“We’re Exhausted!” Unravelling the Consequence of Perceived Occupational Stigma among High-Prestige Occupations

“We’re Exhausted!” Unravelling the Consequence of Perceived Occupational Stigma among High-Prestige Occupations | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article “We’re Exhausted!” Unravelling the Consequence of Perceived Occupational Stigma among High-Prestige Occupations Chunyan Peng, Xueyi Wang, Yan Lu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6313147/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract High-prestige occupations such as university English teachers in non-native English-speaking countries are under severe physical and psychological stress. Based on the research framework of stress-strain-outcome (SSO) theory and resource conservation theory, this study aimed to identify the process underlying perceived occupational stigma among university EFL teachers with the goal of assessing the impacts of perceived occupational stigma on teachers’ psychological well-being and occupational commitment. The study qualitatively examined the internal framework of teachers’ perceived stressors, the mechanisms underlying dynamic resource allocation, and the key influences and dimensions affecting psychological well-being and occupational commitment. A total of 389 university EFL teachers were systematically surveyed, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggested that perceptions of occupational stigma lead to significantly lower levels of occupational self-esteem but have limited explanatory power with regard to this phenomenon. Perceived occupational stigma significantly affects emotional exhaustion. Perceived occupational stigma in the high-prestige university EFL group does not affect psychological well-being but does have a negative effect on occupational commitment. Optimism moderates the effects of emotional exhaustion on psychological well-being and occupational commitment. This research extends the study of occupational stigma to encompass a broad perspective on a high- prestige group, i.e., university EFL teachers. It also has managerial implications with regard to the education industry. Perceived occupational stigma High-prestige groups University EFL teachers Occupational commitment Resource conservation SSO Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 26 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 20 May, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 11 May, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 07 May, 2025 Editor invited by journal 23 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 23 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6313147","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":455104848,"identity":"f9459b19-78fd-479c-bc29-82647f00b538","order_by":0,"name":"Chunyan Peng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang Yuexiu University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chunyan","middleName":"","lastName":"Peng","suffix":""},{"id":455104849,"identity":"a19062ab-bcc9-4b12-8bcb-5d6a7fe4fd8c","order_by":1,"name":"Xueyi Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCBAMbOX4wo4BoLRVpxpINYL1EW3PmUKLBARCDGC0GN5KPSTxsO5BgfH514ocHBgzy/GIH8GuRnJGWJpHYdifP7MbbzRJAhxnOnJ2AXwu/RI4ZUMuzYrMbZzeAtCQY3CaghU0i/xtQy+HEzTPObv5BlBagLWwSCWcOJ27g791GnC2SPc+MLUCBLHGDd5tFgoEEYb8YHE9+ePMHKCr7z26++aPCRp5fmoAWIGCRAFMSYJUSBJWDAPMHMMV/gCjVo2AUjIJRMAIBAJbLR56Y0vHCAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang International Studies University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xueyi","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":455104850,"identity":"b58a5109-07b1-4822-bb56-9db67cbf6dcc","order_by":2,"name":"Yan Lu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang Yuexiu University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yan","middleName":"","lastName":"Lu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-03-26 14:08:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6313147/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6313147/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":82742870,"identity":"d3e0217a-c908-4a8c-a0f3-3fd0402e15b7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-14 17:37:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":731734,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript202504232.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6313147/v1_covered_648900a4-e9da-4883-a02d-b7ee91ca4021.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"“We’re Exhausted!” Unravelling the Consequence of Perceived Occupational Stigma among High-Prestige Occupations","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-psychology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"psyo","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Psychology](http://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"BMC Psychology","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Perceived occupational stigma, High-prestige groups, University EFL teachers, Occupational commitment, Resource conservation, SSO","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6313147/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6313147/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eHigh-prestige occupations such as university English teachers in non-native English-speaking countries are under severe physical and psychological stress. 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