The impact of school culture on serbian primary teachers’ job satisfaction

Abstract

© 2016, Hacettepe University. All rights reserved. This paper presents the results of research into the impact of school culture on teacher job satisfaction. The participants were 362 teachers from 57 primary schools in Serbia. Three dimensions of school culture (Teacher Professionalism and Goal Setting, Professional Treatment by the Administration, Teacher Collaboration) and nine dimensions of job satisfaction (Pay, Promotion, Supervision, Fringe Benefits, Contingent Rewards, Operating Procedures, Co-Workers, Nature of Work, Communication) were measured. The results indicate that all three dimensions of school culture are directly related to the job satisfaction of teachers in primary schools in Serbia, but that Professional Treatment by the Administration has the strongest influence. The teachers’ gender and age were used as moderators of the relationship between the school culture dimensions and the job satisfaction dimensions. The results of hierarchical regression analysis show that the moderating effect of gender has been confirmed in two dimensions of job satisfaction: Fringe Benefits and Operating Procedures, while the moderating effect of age can be seen in four dimensions of job satisfaction: Fringe Benefits, Operating Procedures, Co-Workers and Communication. School culture has been shown to influence primary teachers’ job satisfaction. Considering that school culture can be improved, it is possible to improve teachers’ job satisfaction as well.