Public Pressure on Schools: Moderating the Relationship Between Teachers’ Regular Feedback Perception, Psychological Empowerment, and Proactive Behavior

Educational professionals are expected to be able to deal with diverse societal challenges and are closely scrutinized in their daily work. As a consequence, teachers are increasingly subject to public pressure, that is, a demand from the public for improved services, increased responsiveness, and better information provision. Given the dynamic working environment of teachers, dealing with this demand requires teachers to behave proactively. Grounded in job demands–resources theory, this study explores how human resource management (HRM) can support teachers in portraying proactive behavior in the context of public pressure. More specifically, regular feedback is investigated as a tool to empower employees in this demanding working environment. Findings reveal that the relationship between regular feedback and proactive behavior through psychological empowerment is moderated by public pressure, which highlights the relevance of considering public sector contextual demands in the motivational process of HRM practices. The results furthermore support the call for further integration of a multilevel perspective in HRM research.