Teacher Communication Orientation and Job Satisfaction: A Correlational Study

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to test for the correlation, if any, between job satisfaction and socio-communicative orientation while also looking at gender, path to certification, and years teaching experience. The aim of this study was to demonstrate any correlations between the independent variables of socio-communicative orientation, assertiveness, responsiveness, gender, path to certification, years teaching experience, and the dependent variable of job satisfaction. The researcher used Pearson’s Correlation and multiple regression analysis for this quantitative study. The Socio-Communicative Orientation Scale, the Mohrman-Cooke-Mohrman Job Satisfaction Scale, and a demographic questionnaire were distributed to potential participants via email. The final number of participants was 33. About 90 participants were necessary for a medium effect size. Therefore, rejecting the null hypothesis was unlikely. Although this study showed no statistically significant correlations between the predictor variables and the dependent variable of job satisfaction, future research should have a larger participant population. Future research should include more participants and examine supplementary data collected from interviews. Case studies could strengthen the claim that the independent and dependent variables are not related. Expanding on this study, future research should examine variables that are not significantly correlated to teacher job satisfaction to prepare pre-service teachers for the field of education. This study was conducted in the middle of a global pandemic when online teaching was prevalent among teachers. This scenario likely had negative impacts on the return rate as it required more online time for teachers.