Chinese university teachers’ job and life satisfaction: examining the roles of basic psychological needs satisfaction and self-efficacy

Combining the Self-determination Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory, the present study proposed a conceptual process model examining the relationships among work-related basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS; satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs), self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. To test the model, the study focused on a sample that is seldom investigated in the occupational well-being literature, namely university teachers. In total, 275 Chinese university teachers completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling technique and bootstrapping method were employed to evaluate the research model. The results indicated that autonomy satisfaction and competence satisfaction were directly related to self-efficacy and indirectly related to job satisfaction via the mediating variable of self-efficacy. In contrast, Self-efficacy did not mediate the relationship between relatedness satisfaction and job satisfaction since relatedness satisfaction was not predictive of self-efficacy. In addition, job satisfaction was found to mediate the relationship between self-efficacy and life satisfaction. Implications for university managerial practices were discussed in order to promote teachers' well-being in both job and life domains.