How to mobilize social support against workload and burnout: the role of organizational identification

Recent theoretical and empirical research outlined the role of organizational identification in the stress process. We provide an empirical test of the social identity model of stress by testing a two-step mediation model of the identification-burnout link. We hypothesize that strongly identified teachers will receive more support from colleagues which, in turn, relates to perceptions of reduced workload, which finally leads to both lower work- and student-related burnout. We tested our model in a large cross-sectional sample of 2685 Swiss teachers representing half of the teacher population of Ticino Canton. Hypotheses were supported. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.