Job satisfaction in teachers: Its latent construct, predictors and measurement

The present thesis composed of two major studies. Study 1 proposed and validated a global measure of teaching satisfaction, which is based on Diener's Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS). The five-item teaching satisfaction scale (TSS) was validated on a sample of 202 primary and secondary school teachers and found favorable construct and criterion validities. As hypothesized, teaching satisfaction as measured by TSS correlated significantly with self-esteem, general health and stress. TSS also demonstrated better criterion validity with general health and stress than Warr's and Brayfield-Rothe's Job Satisfaction Scales. TSS offers a simple, direct, reliable, and valid assessment of teaching satisfaction.;Study 2 was designed to investigate the correlates and predictors of teaching satisfaction. Taking Herzberg's two-factor theory and Judge's core evaluation theory as theoretical and conceptual basis, a structural teaching satisfaction model (TSM) was proposed to examine the inter-relations among three latent factor constructs (intrinsic, extrinsic and dispositional) and teaching satisfaction. Success and recognition, perception of work characteristics and participation in decision making constitute the intrinsic latent factor construct. Extrinsic latent factor construct consists of principal support, colleagues' support and role ambiguity whereas dispositional latent factor construct is composed of self-esteem and generalized self-efficacy. Self-report questionnaires were gathered from 547 schoolteachers (397 secondary and 150 primary) distributed in 17 secondary and 17 primary schools and the response rate was about 73%. Our results provided strong support for our hypotheses that not only the three latent factor constructs exert direct effects on teaching satisfaction, intrinsic factor construct also mediated the effect of dispositional factor and extrinsic factor constructs on teaching satisfaction. Moreover, intrinsic factor construct constituted the largest influence on teaching satisfaction. Furthermore, multisampling analyses supported the utility of TSM in explaining the inter-relations among three latent factor constructs and teaching satisfaction in the male and the female, the primary and the secondary samples. We further broadened TSM with intention of leave as a criterion variable. Results found that indirect effects of three latent factor constructs on intention to leave mediated through both the intrinsic factor construct and teaching satisfaction. Moreover, intrinsic factor construct and teaching satisfaction exerted direct effect on intention to leave. In summary, the intrinsic factor construct displays a major influence on teaching satisfaction and intention to leave. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research were presented.