lower work engagement. This complies with the literature about work engagement where the main elements contradict the main elements of a burnout (Bakker et al., 2008; Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonza´lez-Roma, & Bakker, 2002). In addition, the results show that burnout has a positive relation with experience as director. When a manager has more experience as director in primary education, there are more symptoms of a burnout. This is a notable result because based on the literature is expected that more experience would result in less burnout symptoms. More specifically, age and two components of burnout, namely
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emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, have a negative correlation (Ahola, Honkonen, Virtnen, Aromaa & Lönngvist, 2008; Randall, 2007). In addition, a cause of occupational stress and a burnout is not being able to cope with working under pressure and coping skills grow over time (Bakker, Demerouti, 2007). However, a positive relation between experience as director and a burnout could result from bad experiences (Eby, Butts, Durley & Ragins, 2010). More specific, bad experiences with mentors are positive associated with factors of a burnout among others. The results from current research can assume that all bad experiences are associated with factors of a burnout.
Furthermore, experience as director has in the same way a negative relation with work engagement. This means that the more experience as director has, the lower his work
engagement is. As work engagement was a control of burnout, the same reasons could apply for these findings. At last, there is a positive relation found between working hours and work engagement. These results implicate that managers with more work engagement tend to have more energy to make more working hours per week. Literature about work engagement support this finding, namely work engagement is associated with more vigor, dedication and absorption (Schaufeli, Taris & van Rhenen, 2008).
The results suggest that the mechanisms that underlie the relation between external networks and performance is still unknown. The mechanisms that underlie the function of burnout and work engagement with principals in primary education could be depending on other environmental difficulties. Hence, further research needs to be examined with a broader perspective to other environmental buffers and shocks.
5.2 Practical implications
The findings of this study have important practical implications for principals of primary schools and the school boards of primary schools. To start, the external networking of a manager needs to be monitored. Leading from the results, different categories of external networking are associated with working hours and experience as director. However, the results also show that many contacts with interest groups influence performance in a negative way. By monitoring the number of external networks, the optimal point of external networks can be early established and therefore prevented. In addition, not only the amount, but also the kind of external networks need to be monitored. Leading from the results, local government actors negatively influence performance, although national government actors and interest groups do not show the same results. By monitoring the kind of external networks, managers can control the effect of networks and moreover select networks on effectivity.
