An Analysis of the Variables Influencing Job Satisfaction and the Self-Efficacy of the Teachers

An Analysis of the Variables Influencing Job Satisfaction and the Self-Efficacy of the Teachers

Aileen D. Tacbalan,* Antonina P. Alcalde and Edna P. Modina
Eastern Visayas State University – Burauen Campus Burauen, Leyte, Philippines
*Corresponding Author

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.7661

Received: 30 April 2023; Accepted: 05 May 2023; Published: 06 July 2023

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to analyze the influences that affect the job satisfaction of teachers and its efficacy in teaching. A descriptive research method used to a total of 46 teachers, both regular and part-time lecturers. It was found out that the identified variables influencing teachers job satisfaction were interactions with department leadership, recognition of achievements in research, possibilities for professional growth, possibilities for student interaction outside of the classroom, an appreciation for effective instruction, options for extracurricular school involvement, and paid time off for teachers. Sufficient technical and multimedia teaching resources, sufficient physical resources for teaching, and adequate financial resources for instruction were the variables influences that teachers answered neutrally. Teachers’ self-efficacy on student engagement was strongly agreed upon; the variables holding the students’ interest will help you deliver the courses smoothly, and promoting student participation to the fullest extent possible will improve my teaching skills. Preparation for daily lesson topics was also strongly agreed upon by teachers’ self-efficacy on instructional strategies. Teaching the students a lesson, preparing the teaching materials in advance, manifesting respect towards my students, and encouraging students to participate actively were agreed upon by teachers on classroom management. In order for teachers to function successfully and efficiently, the study recommended that school management look into and pay attention to the identified elements that affect teachers’ job satisfaction.

Keywords: Analysis, Influencing, Job Satisfaction, Teachers and Self-Efficacy

INTRODUCTION

Because a person’s job happiness is essential to reaching his or her social and psychological compatibility, job satisfaction is a significant issue for both individuals and societies. Importantly, tracking job satisfaction is crucial to the global educational systems’ continued expansion. The level of job satisfaction among an institution’s employees can be used to determine whether it is successful or unsuccessful because of the significant impact that this satisfaction has on employees’ performance, which will have an impact on the quality of the institution’s services in either a positive or negative way.

Accordingly, successful organizations strive to increase employee job satisfaction because it fosters a sense of institutional belonging that encourages employee loyalty and dedication [1]. Job success, which serves as the subjective standard by which society judges its citizens, is directly connected to job gratification. The degree to which a person is successful at their job is directly correlated with how closely they are tied to it and how much they value the benefits it provides, such as the ability to use their skills and to satisfy their needs and motives. [2-3].

Employee happiness and discontent have been connected to motivation, productivity, absenteeism, and turnover in a wide range of enterprises. Colleges and universities must keep an eye on employee satisfaction levels given the link to issues that are essential to the operation of any firm. A job is a task frequently done for income in order to support oneself. One of the key aspects of our everyday lives that adds the most stress is our work [4-5]. One of the key aspects of our everyday lives that adds the most stress is our work. Due to the highly competitive nature of the labor market, the majority of people spend the majority of their time at work [4].

Job satisfaction is an expressive situation associated to the good or adverse appraisal of work involvements. It might be associated with employee performance, organizational productivity, and other problems like absenteeism and turnover [5]. Al-Mesh’an [6] recognized job satisfaction as the extent to which a person’s requirements are met, and that satisfaction is attained through a variety of elements, some of which are internal (like the person’s current employment) and some of which are external (like the workplace environment). These elements contribute to a person’s job satisfaction, interest in it, enjoyment of doing it, accomplishment of their goals, wants, and interests, and being appropriate for what they need from their job and what they really get, or what goes above and beyond their expectations [3].

As can be seen, job satisfaction is a reflection of the interaction of many factors that are revealed through how an individual behaves at work. These factors may be related to the individual themselves, to the environment of the job and how society perceives the individual, or to the job procedures like supervision, pay, relationships between co-workers and chairmen, and the policies that regulate the individual’s behavior. His feelings toward his employment will be more positive if that notion is that it fulfills people’s wants [7-3]. Workers manner, faithfulness, help, and commitment to the corporation can all be affected by work fulfilment. Many papers on work fulfilment have been accomplished all over the place of the world and in a diversity of trades [8]. Work gratification may affect the way of the association between self-efficiency and academic achievement, either positively or negatively, or it may even reverse the direction of the relationship [9-10]. This study intended to assess the job satisfaction of teachers and its relationship with the factors that affect their self-efficacy in teaching.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Job satisfaction is one of the vital components of a group corporations functioning and efficiency. In reality, the new administrative model, which emphasizes that workers should be given first and primary as persons with their own targets and personal desires, is a very tremendous guide of the importance of job satisfaction in current organizations. According to study on job satisfaction, a fruitful worker is a contented worker, and a contented worker is a fruitful worker [11]. Four factors, according to a study reported by [12-11], influence workers satisfaction: “manager/organizer,” “work design,” “office surroundings” and “performance remuneration.” His study indicates that while manager/management has a fewer substantial effect on reason than it does on job-design gratification, it has a notable impact on the degree of satisfaction with performance pay.

Effectiveness and output of workers have constantly been vital anxieties for organization managers [13-11]. Workers with a convincing sense of faithfulness to their corporation uphold a high standard of facilities or properties, upsurge production, and create more income. Salary or pay was defined by [14-15] as a type of episodic remuneration given by a company to its employees and explicitly stated in an employment contract. In the context of this study, compensation, particularly monetary rewards, is defined as all sequences of events in which compensation plays a significant role. This means that when discussing job happiness, individual remuneration is crucial. This supports [16-15] claim that employee pay discontent can have a significant and unfavorable impact on overall employee performance. According to [17], poor working circumstances have a significant impact on employees’ performance. Employees require working environments and situations that allow them to operate freely without obstacles that can prevent them from performing to the finest of their capabilities in such a way to reach the standards and goals established by the business [18].

In a study conducted by Sahito and Vaisanen [19] made an experiential proof on the issues influencing teacher educators’ work gratification. Their findings revealed that dictatorial administration, poor management, absence of gratitude for teachers’ achievements, and broke societal connections lead to mental and emotional problems that have an impact on teachers’ performance in the classroom. These problems and worries lead to key circumstances where personal preferences collide with professional obligations, which have a severe detrimental impact on instructors’ performance. In the worst cases, these circumstances lead to burnout and resignation from the teaching profession. School administrators must review human resource management principles in light of these facts that explain the elements affecting teachers’ work satisfaction [10].

Indhumathi [20] Lumanog and Dimla [10] discovered a direct, significant association between instructors’ performance and work happiness. As a result, instructors who lack self-efficacy encounter difficulties in their careers, experience stress at work, and report lower levels of work gratification [21-10]. Having self-efficacy allows one to view their skills and abilities favorably. Hence, it fosters the development of intrinsically positive traits like self-confidence and self-esteem that have a favorable impact on a person’s performance. Self-awareness is the first step toward developing self-esteem. Job satisfaction arises when a teacher thinks that he or she is succeeding in their profession. Job satisfaction is used as a moderating factor to promote instructors’ self-efficacy, which significantly improves organizational performance.

Important academic outcomes like students’ well-being, achievement, and motivation are impacted by teachers’ self-efficacy. Teachers’ self-assurance in their capability to successfully manage academic expectations, barriers, and commitments in comparison to professional employment has a significant impact on academic outcomes, such as student motivation and job satisfaction [22-23]. According to numerous studies, teachers who have high points of self-efficacy report opinion more satisfied with their work, being fewer stressed at work, and finding it simpler to discipline unruly students [24-10]. Also, it has been empirically demonstrated that job satisfaction and self-efficacy positively influence accomplishment in a diversity of school contexts [25]. Self-efficacy, however, can also be seen as a dynamic method that affects teachers’ ability since it develops throughout the period as teachers gain expertise and experience in their line of work. The results of Wolters and Daugherty [26] confirm that the issue of how teachers create their instructional approaches and classroom organization has a small effect on self-efficacy [10].

METHODOLOGY

Design

The study used a descriptive design. The descriptive part assessed the profiles of the teachers as well as their job satisfaction rating on the different identified job factors and their self-efficacy in teaching.

Respondents

The respondents of this study were the teachers of Eastern Visayas State University-Burauen Campus, Burauen, Leyte. The regular teachers comprise 25 with three years of work experience and above and 54 part-time lecturers. The respondents to this study were 46, since the study was conducted during the time of the pandemic, and other teachers were not able to reach them on the school campus.

Instruments

The self-made questionnaire that was customized to fit the demands of the study served as the primary tool for data collecting. It is split into three sections. The first section of the survey tries to outline the characteristics of the instructor respondents. The factors affecting teachers’ job satisfaction are covered in Part 2, and questions about the instructors’ confidence in their ability to succeed as teachers are covered in Part 3. The Likert scale of (5) strongly agree, (4) agree, (3) neither, (2) disagree, and (1) strongly disagree was used in the design of the second and third questionnaire sections.

Statistical Analysis

Descriptive statistics were used to organize, tabulate, and evaluate the acquired data. Specifically, the data derived from the selected variables is described using frequency counts, percentages, and a weighted mean. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to examine the primary data from the survey questions. Frequency distributions were used to illustrate the statistical study’ findings in tables.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Respondents Profile

Table 1 indicates that, of the total 46 participants, 19 (41.30%) were under 30 years old, 16 (34.88%) were 31–40 years old, 7 (15.22%) were 41–50 years old, and 4 (8.70%) were 51 years old or older. With regards to respondents gender, 24 (52.17%) were female and 22 (47.83%) were male. As regards the respondents civil status, 25 (54.35%) were single, 20 (43.48%) were married, and 1 (2.17%) was a widow or widower. As to the educational attainment of the respondents, 23 (50%) were respondents with units in a master’s, 11 (23.91%) were respondents with a bachelor’s degree, 6 (13.9%) were respondents with a master’s degree, 4 (8.70%) were respondents with a doctorate degree, and 2 (4.35%) were respondents with units in a doctorate. With regard to the respondents employment status, 32 (69.56%) were part-time lecturers, 10 (21.74%) were permanent teachers, and 4 (8.70%) were respondents on their temporary status of employment. With regards to teaching experience, 28 (60.87%) of the respondents were teaching below 5 years, 8 (17.39%) were teaching 6–10 years, 6 (13.34%) were teaching 11–15 years, and 4 (8.70%) were teaching 16 years and above. The findings show that the majority of the respondents were young, newly graduated from college, with no security of tenure and fewer teaching experience.

Table 1. Respondents’ Profile

Variables Influencing of Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

The data in Table 2 revealed that the general teachers’ job satisfaction was agreeable (3.67). The majority of the respondents agreed, and the teachers’ highest rating was the interactions with department leadership (4.18); financial resources for instruction were rated lowest by the teachers, and they answered neutrally on this variable (2.75). However, other variables on teachers job satisfaction were agreed upon respectively: recognizing achievements in research (4.16), possibilities for professional growth (4.10), appreciation for effective instruction (3.89), possibilities for student interaction outside of the classroom (3.85), options for extracurricular school involvement (3.72), and paid time off for teachers (3.68) were respectively agreed upon by the respondents. Likewise, sufficient technical and multimedia teaching resources (3.35) and physical resources are sufficient for teaching (3.19), both of which were answered neutrally by the teachers. The findings showed that through interaction with departmental leadership, teachers get satisfied with their jobs because they can express their teaching needs to their supervisors, which also contributes to a pleasant working environment. Moreover, teachers were also acknowledged for their research achievements in a way that they were always encouraged to conduct research by the administration. Teachers were also satisfied by giving them chances to attend trainings and seminars and by allowing them to pursue postgraduate studies for their professional growth. They were also praised for their effective instruction, allowing them to interact with students outside of class, and teachers’ compensation were among the factors that contributed to teachers’ job satisfaction. Furthermore, teachers were less satisfied with their jobs because the campus has insufficient technical and multimedia teaching resources, physical resources, and inadequate financial resources. This indicates that teachers were certainly not satisfied, especially if they were handling laboratory subjects that lacked needed instructional resources, and sometimes salary compensation for part-time lecturers was not paid on time. This finding is similar to what [12] found: while supervisory or leadership behavior has a fewer significant effect on motives than it does on job-design gratification, it has a significant impact on the degree of satisfaction with performance pay. This supports [16] claim that employee pay discontent can have a significant and unfavorable impact on overall employee performance. Employees require working environments and situations that allow them to operate freely without obstacles that can prevent them from performing to the best of their aptitudes in a way to reach the standards and goals established by the company [18].

Table 2. Variables Influencing of Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

Teachers Self-Efficacy on Student Engagement

This part presents the teacher’s self-efficacy on student engagement. Results revealed that the total mean was 4.19, indicating that teachers self-efficacy and student engagement were agreed upon. Two variable measures that strongly agreed and got the highest mean were holding the students’ interest will help you deliver the courses smoothly (4.78), and promoting student participation to the fullest extent possible to improve my teaching skills (4.66). Nevertheless, three variables obtained the lowest mean: driving lessons that take into account the students’ extensive expertise (3.95), utilizing my language skills (3.88), and confidence in raising academic achievement and motivation among students (3.72). This was agreed upon by the teachers. Findings indicate that teachers could push their classes by imparting comprehensive information to students and utilizing their language skills so that students could understand the lessons. Furthermore, it is also upheld by encouraging active involvement and participation in classes and providing the lessons efficiently by keeping students concentration. It has been empirically demonstrated that job satisfaction and self-efficacy positively influence operation in a diversity of school situations [25]. Self-efficacy can also be seen as a dynamic method that affects teachers’ ability since it develops throughout the period as teachers upsurge expertise and experience in the line of work [26-10].

Table 3. Teachers’ Self-Efficacy on Student Engagement

Teachers’ Self-Efficacy on Instructional Strategies

It can be shown from Table 4 that a total mean of 4.02 was agreed upon by teachers’ self-efficacy on instructional strategies. Results indicated that the variable preparation for my daily lesson topics had the highest mean of 4.36, and it was strongly agreed upon by teachers. However, the variable I am sure of what I am teaching got the lowest mean of 3.67 and was agreed upon by teachers. Results imply that teachers mostly believed that daily lesson topics were always prepared before conducting classes and that they were assertive in driving challenging topics home to the students. Moreover, teachers also concurred that they were assured of what they were teaching and providing students’ learning tasks for accomplishing effective course objectives. Important academic outcomes like students’ well-being, achievement, and motivation are impacted by teachers’ self-efficacy [22]. Teachers’ self-assurance in their ability to successfully manage academic expectations, barriers, and commitments in comparison to professional employment has a significant impact on academic outcomes, such as student motivation and job satisfaction [22]. According to numerous studies, instructors who have high levels of self-efficacy report feeling more satisfied with their work, being less stressed at work, and finding it simpler to discipline unruly students [24].

Table 4. Teachers’ Self-Efficacy on Instructional Strategies

Teachers’ Self-Efficacy on Classroom Management

The data shown in Table 5 had a total mean of 3.94 and was agreed upon by teachers’ self-efficacy on classroom management. Result shows that the three variables that obtained the highest mean were teaching the students a lesson, preparing the teaching materials in advance (4.19), manifesting respect towards my students (4.12), and encouraging students to participate actively (4.09). However, variables ensure student satisfaction with my instructional strategies (3.74), and I’ll keep my personal and professional obligations apart in class (3.73) got the lowest mean. All the variables examined by the teachers were all agreed upon in terms of self-efficacy in classroom management. Findings indicate that teachers were prepared with their teaching materials that could be used in their classes. They also established deference with their students, which is the good conduct of a teacher. Furthermore, teachers also provide effective instructional strategies for student satisfaction in the classroom. Likewise, it is imperative for the teachers to keep their personal obligations or problems out of the classroom in order to have an effective delivery of lessons and conducive learning for students. The findings support the study of [19], in which their findings revealed that an dictatorial administration, poor management, absence of gratitude for teachers’ achievements, and poor societal connection lead to mental and emotional problems that have an impact on teachers’ performance in the classroom. These problems and worries lead to key circumstances where personal preferences collide with professional obligations, which have a severe detrimental impact on instructors’ performance [10].

Table 5. Teachers’ Self-Efficacy on Classroom Management

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The findings of this study concluded that through interaction with departmental leadership, teachers get satisfied with their jobs, which is also attributed to a pleasant working environment between a supervisor and a subordinate. Teachers were also acknowledged for their research achievements and satisfied by giving them chances to attend trainings and seminars and encouraging them to pursue postgraduate studies for their professional growth. They were also praised for their effective instruction, allowing them to interact with students outside of class, and teachers’ compensation were among the factors that contributed to teachers’ job satisfaction. It is also concluded that the teachers were less satisfied with their jobs because of the insufficient technical and multimedia teaching resources, physical resources, and inadequate financial resources of the campus. It can be inferred that the teachers self-efficacy in engaging students’ is mostly agreed upon by teachers in holding the students’ interest and helping deliver the courses smoothly. Likewise, preparation for daily lesson topics was also agreed upon by teachers self-efficacy on instructional strategies, and teachers made an advance preparation on their teaching materials that could be used in their respective classes. Likewise, manifest respect towards students was also agreed upon by teachers’ self-efficacy on classroom management.

In light of the study’s findings, it is suggested that the school administration provide the needed instructional resources of the program offered for the teachers to impart better knowledge and hands-on experiences to the students. Part-time lecturers should be compensated on time for them to be able to work efficiently and effectively. A similar study should be conducted with a larger population and additional variables that should be examined for the results to be more conclusive.

Declaration of interest statement

We hereby declare that this research article is free from any actual or potential conflicts of interest.

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