Teachers’ commitment,self-efficacy and job satisfaction as communicated by trained teachers

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to establish the mediating role of teachers’ self-efficacy in the relationship between teachers’ job satisfaction and teachers’ commitment of primary school teachers in Malaysia. Although several scholars have established the relationship between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction, this is the first study that tests the mediating effect of self-efficacy in the relationship of job satisfaction and teachers’ commitment in primary schools in Malaysia using motivation-hygiene theory. The research study used a validated questionnaire on a sample of 984 teachers and the research questions in the study were addressed by using structural equation modelling. The findings were that self-efficacy significantly mediated the relationship between primary school teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction, both teachers’ commitment and self-efficacy had significant and direct impacts on the job satisfaction of primary school teachers and the presence of self-efficacy enhanced teachers’ commitment and improved the job satisfaction of primary school teachers in Malaysia. It is clear that teachers needed to be communicated on the importance of having greater self-efficacy for better commitment and job satisfaction. As the study used a cross-sectional research design that was quantitative-oriented, in future, interviews could be adopted for a more inductive examination of teachers’ job satisfaction, self-efficacy and commitment. The primary schools in Malaysia should consider the role of self-efficacy in improving job satisfaction among teachers in Malaysia by adopting strategies that would enhance teachers’ self-efficacy so as to spur them to perform better at their jobs.

Keywords

communication job satisfaction mediating effect motivation-hygiene theory self-efficacy teachers’ commitment

Introduction

Globally, teachers face numerous challenges in their profession. The dearth of studies is apparent as we often see the impacts of teachers’ commitment and self-efficacy on job satisfaction in other countries being investigated but not in Malaysia. As such, the effects of teachers’ commitment and self-efficacy on job satisfaction in the Malaysian context need investigating. With greater job satisfaction, we generate better productivity at the workplace. Teachers should exhibit commitment and embrace self-efficacy by ensuring that they are confident in delivering a good job when teaching primary school children. However, teachers could encounter problems at the workplace as they are affected by several challenges in terms of their lack of commitment and self-efficacy, thus impacting their job satisfaction and productivity in a negative manner. Schools should be aware of the factors influencing teachers’ job satisfaction to ensure better productivity from teachers and increased motivation of students (Moè et al., 2010). A teacher satisfied with his or her job would lead to motivated students who would be more inclined to learn and become good employees later.

Research objectives and questions

The aim of the study was to validate the likelihood of a model of correlational causality of teachers’ predispositions, namely job commitment, teachers’ self-efficacy, and job satisfaction. The aim addressed the need to examine the interrelationships simultaneously among the three constructs, and thereby identify the significant and strongest predictors of teachers’ job satisfaction. Another aim of the study was to explore if teacher self-efficacy adds strengths to the commitment-satisfaction association. Putting it differently, the study aimed to identify the likely mediation role of self-efficacy. The final aim of the study was to determine gender-effect, specifically the moderating role of gender differences on the relationship between job commitment and job satisfaction to determine the strength of the relationship. The interaction between gender and job commitment may reveal an inconsistent influence of job satisfaction across the demographic groups of male and female teachers.

More precisely the study addressed the following research questions:

Does commitment affect job satisfaction of teachers in Malaysian primary schools?

Does self-efficacy affect job satisfaction of teachers in Malaysian primary schools?

Does commitment have a positive impact on the self-efficacy of teachers in Malaysian primary schools?

Does self-efficacy mediate the relationship between primary school teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction in Malaysia?

Does gender moderate the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and teachers’ commitment?

Literature review

The literature review examined earlier studies on the relationships between teachers’ job commitment and teachers’ job satisfaction, teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction, and the mediating role of self-efficacy between diverse variables. The following sections examine previous literature on the relationships of teachers’ commitment, self-efficacy and job satisfaction.

Teachers’ job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is widely defined with no general agreement as to what it really means (Aziri, 2011). Nevertheless, there have been several definitions of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is defined as a type of attitude to one’s job. This form of attitude is the consequence of diverse attitudes of an employee to his or her job in terms of salary, service condition, opportunity, working condition and colleagues (Bashir, 2017). Job satisfaction refers to the feelings of individuals of their professions and the different parts of their jobs; it is an attitudinal variable that investigates several aspects of the job with the areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction addressed to allow for improvements in the latter mentioned by Spector (1997) in his highly cited book on job satisfaction. He also developed the ‘Job Satisfaction Survey’ that is a measure with nine subscales of employee job satisfaction related to sector organisations such as human service, public, and non-profit (Spector, 1985).

Other than attitude, the previous literature mentioned that job satisfaction is affected by factors that are external for example, work conditions and internal factors that comprise self-efficacy beliefs (Troesch and Bauer, 2017). Hoppock (1935), who was the pioneer in the area of counsellor education, conducted a study on 500 teachers in 51 communities with urban and rural orientations that expressed the degree of their job satisfaction and specified relationships between job satisfaction, emotional adjustment, religion, social status, interest, age, fatigue, size of community, among other factors. Hoppock defined job satisfaction as comprising any amalgamation of circumstances involving psychological, physiological and environmental factors that encourages a person to identify whether he or she is satisfied with the job. Locke (1976), whose widely-cited definition of job satisfaction is ‘…a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences’ (p. 1404) mentioned that job satisfaction is influenced by several factors such as one’s love for the job, pay, promotion opportunity, colleagues, supervisor if applicable, top leadership, benefits and policies.

A few studies have examined teachers’ job satisfaction using motivation-hygiene theory (Amzat et al., 2017; Ataliç et al., 2016). A study that surveyed 198 high school teachers of public schools in Turkey discovered that both hygiene and motivator factors resulted to job satisfaction with hygiene factors causing more satisfaction depicting a different outcome to that explained by motivation-hygiene theory that underscores hygiene factors as causing dissatisfaction and motivator factors as causing satisfaction to jobs (Ataliç et al., 2016). Another study that surveyed 306 excellent teachers in Malaysia found that they had low satisfaction in relation to their ‘personal growth’ (motivator) and ‘supervision’ (hygiene) but high satisfaction with hygiene factors such as work conditions, salary, and policy factors (Amzat et al., 2017).

Why is studying job satisfaction in organisations important? The positive impacts of high self-efficacy on academic achievements of students and positive corporate reputation are apparent. Examining job satisfaction is vital as low job satisfaction could result to low turnover and high job satisfaction could result to excellent organisation reputation (Spector, 1997). Teachers who were satisfied with their jobs by being competent in teaching effectively, experiencing high self-efficacy in their jobs and having positive liking of their jobs could influence students in positive ways (Moè et al., 2010).

A study carried out in Cyprus, discovered that teachers had greater job satisfaction when interacting with students, when relationship building with colleagues and when having the chance to provide their services to the growth of individuals and society and the bases of dissatisfaction were identified as caused by problems of a social nature and these impacted on the work of teachers, the non-existent students’ absence of interest and bad behaviour, the centralised educational system, the absence of independence in schools, teacher evaluation and lack of promotion opportunities (Zembylas and Papanastasiou, 2006).

Another study on Cyprus supported the common finding of developed nations in that teacher motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic oriented) is linked to job satisfaction thus, the greater the extrinsic motivation of teachers (salary and working conditions), the greater their job satisfaction (Zembylas and Papanastasiou, 2004). With this, factors that contribute to increased job satisfaction should be investigated on teachers in Malaysia as the significance is profound in terms of contributing to greater teacher productivity and student motivation.

Teachers’ self-efficacy

The study also examined the correlation between self-efficacy and teachers’ job satisfaction in Malaysia. Self-efficacy is defined as individuals’ beliefs about their abilities to generate selected degrees of performance that impact on events affecting them (Bandura, 2010). These beliefs affect the ways people feel, think, motivate themselves, behave and generate four effects which were related to cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes. For teachers, self-efficacy referred to the extent they felt competent to complete their responsibilities as a classroom instructor (Hasselquist et al., 2017). Previous studies on self-efficacy and job satisfaction have found a relationship between them (Blackburn et al., 2017; Yıldırım, 2015). Some studies have established a strong relationship between teachers’ commitment and self-efficacy (Chesnut and Cullen, 2014; Hallinger et al., 2018; McKim and Velez, 2015; Ware and Kitsantas, 2007). A few studies have discovered self-efficacy as having a mediating role in the relationship between various variables (stress, psychographic variables and teaching praxes) and job satisfaction (Li et al., 2017; Moè et al., 2010; Nathaniel et al., 2016; Stephanou et al., 2013; Yu et al., 2015).

Teachers’ commitment

The next concept central to the study is teachers’ commitment. Several studies have demonstrated a significant relationship between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction and sometimes this is identified by gender. Commitment at the organisational level refers to the bond an employee has with his or her organisation (Ayele, 2014). When organisational commitment is applied to teachers, it refers to the commitment of teachers to the school in terms of a psychological contract that has latent and open pledges to the school and demonstrates their physiological relationship (Demirtaş, 2015). Demirtaş further reiterates that there are individual job expectations, physiological contracts and personal characteristics (gender, marital status), organisational (quality of work, leadership among them) and non-organisational (environmental) factors affecting organisational commitment (professionalism, opportunities of new occupation, unemployment rate). When it comes to teachers’ commitment the notion of empathy can be brought into the picture.

Studies on the relationship between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction

There appears to be a strong correlatiom between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction as evident in several studies (Akram et al., 2015; Ayele, 2014; Bashir, 2017; Bull, 2005; Demirtaş, 2015). Bashir (2017) discovered a positively significant relationship between professional commitment and job satisfaction in secondary schools in India after conducting a survey research on secondary school teachers there. According to the study, professional commitment played a significant role in job satisfaction because those who were committed created a friendly learning environment and gave prominence to addressing students’ problems, resulting in greater job satisfaction. The study suggests that job satisfaction could be improved among teachers by enhancing their competencies and commitment. Another study was conducted among secondary school teachers and the results comparably found a positively significant relationship between the competence of teachers and their professional commitment, the competence of teachers and their job satisfaction, and teachers’ professional commitment and job satisfaction (Akram et al., 2015). Again, the research underscores the correlation between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Ayele (2014) conducted a study involving surveys and interviews and found a positively significant correlation between teachers’ job satisfaction and commitment. The study found that higher levels of teachers’ job satisfaction were related to higher levels of commitment. The notion of external and internal factors influencing teachers’ job satisfaction was underscored. Teachers, principals, vice-principals and supervisors disclosed that external factors (promotion opportunity, organisational policy and administration, supervision, teachers’ income, work relationship and working condition) have greater influence than internal factors (job, professional development, recognition, achievement and responsibility) on teachers’ job satisfaction.

A few studies examining teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction also integrated these concepts with demographics. Bull (2005) examined job satisfaction and organisational commitment among teachers in deprived schools of Western Cape of South Africa. The researcher discovered a statistically significant relationship between biographical characteristics (gender, race, age, income, tenure, salary and position) with job satisfaction and organisational commitment but not the respondents’ level of education. Another study examined teachers and administrators regarding job satisfaction, organisational commitment and demographics (Demirtaş, 2015). The study demonstrates that respondents had high levels of organisational commitment and job satisfaction, but no significant differences of this relationship were found in relation to gender, seniority, age, status or branch of schools. Administrators were found to have had higher levels of organisational commitment than teachers, and class teachers have had higher levels of organisational commitment than branch teachers. The study discovered a significantly positive relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment that affected one another in a reciprocal manner.

The purpose of another research study was to examine the impacts of gender on teachers’ job satisfaction by conducting a meta-analysis of 11 master's and doctoral theses between 2005 and 2009 in Turkey (Aydin et al., 2012). The study found studies with findings that suggested males having more job satisfaction than females possibly because the work environment encouraged females to choose between work and family thus affecting their job satisfaction. There were other studies that had identified a strong and positive relationship between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction with some studies including demographical variables and internal and external factors in their examinations.

Studies on the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction

There had been several studies that had significantly supported the relationship between self-efficacy and job satisfaction among teachers (Blackburn et al., 2017; Caprara et al., 2006; Sukor and Hussin, 2019; Türkoğlu et al., 2017; Yıldırım, 2015). The purpose of Sukor and Hussin’s (2019) study was to investigate self-efficacy and job satisfaction and the relationship between them for the Substance Abuse Prevention Programme (PPDa) in Malaysia. Although the results depicted there was no significance in terms of self-efficacy by gender or experience in managing a PPDa programme or difference in job satisfaction in relation to experience but a difference was found in terms of gender. Self-efficacy was discovered as an essential variable for improving job satisfaction among teachers. Another study examined agricultural teachers of Louisiana in terms of self-efficacy, job satisfaction, perception of work-life balance and the correlation between these variables (Blackburn et al., 2017). There was a strong and positive relationship discovered between teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction which supported the hypothesis – the more efficacious a teacher was, the more content he or she was with the teaching job. There was a positive and moderate relationship discovered between job satisfaction and the perception of balancing between work and family time and between job satisfaction and the general perception of conflict. The instrument used Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) (Tschannen-Moran and Hoy, 2001) and Job Satisfaction Index (JSI) (Brayfield and Rothe, 1951).

The objective of another study was to identify the relationship between self-efficacy and job satisfaction sampled by physical education teachers in Turkey (Yıldırım, 2015). The study used a correlational survey model and a sample comprising 306 teachers who taught physical education in diverse areas of the country. The findings identified high levels of self-efficacy and job satisfaction among physical education teachers and there was a positive relationship between self-efficacy and job satisfaction. The self-efficacy scale used had 36 items designed by Yıldırım (2012) and adopted from the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. Job satisfaction on the other hand, was measured using the short form of the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire with the Turkish adaptation carried out by Gümüşeli (2004).

A study was conducted on self-efficacy beliefs of teachers in Italy that included factors of job satisfaction and students’ academic achievement (Caprara et al., 2006). More than 2,000 teachers of 75 junior high schools in Italy were provided with surveys assessing their beliefs of self-efficacy and job satisfaction. The average final grades of students at the closing period of junior high school were gathered in two subsequent academic years. The study found that Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses verified a conceptual model in which teachers’ personal efficacy beliefs influenced their job satisfaction and their students’ academic achievements. Self-efficacy was measured using 12 items that examined teachers’ beliefs in their capability of handling numerous tasks, obligations, and challenges linked to their professional role mainly utilising guidelines by Bandura (1997) and previous surveys measuring teachers’ self-efficacy by adopting the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) among them.

Other studies examined self-efficacy and job satisfaction independently. Katz (2015) conducted an examination of 58 teachers of schools located in Manitoba, Canada, who were involved in a study executing the Three Block Model of Universal Design for Learning. The study’s aim was to examine teachers’ perceptions of the outcomes of executing the model meant for both students and teachers. The findings reported that teachers described student outcomes as positive in terms of the alleviation of behaviour that was challenging, enhanced students’ interactions, engagement and learning in relation to the model. Teachers further believed that the model enhanced their practice and self-efficacy regarding inclusive education, reduced their workload and enhanced job satisfaction. Self-efficacy and job satisfaction were positively impacted by the Block.

Another study was with the purpose of examining agriculture teachers in their first and second years with regard to their job satisfaction, self-efficacy and perceived levels of support by the school (Hasselquist et al., 2017). Data were gathered from teachers in the United States, more specifically in Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin. Researchers discovered that support from colleagues was a statistically significant contributor to the efficacy of teachers while, district and school administration, colleagues and financial support contributed statistically significantly to teachers’ job satisfaction. Teachers’ self-efficacy was measured using the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale by Woolfolk and Hoy (1990) and more subconstructs were produced using factor analysis. Hence, Personal Efficacy, and Personal Efficacy Ability to Influence Students were also established alongside Teacher’s self-efficacy.

Studies on the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and commitment

Several studies had discovered a strong relationship between teachers’ commitment and self-efficacy (Chesnut and Cullen, 2014; González et al., 2018; Hallinger et al., 2018; McKim and Velez, 2015; Ware and Kitsantas, 2007). A study by Chesnut and Cullen (2014) examined the impacts of self-efficacy, future work environment and emotional intelligence on pre-service teachers’ commitment sampled by 209 pre-service teachers (also known as teachers in training) studying in a college in South-West United States of America. The findings discovered a positive relationship between pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy expectations of classroom management, instructional strategies, and student engagement and commitment. It used a short form of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale with 12 items that measured three different self-efficacy constructs: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. The commitment of pre-service teachers to the teaching profession was measured using the Vocational Exploration and Commitment Scale (VECS) section of Commitment to Career Choices Scale (CCCS). Developed by Blustein et al. (1989), the scale with 19 items measures the participants’ levels of commitment to their professions and was adapted to the teaching profession.

González et al. (2018) examined 842 Spanish pre-service teachers and found that teaching styles were the predictors of acquired competences, competences were the predictors of teaching self-efficacy, and self-efficacy was the predictor of commitment to the profession. For self-efficacy, they used the reduced Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale generated by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001). Professional commitment involved three subscales measuring career choice satisfaction, planned effort, and planned persistence (Watt et al., 2014).

Ware and Kitsantas (2007) examined whether teacher and collective efficacy beliefs predicted factors of commitment to the teaching profession in the United States. Using survey research, a sample of public-school teachers and principals were investigated utilising two scales: the collective efficacy scale and teacher professional commitment scale of which the results supported the hypothesis that the scales significantly projected the professional commitment of teachers. Three factors from 17 of the items were produced through factor analysis: (a) Teacher Efficacy to Enlist Administrative Direction; (b) Collective Efficacy – Teachers’ Influence on Decision Making; and (c) Teacher Efficacy for Classroom Management. Efficacy was found to play a significant role by retaining teachers through educational interventions that underscored teachers’ efficacy and collective efficacy in enhancing teachers’ efficacy beliefs that they can manage challenges as a team. Teachers’ Commitment on the other hand, was measured using four items. Another survey on principals and teachers in Iranian primary schools supported the hypothesis that principals’ and teachers’ self-efficacy impacted their own behaviours and teachers’ commitment (Hallinger et al., 2018).

McKim and Velez (2015) used the survey method to examine the variances in career commitment and perceived efficacy of early career agricultural teachers and the correlation between teachers’ perceived efficacy and career commitment in five western states in the United States and in five dimensions of self-efficacy: classroom management, instructional strategies, leadership of students, science teaching, and math teaching. The twofold dimensions of self-efficacy discovered as significantly related to early career teaching commitment were teachers’ efficacy when conducting classroom management and science teaching. The scales were established using four established self-efficacy instruments (Enochs and Riggs, 1990; Hoy and Spero, 2005; Simonsen et al., 2013; Tschannen-Moran and Hoy, 2001).

Studies on the mediating role of self-efficacy between various variables and job satisfaction

There had been studies conducted proving that self-efficacy played a mediating role between various variables and job satisfaction (Li et al., 2017; Moè et al., 2010; Nathaniel et al., 2016; Stephanou et al., 2013; Yu et al., 2015). They concluded that self-efficacy played a major role in contributing to greater job satisfaction for teachers, making it important to improve upon and inculcate.

The impact of teacher’s self-efficacy as a mediating variable was investigated in the relationship between stress in addition to teachers’ job satisfaction by a few researchers (Nathaniel et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2015). Nathaniel et al. (2016) investigated the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy, teachers’ stress and job satisfaction on a sample of 1,242 teachers in a state in South-Eastern United States. The findings demonstrated the noteworthy impact of self-efficacy in engaging with students and self-efficacy in managing classrooms with regard to the correlation between sources of stress and job satisfaction, and efficacy in classroom management in the relationship between the manifestations of stress and job satisfaction. The findings underscored the importance of ensuring that teachers’ self-efficacy is inculcated to reduce stress and increase their job satisfaction. Another study examined the effect of work stress on job burnout and focused on confirming the role of self-efficacy as a mediator for middle school teachers (Yu et al., 2015). The study generated the finding that self-efficacy partly mediated the correlation between work stress and job burnout akin to job dissatisfaction.

The following studies examined the psychographic orientation of teachers (emotions, personality and affect) and self-efficacy’s role as mediator. One study discovered that the impact of job satisfaction on teachers’ emotions (enthusiasm, pride, anger among them) was mediated by teachers’ insights of the school’s collective efficacy or school faculty’s collective capability and that self-efficacy had effects that were direct and indirect on the relationship of collective efficacy and job satisfaction on teachers’ emotions (Stephanou et al., 2013). The sample encompassed 268 teachers of an elementary school in Greece who were asked to complete a survey.

Li et al. (2017) investigated the effects of self-efficacy and work engagement as mediating variables in the relationship between proactive personality and teachers’ job satisfaction in China. The findings indicated a positive correlation between proactive personality and teachers’ job satisfaction. Furthermore, mediation analyses demonstrated that the relationship between proactive personality and teachers’ job satisfaction was mediated simply by self-efficacy and work engagement and mediated sequentially by self-efficacy and work engagement. A study by Moè et al. (2010) examined how well teaching strategies and praxes (practices) interrelated with positive affect and self-efficacy to regulate teachers’ job satisfaction as teaching alone would not guarantee satisfaction. The sample consisted of 399 teachers who completed self-assessment scales that were designed to measure the embrace of teaching strategies and praxes that were efficient, self-efficacy in teaching, positive affect and job satisfaction. The study used SEM analysis and discovered that the roles of mediators, positive affect and self-efficacy beliefs were impactful in the correlation involving teaching strategies or praxes and job satisfaction.

There seemed to be a research gap regarding this effects of teachers’ commitment on job satisfaction mediated by self-efficacy and moderated by the gender of primary school teachers in the Malaysian context. Hence, the study attempted to fill the research gap on this matter in order to provide recommendations to primary schools in Malaysia on how to address the role of teachers’ commitment on job satisfaction that is mediated by self-efficacy and moderated by gender.

Motivation-hygiene theory

Frederick Herzberg, a clinical psychologist, coined motivation-hygiene theory that focuses on good hygiene (motivators) contributing to job satisfaction and bad hygiene leading to job dissatisfaction (Ataliç et al., 2016; Herzberg, 1974; Miner, 1971). The theory further posits that job satisfaction is an extension of intrinsic characteristics of work that refer to the content of their jobs and are deemed as motivators: achievement, recognition for achievement, interesting work, increased responsibility, growth, and advancement (Herzberg, 1974). Herzberg continues to explain that job dissatisfaction, alternatively, is the result of extrinsic factors (or hygiene factors) that include: the policy of the company and practices in administration, supervision (technical quality), relations that are interpersonal (especially with supervision), physical working conditions, job security, status and salary. The job context or hygiene factors are preventive and environmental conditions of work, for Herzberg. It seems to indicate that job satisfaction is a result of the self’s inner motivation and factors in the workplace.

Hygiene factors when addressed can eliminate dissatisfaction and increase performance to a certain extent, but they cannot be dependent upon totally to produce positive feelings about one’s job or increase levels of one’s performance (Miner, 1971). Miner mentions that in order to achieve these outcomes, management must be more motivating. The theory also posits that when employees are intrinsically motivated this ensures that they are motivated further than by solely extrinsic, hygiene factors. A study of motivation-hygiene theory and sanitary engineers put forth the recommendation that management should focus on motivators when managing adults however, the result could be workers that were more hygiene-oriented than motivator-oriented and this could alleviate creativity and be a loss for organisations (Herzberg, 1974). There are several limitations to motivation-hygiene theory. The findings of a study on university teachers in Pakistan found that their motivation was more dependent on the fulfilment of hygiene factors establishing a connection between hygiene and motivation factors which were seemingly put forth as separate entities by Herzberg (Ghazi et al., 2013). Several studies focusing on job satisfaction and motivation at diverse workplaces had embraced Herzberg’s theory however, it is important to be aware that this theory was formed and tested in an American setting that is different from the Malaysian setting thus it could create inconsistent findings across cultures (Amzat et al., 2017).

Conceptual model

In the study, the theory is applied to teachers in Malaysia in relation to the effects of teachers’ commitment that mainly addresses motivator factors on job satisfaction mediated by self-efficacy. The following conceptual model in Figure 1 depicts the hypotheses examined by the study. While the study recognises the importance of organisations to focus on intrinsic factors or the job content of teachers, this study has taken to adopt motivators such as teachers’ commitment as the exogenous variable and self-efficacy as the mediator variable in the relationship between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction in the study. In turn this means that teachers’ commitment would affect self-efficacy and thus job satisfaction.

H1. Teachers’ commitment has a positive impact on job satisfaction in Malaysian primary schools.

H2. Self-efficacy positively affects job satisfaction of Malaysian primary school teachers.

H3. Teachers’ commitment has a positive impact on self-efficacy in Malaysian primary schools.

H4. Self-efficacy mediates the relationship between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction in Malaysian primary schools.

Methods and procedures

There were 984 teachers surveyed; males (n1 = 342) and females (n2 = 642) in primary schools randomly selected all over Malaysia and participated on a voluntary basis. The data depicted that the sample did not gravely depart from the characteristics of the larger teacher population in Malaysia. The study comprised a 35-item questionnaire which measured the variables of interest for the study.

Each construct was adapted from previous studies and was adopted the scale from the Job Descriptive Index (Smith et al., 1969) and Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Lester, 1982). There were 16 items that were related to the four-factor teacher job satisfaction variable. These were indicators that were manifested in the endogenous variable, namely ‘workload’, ‘salary’, ‘professional development’ and ‘relationships’. The teachers’ commitment variable comprised seven items that examined teachers’ perception of the school, teachers’ mission to improve students and establish social relations, and teachers’ enjoyment of teaching and choice of teaching as a profession. The mediator variable self-efficacy had 12 items and was operationalised as teachers’ competency in the classroom related to assessments, clarity of explanations and use of alternative teaching strategies. The five-point Likert scale was used for all items in the survey encompassing: 1 – ‘Strongly Agree’, 2 – ‘Disagree’, 3 – ‘Not sure/No comment’, 4 – ‘Agree’ and 5 – ‘Strongly Agree’.

Data analysis techniques

After the data collection phase, the raw data from the field were recorded and organised using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). SPSS was also used to check for errors of entries, values that were missing and outliers. The missing values and data entry errors were examined by generating frequencies and descriptive statistics. Moreover, box plots were used to test for the existence of outliers in the data. There were missing data not at random (MNAR) according to Little’s Missing Completely at Random (MCAR) test results. Thus, the multiple implication method was used to replace the missing data as recommended by Tabachnick and Fidell (2019). The box plot results found that outliers were not visible in the data; thus, the data were satisfactory enough for the proceeding stage of analysis.

The data analysis subsequently progressed to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and SEM using AMOS model-fit programme. The estimation of the models was based on covariance matrix. Maximum likelihood estimation procedure was applied to generate estimates with properties that were defensible. The suitability of each model was examined using the following good-fit statistics: (i) a comparison between the measurement model and data in relation to their consistency and, (ii) the parameter estimates in terms of their reasonableness. The comparative fit index (CFI) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) were also generated by the analyses.

Results and discussion

Psychometric properties of the measures

Prior to SEM, the study examined the psychometric properties of each construct. Using CFA, the measurement model is presented in Figure 2. The results indicate that there were no issues of convergent validity since the average variance extracted exceeded the threshold of .5 and all loadings were greater than .60.

Table 1 depicts the findings of the CFA, in terms of mean shared variance (MSV), average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR). The statistics in the table demonstrate that the data sufficiently supported the discriminant validity of the constructs. Specifically, the values of MSV were less than the AVE values. Also, the composite reliability (CR) for each construct was higher than the critical cut score of 0.7 for all latent variables.

Table 1.

Reliability and validity of constructs.

	CR	AVE	MSV	MaxR(H)	TC	SE	WL	SAL	RL	PD
TC	0.81	0.52	0.29	0.821	0.727
SE	0.85	0.50	0.29	0.917	0.543	0.711
WL	0.75	0.51	0.28	0.934	0.312	0.327	0.716
SAL	0.85	0.66	0.27	0.956	0.205	0.234	0.520	0.814
RL	0.79	0.56	0.32	0.963	0.355	0.527	0.533	0.472	0.748
PD	0.88	0.65	0.32	0.971	0.324	0.335	0.527	0.471	0.569	0.810

CR: Composite Reliability; AVE: Average Variance Extracted; MSV: Maximum Shared Variance; MaxR(H): Discriminatory Maximum Reliability. Note. The values in bold are the "square root of AVEs" and they are greater than the correlation coefficients between the variables (below the diagonal), the differences among the sub-constructs are better, hence the discriminant validity.

Adequacy of the mediation model of teacher self-efficacy

The mediation model seemed to be adequate reasonably well; all fit indices satisfied the conventionally accepted cutscores. Evidently, while the χ²/df at 3.20 was smaller than the cutscore value of 5.0, the RMSEA was smaller than .06 and the incremental fit indices (CFI) for the models exceeded .95.

Hypotheses testing

The results (Figure 3 and Table 2) verified a statistically significant and positive relationship between self-efficacy and teachers’ commitment (H1) comparable to several previous studies that saw strong relationships between self-efficacy and teachers’ commitment (Chesnut and Cullen, 2014; Hallinger et al., 2018; McKim and Velez, 2015; Ware and Kitsantas, 2007). The study discovered a strong relationship or effect between self-efficacy measured by teachers’ classroom assessments, clarity of explanations and use of alternative teaching strategies and teachers’ commitment operationalised as teachers’ perception of the school, teachers’ mission to improve students, establish social relations, and enjoyment of teaching and choice of teaching as a profession.

Table 2.

Weights of regression (group number 1 – default model).

	Estimate	S.E.	C.R.	P	Label
SE ← TC	.534	.071	7.526	***	par_22
JS ← SE	.373	.087	4.273	***	par_20
JS ← TC	.355	.087	4.081	***	par_21

The findings are comparable with the study by Chesnut and Cullen (2014) who found a positive relationship between pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy expectations of classroom management, instructional strategies, and student engagement and commitment. Hallinger et al. (2018), examined self-efficacy in terms of principal self-efficacy, instructional leadership, and collective teacher efficacy and found a significant relationship between them. McKim and Velez (2015) found a significant relationship between early career teaching commitment and teachers’ efficacy when conducting classroom management and science teaching.

A statistically positive relationship is also found between self-efficacy and job satisfaction (H2), (Figure 3 and Table 2) that is also supported by previous studies (Blackburn et al., 2017; Caprara et al., 2006; Sukor and Hussin, 2019; Yıldırım, 2015). In addition, the direct relationship between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction (H3) is statistically significant and positive akin to a few previous studies (Chesnut and Cullen, 2014; Hallinger et al., 2018; McKim and Velez, 2015; Ware and Kitsantas, 2007). Hypothesis 4 that mentions ‘Self-efficacy mediates the relationship between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction in Malaysian primary schools’ is also verified to be comparable to other studies (Li et al., 2017; Moè et al., 2010; Nathaniel et al., 2016; Stephanou et al., 2013; Yu et al., 2015). The path coefficients further imply that the relationships are of practical importance. This is supported by C.R. that is greater than 1.96 and p less than 0.05 (Table 2). Thus, all hypotheses are supported in the study.

Moderation effects of gender

A further aim of the study was to investigate the strength of the relationship of the moderating variable gender in the teacher job satisfaction model. To measure gender-invariant, concurrent analyses on both male (n1 = 342) and female (n2 = 642) samples were carried out. Primarily, the analysis was carried out without constraining the structural paths resulting in a baseline Chi-square value. Subsequently, the structural paths (TC→SE; TC→JS; SE→JS) were constrained equally for the male and female sample groups. The analysis of the constrained TAME generated an added value of Chi-square, which was then tried against the baseline value for differences of statistically significance. The findings of the multiple-group SEMs are found in Table 3.

Table 3.

Results of gender-invariant analysis.

Model	CFI	RMSEA	Chi-Square Value	df
Unrestricted	.907	.048	1,432	446
Constrained	.906	.048	1,438	449
Change	.001	0	6	3

The invariance test conducted across groups of male and female teachers led to a statistically non-significant change in the value of the Chi-square, Chi-square (df = 3) = 6; p > .001. Thus, the variance in the Chi-square values between the unrestricted model and the constrained model did not generate a poorer fit model. There was the absence of a significant difference in the path coefficients across gender. From this analysis, we can reasonably confirm that gender did not interrelate with the exogenous variables to impact its relationship with teachers’ job satisfaction thus, gender is not a moderating variable in the study.

A research objective addressed the need to examine the interrelationships simultaneously among the three constructs, and thereby identify the significant and strongest predictors of teachers’ job satisfaction. Another objective of the research was to explore if teacher self-efficacy adds strengths to the commitment-satisfaction association. Putting it differently, the study aimed to identify the likely role of the mediator variable, self-efficacy. The final aim of the study was to determine gender-effect, specifically the moderating role of gender differences on the relationship between job commitment and job satisfaction to determine the strength of the relationship. The interaction between gender and job commitment may reveal an inconsistent influence of job satisfaction across the demographic groups of male and female teachers.

Recommendations and conclusion

Conclusively, the study examined the interrelationships concurrently among the three constructs (teachers’ commitment, self-efficacy and job satisfaction) and thereby identified the significant and strongest predictors of teachers’ job satisfaction. It was found that self-efficacy significantly mediated the correlation between teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction of Malaysian primary school teachers. The study confirms the statistically significant relationship supporting H1 of the study that mentions the correlation between Malaysian primary school teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction. The results also proved a positively significant relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction that is in line with H2 of the study. Additionally, the study also found that teachers’ commitment has a significantly positive impact on self-efficacy; thus, supporting H3 of the study. A significant contribution by the study was that the relationship of teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction was mediated by self-efficacy, hence supporting H4 of the study. However, it was found that gender was not a moderator variable in the relationship between the exogenous variables and job satisfaction in the teachers’ job satisfaction model as explored by the study.

The study also discovered that job satisfaction was significantly affected by teachers’ commitment and self-efficacy. The findings developed Herzberg’s theory of motivation-hygiene further by focusing on the relationship between intrinsic and motivator factors of teachers on job satisfaction and by using mediating and moderating variables.

The importance of the study is firstly, there is the dearth of studies on the impacts of teachers’ commitment, self-efficacy and demographics on job satisfaction in the Malaysian context resulting in a research gap that needed to be filled. Secondly, it allows for a deeper comprehension of the influence of teachers’ commitment defined by motivator factors and self-efficacy on job satisfaction, for teachers of primary schools in Malaysia. Thirdly, the study is also significant for schools to develop an action plan so as to motivate teachers to have better self-efficacy and commitment to their work and fourthly, to develop motivation-hygiene theory regarding the job satisfaction of Malaysian primary school teachers.

The motivator-oriented worker is important to attain as it produces a more creative worker (Herzberg, 1974) and ensures increased performance (Miner, 1971). This could be carried out by instilling confidence within teachers in their capability to perform well at their jobs through effective communication strategies imbued in formal (trainings and engagement between principals and teachers) and informal communication systems (grapevine) potentially leading to the motivator-oriented teacher. The focus on motivator factors is important but should not be at the expense of providing a school ecosystem hence addressing motivator and hygiene factors that lead to job satisfaction as evident in other studies (Ataliç et al., 2016; Hasselquist et al., 2017).

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Aida Mokhtar

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