To Quit or not to Quit? Examining the Relationship of Well-Being, Self-Efficacy, and Demographic Factors to Turnover Intentions among Expat English Language Teachers in Asia

Turnover is a long-recognized issue in the field of education, yet there are few studies investigating turnover intentions among language teachers.The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of the factors associated with occupational and organizational turnover intentions among expat Englishlanguage teachers in Asia.214 teachers participated by completing a survey measuring their occupational well-being, self-efficacy in teaching, intentions to leave their schools, and intentions to quit the profession.The survey also tracked gender, education backgrounds, teaching experience, and the types of workplaces.Multiple regression analysis indicated that well-being, self-efficacy, and demographic factors significantly predicted intentions to leave workplaces and quit the ELT profession.In both models, well-being was the largest factor predicting turnover intentions.With other variables held constant, a one-standard-deviation increase in wellbeing was associated with a 0.59-standarddeviation decrease in intentions to leave a workplace and a 0.52-standard-deviation decrease in intentions to quit the profession.These results lend credence to recent calls for increasing attention on well-being among language teachers.