Educational

10.1177/0013164405278573
Ho, Au / Teaching
and Psychological
Satisfaction Scale
Measurement

Educational and
Psychological Measurement
Volume 66 Number 1
February 2006 172-185

Teaching Satisfaction Scale © 2006 Sage Publications

10.1177/0013164405278573
http://epm.sagepub.com
Measuring Job Satisfaction of Teachers hosted at
http://online.sagepub.com

Chung-Lim Ho
Wing-Tung Au
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The present study proposes a teaching satisfaction measure and examines the validity of
its scores. The measure is based on the Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS). Scores on the five-
item Teaching Satisfaction Scale (TSS) were validated on a sample of 202 primary and
secondary school teachers and favorable psychometric properties were found. As
hypothesized, teaching satisfaction as measured by the TSS correlated positively with
self-esteem but negatively with psychological distress and teaching stress. The TSS
scores had good incremental validity for psychological distress and teaching stress be-
yond earlier Job Satisfaction Scales. The TSS offers a simple, direct, reliable, and valid
assessment of teaching satisfaction. Future development of the TSS is discussed.

Keywords: teaching; satisfaction; scale; job; measuring

T he present study sought to develop a measure of teaching satisfaction. We defined

teaching satisfaction based on Locke’s (1969) concept of job satisfaction—“the
pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as achieving or
facilitating one’s job values” (p. 316). Locke’s definition is commonly used by other
researchers (e.g., Ho, 2003; Hoy & Miskel, 1991; Ma & MacMillan, 1999;
McCormick & Ilgen, 1980; Muchinsky, 1991; Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996; Wu &
Watkins, 1996). Teaching satisfaction is a function of the perceived relation between
what one wants from one’s job and what one perceives teaching as offering or entail-
ing. This is the product resulting from attitudinal and affective responses of teachers.

Facet Versus Global Measure

Global and facet measures are two general ways to measure teaching satisfaction
originated from the distinction of bottom-up versus top-down theories (e.g., Maddi,
Bartone, & Puccetti, 1987; Schroeder & Costa, 1984). Top-down theories maintain

Authors’Note: This paper is dedicated to the late Prof. Jin-Pang Leung who made a significant contribution
to this project. Please address correspondence to Winton Au, Department of Psychology, The Chinese Uni-
versity of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong; e-mail: wintonau@cuhk.edu.hk.

172
 Ho, Au / Teaching Satisfaction Scale 173

that individuals are predisposed to experience and react to events and circumstances in
positive or negative ways, and therefore a global dimension of measurement is pre-
ferred. The respondent gives an overall evaluation of the various aspects of the job and
produces an integrated response. Bottom-up theories suggest that teaching satisfac-
tion is derived from a summation of pleasurable and unpleasurable moments and
experiences. In other words, satisfaction comes from a number of particular domains
(e.g., good colleagues’ relationship, clear work role, and happy teaching environ-
ment). Facet measures target on specific aspects of their jobs. Most researchers adopt
the facet approach to measure satisfaction (e.g., Job Descriptive Index [JDI; Smith,
Kendall, & Hulin, 1969], Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, and Warr’s Job Satis-
faction Scale [WJSS; Warr, Cook, & Wall, 1979]) because not only can the domains of
contributing to teaching satisfaction be found, but the overall level of satisfaction is
obtained through simply adding up all the domain scores. However, the facet approach
has several methodological problems.

Problems of the Facet Approach

First, some researchers assume that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. An
example is the JDI, which sums scores of five subscales despite serious problems with
this procedure. In fact, the JDI scale was not designed to be aggregated across the five
dimensions. The JDI was constructed to measure five distinctively different areas.
Furthermore, these five dimensions are only moderately correlated (.25 to .45; Smith,
Kendall, & Hulin, 1969) and represent at least five factors. Improper aggregation
would distort the findings and interpretations eventually.
Second, these facet scales usually involve too many items for practical use. For
example, the JDI is a 72-item modified adjective checklist. The Minnesota Satisfac-
tion Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawiss, England, & Lofquist, 1967) is a 100-item instru-
ment measuring 20 facets of job satisfaction. A respondent needs to complete 100
items for a single measurement of satisfaction. They are time-consuming in survey
administration.
Although the WJSS, which is a 14-item bipolar scale that classifies satisfaction/
dissatisfaction into three underlying factors, is free from the first two shortcomings,
there is no consensus regarding the number of facets contributing towards teaching
satisfaction, which ranges between 3 and 13 (e.g., Coughlan, 1971; Kim & Loadman,
1994; Sergiovanni, 1969; Smilansky, 1984). The absence of consensus on the number
of facets arises from the researchers’ belief and judgment on what factors should con-
tribute to teaching satisfaction. It is difficult to judge how many facets, and in what
proportions, should represent the overall teaching satisfaction. Based on Locke’s
(1969) definition of “teaching satisfaction,” affective feelings come from a decision
process of weighing one’s circumstances with what is thought to be an appropriate
standard. A person evaluates a large number of daily events or incidents to make a
judgment on the level of work satisfaction. The whole decision process is not exter-
nally imposed. As Campbell (1976) argued, the process resides within the experi-
ence of the individual. It centers on the person’s own subjective judgments, and the
174 Educational and Psychological Measurement

researcher should not force a person to use a predetermined set of criteria to evaluate
the teaching satisfaction experience. However, facet measurements (including WJSS)
do impose those criteria upon the respondents. Although affect or satisfaction within a
certain domain may be assessed, the emphasis is usually placed on an integrated judg-
ment of the person’s job. The simple evaluation of job satisfaction from work domains
may be inadequate to present a true and fair picture. Therefore, it is our opinion that a
global measure is preferred to a facet measure to evaluate teaching satisfaction.

Inadequacies of Available Global Scales

The Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Scale (BRJSS; Brayfield and Rothe, 1951)
scale is a global measure of teaching satisfaction that is commonly adopted by many
researchers. However, it measures the affective level of the present job only. Accord-
ing to Locke’s (1969) definition, the evaluation of teaching satisfaction involves a cog-
nitive, judgmental process as well. Solely measuring the affective state of teachers
cannot fully address teaching satisfaction. As Hart (1994) stated, “emotional re-
sponses, however, are only one component . . . , it is also necessary to consider the cog-
nitive dimension” (p. 110). Job satisfaction is a kind of subjective well-being. When
the level of job satisfaction is assessed, it involves an integrated judgment of the per-
son’s job, and therefore, affective state and cognitive judgment based on daily work
experiences should be taken into account simultaneously.

Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction

Our review shows that the currently available measures of teaching satisfaction
have some inadequacies. The present study attempts to develop and partially examine
score validity for a simple, convenient global measure of teaching satisfaction. The
proposed Teaching Satisfaction Scale (TSS) is developed upon Diener’s Life Satis-
faction Scale (LSS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). Recent research has
suggested that there is a positive relationship between life satisfaction and job satis-
faction. As Judge and Locke (1993) noted, “An obvious reason for job satisfaction
playing a causal role in subjective well-being is that it represents a part-whole relation-
ship; that is, the job is a part of life and thus is taken into account when rating overall
life satisfaction” (p. 485). The part-whole hypothesis has also been advanced by other
researchers (Near, Rice, & Hunt, 1978; Rice, Near, & Hunt, 1980). This linkage
between life satisfaction and job satisfaction is further confirmed in Judge, Locke,
Durham, and Kluger’s study (1998). The correlation between job satisfaction and
life satisfaction for a self-report measure has been reported at .68, and that for a
significant-other-report measure at .62. There is a consistent and significant relation
between a person’s job satisfaction and life satisfaction (Judge et al., 1998).
In addition, the LSS has favorable psychometric properties for its scores. LSS
scores not only provide high internal consistency and temporal reliability but also cor-
relate statistical significantly with both the Positive Affect Scale and Negative Affect
Scale (Bradburn, 1969). Moreover, the LSS is a global scale of measuring life satisfac-
 Ho, Au / Teaching Satisfaction Scale 175

tion drawn from respondents’ cognitive judgment and affective feeling on their life.
The cognitive judgment component could compensate for the inadequacies of BRJSS
when measuring job satisfaction. In addition to the positive relationship between life
satisfaction and job satisfaction, we used the LSS as the blueprint to develop the pro-
posed TSS. The TSS reflects teachers’ judgments that on the extent to which their
work is satisfying and meeting their needs. It assesses an overall impression that
teachers have about their work. The TSS takes into consideration both the discrepancy
between teacher’s real and ideal job states and the hypothetical behavioral responses
of choosing teaching as a job. In short, the TSS allows teachers to arrive at a subjec-
tive judgment on job satisfaction from a variety of psychological and situational
appraisals.

Validation Strategy for

Teaching Satisfaction Scores

Convergent validity. Although the WJSS and BRJSS have their discrepancies, both
are well-established measures for checking convergent validity. The correlation be-
tween the proposed TSS and the WJSS and BRJSS established measures will be
examined to assess convergent validity.
These two instruments have fairly good psychometric properties for their scores. In
Ulleberg and Rundmo’s study (1997), the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for WJSS
subscale scores were .82, and .75, and .53 for the factors of satisfaction with employee
relations, intrinsic job satisfaction, and extrinsic satisfaction with the working condi-
tions, respectively. In another independent sample of 222 university employees, the
reliability of BRJSS scores was .88 (Judge et al., 1998). Furthermore, the measure of
overall satisfaction correlated, on average, at .89 with a composite measure of the fac-
ets of the JDI (Smith et al., 1969). In addition, the average correlation between the self-
and significant-other reports was .68.

Criterion-related validity. The correlation between the proposed TSS and estab-
lished measures of teaching stress, psychological distress, and self-esteem will be
examined to assess the criterion-related validity of TSS scores. In general, teachers
who are more satisfied experience less teacher stress, less psychological distress,
and higher self-esteem. Smilansky (1984) found that elementary school teachers with
lower work satisfaction reported more job-related stress. Chao (1995) investigated
occupational stress among school teachers and found that teachers who reported a
higher level of work stress had a lower job satisfaction. Borg, Riding, and Falzon
(1991) also drew a similar conclusion that “teachers who reported greater stress were
less satisfied with their job and less committed to choose a teaching career were they to
start life over again” (p. 59). Dewe (1986) also identified a number of work stressors
and insufficient satisfaction from work was one of them. In summary, there is ample
evidence to suggest that teaching satisfaction is associated with stress.
Outcomes of work stress are poor physical health and low self-esteem. Teachers
under stress experience feelings of exhaustion, irritability, tension, and headache fre-
176 Educational and Psychological Measurement

quently (Dunham, 1984). The after-effect of chronic stress is burnout (Cunningham,

1983; Maslach, 1976). Poor physical health and psychological burnout can lead to
poor teaching performance; low self-esteem; poor job satisfaction; and increased
absenteeism, poor decision making, and bad judgment (Chao, 1995; Cox, Mackay,
Cox, Watt, & Brockley, 1978; Eckles, 1987; Manso-Pinto, 1989; Quick & Quick,
1984; Schonfeld, 1990). In summary, low teaching satisfaction is also expected
to correlate with the outcomes of work stress, that is, psychological distress and low
self-esteem.

Method

Participants
A total of 202 teachers in 7 primary schools and 15 secondary schools in Hong
Kong participated in a questionnaire study. Among the 87 questionnaires sent to the 7
primary schools, 83 questionnaires were returned, and the response rate was 96.9%.
There were 16 male and 67 female teachers. The numbers of teachers teaching in gov-
ernment schools, subsidized schools, and private schools were 1, 39, and 43, respec-
tively. Sixty-seven percent of the teachers were younger than 40 years old. Among the
123 questionnaires sent to 15 secondary schools, 119 questionnaires were returned
and the response rate was 96.5%. There were 51 male and 68 female teachers. The
numbers of teachers teaching in government schools, subsidized schools, and pri-
vate schools were 3, 90, and 26, respectively. Eighty-three percent of teachers were
younger than 40 years old.

Procedure
The questionnaires were distributed to 30 teachers taking an extramural course on
“Positive Classroom Management” organized by the School of Continuing Studies
at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. These teachers completed the question-
naires in class, and they also helped distribute the questionnaires to their colleagues.
These colleagues returned the completed questionnaires to the teachers within 2
weeks. Another 2 weeks later, the teachers gave their colleagues a second question-
naire (a short form consisted of the teaching satisfaction scale only) to assess test-
retest reliability. Finally, the teachers returned all questionnaires to the authors. To
encourage truthful responses, all respondents remained anonymous.

Questionnaire
The questionnaire was written in Chinese to save respondents time on reading and
filling the questionnaire. The introduction stated that the purpose of the questionnaire
study was about measuring teaching satisfaction.
The questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first section asked about teacher’s
biographical information: sex, age, type of school that they are employed by, educa-
 Ho, Au / Teaching Satisfaction Scale 177

tion, length of teaching experience, teacher training, major duties in addition to teach-
ing in the school, and class size.
The second part composed of the TSS and five other scales to assess the convergent
and criterion-related validity of TSS scores. The WJSS and BRJSS were used to assess
convergent validity. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Teaching Stress In-
ventory (TSI), and Rosenberg’s (1965) Self Esteem Scale (SES) were used to assess
criterion-related validity. All scales with an original English source were backward-
translated and compared with the original scale to ensure language equivalence.

Instruments

TSS. The scale consists of five items asking the teachers how he or she feels about
his or her job satisfaction in various ways. These five items were derived from the LSS
by changing the wordings to fit for teaching. For example, an item of the LSS is “In
most ways, my life is close to my ideal.” This item is modified as “In most ways, being
a teacher is close to my ideal.” The other four items of the TSS are “My conditions of
being a teacher are excellent”; “I am satisfied with being a teacher”; “So far I have got-
ten the important things I want to be a teacher”; and “If I could choose my career over, I
would change almost nothing.” For each item, teachers responded on a 5-point scale
with the endpoints 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.

BRJSS. The BRJSS has five items. These five items are, “I feel fairly satisfied with
my present job,” “Most days I am enthusiastic about my work,” “Each day of work
seems like it will never end,” “I find real enjoyment in my work,” and “I consider my
job rather unpleasant.” For each item, teachers responded on a 5-point scale with the
endpoints 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The internal consistency reli-
ability reported in Brayfield and Rothe (1951) was .75.

WJSS. The WJSS is a 14-item bipolar scale that classified satisfaction/dissatisfac-

tion into three underlying factors: (a) satisfaction with employee relations comprises 7
items, (b) intrinsic satisfaction comprises 4 items, and (c) extrinsic satisfaction com-
prises 3 items. Satisfaction with employee relations was measured by asking how the
respondents feel about “relations between management and workers,” “the way the
installation is managed,” “the attention paid to suggestions that you make,” “your
chance of promotion,” and so on. Intrinsic job satisfaction was measured by asking
how the respondents feel about “your opportunity to use your abilities,” “the amount
of responsibility you are given,” “the amount of variety in your job,” and so on. Finally,
extrinsic satisfaction was measured by asking how the respondents feel about “your
hours of work,” “your fellow workers,” “the working conditions,” and so on. For each
item, teachers responded on a 5-point scale with the endpoints 1 = very unsatisfactory
to 5 = very satisfactory. The Cronbach’s alpha reported in Warr et al. (1979) was .80.
The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of subscales in the present study were .81, .77, and
.54 for the factors of satisfaction with employee relations, intrinsic job satisfaction,
178 Educational and Psychological Measurement

and extrinsic satisfaction with the working conditions, respectively. It is acknowl-

edged that the third alpha is low and therefore may attenuate the validity coefficient
(Henson, 2001; Henson & Thompson, 2002).

GHQ. Psychological distress was measured by the 28-item version of the GHQ.
The GHQ was developed by Goldberg (1972) and has been extensively used as an
indicator of minor psychiatric disturbance. A large composite score indicates a large
likelihood of suffering severe psychological distress. The Cronbach alphas for the
four subscale scores—somatic symptoms, anxiety and worry, social dysfunction, and
severe depression—reported by Goldberg were .79, .90, .75, and .69, respectively.
Scores on each subscale were validated using the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS)
developed by Goldberg and Blackwell (1970). For each item, teachers responded on a
5-point scale with the endpoints 1 = rare to 5 = always.

TSI. Teaching stress components were measured by the 25-item TSI in which the
first 20 items were derived largely from the 51 sources of stress reported in Kyriacou
and Sutcliffe (1978) and covered various aspects of teaching environment. The
Cronbach’s alpha coefficient reported in Kyriacou and Sutcliffe was .90. The last 5
items were derived from another study (Ho & Leung, 2002; Leung & Ho, 2001) indi-
cating five kinds of classroom misbehaviors that frequently occurred in Hong Kong
schools. The revised scale covers five aspects of teaching stress including class-
room misbehaviors, external pressure, classroom management, relationship with col-
leagues and students, and inadequate resources. Each item was rated in terms of teach-
ers’ response to the question, “As a teacher, how great sources of stress are these
factors to you?” All responses were scored on a 5-point ordinal scale, with response
options ranging from 1 = no stress, 2 = mild stress, 3 = moderate stress, 4 = much
stress, and 5 = extreme stress.

SES. We measured self-esteem using Rosenberg’s (1965) 10-item SES, which

proved to have relationship with psychological functioning, interpersonal attitudes,
and peer group participation and leadership. SES includes items such as “I feel that I
am a person of worth, at least on an equal basis with others”; “At times I think I am no
good at all,” and so on. Teachers responded on a 5-point scale with the endpoints 1 =
strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The Cronbach’s alpha reported in Rosenberg
was .92.

Results

Descriptive Statistics
Table 1 shows that the obtained scores from all instruments were reasonably reli-
able, with the possible exception of the WJSS Extrinsic Satisfaction subscale. The
Cronbach’s alphas of all full-scale instruments range from .70 to .93. These estimates
 Ho, Au / Teaching Satisfaction Scale 179

Table 1
Reliability and Descriptive Statistics for Scores of All Instruments
Instrument Cronbach’s Alpha Mean SD

Teaching Satisfaction Scale .77 3.59 0.87

Warr’s Job Satisfaction Scale .87 3.22 0.50
Satisfaction With Employee Relations .81 3.16 0.55
Intrinsic Satisfaction .77 3.24 0.61
Extrinsic Satisfaction .54 3.31 0.61
Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Scale .70 3.87 0.59
Teaching Stress Inventory .93 2.88 0.63
Classroom misbehaviors .93 2.74 0.58
Classroom management .86 3.09 0.57
Inadequate resources .79 3.21 0.52
External pressure .76 2.83 0.91
Relationship with colleagues and students .76 2.65 0.97
General Health Questionnaire .87 2.50 0.43
Self Esteem Scale .70 3.64 0.35

Note: Possible responses on all scales ranged from 1 to 5; N = 202.

reached the minimum criterion of .70 suggested by Nunnally (1978). The mean scores
of the three satisfaction scales (i.e., TSS, WJSS, and BJSS) exceeded the midpoint
value of 3.0, which indicates that the teachers were quite satisfied with their job.
Because the composition of the respondents seems to be heterogeneous on the fact that
30 teachers were course members whereas 172 teachers were their colleagues, we
believe the effect on score means by self-selection bias was minimized. The teachers
also had generally low psychological distress, low teaching stress, and high self-
esteem.

Factor Analysis
The interitem correlation matrix of the TSS was factor analyzed using the principal
axis factor analysis method. The number of factors to be extracted was determined by
an inspection of the scree plot of the eigenvalues. Using this criterion, a single factor
emerged that accounted for 53.3% of the variance. Parallel analysis (O’Connor, 2000)
using random data based on 200 respondents and five items found a mean eigenvalue
for the first factor as 1.20 and the upper 95th percentile at 1.30. In this study, the
eigenvalue for the first factor was 2.67, which exceeded the threshold as indicated by
the parallel analysis above. The second factor from the random data found a mean
eigenvalue of 1.08 and the upper 95th percentile at 1.15. In this study, the eigenvalue
for the second factor was 0.88, which was lower than the 95th percentile value of the
random factor. Thus, we concluded that the TSS scores were unidimensional. The
TSS items with their respective factor pattern coefficients are presented in Table 2.
The Chinese version can be obtained upon request from the authors.
180 Educational and Psychological Measurement

Table 2
Teaching Satisfaction Scale Items and Factor Pattern Coefficients
Item Coefficient

1. In most ways, being a teacher is close to my ideal. .75

2. My conditions of being a teacher are excellent. .75
3. I am satisfied with being a teacher. .80
4. So far I have gotten the important things I want to be a teacher. .81
5. If I could choose my career over, I would change almost nothing. .51

Note: N = 202.

Reliability
The TSS scores yielded on 2-week test-retest reliability coefficient of .76. The
Cronbach internal-consistency (alpha) coefficient was .77. Furthermore, the interitem
correlations for the five TSS items ranged from .17 to .55. The corrected item-total
correlations for the five TSS items were .56, .56, .63, .66, and .34, again showing a
good level of internal consistency of the obtained scores.

Convergent Validity
Convergent validity of the TSS scores was assessed via correlation with the WJSS
and BRJSS. The TSS correlated positively with the BRJSS (r = .50) and the WJSS (r =
.47). The TSS also correlated positively with the three subscales of WJSS: (a) Satis-
faction With Employee Relations (r = .42), (b) Intrinsic Satisfaction (r = .42), and (c)
Extrinsic Satisfaction (r = .35).

Criterion-Related Validity

Psychological distress. Responses on the TSS also demonstrated criterion-related

validity with those on the GHQ, SES, and TSI. The GHQ measure showed that teach-
ers with lower job satisfaction experienced more psychological distress (r = –.31).
Specifically, lower teaching satisfaction was associated with more somatic symptoms
(r = –.20), more anxiety and worry (r = –.33), and more severe depression (r = –.27).
The results revealed that teachers with lower levels of teaching satisfaction reported
poorer health, experienced more anxiety and depression symptoms.

Teaching stress. A lower TSS score was also associated with more teaching stress.
Specifically, three subscales of TSI showed that teachers with lower satisfaction expe-
rienced more classroom misbehaviors (r = –.16), and perceived inadequate resources
(r = –.16), whereas teachers who were more satisfied were better at classroom man-
agement (r = .19). These correlations are all modest, but they are consistently in
expected directions. Teaching satisfaction, however, was not associated with external
pressure (r = –.015) or relationship with colleagues and students (r = .079).
 Ho, Au / Teaching Satisfaction Scale 181

Table 3
Comparison of Correlations Between the TSS and Other Job Satisfaction
Scales and Related Measures
TSS WJSS BRJSS

General Health Questionnaire –.308 –.243 –.071

Somatic symptom –.203 –.176 –.028
Anxiety and worry –.344 –.265 –.051
Severe depression –.273 –.187 –.197
Teaching Stress Inventory –.208 –.159 –.050
Classroom misbehaviors –.155 –.015 –.018
Classroom management .193 .066 .096
Inadequate resources –.160 –.170 –.040
Rosenberg’s Self Esteem Scale .222 .184 .217

Note: N = 202. TSS = Teaching Satisfaction Scale; WJSS = Warr’s Job Satisfaction Scale; BRJSS =
Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Scale.

Self-esteem. As hypothesized, we also found a positive correlation between the

SES and the TSS. Teachers with higher self-esteem experienced a higher level of
teaching satisfaction (r = .22).

Comparing criterion-related validities among TSS, WJSS, and BRJSS scores. The
criterion-related validities among the three satisfaction measures scores were com-
pared. The magnitudes of the correlation coefficients show that the TSS tended to have
stronger relations with psychological distress, teaching stress, and self-esteem than
did the WJSS and BRJSS. The results are summarized in Table 3.

Incremental Validity
To examine the relationship between the TSS and stress as measured by the TSI
beyond that of the WJSS and the BRJSS, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis
was employed. We first tested the contribution of the WJSS and BRJSS to teaching
stress by entering WJSS and BRJSS in Block 1. Then, we tested whether the TSS
would account for additional teaching stress variance after controlling for the WJSS
and BRJSS scores. As we anticipated, TSS accounted for additional variance beyond
the WJSS and BRJSS, ∆R2 = .04, F(1, 171) = 3.33, p < .05. The result suggests that
TSS contributes to explaining teaching stress above and beyond WJSS and BRJSS.
We also examined the influence of WJSS, BRJSS, and TSS on psychological dis-
tress as measured by GHQ. Following the same steps as in the analyses above, we
entered the WJSS and BRJSS in Block 1 and entered the TSS in Block 2. As antici-
pated, the TSS contributed to explaining psychological distress above and beyond the
WJSS and BRJSS, ∆R2 = .10, F(1, 175) = 7.73, p < .05. The results of the TSS incre-
mental validity are summarized in Table 4.
182 Educational and Psychological Measurement

Table 4
Hierarchical Multiple Regression Statistics for
Equations Predicting Teaching Stress and Psychological Distress
2
Unstandardized R
2
Coefficient SE R Change F (df)

Dependent variable: Teaching stress

Step 1
WJSS .204* .096
.002 .084 .027 — 2.35 (2, 172)
Step 2
WJSS .110 .104
BRJSS .089 .091
TSS .157* .069 .055 .039 3.33* (1, 171)

Dependent variable: Psychological distress

Step 1
WJSS .212* .066
BRJSS .008 .055 .062 — 5.80* (2, 176)
Step 2
WJSS .126 .069
BRJSS .087 .061
TSS .147* .044 .117 .102 7.73* (1, 175)

Note: N = 202. TSS = Teaching Satisfaction Scale; WJSS =Warr’s Job Satisfaction Scale; BRJSS =
Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Scale.
*p < .05.

Discussion

Based on the principle of measuring teaching satisfaction by a global scale, we pro-

posed a five-item global measure of teaching satisfaction based on the LSS. The pro-
posed TSS was examined with a sample of 202 primary and secondary school teach-
ers. In general, the TSS scores demonstrated good internal reliabilities, construct
validities, and criterion-related validities. Specifically, the TSS correlated moderately
with two other measures of teaching satisfaction, that is, the WJSS and BRJSS. The
TSS shared a good deal of common variance with these two satisfaction measures, but
the TSS was not equivalent to these constructs. On one hand, the WJSS predisposes
certain domains of satisfaction whereas the TSS leaves the respondents free to weigh
various facets of satisfaction (e.g., health or mental health) and various feeling states
(e.g., loneliness) in whatever way he or she chooses. On the other hand, the BRJSS
concerns the affective level of the present job only, whereas the TSS takes into con-
sideration both the discrepancy between teachers’ real and ideal job states and the
hypothetical behavioral responses of choosing teaching as a job. In summary, when
compared with the WJSS and BRJSS, the TSS allows teachers to arrive at a sub-
jective judgment on job satisfaction from a variety of psychological and situational
appraisals.
 Ho, Au / Teaching Satisfaction Scale 183

The TSS scores also demonstrated expected criterion-related validities with self-
esteem, psychological distress and teaching stress. This study replicated earlier results
that indicated that teaching stress level correlated negatively with teaching satisfac-
tion (Kyriacou, 1987; Manthei & Solman, 1988; Mykletun, 1985; Otto, 1986). Self-
esteem was positively correlated with teaching satisfaction, which further supports
Judge et al.’s study (1998). In addition, teachers with a low level of satisfaction experi-
enced negative emotional aspects such as anxiety, being worried, or being depressed.
Previous findings showed that these emotions are the major predictors for teachers
leaving the profession (Konert, 1998; Su, 1997).
Furthermore, the TSS showed incremental criterion validity on top of the WJSS
and BRJSS when predicting teaching stress and psychological distress. The TSS’s
merit is possibly due to its specificity on measuring teachers’ satisfaction. The WJSS
and BRJSS are more general in measuring job satisfaction across all kinds of jobs and
they are not specific for teachers. On the contrary, the TSS is worded specifically for
teaching. The construct validity of the TSS scores has been further substantiated in
another study involving 547 teachers in Hong Kong (Ho, 2003). As hypothesized,
teachers who were less satisfied (as measured by TSS) had a stronger intention to
leave (r = –.33).

Limitations
It should be noted that no cause-effect relation was tested between the TSS and
other variables (e.g., psychological distress, self-esteem, and teaching stress) in the
present study. Further research needs to establish a teaching satisfaction model by test-
ing the causal relation teaching satisfaction and these variables in greater depth. More-
over, further research needs to establish the discriminant validity of the TSS and also
explore the relation between teaching satisfaction and affect as well as the relation
between TSS and other facet measurements of teaching satisfaction.

References
Borg, M. G., Riding, R. J., & Falzon, J. M. (1991). Stress in teaching: A study of occupational stress and its
determinants, job satisfaction and career commitment among primary school teachers. Educational Psy-
chology: An International Journal of Educational Psychology, 11, 59-75.
Bradburn, N. M. (1969). The structure of psychological well-being. Chicago: Aldine.
Brayfield, A. H., & Rothe, H. F. (1951). An index of job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 35,
307-311.
Campbell, A. (1976). Subjective measures of well-being. American Psychologist, 31, 117-124.
Chao, S. (1995). A study on occupational stress among teachers in primary and secondary schools. Unpub-
lished paper of a directed research project (conversion), Department of Social Sciences, Lingnan Col-
lege, Hong Kong.
Coughlan, R. J. (1971). Job satisfaction in relatively closed and open schools. Educational Administration
Quarterly, 7, 40-59.
Cox, T., Mackay, C. J., Cox, S., Watt, C., & Brockley, T. (1978, November). Stress and well being in school
teachers. Paper presented to the Ergonomics Society Conference “Psychological Response to Occupa-
tional Stress,” University of Nottingham, UK.
184 Educational and Psychological Measurement

Cunningham, W. G. (1983). Teacher burnout-solution for the 1980’s: A review of the literature. Urban
Review, 15, 37-51.
Dewe, P. (1986). Stress: Causes, consequences and coping strategies for teachers. Wellington: New Zea-
land Education Institute.
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of
Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75.
Dunham, J. (1984). Stress in teaching. London: Croom Helm.
Eckles, R. W. (1987). Stress—Making friends with the enemy. Business Horizons, 30, 74-78.
Goldberg, D. P. (1972). The detection of psychiatric illness by questionnaire. London: Oxford University
Press.
Goldberg, D. P., & Blackwell, B. (1970). Psychiatric illness in a suburban general practice. A detailed study
using a new method of case identification. British Medical Journal, 2, 439-443.
Hart, P. M. (1994). Teacher quality of work life: Integrating work experiences, psychological distress and
morale. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 67, 109-132.
Henson, R. K. (2001). Understanding internal consistency reliability estimates: A conceptual primer on
coefficient alpha. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 34, 177-189.
Henson, R. K., & Thompson, B. (2002). Characterizing measurement error in scores across studies: Some
recommendations for conducting “reliability generalization” studies. Measurement and Evaluation in
Counseling and Development, 35, 113-127.
Ho, C. L. (2003). Job satisfaction in teachers: Its latent construct, predictors and measurement. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Ho, C. L., & Leung, J. P. (2002). Disruptive classroom behaviors of secondary and primary students. Educa-
tional Research Journal, 17, 219-233.
Hoy, W. K., & Miskel, C. (1991). Educational administration: Theory, research and practice (4th ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Judge, T. A., & Locke, E. A. (1993). Effect of dysfunctional thought processes on subjective well-being and
job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 475-490.
Judge, T. A., Locke, E. A., Durham, C. C., & Kluger, A. N. (1998). Dispositional effects on job and life satis-
faction: The role of core evaluations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 17-34.
Kim, I., & Loadman, W. (1994). Predicting teacher job satisfaction. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED383707)
Konert, E. (1998). The relationship among middle-school teacher burnout, stress, job satisfaction and cop-
ing styles (Doctoral dissertation, Wayne State University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 58,
4143.
Kyriacou, C. (1987). Teacher stress and burnout: An international review. Educational Research, 29, 146-
152.
Kyriacou, C., & Sutcliffe, J. (1978). A model of teacher stress. Educational Studies, 4, 1-6.
Leung, J. P., & Ho, C. L. (2001). Disruptive classroom behavior perceived by Hong Kong primary school
teachers. Educational Research Journal, 16, 223-237.
Locke, E. (1969). What is job satisfaction? Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 4, 309-36.
Ma, X., & MacMillan, R. B. (1999). Influences of workplace conditions on teachers’ job satisfaction. Jour-
nal of Educational Research, 93, 39-47.
Maddi, D. R., Bartone, P. T., & Puccetti, M. C. (1987). Stressful events are indeed a factor in physical illness:
Reply to Schroeder and Costa (1984). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 833-843.
Manso-Pinto, J. F. (1989). Occupational stress factors as perceived by Chilean school teachers. Journal of
Social Psychology, 129, 127-129.
Manthei, R., & Solman, R. (1988). Teacher stress and negative outcomes in Canterbury state schools. New
Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 23, 145-163.
Maslach, C. (1976). Burned-out. Human Behavior, 5, 16-24.
McCormick, E. J., & Ilgen, D. R. (1980). Industrial psychology (7th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
Muchinsky, P. M. (1991). Psychology applied to work: An introduction to industrial and organizational psy-
chology. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
 Ho, Au / Teaching Satisfaction Scale 185

Mykletun, R. J. (1985). Work stress and satisfaction of comprehensive school teachers: An interview study.
Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 29, 57-71.
Near, J. P., Rice, R. W., & Hunt, R. G. (1978). Work and extra-work correlates of life and job satisfaction.
Academy of Management Journal, 21, 248-264.
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
O’Connor, B. P. (2000). SPSS and SAS programs for determining the number of components using parallel
analysis and Velicer’s MAP test. Behavior Research, Instruments, & Computers, 32, 396-402.
Otto, R. (1986). Teachers under stress. Melbourne, Australia: Hill of Content Publishing.
Quick, J. C., & Quick, J. D. (1984). Organisational stress and preventative management. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Rice, R. W., Near, J. P., & Hunt, R. G. (1980). The job satisfaction/life satisfaction relationship: A review of
empirical research. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 1, 37-64.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Schonfeld, I. S. (1990). Psychological distress in a sample of teachers. Journal of Psychology, 124, 321-338.
Schroeder, D. H., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (1984). Influence of life event stress on physical illness: Substantive
effects or methodological flaws? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 853-863.
Sergiovanni, T. J. (1969). Satisfaction and dissatisfaction of teachers. In F. D. Carver & T. J. Sergiovanni
(Eds.), Organization and human behavior: Focus on schools (pp. 249-260). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Smilansky, J. (1984). External and internal correlates of teachers’ satisfaction and willingness to report
stress. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 54, 84-92.
Smith, P. C., Kendall, L., & Hulin, C. L. (1969). The measurement of satisfaction in work and retirement.
Chicago: Rand-McNally.
Su, Z. (1997). Teaching as a profession and as a career: Minority candidates’ perspectives. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 3, 325-340.
Ulleberg, P., & Rundmo, T. (1997). Job stress, social support, job satisfaction and absenteeism among off-
shore oil personnel. Work & Stress, 11, 215-228.
Warr, P., Cook, J., & Wall, T. (1979). Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psy-
chological well being. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 52, 129-148.
Weiss, H. M., & Cropanzano, R. (1996). Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the struc-
ture, causes, and consequences of affective experiences at work. Research in Organizational Behavior,
18, 1-74.
Weiss, D. J., Dawis, R. V., England, G. W., & Lofquist, L. H. (1967). Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction
Questionnaire. Minneapolis: Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota.
Wu, K. F., & Watkins, D. (1996). A Hong Kong study of the Job Description Index. Psychologia, 37, 89-94.