Unpacking the role of school climate factors in fostering teacher enjoyment and self-efficacy in higher education

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0329001 August 13, 2025 4 / 17 Regarding emotional outcomes, research by Zhang and colleagues indicated that teachers’ perception of school climate indirectly influences foreign language teachers’ enjoyment via the mediation of their self-efficacy as well as psychological well-being [17]. Additionally, Taxer and fellow researchers demonstrated that positive teacher-student relationships can help prevent emotional exhaustion and increase teacher enjoyment in the classroom [42]. Taken together, current literature clearly points to the relationships between school climate and teacher self-efficacy, school climate and teacher enjoyment, as well as teacher self-efficacy and enjoyment. However, the specific causal mech- anisms underlying the interplay among all three constructs remain underexamined [18], especially given that the concept of teacher enjoyment is still in its early stages of development [17]. Moreover, there is a notable gap in the literature regarding how different aspects of school climate impact both teacher self-efficacy and enjoyment. Theoretical framework and hypothesized model When examining teachers’ enjoyment, it is crucial to acknowledge that their emotions are neither purely internal psycholog- ical states nor solely determined by external environments; rather, they emerge from dynamic person-environment trans- actions [22]. As Liu argued, teacher anxiety, traditionally seen as a psychological factor, is actually an eco-psychological

construct [85]. Similarly, to fully understand teachers’ enjoyment, it is imperative to consider not only the internal psychologi- cal factors but also the broader ecological influences that affect teachers’ emotional experiences. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological system theory highlights how individuals develop within complex, interacting social and cultural environments [86]. It views the individual situated environment as a layered and complex system, comprising a micro-system, meso-system, exo-system, and macro-system. In understanding teachers’ emotional experiences, Cross and Hong extended the theory by integrating it with emotion research. They refined and expanded the original framework to explore how different environmental levels interact and influence teacher emotions [87]. Specifically, the micro-system, as the innermost layer, refers to the emotional dynamics between teachers and their immediate social interactions, including students, colleagues, and parents. The mesosystem represents the interactions between different microsys- tems, which examines how the relationships between teachers and students, teachers and parents, and teachers and colleagues influence teachers’ emotions. The exosystem consists of the broader settings in which teachers are not directly involved but which still influence their emotional experiences. This could include the school administration, teacher-parent organizations, local community organizations, or even government policies related to education. Lastly, the macrosystem

includes the overarching cultural, economic, political, and societal structures that shape teachers’ emotional experiences [88–90]. Following this framework, our research explored teachers’ emotional experiences by examining their interactions across both the microsystem and mesosystem. According to the theory, the microsystem encompasses teachers’ direct, immediate interactions within a specific setting, such as one-on-one exchanges between teachers and students, while the mesosystem captures the linkages between these microsystems, for instance, how teacher collaboration with col- leagues can influence classroom practices. At the microsystem level, we focused on teachers’ direct interactions with students and colleagues, examining how these interactions contribute to emotional outcomes (i.e., teacher self-efficacy and enjoyment). At the mesosystem level, we explored how other school climate factors—decision-making, school resources, and instructional innovation—interact to shape teachers’ emotional experiences. While prior studies have touched upon the impact of school climate on both teacher enjoyment and teacher self-efficacy (see above literature), this research systematically delved into the layers of the environment by adopting the micro- and mesosystem from the reconceptualized ecological framework. This approach provided us with a more detailed insight into the interplay among school climate factors, teacher self-efficacy, and their enjoyment in teaching. Drawing from the theoretical foun-

dation and aforementioned body of literature, our study aimed to explore the underlying correlations between the five aspects of school climate, teacher self-efficacy, and teacher enjoyment. Fig 1 illustrates the conceptual model repre- senting our hypotheses.