Alfred University faculty prepared me to enter the ambiguous but rewarding world of school psychology. This achievement would not have been possible without the unyielding love and support of my mother and father. Aiming high, refusing to listen to the naysayers and achieving whatever was started were part of Ioia's house rules.
You were there to celebrate every success and weather every storm, showing superhuman patience during many academically driven meltdowns. Last but certainly not least, thank you to all my friends and family members who have always been there for me. This study examined the effect of locus of control on the relationship between school psychologists' perception of school climate and their overall level of job satisfaction.
In this study, participants' job satisfaction, perception of school climate, and locus of control were assessed using the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, short form (MSQ-sf), School Climate Survey, Staff Version Revised ( SCS) and Rotter's Internal External Scale. (I-E).
Introduction
Although job satisfaction in general has been extensively studied in the past, current research on job satisfaction among school psychology professionals is extremely limited ( VanVoorhis & Levinson, 2006 ), particularly research on the potentially shared level of the trait locus of control. among school psychologists, which has not been studied to date. Additionally, as school climate, or the character of the school, becomes increasingly popular as a research topic (Cohen, McCabe, Michelli, & Pickeral, 2009), a study has emerged that In light of the limited literature and data, this study attempts to determine whether one's locus of control (LOC) allows an individual to maintain personal satisfaction despite a negative school climate and/or whether a higher LOC is positively related to perceptions of a positive school. climate, which in turn results in higher levels of job satisfaction among school psychologists.
This current study contributes to the current literature by responding to the need for research examining the moderating effects of locus of control (LOC) on the relationship between school climate and school psychologists' level of job satisfaction. In addition, it serves to build on the small body of research regarding the pool of individuals that make up school psychology in the country. To this end, this study was designed to answer the main question: what is the relationship between school psychologists' job satisfaction and their perceived school climate, moderated by the personal characteristic locus of control.
The following review of the literature addresses the topics of job satisfaction, school climate, school psychological characteristics and the relationships between these topics.
Review of the Literature
The results revealed that the variables responsible for job satisfaction include performance, responsibility and the nature of work. Locke (1969) described his position as one that emphasizes person-situation interaction; both the person (values) and the environment (available outcomes) must be considered in predicting job satisfaction. In a nutshell, job satisfaction has a joint positive impact on job performance (Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2001).
Basak and Ghosh (2011) determined that teachers' job satisfaction could be significantly predicted by locus of control and overall personal perception of school climate. This study highlighted the significant influence of school climate, called "school environment" and locus of control on job satisfaction; a relationship that had not been examined by teaching populations'. Although the roles of a teacher and the roles of a school psychologist within a public school are quite different, it is the profession most closely considered or reviewed using school climate and job satisfaction.
Huebner and Mills (1998) acknowledge that research on job satisfaction and its relationship to personal characteristics of school psychologists is limited, a fact that remains to this day. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of locus of control on the relationship between school psychologists' perceptions of school climate and their overall level of job satisfaction. RQ6: Does locus of control moderate the effect that overall perceived school climate has on job satisfaction.
Method
These steps include: passing on a small gift, thanking participants for their assistance and support, repeated communication and emphasizing the survey's usefulness and importance of the response of each person in the sample (Dillman, 2000). The answer format for both the short and long versions of the MSQ is identical. Respondent school psychologists were asked to express the degree of their satisfaction with each of 20 facets of their work on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very . dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied).
In the latest edition of the staff version (Emmons et al., 2002), seven of the nine subscales focused on social support: achievement motivation, shared decision-. All variables are scored in a positive direction: the higher the score, the greater the amount of this quality that staff believe the school has. Negatively worded items are reversed before calculating the subscales and the total scale, so that higher scores indicate a more positive view of school climate.
The rewording of some items and the addition of six filler items aims to obscure the purpose of the test. The higher the score, the more external the locus of control orientation of the individual. For the MSQ-sf and SCS, this involved taking the average of the constituent items.
Subscale scores were then characterized using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, range (minimum and maximum score observed in the sample), skewness, and kurtosis. Histograms were also prepared for each total score to provide visualization of score distributions. Descriptive statistics were first calculated for the scales (MSQ-sf for RQ1, SCS for RQ2, and LOC for RQ3) as a function of demographic variables.
This analysis revealed the extent to which the different SCS subscales uniquely predicted the MSQ-sf. Finally, a stepwise multiple regression with cross-validation was conducted to determine which subset of SCS subscales was most predictive of the MSQ-sf.
Results
The sample reported which grades they worked with in their current positions, and the responses are shown in Table 3. The descriptive statistics for the total scale and the two subscales are shown in Table 5. The descriptive statistics for the LOC scale are shown in Table 7 , and the distribution of scores is depicted in Figure 3.
No association was observed between the respondent's degree and SCS scores. A scatter diagram is shown in Figure 8. With increasing years in the profession, there was an increase in perceived school climate, as assessed by scores on the SCS scale. There was no association between degree level or location type and locus of control.
Years in occupation was significantly, negatively related to LOC scores, r = -.216, p < = .007 and the relationship is shown in Figure 11. The mean LOC scores according to the categories in the expectations question are shown in Figure 12. The results of regression of MSQ scores on the set of SCS subscales are shown in Table 12.
First, the zero-order correlation coefficients were calculated between the three scales and are shown in Table 14. The results from the multiple regression of the MSQ scores on the SCS and LOC scores combined are shown in Table 15. The results of the regression of the MSQ on the SCS and LOC scores after controlling for years in occupation are shown in Table 16.
A scatter plot was created to illustrate the relationships between the variables and is shown in Figure 14. The relationship between the SCS and MSQ scales is depicted, and the size of the marker indicates the LOC score.
Discussion
When comparing perceived school climate and locus of control, both more positive perceived school climate and a more internal locus of control were separately and uniquely predictive of job satisfaction (RQ5). But once working years were taken into account, only perceived school climate remained predictive of job satisfaction. There was also no evidence for a separate moderating effect of locus of control on the relationship between perceived school climate and job satisfaction.
Findings from this study confirmed a significant relationship between job satisfaction and perceived school climate and locus of control in school psychologists. However, given how many years of experience an individual has in a profession, locus of control is no longer a statistically significant predictor of job satisfaction. Therefore, it would be surprising if individual components (SCS subscales) independently influenced the job satisfaction of responsive school psychologists.
School environment and locus of control in relation to job satisfaction among school teachers - a study from an Indian perspective. An empirical test of the job satisfaction turnover relationship: Assessing the role of job performance for retail managers. Decision-making participation and school climate as predictors of job satisfaction and teacher sense of efficacy.
The relationship between ethical climate types, job satisfaction facts, and three components of organizational commitment. Overall = general job satisfaction (20 items), IS = intrinsic satisfaction (12 items), ES = extrinsic satisfaction (6 items), SE = standard error. The possible range of scores is from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating greater job satisfaction.
Hierarchical regression analysis predicting job satisfaction (MSQ-Sf) from SCS and LOC scales, after controlling for years in profession. Hierarchical regression analysis predicting job satisfaction (MSQ-Sf) based on SCS and LOC scales, and their interaction. Hierarchical regression analysis predicting job satisfaction (MSQ-Sf) based on SCS and LOC scales, and their interaction, after years of monitoring in profession.
Scoring: (1) simple calculation (2) Subscale- intrinsic job factors, extrinsic job factors- score = sum of items on the subscale (3) higher score indicates higher job satisfaction.
