Career plateauing and job burnout: The mediating role of career calling

This study explored the association between career plateauing and job burnout, with a particular focus on career calling as a potential mediator. We distributed questionnaires to 305 English as a foreign language teachers in China and employed structural equation modeling to analyze and evaluate the proposed conceptual model. The findings revealed there was a negative relationship between career plateauing and career calling, and furthermore, the relationship between career plateauing and job burnout was mediated by career calling. This study provides a fresh theoretical perspective on how career plateauing relates to job burnout and offers practical implications for educational institutions to mitigate the adverse effects of career plateauing and foster sustainable well-being among English as a foreign language teachers.