Teachers' war against terrorism: A mediated moderation model

• Published date: 01 February 2022
• Author: Ubedullah Memon,Anees Janee Ali,Zaib Un Nisa
• Date: 01 February 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2406

ACADEMIC PAPER

Teachers' war against terrorism: A mediated moderation model

Ubedullah Memon

1,2

| Anees Janee Ali

1

| Zaib Un Nisa

3

1

School of Management, Universiti Sains

Malaysia, Gelugor, Malaysia

2

Faculty of Management Science, Sukkur IBA

University, Sukkur, Pakistan

3

Centre for Islamic Development Management

Studies (ISDEV), Universiti Sains Malaysia,

Gelugor, Malaysia

Correspondence

Ubedullah Memon, School of Management

(SOM), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800

Gelugor Penang, Malaysia.

Email: ubedullahsom@gmail.com

Although the past two decades have witnessed exponential growth in terrorist

attacks on the schools, there is scant research on the teachers' vulnerability in

Pakistan. Drawing on survey data gathered from the terrorism affected areas of

Pakistan, the present study investigated the indirect effects of perceived threats of

terrorism, and safety and security measures on the teachers' turnover intentions with

the mediating role of job stress. The present study also capitalized belief in life-after-

death and career commitment as the moderators to mitigate teachers' turnover

intentions amid terrorism. The findings unveiled that perceived threats of terrorism

and weak safety and security measures aggravated teachers' job stress which exacer-

bated their turnover intentions. The findings also affirmed moderating roles of

teachers' belief in life-after-death and career commitment against their turnover

intentions. The results showed that teachers' job stress accounted for 36.6% of the

variance in their turnover intentions. The implications of the present study would be

useful to cope with teachers' job stress and their turnover intentions in the unsafe

work environment.

1|INTRODUCTION

The hegemony of terrorism in the 21st century echoes the vulnerabil-

ity of innocent people across the world. Similarly, atrocious terrorist

attacks on the schools have posited numerous challenges for the

international organizations and researchers to offer viable solutions

(Institute for Economics & Peace [IEP], 2018; Malik, Schat, Raziq,

Shahzad, & Khan, 2018; National Consortium for the Study of Terror-

ism and Responses to Terrorism [START], 2018). Across the globe,

more than 1,500 terrorist attacks were perpetrated on the educational

institutions during the years 2013 and 2018 (Global Terrorism Data-

base [GTD], 2018). In the wake of terrorism, certain Muslim countries

have recorded a high frequency of terrorist attacks on the schools

such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Somalia (Global Coalition to Pro-

tect Education from Attack [GCPEA], 2018). Among these countries,

Pakistan is not the exception where more than 50 terrorist attacks

were perpetrated on the government primary schools during the last

5 years (GTD, 2018). In a South Asian region, Pakistan is a country

that already confronts numerous challenges in the field of education,

such as poor access, low enrollment rate, gender bias, and lack of

trained teachers (Human Rights Watch [HRW], 2017). Under such cir-

cumstances, terrorist attacks on the schools have added fuel to the

fire (HRW, 2018). Surprisingly, students' and teachers' obsession with

fear and insecurity in imminent terrorist attacks could not get due

attention of concern authorities in Pakistan. For instance, 60,200

schools in Pakistan have been operating without boundary walls, and

some schools have no buildings at all (HRW, 2017; Khan, 2018). As a

result, grievous condition of schools in Pakistan paved the way for the

terrorists to attack the Army Public School in Peshawar District and to

demolish 12 schools in Diamer District (HRW, 2018; Saifi &

Botelho, 2014). In response to extremism and negligence of concern

authorities, 25 million children have been disengaged from schools in

Pakistan while teachers are suffering from acute job stress syndrome

(De Clercq, Haq, & Azeem, 2017; HRW, 2017). In the wake of terror-

ism, teachers' sense of insecurity may escalate their death sensitivity.

Similarly, the terror management theory (TMT) also explicates that the

notion of death salience causes anxiety and shapes behaviour to avoid

it (Greenberg & Arndt, 2012). The central premise underlying TMT is

the fear of death salience which hunts people (Belmi & Pfeffer, 2016).

Under such grievous conditions, teachers' perceived job risk may trig-

ger their turnover intentions. Previous studies have also witnessed

the propensity of terrorist attacks to disengage students and teachers,

deplete teachers' performance, erode the quality of education, cause

physical and psychological damage, and ultimately lead schools to

Received: 17 June 2020 Revised: 9 August 2020 Accepted: 18 August 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2406

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2406. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of11

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2406