Date of Award

12-1-2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Abstract

It has been reported the demands of the high school principalship in the United States has deterred qualified candidates from accepting the position. The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of job satisfaction among Minnesota high school principals within a potentially dwindling supply of qualified candidates as reported in other studies.

Data were gathered fall 2010 using the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) short-form to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the level of intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction, and general job satisfaction among current Minnesota high school principals; 2. What is the relationship, as perceived by Minnesota high school principals between the independent variable, gender, and the dependent variables (a) intrinsic job satisfaction, (b) extrinsic job satisfaction, and (c) general job satisfaction as defined by the MSQ; and 3. What additional components lead to job satisfaction as identified by current Minnesota high school principals?

Letters of introduction, along with the MSQ short-form were mailed to 200 Minnesota high school principals randomly selected from a pool of 78 female and 322 male principals identified by the Minnesota Department of Education. One hundred and five high school principals (13 female and 92 male) responded for a response rate of 52.5 percent.

Data found 53.33% of responding Minnesota principals were satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs. In the sample surveyed, females (61.54%) were more satisfied with their jobs, in general, than males (52.18%). Also, females responding (61.54%) had a higher degree of intrinsic job satisfaction than males who responded (52.18%). Females responding (61.54%) were also more extrinsically satisfied with their positions than responding males (41.41%). Data indicated the two highest ranking job satisfaction dimensions for both responding female and male principals were achievement and social service, while the two lowest ranking job satisfaction dimensions were social status and authority (for responding female principals) and independence and authority (for responding male principals). Limitations of the study included the MSQ short-form wording of certain questions and incomplete responses in regard to additional components leading to job satisfaction as identified by current Minnesota high school principals.

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