Statement of the problem

In the light of current economic and social changes, organizations are not only concerned with achieving competitiveness and excellent results but also face new challenges related to human capital, with the attitudes and behaviors of their workers considered as the most important resource to achieve success.

Considering the economic, professional, labor, organizational, and educational context, it is becoming increasingly important to have an approach focused on what people do in an organization and how their behavior affects their performance. It is therefore interesting to study and analyze issues related to Job Satisfaction, Motivation, Organizational Commitment, Burnout, Empowerment, Remuneration, Interpersonal Communication, Learning, Development, and Perception of Attitudes (^{Fuentes, 2015}; ^{Peña, Díaz, Chávez and Sánchez, 2016}). The aim is to implement measures with a considerable impact on employees, thus improving their behaviors, attitudes, and performance.

Currently, Job Satisfaction is one of the main problems on which research on organizations has focused (^{Chiang, Gómez and Salazar, 2014}). In a survey to measure Job Satisfaction in 447 individuals, it was possible to observe the elements that lead to satisfied workers. They mainly claimed that the most important element is to be in a solid organization that provides them with well-being (22%) (^{Merca2.0, 2016}). An example of this is a Randstad study, which found that 80% of Mexican employees are satisfied with their work, position, and supervisor.

From the employees' perspective, organizational commitment allows for job stability. For researchers and human resources personnel, organizational commitment is important mainly because it directly impacts employee attitudes and behaviors (^{Betanzos and Paz, 2007}). The Gallup report showed a worrisome reality: 79% of employees in every company surveyed are not committed to their work (^{Arias, 2019}).

On the other hand, with the increasingly accelerated changes that the world is currently experiencing, another problem affecting the workforce is work stress or Burnout, since people who work up to 11 hours a day are more likely to suffer depression or a heart attack. Mexico currently ranks first in work stress worldwide, with excessive working hours and fewer vacation days per year compared to other countries, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (^{OECD, 2017}). Work stress is commonly seen as the prelude to Burnout (^{Guardado, 2017}).

Regarding this issue, employees in an organization present a higher risk of suffering from Burnout (^{Berjot, Altintas, Grebot, & Lesage, 2017}) compared to those who are self-employed. Likewise, precarious employment, mainly associated with younger workers, is also associated with the development of Burnout (^{Canivet et al., 2017}). In relation to an employment contract, those with several different types of contracts have been defined as a predictor of the occurrence of this syndrome (^{Berjot et al., 2017}). Similarly, the salary drawn has also shown a negative relationship with it (^{Hai-Xia et al., 2015}).

Given the above, another problem identified is that organizations in Mexico typically provide insufficient rewards to their members. Therefore, it can be said that Mexican workers perform their activities in a precarious environment, which limits their ability to identify with the organization and adapt themselves to the work role, decreasing their productivity and the achievement of Job Satisfaction (^{Calderón, Laca, Pando, & Pedroza, 2015}).

According to an analysis of trends in Mexico's labor market for 2019, economic remuneration ceased to be the most important aspect for employees. Thus, it was expected that for 2019, employee empowerment, transparency in selective processes, and tech training, among other factors (^{Rodriguez, 2018}), would become the most important aspects. An especially important aspect is Empowerment, which was studied decades ago by Kanter (1977; 1993, cited in ^{Teixeira, Nogueira, and Alves, 2016}, and ^{Thomas and Velthouse, 1990}) since it could impact the behavior and performance of the workforce.

When examining the empirical relationships of Structural Empowerment with other behavioral variables, it may be observed that, although some studies use the Psychological Empowerment variable as a mediator, the statistical analyses reviewed only consider such relationships partially and directly, not as what should be a complete mediation (^{Hair, Hult, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2017}). Therefore, this research seeks to validate and provide significant contributions to this topic.

Following the theoretical framework, the authors propose that Structural and Psychological Empowerment of employees and Remuneration in organizations have a positive and beneficial impact on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Burnout. Although studies have emerged of for-profit and welfare services companies (^{Segovia, 2014}; ^{Orgambídez-Ramos, Borrego-Alés, & Ruiz-Frutos, 2018}), the teaching population segment, the subject of the present research, remains little studied (^{Barraza, 2008}; ^{Tabares-Díaz, Martínez-Daza, & Matabanchoy-Tulcán, 2020}).

Given this situation, it was decided to conduct this study in a geographic area of high economic, organizational, commercial, educational, and cultural development in recent decades outside the metropolitan area of Monterrey. It was carried out in public institutions of higher secondary education in the citrus-growing region of the state of Nuevo León in Mexico (comprising the municipalities of Linares, Hualahuises, Montemorelos, Allende, Rayones, and General Terán) (^{HCNL, 2017}).

In light of the literature reviewed and the aspects analyzed above, the following research question is posed: What is the relationship and impact of Structural Empowerment and Remuneration on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Burnout, considering Psychological Empowerment in its mediating role in the case of teachers of public institutions of higher secondary education?

The general objective of the research is to measure the impact of Structural Empowerment and Remuneration on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Burnout and how they are related through the mediating variable Psychological Empowerment in the case of teachers of public institutions of higher secondary education in the Citrus Region of the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Subsequently, the analysis of the differences in impact between the segmentation gender, marital status, schooling and work status groups is proposed to determine whether the impacts are the same or different in all types of strata.

Theoretical framework

The study is based on literature analysis of the relationships between the proposed variables. The dependent variables whose relationships are studied in this study are Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Burnout. The mediating variable is Psychological Empowerment. The independent variables are Structural Empowerment and Remuneration.

Job Satisfaction is one of the most fruitful and controversial constructs that make up organizational psychology (^{Salessi and Omar, 2017}). It is defined as a positive and pleasurable emotional state resulting from the individual's personal appraisal of their work and the experience gained from it when considering their duties, supervisor, and the organization itself (^{Locke, 1976}; ^{Sarwar and Khalid, 2011}). It has fluctuated from a positive feeling experienced by a subject when doing work they find interesting to a measurable judgment about the work itself (^{Salessi and Omar, 2016}).

On the other hand, Organizational Commitment is the degree to which people identify and get involved with their organizations and are willing to continue working there. This description is a fundamental part of the classic definition and has been studied extensively (^{Keskes, Sallan, Simo, & Fernandez, 2018}).

Another important issue in organizations is Burnout, a chronic stress response consisting of three fundamental factors: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal fulfillment (^{Maslach, 2003}; ^{Leiter and Maslach, 2017}). For Maslach, Burnout is an emerging occupational disease often considered exclusive to care providers or service professionals. This is probably because, when the literature on this phenomenon is analyzed, it is found that most studies have used only samples of education and health professionals (^{Olivares, 2017}).

Empowerment is a term adopted more than three decades ago in the labor context and is composed of two aspects: Structural Empowerment and Psychological Empowerment (^{De los Ríos and Blanco, 2012}). Structural Empowerment is defined as a set of activities and practices carried out by the company's management that gives power, control, and authority to subordinates, granting them access to information, resources, support, and opportunities to learn and develop (^{Chen and Chen, 2008}; ^{Cheng and Boey, 2015}; Kanter, 1993, cited in ^{Teixeira, Nogueira and Alves, 2016}). Analyzing the relationship of Structural Empowerment with other variables, most of it is with the Psychological Empowerment variable, using the latter as a mediator between one or more attitudinal variables of employees, such as Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, or Burnout (^{Gong et al., 2017}; ^{Aggarwal, Dhaliwal, & Nobi, 2018}).

^{O'Brien (2010)} found statistically significant negative correlations between Structural Empowerment and Burnout (r = - 0.44, p < 0.01) and between Psychological Empowerment and Burnout (r = - 0.34, p < 0.01). She found a statistically significant positive correlation between Structural Empowerment and Psychological Empowerment (r =.59, p <.01).

^{Jáimez and Díaz (2011)} analyzed the relationship between Empowerment (Structural and Psychological) and the three dimensions of Organizational Commitment. Their results showed that Structural Empowerment does indeed act as a predictor of Psychological Empowerment (B= 0.618; sig= 0.00; p< .001).

Furthermore, Remuneration is considered as the earnings received by the employee for having made his or her labor available to the employer (^{Rubio and Piatti, 2000}). In the working relationship between the company and the collaborator, the compensation (salaries, raises, incentives, and social benefits) significantly influences the satisfaction of the collaborators (^{Torres-Flórez, 2019}).

In Mexico, compensations are a system used to reward the employee and, in this way, create motivation and commitment to the organization. Some examples are base salary, bonuses, and vacation premiums (^{Benito, Beas, Mendoza, and Ochoa, 2020}). A study conducted by ^{Baez, Esquivel, Nunez, Rojas, and Zavaleta (2017)} concluded that there is a significant relationship of job satisfaction and compensation variables with the turnover of some generations. ^{Gavino (2020)} states that Remuneration contributes to improvement, seeking efficiency and effectiveness through work performance. Its purpose is to respond with capacity and quality to the services provided by the workers.

^{Flores and Madero (2012)} study internal pay fairness as a quality-of-work-life variable that predicts employees' intentions of remaining in the institution. Regarding salaries, ^{Palomo, Galindo, and Cantú (2013)} explain that, although they are less important than the other variables, this is justified in relation to employee job satisfaction in a service company, with the understanding that this factor would be more important regarding the concept of productivity and an incentive system.

^{Segovia (2014)} proposes a second hypothesis that variable compensation is positively related to Psychological Empowerment. This hypothesis is typically rejected, although studies by several authors show that variable compensation or compensation in general have a positive and significant impact on both job satisfaction and productivity.

Psychological Empowerment is considered as the increase of intrinsic motivation in the performance of the function, based on four concepts: task meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact (^{Thomas and Velthouse, 1990}). These concepts guide the individual's approach to the performance of their function, emphasizing that Psychological Empowerment is not a personality characteristic. Rather, it is a defined set of cognitions based on a certain work context (Spreitzer, 1995, cited in ^{Orgambídez-Ramos, Moura, and Almeida, 2017}). It is a mediating variable between Structural Empowerment and Remuneration on the one hand and Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Burnout on the other (^{Montoya and Hayes, 2017}; ^{Hayes, 2018}).

When reviewing the relationships in empirical studies of this variable, it was found that Rico-Picó et al. (2016) verified that there is a relationship between the levels of Empowerment and Satisfaction (r=.477, p=.007) and between Empowerment and Identification (r=.644, p=.000). However, there is no significant relationship between Identification and Satisfaction (r=.296, p=.106) (^{Rico-Picó et al., 2016}).

^{Ríos et al. (2010)} explained that Psychological Empowerment is a predictor of Organizational Commitment. However, when analyzing the individual impact of each of the dimensions of the latter, it is observed that only affective commitment directly impacts the four dimensions mentioned.

^{Jáimez and Diaz (2011)} analyzed the relationship of Empowerment (Structural and Psychological) with the three dimensions of Organizational Commitment. Indeed, Structural Empowerment acts as a predictor of Psychological Empowerment. Structural Empowerment does not show a causal relationship with affective commitment, but it is a predictor of commitment to rules, though there is no such relationship with Psychological Empowerment.

^{Chiang, Valenzuela, and Lagos (2014)} sought in their research to know the effect of Empowerment on Organizational Commitment in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) with a total of 219 workers in the Bío-Bío region in Chile. A predictive model of commitment based on empowerment variables was not observed in small companies.

As noted, the different research studies that support each of the variables of this research were reviewed. Based on the above, the following cause-and-effect model is proposed (Figure 1).

Source: created by the author

Figure 1 Proposed graphic model 

Whereas studies related to some variables in the literature reviewed show differences between the results when segmenting the sample by gender, age, type of contract, or studies (^{Canivet et al., 2017}; ^{Rodríguez-Villalobos, Benavides, Ornelas, and Jurado (2019)}, other investigations show no significant differences (^{Peralta and Moya 2017}; ^{Berjot, Altintas, Grebot, and Lesage, 2017}; ^{Chiang, Gómez, and Wackerling, 2016}) and no studies were found that analyze the research model proposed in this work by segmentation groups. The analysis of both the total sample and by segmentation groups was carried out to determine in the latter whether the impacts are the same or different in all types of strata and to obtain more relevant findings.

Methodology

The study was conducted with a quantitative approach and a correlational, explanatory, non-experimental, cross-sectional, or trans-sectional design. The relations shown in the graph above (direct and indirect effects) seek to prove which of these direct and indirect effects are generating significant impacts.

In the present work, the mediating effect of the Psychological Empowerment variable between the relations of the exogenous and endogenous latent variables of the model was evaluated. Mediation effects are classified as direct and indirect. Direct effects are the relations that link two constructs through a connector (βi). Indirect effects are the relations that involve a sequence of relations with at least one construct intervening (λi). The relations to be studied in the present investigation are shown in Table 1.

The study universe is the total number of teachers of higher secondary education institutions in the state of Nuevo León. According to data from the Ministry of Tourism (^{SECTUR, 2017}), there are 15,206 teachers of public institutions of higher secondary education in the State of Nuevo León, which is the general universe. Of these, 296 teachers are located in the Citrus Region, representing the study's subject population (^{UANL, 2018}). According to the calculation, an "n" sample size of 167 elements was obtained. Considering that number, the proportion of teachers surveyed for each institution subject to study was determined.

The information was collected through physical questionnaires and self-administered by the teachers, trusting in their professionalism, responsibility, and commitment. Each high school was visited personally, authorization was obtained from the principals or personnel in charge, and the survey was conducted with the teachers who were available at the time or who agreed to answer the survey, considering the proportional number of elements per school in order to comply with the sample size.

Stratified sampling was carried out. A questionnaire was administered based on previously validated scales for each variable: The Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire (CWEQ-II) (^{O'Brien, 2010}), The Psychological Empowerment Scale (^{O'Brien, 2010}), the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire S20/23 (Meliá and Peiró, 1989; 1998), the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (^{Meyer and Allen, 1997}), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (^{Maslach and Jackson, 1981}) and the surveys measuring the effectiveness of Remuneration on the employee in ^{Madero's studies (2012}; ²⁰¹⁰⁾. Although these questionnaires were used in other study contexts, the items for each variable were adapted to the context of this research.

In the first section of the instrument, which was integrated and adapted for this study, the items for each of the 6 variables were included using a 7-point Likert scale. The data were of the discrete quantitative type, where only whole number values are allowed.

In the second section of the instrument, demographic data were included to obtain the profiles of the participating teachers, as well as the labor data they handle in the institutions where they work. Once the questionnaire was integrated and adapted to the context of the study, the items that were not focused on the objective or scope of the teaching study on which the research was conducted were removed. Subsequently, 10 experts in the area were sent to help in the understanding and coherence of the items and to suggest some changes, which were made to obtain the final survey. Once again, the content validity process was carried out, obtaining the final instrument; and Cronbach's alpha index was calculated for each of the model's variables. Structural Empowerment (EE) and Remuneration (REM) were considered as independent variables; Psychological Empowerment (EP) as a mediating variable; and Job Satisfaction (SL), Organizational Commitment (CO), and Burnout (BOUT) as dependent variables.

In accordance with the sample size, the questionnaire was applied to teachers of the 13 public institutions of higher secondary education located in the context of the study, the Citrus Region of the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. This is a geographical area with a high level of economic, organizational, commercial, educational, and cultural development in recent decades. Located outside the metropolitan area of Monterrey, near the Sierra Madre Oriental, it has 253,467 inhabitants (^{INEGI, 2018}). It surpasses the Northern and Southern regions of Nuevo León in the generation of formal sources of employment. This region is home to an entire agroindustry that processes raw materials (orange, grapefruit, lime, and various vegetables). It can employ up to 3,500 people per day, exporting more than 100,000 tons of products to various countries, such as the United States and Japan, with Mexico being one of the leading citrus producers worldwide (^{Mendoza, 2016}; ^{Pantoja and Flores, 2018}).

Statistical analysis was performed based on Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS 3.0 M3 (^{Hair, Hult, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2017}), as it allows for the measurement of relations between latent variables and the analysis of several dependency relations simultaneously (^{López, 2012}). The sample was analyzed in the first instance with the proposed model and a sample size of 167 elements. Subsequently, it was analyzed by segmentation groups: gender (male and female), marital status (married and unmarried), schooling (undergraduate and graduate), as well as employment status (in another job or not), in order to obtain more relevant and accurate information from this population context. The results show the analysis of the significance of the direct and indirect effects among the exogenous and endogenous constructs.

Results

From the data collection, Table 2 shows the characteristics of the surveyed teachers, and the information is statistically analyzed.

The results of the application of the measurement instrument to 167 teachers are presented,considering the responses of the items on a Likert scale and confirming the reliability of the instrument through Cronbach's alpha. First, a statistical analysis of the whole sample is performed with SEM.

Discussion

The results show that the general research objective was met through a structural equation model. When analyzing the relations formulated by SEM using an interaction model (EP variable as mediator), acceptable R² values are obtained, and the dependent variables are largely explained by their predictors, except for the Burnout variable. In the first instance, the complete research model was analyzed with a sample size of 167 elements and subsequently based on segmentation groups by gender, marital status, schooling, and work status.

Conclusions

The findings of this study show that teachers who receive support, information, resources, and opportunities from the organization for learning and development have higher levels of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment, and those who are better paid are more committed to their work and the institution. This implies that the search for well-being, satisfaction, and commitment in the workplace is manifested by highly meaningful relations where the organization can stimulate their empowerment in the face of their educational and work needs.

This shows that those teachers to whom the organization provides Structural Empowerment and who have that intrinsic motivation in the form of Psychological Empowerment, are satisfied teachers. They feel involved and that their institutions value their work. These results will improve and increase the sense of belonging, which will translate into better teaching practice and better performance with their students, colleagues, and the organization.

In contrast, the results, by not presenting a significant relation and impact of Structural Empowerment and Remuneration with Burnout, show that the expected effects of intrinsic motivation are not generated in teachers through Psychological Empowerment, or that they do not generally consider Burnout to be part of their daily routine.

In academic terms, this research makes several contributions. Significant contributions are made in the Mexican context by the teachers to the variables investigated. The empirical results obtained lead to a valuable contribution to the knowledge of this topic for the country, population, and area selected for research.

Although some authors had analyzed some of the variables independently-such as Structural Empowerment with Psychological Empowerment, the latter found to be positively related to Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment, and inversely and negatively related to Burnout- presenting these relations separately, the complete mediation model in this study had not been the subject of other research, nor analyzed by means of segmentation groups, and significant contrasts were found.

As shown in the literature review, studying each of the variables as a construct is confirmed as a contribution to knowledge. By finding significant relations, it was shown that the independent variables are relevant for teachers to generate their intrinsic motivation through Psychological Empowerment as part of their daily routine, with a beneficial impact for the organization where they work.

Another contribution is the investigation of the proposed model in a different context, such as higher education institutions in Mexico. This field has been little studied empirically, and it is important to identify the degree of satisfaction and commitment of the teaching staff, as well as to seek strategies that contribute to increasing it, contributing to the development of more satisfied and productive teachers.

This shows the difference with what has been found in nursing professionals or manufacturing companies in previous research. Furthermore, according to ^{Silva, García, González and Ratto (2015)}, it is important to study Burnout more thoroughly in the teaching profession since it interferes with the worker's health, affects the teacher-student relation, the organization and, therefore, society.

As part of the methodological rigor, an additional contribution is through the use of fully grounded structural equation modeling (SEM) when performing the empirical evaluation of the relations of the variables of the cause-and-effect model. The SmartPLS 3.0 M3 software by ^{Hair et al. (2017)} and the PLS technique according to the recommended criteria were used, both for the general sample and for the comparatively stratified samples, leading to more accurate results regarding the mediating role of Psychological Empowerment in such relations, and contrasting with the statistical methods used in the research found in the literature review.

This research is useful for educational organizations that need to adapt to the changes and reforms implemented in the educational system to increase productivity, competitiveness, and work performance by providing elements and strategies to keep teachers satisfied, committed, healthy, and motivated. It also contributes to implementing projects to have more motivated and committed teachers with a positive impact on the comprehensive education of students, thus increasing efficiency rates and minimizing failure and dropout rates on a semester or annual basis. In turn, this study has applications not only for the institutions under study, but also for other high schools in Nuevo León, institutions in other states of the country, agencies at other levels of the educational system and, finally, for organizations of any other type interested in what influences the behaviors and attitudes of their employees that lead to their Satisfaction, Commitment, and low or zero Burnout levels.

Regarding the analysis by segmentation groups, it can be seen that the impact of Structural Empowerment on Job Satisfaction, that is, the support with information, resources, opportunities, and development that is provided to teachers and that is reflected in their job satisfaction, is greater in females than in males, as well as in singles and those who have only one job. However, no differences were found in the impact of Structural Empowerment and Remuneration on Burnout, which indicates that institutional support and compensation do not influence higher or lower levels of Burnout. Moreover, the impact of Psychological Empowerment on Organizational Commitment is greater in the male gender, in single marital status, with a bachelor's degree and with only one job, that is, those teachers with a good level of intrinsic motivation are more committed to the institution.

It is important to consider each of this study's positive aspects and limits when designing future research. It is recommended to analyze the cause-and-effect model using a construct dimension scheme to find empirical findings relevant to organizations. Furthermore, it would be important to continue investigating the impact of Structural Empowerment and Remuneration on Burnout through Psychological Empowerment, as well as of the latter on Burnout, in other organizational contexts. It would also be useful to study other human capital factors that generate Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment, as well as lower levels of Burnout.

It should be noted that, at the culmination of this research in 2019, it came to light that after decades of study, the WHO recognized Burnout associated with mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion caused by work as a disease. However, its diagnosis would only come into effect as of 2022 (^{Forbes, 2019}). On the other hand, in Mexico, according to NOM-035, as of October 23, 2019, every business or company with workers must be prepared to receive inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare or Accredited and Approved Inspection Units to carry out inspections in their workplaces. Therefore, its importance is consolidated for new lines of research (^{DOF, 2018}).