The relationship between teachers' personality traits and self-efficacy perceptions and their emotional labor behaviors

This study investigates the relationships between teachers' Big Five Personality Traits and their self-efficacy perceptions on emotional labor behaviors. The research was conducted with 215 teachers working in public middle schools in the Kapaklı district of Tekirdağ province during the 2024–2025 academic year, employing a relational survey model. Data were collected through the Big Five Personality Inventory, the Teacher Self-Efficacy Perception Scale, and the Emotional Labor Scale, and analyzed using SPSS 27. According to the findings, teachers expressed agreement at a high level concerning the personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, indicating these traits were strongly felt. Their self-efficacy perceptions were also found to be high. In terms of emotional labor behaviors, teachers reported frequently engaging in genuine emotional expression, sometimes engaging in deep acting, and rarely engaging in surface acting. Significant differences were identified only in the neuroticism personality trait and classroom management self-efficacy subdimensions according to gender; in the agreeableness trait and deep acting subdimension according to years of experience in their current school; and solely in the classroom management self-efficacy subdimension according to overall professional experience. Correlation analyses showed that agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness were positively associated with the subdimensions of deep acting and genuine emotional expression, while neuroticism was negatively associated. Regression analyses revealed that surface acting was most strongly predicted by agreeableness and conscientiousness; that agreeableness and extraversion positively predicted genuine emotional expression; and that agreeableness and neuroticism significantly influenced deep acting. These results demonstrate that teachers' personality traits and their level of professional self-efficacy perceptions play an important role in shaping their emotional labor behaviors in classroom settings, contributing to the understanding of individual differences within educational processes. Keywords: Emotional labor, teacher self-efficacy, big five personality traits