Unravelling Teacher Job Satisfaction: The Contribution of Collective Efficacy and Emotions Towards Professional Role

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore whether, and to what extent, collective beliefs and emotions towards professional role could predict job satisfaction, above and beyond the role of self-efficacy and emotions towards students. More specifically, we expected job satisfaction to be incrementally predicted by beliefs and emotions related to professional role (collective efficacy and role-related hedonic balance). Design/Methodology/Approach: The analysis was performed through the administration of a questionnaire to 266 Italian secondary school teachers. After having assessed measures of reliability, correlational analyses and a hierarchical regression model were performed. Findings: Results showed that collective efficacy and hedonic balance related to professional role have a unique effect on job satisfaction, accounting for nearly the 30% of its variance. Research Limitations/Implications: Despite some limitations related to the cross-sectional design, the study suggests a practical implication for teacher training, as well as underlying the need to study schools from an organizational point of view. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the psychological research on the role of the organizational dimensions in teachers’ well-being at work.