1 Teachers' Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Turnover Intentions, and Actual Turnover

192 Pages·2013·3.33 MB·English

by  Matt Finster

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Teachers’ Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Turnover Intentions, and Actual

Turnover: A Secondary Analysis using an Integrative Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Matthew P. Finster

A dissertation

submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

University of Washington

2013

Reading Committee:

Margaret Plecki, Chair

Robert Abbott

Michael Knapp

Program Authorized to Offer Degree:

College of Education
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© Copyright 2013
Matthew P. Finster
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University of Washington

Abstract

Teachers’ Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Turnover Intentions, and Actual

Turnover: A Secondary Analysis using an Integrative Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Matthew P. Finster

Chair of the Supervisory Committee:
Associate Professor, Margaret Plecki
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

To better understand how strategic management policies may mitigate teacher turnover,
this study presents an alternative conceptual framework, which links three interrelated factors of
teaching quality to attitudinal constructs that may influence teachers’ turnover decisions. The
teacher turnover model, derived from applied psychology, examines how teachers’ job
satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, shocks and economic opportunity
are associated with different turnover outcomes. Using structural equation modeling with data
from two large national datasets—the 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey and the 2008-
2009 Teacher Follow-up Survey—this study aims to identify the determinants of and relative
influence of these constructs on five different teacher turnover outcomes. The findings indicate
that job satisfaction is significantly, negatively related to turnover intentions, which, in turn,
predicts teachers that stay in their respective schools from one year to the next. A broad theme
emerges from the findings that suggest teachers stay in their respective schools from one year to
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the next for similar reasons, yet teachers that engage in intra- and inter district movement and
attrition from the public teaching profession do so for a variety of reasons. These results signal
potential strategic teacher talent management policies aimed at supporting teachers and their
work.
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Acknowledgements
I am deeply grateful to my advisor, Marge Plecki, for her instruction, thoughts and
guidance. And, I am indebted to my wife, Diana, for her understanding, love and support.
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For us.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................................13
Background of Study ................................................................................................................ 15
Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................... 21
Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................. 24
Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 24
Significance of the Study .......................................................................................................... 25
Limitations of the Study............................................................................................................ 27
Chapter II: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework ..........................................................31
Conceptual Overview................................................................................................................ 31
Organizational Equilibrium .................................................................................................. 31
Dual-Factor Satisfaction Theory ........................................................................................... 32
Human Capital Theory .......................................................................................................... 33
“Side-bet” Notion of Organizational Commitment .............................................................. 34
Withdrawal Process .............................................................................................................. 35
Economic Opportunity .......................................................................................................... 36
Image Theory ........................................................................................................................ 37
Literature Review...................................................................................................................... 39
Teacher Retention: A Review of Empirical Literature ......................................................... 42
Psychological factors: Teachers’ Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment .......... 50
Determinants of Job Satisfaction .......................................................................................... 54
Determinants of Organizational Commitment ...................................................................... 59
Turnover Intentions ............................................................................................................... 62
Economic Opportunity .......................................................................................................... 63
Shocks ................................................................................................................................... 65
Actual Turnover .................................................................................................................... 65
Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................. 68
Chapter III: Methodology ..............................................................................................................74
Research Hypothesis ................................................................................................................. 74
Data Sources ............................................................................................................................. 75
The 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey ....................................................................... 76
The 2008-2009 Teacher Follow-up Survey .......................................................................... 77
Sampling Weights ................................................................................................................. 77
Analytic Sample .................................................................................................................... 78
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Method: Structural Equation Modeling .................................................................................... 80
Data Analysis Procedures ..................................................................................................... 82
Development of the Measurement Models ........................................................................... 83
Development of the Structural Model................................................................................... 84
Latent Factors and Indicators .................................................................................................... 88
Determinants of Job Satisfaction .......................................................................................... 88
Determinants of Organizational Commitment ...................................................................... 89
Turnover Intention ................................................................................................................ 90
Shocks ................................................................................................................................... 92
Economic Opportunity .......................................................................................................... 94
Actual Turnover .................................................................................................................... 94
Chapter IV: Results ........................................................................................................................96
Descriptive Results ................................................................................................................... 96
Teacher Characteristics ......................................................................................................... 96
School Characteristics ........................................................................................................... 98
Job Satisfaction ..................................................................................................................... 99
Organizational Commitment ............................................................................................... 103
Turnover Intentions ............................................................................................................. 105
Economic Opportunity ........................................................................................................ 109
Shocks ................................................................................................................................. 110
Results of the Measurement Models ....................................................................................... 115
Factor Structure of Job Satisfaction .................................................................................... 116
Factor Structure of Organizational Commitment ............................................................... 118
Factor Structure of Turnover Intentions ............................................................................. 120
Shocks ................................................................................................................................. 127
Results of the Structural Models ............................................................................................. 132
Subsample Analysis: Beginning Teachers in Urban Schools ................................................. 139
Subsample ........................................................................................................................... 140
Job Satisfaction Variables for Subsample ........................................................................... 141
Turnover Intentions for Subsample .................................................................................... 142
Chapter V: Discussion .................................................................................................................145
Summary of Findings .............................................................................................................. 145
Policy Recommendations: Implications for the Strategic Management of Human Capital ... 148
Comments for Future Research .............................................................................................. 156
Appendix A: The 2007-2008 SASS Items and Coding ...............................................................159
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Appendix B: Teacher Sample Demographics by Mobility ..........................................................161
Appendix C: Descriptive Statistics for Indicators and Economic Opportunity ...........................162
Appendix D: Cross Tabs of Factor Indicators by Mobility .........................................................163
Appendix E: Correlations among Indicators by Factors ..............................................................168
References ....................................................................................................................................170
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List of Figures

Figure 1.1: Teacher Quality—The interrelationships between quality of the teaching force,
quality of teaching, and quality of support for teachers. ........................................... 22
Figure 1.2: Theory of the Problem ................................................................................................ 23
Figure 2.1: Factors Related to Teacher Retention and Mobility Used in Empirical Literature .... 43
Figure 2.2: Relationships between Determinants, Theories, and Constructs ............................... 62
Figure 2.3: Conceptual Framework .............................................................................................. 69
Figure 3.1: A Hypothesized Structural Model .............................................................................. 85
Figure 3.2: Proposed Measurement Model of Job Satisfaction .................................................... 89
Figure 3.3: Proposed Measurement Model of Organizational Commitment ................................ 90
Figure 3.4: Proposed Measurement Model of Turnover Intentions .............................................. 92
Figure 3.5: Proposed Measurement Model for Shocks ................................................................. 93
Figure 3.6: Outcomes for Actual Turnover................................................................................... 95
Figure 4.1: Favorable Job Satisfaction Indicators by Mobility Outcomes ................................. 101
Figure 4.2: Unfavorable Job Satisfaction Indicators by Mobility............................................... 102
Figure 4.3: Organizational Commitment Indicators by Mobility ............................................... 104
Figure 4.4: Indicators of Turnover Intentions by Mobility Outcome ......................................... 106
Figure 4.5: Indicators of Turnover Intentions by Mobility Outcomes: Professional acclamation
and Intent to Remain ................................................................................................ 107
Figure 4.6: Economic Opportunity by Mobility ......................................................................... 110
Figure 4.7: Influence of Shocks on Movers In, Movers Out, Movers Up, and Leavers ............. 111
Figure 4.8: Indicators of Shocks-Personal Reasons .................................................................... 112
Figure 4.9: Indicators of Shocks-Organizational Reasons .......................................................... 113
Figure 4.10: Percentage of Leavers Indicating the following Reasons as “very” or “extremely”
Important in their Mobility Decision. ...................................................................... 114
Figure 4.11: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Job Satisfaction with Six Indicators .................. 117
Figure 4.12: Confirmatory factor Analysis of Organizational Commitment .............................. 119
Figure 4.13: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Turnover Intentions ........................................... 121
Figure 4.14: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and
Turnover Intentions ................................................................................................. 123
Figure 4.15: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Job Satisfaction with Ten Indicators ................. 125
Figure 4.16: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions .......... 127
Figure 4.17: A Logistic Regression Model of Shocks with Eight Indicators on Movers Up and
Leavers ..................................................................................................................... 129
Figure 4.18: Model of Actual Turnover on Turnover Intentions, Turnover Intentions on Job
Satisfaction .............................................................................................................. 133
Figure 4.19: Model of Actual Turnover on Economic Opportunity, Economic Opportunity on
Turnover Intentions, and Turnover Intentions on Job Satisfaction ......................... 135
Figure 4.20: Model of Actual Turnover on Economic Opportunity and Turnover Intentions,
Economic Opportunity on Turnover Intentions, and Turnover Intentions on Job
Satisfaction .............................................................................................................. 136
Figure 4.21: Model of Actual Turnover on Economic Opportunity and Turnover Intentions with
an Interaction between Economic Opportunity and Turnover Intentions, and
Turnover Intentions on Job Satisfaction for Movers In and Movers Out ................ 138
Figure 4.22: Shocks for New Teachers Working in Urban Locales ........................................... 141
Figure 4.23: New Teachers in Urban Locales Responses to Job Satisfaction Indictors ............. 142