Well-being refers to a state of optimal functioning characterized by the presence of positive emotions, a relative absence of negative emotions, and satisfaction with one’s life (Keyes, 2007). It is a crucial aspect of an individual’s overall health and quality of life. Psychological well-being is a fundamental aspect of human life and encompasses various dimensions of an individual’s psychological functioning (Mehrotra et al., 2013). Ryff and Singer (2006, 2008) identified six primary dimensions of psychological well-being: a sense of purpose, personal growth, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, autonomy in thoughts and actions, and positive interpersonal relationships. Individuals with higher levels of psychological well-being tend to have a greater sense of purpose in life, are open to personal growth, exhibit confidence in influencing their environment, accept themselves for who they are, maintain high-quality relationships with others, and think and act independently.

Keyes (2013) stated that psychological well-being promotes self-awareness, satisfaction of emotional needs, attainment of intrinsic goals, self-reliance, and the ability to act with consciousness. It involves developing personal resources, positive relationships, purposeful engagement in life activities, and self-realization (Keyes, 2002). Psychological well-being is a dynamic process that reflects individuals’ ability to adapt to life’s challenges and maintain a positive outlook toward their future (Mehrotra et al., 2013).

Psychological well-being has been found to be a crucial factor in promoting work engagement among teachers. Studies have shown that teachers with higher levels of psychological well-being have higher work engagement, which is defined as the level of enthusiasm, involvement, and dedication toward work (Greenier et al., 2021). Studies have also shown that teachers suffering from depression can adversely affect students. Wu and Lu (2022) found that teachers’ depression can negatively affect students’ academic achievement and emotional well-being. Thus, schools and educational institutions must prioritize teachers’ psychological well-being to ensure positive outcomes for teachers and students.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the well-being of teachers, resulting in depression, anxiety, and burnout (Kotowski et al., 2022; Lacomba-Trejo et al., 2022; Lizana and Lera, 2022; Ramos et al., 2022). Such ill effects have been widely reported in recent studies, highlighting the importance of understanding and addressing these issues to support the mental health of educators.

According to job demand-resources theory (JD-R), individuals must maintain specific personal resources at work to combat everyday job demands (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017). This equilibrium helps in sustaining individuals’ engagement levels and performance at work. One such personal resource that may impact the psychological well-being of individuals is their levels of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy.

Energy management refers to effectively using and replenishing one’s personal resources to achieve desired outcomes (Ryan and Frederick, 1997). In the context of teachers, it refers to efficiently using their physical, emotional, and cognitive resources to fulfill their work responsibilities.

Teachers in India face various challenges that impact their energy levels and ability to perform their duties effectively. The teaching profession is known for its demanding nature, which can often lead to burnout, hampering their energy levels. It has been found that teacher burnout is a significant problem in India (Shukla and Trivedi, 2008). Teachers who are fatigued, stressed, or burnt out may be less effective in delivering instruction and engaging with students. According to Shukla and Trivedi (2008), demographic factors such as age, gender, and marital status have also been found to impact the energy level of teachers.

Energy management can have a significant impact on the well-being of individuals. Sugiura et al. (2005) conducted a study to examine the relationship between physical activity and psychological well-being. They found that physical activity levels were significantly related to psychological well-being, with individuals who engaged in more physical activity reporting higher levels of psychological well-being. Research on school teachers has found that physical activity promotes mental health (Aperribai et al., 2020). Low physical activity is associated with low well-being, stress, depression, and anxiety in teachers (Çifçi and Demir, 2020; Biernat et al., 2022).

A study conducted by Parker et al. (2017) examined the momentary effects of different types of work-related energy management strategies on employee well-being. The researchers hypothesized that energy management is part of a resource investment process to maintain and improve well-being. They found that the effectiveness of this resource investment process depended on the type of strategy used and the existing drain on resources, such as job demands. The study’s findings suggested that adaptive energy management strategies that promote effective resource investment can help individuals maintain and improve their well-being. The study also showed that prosocial energy management, which involves using personal energy to help others, was positively related to job satisfaction. This suggests that energy management practices involving social support and connection can positively impact individual well-being.

Thus, teachers proficient in managing their energy would experience higher levels of psychological well-being.

Thriving is a psychological state in which individuals experience vitality (an affective dimension) and learning (a cognitive dimension) (Spreitzer et al., 2005). Vitality is the experience of having energy and feeling alive at work. Learning refers to a sense of greater understanding, knowledge, and skills at work. Thriving individuals have a feeling of energy and continuous growth and development at work. Both vitality and learning are essential for thriving. They might feel depleted and burnt out if they are learning but lack energy. Alternatively, if they are energized but are not learning, they might stagnate at work. Thriving reflects an individual’s ability to flourish and reach their full potential (Spreitzer et al., 2005). It increases job satisfaction, engagement, and performance (Saks, 2006).

Literature suggests that energy management may enable thriving in the workplace (Spreitzer et al., 2005). Energy management involves regulating and optimizing personal energy levels to enhance performance, while thriving involves flourishing in multiple domains of life, including work. Different energy management strategies, including emotional, mental, and physical, are positively associated with work engagement (Zhang et al., 2022), which is related to thriving (Saks, 2006). Studies have also indicated that energy management enhances positive affect, a source for thriving at work (Spreitzer et al., 2005). Proper exercise and movement (cardiovascular and strength training), nutrition (a balanced combination of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins), and sleep (seven to eight hours per night) increase positive moods during the workday (Spreitzer and Grant, 2012). Emotional energy management has been found to be effective in activating recovery processes (Zhang et al., 2022). Individuals adopt strategies like energy audits to sustain their energy levels (Spreitzer and Grant, 2012).

The concept of thriving is closely related to psychological well-being and has been found to impact individual outcomes favorably. Teachers who reported higher levels of thriving reported lower levels of stress and burnout (Shukla and Trivedi, 2008). The vitality dimension of thriving pertains to high energy and enthusiasm for work, which indicates positivity toward work. A study of teachers found that high levels of both vitality and learning (i.e., high thriving) were associated with more favorable outcomes related to satisfaction and burnout. In contrast, low vitality/high learning extremes were associated with a wide range of less desirable outcomes, such as emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (Keith, 2021).

Therefore, we propose that teachers proficient in managing their energy are more likely to experience a thriving state, leading to better psychological well-being.

Stress is a complex physiological and psychological response to perceived or actual threats, challenges, or demands that disrupt individuals’ homeostasis and require them to adapt or cope with the situation (Selye, 1976; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). The experience of stress is influenced by various individual and environmental factors, including personal characteristics, coping strategies, social support, and job demands (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). Stress can positively and negatively affect individuals’ health, well-being, and performance, depending on the type, intensity, and duration of stressors and their response to them (Cohen et al., 1997; McEwen, 2000).

Energy management is associated with lower stress. According to job demand and resource theory, if job demands exceed job resources, individuals tend to experience stress (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017). For example, high job demands, such as workload or job complexity, can lead to high-stress levels and energy depletion. Conversely, job resources such as social support, feedback, and job control can lower stress levels. At the same time, the conservation of resources theory posits that individuals are motivated to acquire, maintain, and protect their resources (Hobfoll, 1989). According to the theory, stress occurs when individuals perceive that their resources are threatened or depleted. Considering that energy is a personal resource, the two theories imply that individuals who conserve or manage their energy levels (vis-à-vis job demands) tend to experience lower stress (Hobfoll and Freedy, 1993).

Stress and psychological well-being have been studied extensively as related constructs, with research findings suggesting that stress can negatively impact psychological well-being (Sugiura et al., 2005). Individuals who experience higher levels of stress are more likely to have lower levels of psychological well-being, including lower levels of positive affect, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. Segrin et al. (2007) found that stress plays a mediating role in the relationship between social skills and different aspects of psychological well-being. Individuals with better social skills tend to experience less stress, contributing to higher psychological well-being. They also found that stress is linked to higher levels of depression and anxiety and reduced life satisfaction.

Therefore, we propose that teachers proficient in managing their energy are less likely to experience stress, leading to better psychological well-being.

The following section explains the research methodology for testing the hypotheses. We elaborate on the data collection procedure, demographics of the sample, measures for the variables, and verification of data validity and reliability.

An online survey was conducted during May 2022 in the state of Rajasthan, India. Six hundred fifty school teachers were invited to participate in our study using a questionnaire-based survey from various schools. Participants were recruited via convenience sampling. School teachers who were employed in public or private schools for more than a year, who completed at least their graduation, were included in the study. Three hundred fifty-six school teachers responded after giving their informed consent, yielding a response rate of 54.77%. No significant difference was found between respondents and non-respondents in terms of their gender, location of school (urban/rural), type of school (private/public), and method of teaching (online/offline). Thus, there is no evidence of non-response bias. We found ten missing values across nine responses that we imputed using the mode or median (depending on the repetition of values) of the concerned variable for the specific respondent. This imputation method was suitable since the missing values were less than 5% (Schafer, 1997).

Participants were acquainted with the objectives and procedures of the survey, and anonymity and confidentiality were assured. The procedure involved asking individual school teachers to rate their energy level, thriving, stress, and psychological well-being using a self-reported online survey questionnaire. On completion of the survey, we shared an information sheet with school authorities and requested them to circulate the same with their school teachers. The information sheet included details of different sources of energy, various energy management practices, and the energy audit tool designed by Spreitzer and Grant (2012). The Institutional Review Board of the Indian Institute of Management Indore approved the study procedure (reference number IRB/01/2022-23/HSS).

The study sample consisted of 206 female respondents (57.9%) and 146 male respondents (41%), with 42.7% of the responses received from urban schools and 57.3% from rural schools. 253 responses were from public schools, and the remaining were from private schools. Most respondents (58.7%) had over ten years of work experience, and the average age of the participants was 36.65 years.

The sample had a significant number of respondents (58.1%) who worked in higher secondary schools, and most (81.2%) used offline teaching modes. Many of the respondents (73.3%) had a post-graduate degree. Regarding personal information, most respondents were married (87.1%), with children distributed across different age groups. Additionally, 48% of the respondents had no support system at home, such as parents, in-laws, or maids, while 72.2% had caregiving responsibilities. Detailed demographic information about the respondents is presented in Table 1.

The study employed Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 28) by IBM Corporation to analyze the data using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and hierarchical regression. Initially, we subjected each variable to EFA using principal component analysis to identify and remove items with factor loadings less than 0.5 or significant cross-loadings. We then checked the reliability of the variables concerning the remaining items to identify variables with a Cronbach Alpha (α) reliability coefficient of less than 0.70 (Nunnally, 1994). Table 2 provides all variables’ factor loadings and reliability measures with their corresponding selected items.

We tested the hypotheses using hierarchical regression of energy management, thriving, and stress on psychological well-being as a dependent variable (Table 4), and regression of energy management on thriving and stress as dependent variables. We used the parameters of standardized coefficients (β), R², ΔR², and Adjusted R². R² and Adjusted R² indicate the proportion of the variance in the criterion variable explained by predictor variables. However, Adjusted R² also considers the significance of the predictor variable in explaining the variance, i.e., it increases with the inclusion of a predictor variable only if it significantly impacts the criterion variable. The following section details the analysis of the hypotheses.

The findings have practical implications for both individual school authorities and government agencies. These institutions can come up with specific employee or process-level interventions that help develop and manage the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental energy of the teachers. They can take the initiative to make the teachers more aware of the need to manage their energy and guide them in achieving this objective. These institutions can hold informative programs on physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental well-being for the teachers. These discussions could be held during weekly staff meetings, information on different energy sources could be disseminated via online or print materials, and an introduction to well-being could be included as a specific module during the teacher training program.

Institutions can conduct yoga, mindfulness, time management, and stress management workshops. These workshops could be conducted regularly online or in person during school hours. An hour-long session conducted thrice a week may include a sequence of whole-body stretching, breathwork, meditation, and a few well-being practices like writing gratitude letters, savoring, and strength spotting activities. Certified instructors may be invited to lead these programs. They can also offer active mental and emotional health support by appointing counselors or accessing online counseling services. These initiatives would help teachers build resilience and cope with the job demands.

Institutions can provide resources and take measures that help reduce the teachers’ workload, enable them to manage their classes and students better and create opportunities for learning, socializing, and building a support system within the peer group. Such initiatives would help the teachers conserve energy, develop professionally, and feel emotionally and socially connected to others. Moreover, teachers may also experience more positive affect, enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement in the institution, which would help them cope with daily challenges and manage their energy better. Similarly, government agencies can tie up with experts in the domains of energy management and psychological well-being to provide training to teachers across educational institutions in a systematic and organized manner.

Despite the theoretical and empirical contribution of the studies, the paper also has a limitation. We acknowledge that in this study, only self-reported measures were used that might have introduced potential response biases. Due to the self-reported data collected from a single source, the findings might have a possibility of common method bias. Besides, collection of cross-sectional data prevented us from analyzing causal relationships. Additionally, due to time constraints, we could collect data from only one state in India, which limits the generalizability of findings. To address this limitation, future research may include other states in India to measure cultural and contextual variations among school teachers across India.

Future research studies may include an experimental design to test this theoretical model further. An energy management workshop focused on enhancing teachers’ physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental energy could be a significant intervention to be tested. School teachers could be recruited to join energy management workshops by forming partnerships with state or district education offices. Forming such partnerships might further help in collecting data from a larger sample. School teachers may be randomly assigned to experimental and wait-list control groups. Data could be collected pre- and post-workshop and follow-up after one month. The findings might further investigate the causal relationship among the study variables and the longitudinal impact of the intervention. Examining the school teachers’ energy management practices and their psychological well-being over an extended period might provide further insights into the long-term effectiveness of interventions and their sustainability.

Lastly, studies can explore the role of other variables like family and institutional support, work engagement, and personal values in determining energy management’s effect on school teachers’ psychological well-being. For example, the Job-Demand and Resources Model of work engagement (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017; Cho et al., 2020) states that perceived support or personal values could be essential antecedents to work engagement, leading to enhanced psychological well-being. Using this theoretical framework, further research questions could be explored. The next section summarizes and highlights the salient aspects of the study.