Teachers’ emotions, technostress, and burnout in distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Distance Learning (DL) supported teachers and students, allowing them to have a virtual educational context in which continuing to teach, study, and interact. However, several difficulties were reported by teachers in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which in turn negatively influenced their emotional state and contributed to technological stress (technostress) and burnout onset. In this study, we wanted to investigate whether experiencing negative emotions while using DL, the instruction delivery mode (i.e., online; face-to-face; blended), and the risk of technostress could predict teachers' burnout; whether active technical support from participants' institutions could represent a protective factor against burnout; if there is a difference between female and male participants in experiencing technostress. Results confirmed that negative emotions and technostress, but not the instruction delivery mode, predict burnout; support from institutions may represent a protective factor; there were no differences between male and female teachers in experiencing anxiety linked to technostress. Possible explanation for these results and implications for practice are discussed.