Improving Teacher Job Satisfaction: The Roles of Social Capital, Teacher Efficacy, and Support
2018/10/16 by Suzanne K. Edinger, Matthew J. Edinger · 117 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Centrality #Job attitude #Job performance #Job satisfaction #Medical education #Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports #Organizational commitment #Parental Involvement in Education #Pedagogy #Political science #Psychology #School teachers #Self-efficacy #Social capital #Social psychology #Social support #Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/00223980.2018.1489364
published in The Journal of Psychology 152(8), 573-593 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2018/10/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract
In this study, we examine how social capital, teacher efficacy, and organizational support increase teacher job satisfaction. Research suggests that teachers worldwide are exceedingly dissatisfied with their jobs and have significantly higher levels of turnover than their counterparts in other professions. We investigate this phenomenon using a sample of 122 elementary school teachers. We found that teachers' centrality position, or each teacher's relationship with every other teacher, in their school's trust network and the density of a teacher's academic advice ego-network predicted the development of teacher job satisfaction. Additionally, we found that teacher efficacy mediated the relationship between teacher's trust and academic advice relationships and job satisfaction, and perceived organizational support strengthened the relationship between teacher efficacy and job satisfaction. The article concludes by offering implications of the findings for both administrators and teachers as well as for the social capital, teaching efficacy, and teacher job satisfaction literatures.
Citations
Cited by
- Teachers’ closeness of professional relationship and its role in learning perception after reciprocal peer observation
- Social Networks in Doctoral Socialization: Insights from Funded International Students from Kazakhstan
- Psychosocial Risks and Violence Against Teachers. Is It Possible to Promote Well-Being at Work? [europepmc]
- Application of an innovative alignment optimisation method to a cross-cultural mean comparison of teacher self-efficacy: A cross-country study. [europepmc]
- Self-Efficacy, Job Satisfaction and Teacher Well-Being in the K-12 Educational System. [europepmc]
- Social Support and Job Satisfaction in Kindergarten Teachers: The Mediating Role of Coping Styles. [europepmc]
- The Use of Social Capital in Teacher Research: A Necessary Clarification. [europepmc]
- Internal Persistence and External Support-What Makes Chinese Teachers of the Mathematically Gifted Stick to Their Post? [europepmc]
- School staff wellbeing: A network-based assessment of burnout. [europepmc]
- Evaluating the impact of employees' perception of identity threat on knowledge sharing behavior during COVID-19: The mediation and moderation effect of social capital and reward system. [europepmc]
- The relationship between teacher professional identity and burnout amid the pandemic: A moderated mediation model. [europepmc]
- Suicidal ideation, burnout, and their correlation among health care workers at the end of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alborz Province, Iran. [europepmc]
- A systematic review of primary school teachers' wellbeing: room for a holistic approach. [europepmc]
- Meditating role of career sustainability in the relationship between teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction and subject well-being. [europepmc]
- Beyond the walls of the classroom: the psychodynamics of professional commitment and job involvement among female primary school teachers. [europepmc]
- Unveiling the factors shaping teacher job performance: exploring the interplay of personality traits, perceived organizational support, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction. [europepmc]
- Constructing a model of the factors related to the job wellbeing of preschool teachers in China: a grounded theory study. [europepmc]
- Job satisfaction mediates the effect of self-efficacy on work engagement among physical education teachers in economically disadvantaged areas. [europepmc]
- A mixed-methods exploration of social network diversity, collaboration, and job satisfaction among new teachers in urban China. [europepmc]
- Learning agility as a mediator between job involvement, professional identity, and job satisfaction among Chinese primary and secondary school teachers. [europepmc]
- Organizational health factors: multidimensional insights into occupational stress in higher education. [europepmc]
- From inclusive leadership to thriving at work: the mediating and moderating roles of teaching efficacy and professional identity. [europepmc]
- Determinants of job performance among secondary school teachers in Vietnam: evidence from a mixed-methods study. [europepmc]
Related