Teachers’ Collective Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, and Job Stress in Cross-Cultural Context

Abstract

This study examines how teachers’ collective efficacy (TCE), job stress, and the cultural dimension of collectivism are associated with job satisfaction for 500 teachers from Canada, Korea (South Korea or Republic of Korea), and the United States. Multigroup path analysis revealed that TCE predicted job satisfaction across settings. Job stress was negatively related to job satisfaction for North American teachers (i.e., teachers from Canada and the United States), whereas the cultural dimension of collectivism was significantly related to job satisfaction for the Korean, but not for North American teachers. For motivation theorists, the results from this study provide evidence that cultural context influences how motivation beliefs are understood and expressed in diverse settings. For educators, this study underlines the importance of collective motivation as a source of individual job satisfaction.

Keywords:

• teachers
• collective efficacy
• cross-cultural
• job satisfaction
• job stress

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the Spencer Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for funding provided to the first author.