The Impact of Perceived Social Support on the University 'Educators' Flourishing and the Moderating Effect of Challenge Appraisal

Abstract

This study provides insights into what makes teachers flourish in public sector universities of Sindh, Pakistan. Flourishing represents a balanced life where a person is happy with their status and is functioning effectively. The well-being of teachers has reportedly been lower than the general population (Education Support Partnership, 2019). Depressive symptoms were reported by 49% of 1189 academic staff members at 12 universities in Sindh, according to research on stress-related mental health problems in the Pakistani Scenario. Yet, research on evaluating teachers' mental health is lacking, notably among Pakistani university professors (Akram, 2019). Therefore, this study sheds light on the impact of perceived social support on educators' flourishing. Also, it discusses the boundary condition of challenge appraisals in this relationship. Statistical analysis was performed on data collected from 229 educators in Sindh, Pakistan's public sector universities. The result found a positive and statistically significant link between educators' perceptions of supervisors and co-worker support with educators' flourishing. However, challenge appraisal was found insignificant between exogenous and endogenous latent components. Overall, the study's findings suggest that perceived social support might help educators flourish at Sindh's public higher education institutions. The results' implications are discussed.