Factors of Faculty Members’ Satisfaction Impacting on the Education and Training in Lac Hong University, Vietnam

The findings also provide useful implications for educational policies with the goal in terms of teachers’ teaching satisfaction, improving teaching and learning quality, and stabilizing

Southern Taiwan University of Science and

i

ABSTRACT

Recent studies carried out in a number of countries have drawn attention to the degree of job satisfaction among teachers and have shown that the human resources of educators are the most important group of professional for the nation’s future

The current study aims to analyze the factors that are closely associated with teachers’ job satisfaction as well as to investigate the possible influence of individual background variables upon teaching career

In this study, we implemented the investigation by surveying job satisfaction among Faculty Members of Lac Hong University, Vietnam The data are carried out by using multiple statistical analyses, including exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, multiple linear regressions, and correlations analysis

The results show that Administration, Compensation and Human Relation are factors that have the strongest impact on the overall satisfaction These research findings have emphasized the necessity of conducting more researches on job satisfaction of educators The findings also provide useful implications for educational policies with the goal in terms of teachers’ teaching satisfaction, improving teaching and learning quality, and stabilizing the teachers who can retain in education and reducing the turnover rate

Key words: Job Satisfaction, Teaching and Learning Quality, Teacher Job

Satisfaction, Educational Background

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Lin, Yu-Li, PhD for his excellent guidance, caring, patience, and providing me with an excellent atmosphere for doing research His wisdom, knowledge and commitment to the highest standards inspired and motivated me What I have learnt from him, is not only academic course, including research method, academic writing and perfect computer skills, etc., but also the social skills, self-research management and benefit advices for my life, and so

on Therefore, I highly appreciate my advisor’ efforts and support in inspiring my research

I would like to express much-hearted thanks to … With their knowledgeable and intelligent comments, the current dissertation is much better refreshed with a lot of new ideas and views

I am so deeply appreciative that I can develop more of my ambition from their precious suggestions in my life

I am particularly grateful for the assistance given by classmates, who taught me the software SPSS from basic to advance They have given me a lot of constructive comments and valuable suggestions in all the way long I wish to acknowledgment the help provide by all

my classmates and all my friends in Taiwan

I would like to offer thanks to Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology

for granting me study leave and supporting me during my stay

I am especially indebted to my family and friends for their love and encouragement They are always supporting me and encouraging me with their best wishes

Nguyen Nhu Thang

Contents

Title 0

Abstract i

Acknowledgements ii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Research Background 1

1.3 Research Objectives 4

1.4 Organization of the Dissertation 4

Chapter 2 Theory Foundation 2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Excellent Teachers and their Role in Education Quality 6

2.3 Factors that Impact on the Quality of Teacher 7

2.4 Literature Review for Teacher Job Satisfaction 8

2.4.1 Definition for Teacher Job Satisfaction 8

2.4.2 Previous Researches on Teacher Job Satisfaction 8

2.4.3 The Impact of Teacher Job Satisfaction towards Social Context 9 2.4.4 Background of the Educational System in Vietnam 9

2.5 High Qualified or Excellent Lecturers in Lac Hong University 10

2.6 Theoretical Framework 12

2.6.1 Maslow’s Need Theory 12

2.6.2 The Herzberg’s Two- Factors Theory 12

2.7 Conclusion 12

Chapter 3 Methodology 3.1 Introduction 12

3.2 Research Problem and Research Objectives 12

3.3 Research Hypotheses and Research Framework 14

3.3.1 Research Hypotheses 14

3.3.2 Theory Foundation for the Research Framework 15

3.3.3 Research Framework

17

3.4 Object of Survey 18

3.5 Data Collection Procedures

18 3.6 Questionnaire Design

18 3.7 Data Collection

21 3.8 Data Encoding and Inputting in SPSS

22 3.9 Data Analysis Method

25 3.9.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis 25

3.9.2 Reliability Analysis 29

3.9.3 Regression Analysis

30 3.9.4 Correlation Analysis 33

3.10 Chapter Summary 34

Chapter 4 Data Analysis and Results 4.1 Introduction 35

4.2 Demographic analyses ……… 35

4.3 Factors affecting employee job satisfaction 42

4.3.1 Exploratory factor analysis 42

4.3.2 Reliability analysis for measurement scales 48

4.3.3 Mean value comparisons 54

4.4 Hypothesis testing 59

4.4.1 Correlation Analysis ……… 59

4.4.2 Regression Analysis ……… 60

4.4.3 The summary of hypothesis testing ……… 64

4.5 Summary 65

Chapter 5 Research implication and Conclusions 5.1 Introduction 66

5.2 Discussions and implications 67

5.3 Research contributions 71

5.4 Limitations and future Researches 71

5.5 Conclusions ……… 72

Reference 73

Appendix Questionnaire English and Vietnamese version Part 1 General Information Questions 76

Part 2 Questions of Satisfaction and Importance 77

Part 3 Question of Overall Satisfaction Level 78

Phần 1 Câu hỏi thông tin chung 79

Phần 2 Câu hỏi đánh giá mức độhài lòng 80

Phần3 Câu hỏi đánh giá chung mức độ hài lòng 81

List of Tables

Table3.1 Encoding system for part 1 and part 2 of the questionnaire……… 22

Table3.2 Encoded system for part 02 of the questionnaire ………… 23

Table3.3 Encoded system for part 03 of the questionnaire ………… 25

Table3.4 Identify significant factor loadings based on sample size…… 28

Table3.5 Summary of criteria used in this study ……… 29

Table3.6 Cronbach’s Alpha-Rule of Thumb ……… 30

Table 4.1 Statistics of the Sampled Teachers’ Characteristics 35

Table 4.2 KMO and Bartlett’s Test ……… 42

Table 4.3 Total Variance Explained 43

Table 4.4 Rotated Component Matrix 45

Table 4.5 Rotated Component Matrix for the Revised Step 46

Table 4.6 Reliability Analysis for Administration 48

Table 4.7 Reliability Analyses for Working Conditions 49

Table 4.8 Reliability Analyses for Compensation 50

Table 4.9 Reliability Analyses for Human Relation ……… 51

Table 4.10 Reliability Analyses for Professional Development 52

Table 4.11 Reliability Analyses for Institution’s Safety 53

Table 4.12 Summary Statistic Means Value of Six Factors in Satisfaction and Important Level

55 Table 4.13 Satisfaction level on each item in FAC1 55

Table 4.14 Satisfaction level on each item in FAC2 56

Table 4.15 Satisfaction level on each item in FAC3 57

Table 4.16 Satisfaction level on each item in FAC4 57

Table 4.17 Satisfaction level on each item in FAC5 58

Table 4.18 Satisfaction level on each item in FAC6 59

Table 4.19 Correlation Analysis 60

Table 4.20 Model Summaryb .61

Table4.21 ANOVA ……… 62

Table4.22 Predictors ……… 63

Table4.24 Summary of Hypotheses Testing ……… 65

List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Vietnamese Education System 9

Figure 2.2 Application of Maslow’s Theory in Organizations 11

Figure 3.1 Flow chart of research method in this study 14

Figure 3.2 Herzberg’s two factor theory (Schultz et al., 2003) 16

Figure 3.3 Research Framework 17

Figure 3.4 The 5-step Exploratory Factor Analysis Protocol (Williams et al, 2010) 26 Figure 4.1 Distribution of Respondents by Age 37

Figure 4.2 Distributions of Respondents by Genders 37

Figure 4.3 Distributions of Respondents by Marital Status 38

Figure 4.4 Distributions of Respondents by Year of Experience 39

Figure 4.5 Distributions of Respondents by Educational Background 40

Figure 4.6 Distributions of Respondents by Income 41

Figure 4.7 Distributions of Respondents by Position ……… 41

Over the past, in Vietnam, teacher job satisfaction is emerging faster as a phenomenon that has been attracting much attention from the government and society Thus, in this paper, we examine job satisfaction among faculty university members in LacHong in order to explore the factors that are associated with job satisfaction The results may give evaluations and implications towards teaching career in Vietnam Based on the research findings, this study may give necessary contributions to improve the level satisfaction and expectations of lectures at university The finding may also draw an urgent need for policy makers recognize the fact that educational quality is largely related to teacher job satisfaction (Zembylas and Papanastasious, 2006)

The following sections of this chapter are organized as follows Section 1.2 describes the background and motivation of this study In section 1.3, the research objectives are presented Finally, in section 1.3, the organization of this dissertation is outlined

1.2 Research Background

Promotion of learning and respect for teachers are the precious traditional values of the Vietnamese people Actually, from the old days, there was a perception among intellectuals in Vietnamese society that teacher's position was higher than parents and only lower than the king

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Nowadays, with the aim of achieving the Education for All (EFA) goals by 2015 (UNESCO 2005) and with a view of meeting the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the context of globalization, Vietnam government, the leaders of Ministry of Education and Training and the society tend to listen to teachers’ expectations deeply and have attempted to find solutions to make teaching career improved It can be seen as a good sign for Vietnamese teachers in all levels of education

Understanding the urgent need of teachers’ contribution, under article 26th of the College Charter—The Education Law, General School Charter Higher Education Act—Vietnamese Government has given priorities of releasing different policies for teacher salary, for waiving tuition fees of students who learn at pedagogical colleges and universities, and to invest in the professional development of teachers and educational managers (Nguyen Thi My Loc, 2008) It implied that if teachers feel more satisfied with their job, they will devote the entire of their capacity and qualification for the mission of training best human resources for the nation’s progress of development Lac Hong University in the current study is the private university work under the control of Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training There are several reasons explained why the researcher choose this school to investigate The first reason belongs

to school’s location Because the school is built in suburban area, teachers’ standards of living in these organizations are worse than teachers who currently work at the capital

or big cities Thus, the researcher hopes that the study will bring more accurate findings and can reflect closer with teachers’ life in other poor provinces of the nation Secondly, Lac Hong University, in correlated with all kinds of universities, has been working under the education policy, issued by Ministry of Education and Training It implied that only doing an investigation on the satisfaction level of these teachers, it also can partly reflect similar situation of teachers in other organizations towards school administration, salary and compensation, policies of professional development, etc Finally, collecting data conveniently and easily from all departments of this university also brings researcher more motivation

Historical Background *

Lac Hong University is one of the first private ones in Viet Nam located in Dong Nai

an industrial province situated in the Southern key economic zone (including Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau) Dong Nai has many industrial zones formed before 1975 Up to 1990s, implementing the policy of the Party

- State on the process of industrialization and modernization through receiving the

*Adopted from lhu.edu.vn

On November 13th, 1997, in Decision No 3678/GD-DT, the Minister allowed the school to hold the first enrolment including departments: Information Technology, Electronics and Telecommunication, Architectural Engineering, Economics (with three majors: Business Administration, Accounting and Finance, Trade and Tourism) New majors were added in the following years Presently, the school has 24 different disciplines

Lac Hong University is an educational establishment with interdisciplinary and level training programs, combining training with scientific research, technology transfer

multi-in the fields of technology, economics, and social humanities On the one hand, the school ensures to provide those who need training and retraining programs with high quality learning conditions, on the other hand, it ensures the supply of human resources qualified and knowledgeable about politics for labor markets in Dong Nai province in particular and the country in general

Also, Lac Hong University directly provides human resources for Dong Nai provincial industrial parks, export processing zones and neighboring areas Therefore, the school has developed training programs under the rate 60% theory, 40% practice and self-study In addition to manpower training, the school focuses on breeding ground for young talents Students who have academic results from superior and above have to participate in research activities The school always has a firm belief that each student has a potential and the school is responsible for arousing that potential by research activities With such training programs, students can immediately find jobs after their graduation

The school tends to close to export processing zones, industrial parks, enabling officers and staff to get professional knowledge and serve lifelong learning needs of school lecturers, staff members and students

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1.3 Research Objectives

Locke (1976) defined job satisfaction as a positive or pleasant emotional state resulting from a person’s appreciation of his/her own job or experience Besides, Shann (2001) implied that teachers’ effectiveness depend on motivation, morale and job satisfaction Thus these statements demonstrate that teachers’ job satisfaction has a strong impact on the success of any school and of any country Rao (2001) indicated that giving education to the people is the best way to build up a nation’s future It implied that teacher career is always considered as one of the most important groups of professionals that contribute to a nation’s development And job satisfaction is not only important to teachers themselves but also for the effectiveness of school organization, for improving teaching and learning quality and for a nation’s development

In recent years, understand the importance of teachers’ contributions, both developing and developed country, such as Vietnam, Nigeria, the United States, etc have also taken into consideration towards teacher job satisfaction It can be summed up that the success

of every educational system depends on the quality of human resources

Because understanding the importance of teachers’ satisfaction, in our case study, we aimed to explore how satisfied of Lac Hong University teachers in Dong Nai Province through their career’s experience

Therefore, the objectives of this study were to:

 To investigate the key factors determining teachers’ job satisfaction

 To examine the level of job satisfaction among teachers in LHU

 To ascertain the basic model of teachers’ job satisfaction at Lac Hong University in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam

To give implications for the influential factors on perceptions related to the ideal job

1.4 Organization of the Dissertation

This paper is organized into five chapters In this chapter, we provide an overview of the whole dissertation:

In Chapter 1, we describe the whole picture of the current paper, including research

background and research objectives

In Chapter 2, we address theoretical foundations for the present dissertation A

theoretical stream of teacher’s role in modern society and literature review of teacher

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job satisfaction were presented in order to help the researcher have a better overall view

of the field study

In Chapter 3, we describe the research design and methodology With reference to

theoretical research framework, this chapter discusses research framework, research hypotheses, sampling design, the development of measurement instrument, and data collection and analysis methods

In Chapter 4, we report the data analysis in detail and present the findings

Finally, in Chapter 5 we provide discussions of implications to the findings It also

draws a conclusion for the research

2.2 Excellent Teachers and their Role in Education Quality

Evidence shows that, the progress as well as the attitude of students in studying depends much on the effectiveness of teachers The Teacher Excellence for All Children Act of California states: "Nothing is more important to a student's academic success than a highly qualified teacher," (Imig D.G and Imig S.R., 2007)

In the studies of Hammond L.D (January 1, 2000) showed that, the achievement of students gained different from the assign to ineffective and effective teachers, from those whose assigned to effective teachers are always higher than in sequence Similarly, the gap in math between disadvantaged and rich students is erased when replacing average teachers with excellent ones, noticed by Hanushek and his colleagues (cited from Hammond L.D, January 1, 2000)

The success of students are always accompanied with highly qualified lecturers who with pedagogical knowledge and great skills The Department for Children, Schools and Local Authorities in England, (2007) defines Excellent Teachers as teachers that must have the length, breadth, depth and have excellent teaching experience trained and

At Lac Hong University, excellent teachers are considered as:

• New pedagogues (who are teach creatively, develop student potential in the context of globalization and ICT development)

• New educators (who educate global citizens)

• ICT users Researchers and Community activists

2.3 Factors that Impact on the Quality of Teacher

Educators consider quality of lecturer results from the training process, job experiences, continuous learning and professional enhancement The quality of lecturer is impacted

by different factors:

• Inputs: competencies; their standards and the quality of the education curriculum; training conditions (quality of lecturers of the training colleges; learning environment and infrastructure)

• Quality of instructional processes

1 Attract, recruit, and retain capable people in the teaching profession

This policy allows for attracting potential candidates to become faculties by creating convenient exams, financial supports and incentives, and opportunities for job as well as professional development for them

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2 Develop faculties’ professional norms, knowledge, and skill

These policies require equipping lecturers with the knowledge and necessary understanding about the teaching profession to realize students’ learning needs

Margaret Spellings – the US Education Secretary of State in her 2005 report required that all higher education institutions have to learn principles of developing curricula to prepare and train 21st century excellent teachers with important teaching skills

Faculties have to be trained in research methods and to make teaching decisions based

on the research information of teaching subjects and students In order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to tie the training in higher education institutions to practicum’s, internships and good supervisions at universities (Spellings, 2005)

3 Create incentives and organizational conditions that support lecturers’ work Universities must have incentive policies (non-material and material) to award them

2.4 Literature Review for Teacher Job Satisfaction

2.4.1 Definition for Teacher Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is defined as an effective response to one's situation at work Thus, teacher job satisfaction infers to a teacher’s affective relation to his or her teaching role and is a function of the perceived relationship between what one wants from teaching and what one perceives it is offering to a teacher (Zembylas and Papanastasiou, 2004) Besides, in term of definitions, there may be some international trends suggest that teacher job satisfaction refers to their satisfied feeling towards intrinsic matters, such as helping student, positive relationships with students and others, self growth and so on (Dinham and Scott, 2002; Van den Berg, 2002)

2.4.2 Previous Researches on Teacher Job Satisfaction

Many studies were done during over last two decades, and scholars have attempted to find out sources of teacher satisfaction and dissatisfaction Some studies identified that teachers job satisfaction varied on school characteristics and educational background of lecturers (Spear et al., 2000)

In addition, Norton and Kelly (1997) indentified the causes of teacher dissatisfaction Concerns about the complex of the administrative routines and paperwork accompany; problems relating to school grading and the progress of student performance evaluation; concerns about workload and curricular assignments; the bad relationship with colleague and administrators; low salary; lack of promotion opportunities; and so on are

2.4.3 The Impact of Teacher Job Satisfaction Towards Social Context

Lathem (1998, 83) emphasized that job satisfaction not only can help prevent lecturer’s burnout rate but also can improve teaching quality Besides, Shann (2001) confirmed that job satisfaction contributes to retain teachers and makes them more concentrated on professional In other words, job satisfaction helps school effectiveness improved

To sum up, these scholars imply that if faculties are satisfied with their job, they can increase teaching and learning quality Furthermore; the researcher also suggests that the school administrator board and ministry of education should indentify the causes of teacher dissatisfaction as well as factors associated with teacher satisfaction to give perfect implications for each specific matter In the case of teachers are satisfied with their job, they make teaching and learning quality improved, and they can create a good human resource for a nation’s future With talents created by high motivated teachers, it gives good advantages for the development for our society

2.4.4 Background of the Educational System in Vietnam

An overview of the Vietnamese Educational System

Figure 2.1 show that Vietnamese education system includes primary, secondary and tertiary education Students between the ages of 6-10 attend primary school; students between the ages of 11-17 attend secondary school and they are graduated from secondary school as completing of 12th grade It lasts three years for a college course and from four to six years for universities

Figure 2.1: Vietnamese Education System

Primary School

Age 6-10

Senior Secondary Age 15-17

Post Secondary

Age 18-22 Junior Secondary

Age 11-14

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2.5 High Qualified or Excellent Lecturers at Lac Hong University

Considering excellent lecturers as one who master well his/her teaching subject, University decided to train teachers by recruiting from different science member universities within the Lac Hong University and other neighboring universities The university offer, implement, and manage programs with diplomas in teacher education for secondary and higher education teachers at either the University or joint institutions with a regular annual enrolment of over 1,500 students * http://lhu.edu.vn/

Lac Hong University prepares students as 21st century lecturers who can teach their students creativity, the skills needed to search for information and live in a digital environment of a knowledge society Programs are developed for different teaching subjects considering their focus on defined outcomes; ensuring systematic approaches and balance between theory and practice They are equipped with new, creative teaching methods and knowledge so that they can teach students creatively Besides, financial conditions and equipment are well-prepared for the lecturer to teach and students to learn Good relationships between our university and schools have been developed Lac Hong University continues to improve the preparation of excellent teachers by working with internal and external education experts as well as implementing different policies for them They are the new educators who are and will bring new education to school students in Vietnam to contribute to the high quality of human resource training

in our country

2.6 Theoretical Framework

There are many theories of job satisfaction which has been investigated by scholars around the world In this section, the research considers the two most influenced theories towards motivation and job satisfaction The research model of this study was also developed based on the foundation of these theories The content theories discussed

in this section include (1) Maslow’s Need Theory, (2) Herzberg’s Two- Factor Theory

2.6.1 Maslow’s Need Theory

Over sixty years ago, Abraham Maslow proposed the theory of motivation and job satisfaction He said that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy of desires, wants and needs This hierarchy is organized by the most basic to the highest (1) physiological needs, (2) safety or security needs, (3) social and belonging or affiliation needs, (4) self

Figure 2.2: Application of Maslow’s Theory in Organizations

Source: Morgan (1986, 43)

 Encouragement to complete employee commitment

 Job becomes a major expressive dimension of employee’s life

 Creation of jobs with scope for achievement, autonomy, responsibility and personal control

 Work enhancing personal identity

 Feedback and recognition for good performance e.g promotion, “employee of the month” awards

 Work organization that permits interactions with colleagues

 Social and sports facilities

 Office and factory parties [SIC] outings

 Pension and health care plans

 Job tenure

 Emphasis on career paths within the organization

 Salary and wages

 Safe and pleasant working conditions

actualization

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2.6.2 The Herzberg’s Two- Factors Theory

Herzberg (1959) presented a two - factors theory, which looks at motivator and hygiene

He identified two sets of different factors that have a strong impact on job satisfaction and dissatisfaction The first set of factors called the motivator, which includes recognition, achievement, advancement, responsibility, and intrinsic aspects of the job The absence of motivator did not lead to dissatisfaction, although it’s the cause of enduring states of motivation in workers It noted that measuring employee’s job satisfaction, one must include these facets in his/her own research The second set of factors called the hygiene, which includes supervision, salary, work environment, company policies, and relationship with colleagues Hygiene created an acceptable working environment but did not improve satisfaction and their absence leads to job dissatisfaction

The research model of this study was constructed based on the two- factors theory of job satisfaction and Maslow’s Theory because these theories suggest how people’s jobs can be redesigned to incorporate more motivators The research model of this study will

be developed in the next chapter

2.7 Conclusions

This chapter outlined the theoretical research foundation applied in this study The definition of job satisfaction, teacher job satisfaction, the impact of teacher job satisfaction towards society and the analyzing of facets that have influenced on job satisfaction and dissatisfaction were also mentioned in this chapter The overall view of university education system in Vietnam, which helped to provide a context for the current research, is also reviewed This study, finally, presented the theories towards motivation and job satisfaction, in which contribute a foundation for the establishment

of the research model in the chapter three

3.2 Research Problem and Research Objectives

This study aims at finding both the determinants that impact on the satisfaction of teacher in LHU and the teachers’ satisfaction level that LHU has offered to its employees In this study, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Reliability Analysis (Cronbach’s Alpha) and Regression analysis are used with the assistance from a computer-software called Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) The whole

method used in this research is briefly demonstrated in Figure 3.1

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Figure 3.1: Flow chart of research method in this study

3.3 Research Hypotheses and Research Framework

3.3.1 Research Hypotheses

The precursor to a hypothesis is a research problem, usually framed as a question Research hypotheses are all acceptable statements that give the researcher a focus for constructing a research experiment The researcher must generate testable hypotheses which they can build the experiment and the research issue or the problem is pared into something testable Moreover, an ideal study hypothesis should contain some suitable predictions

The hypotheses help to provide focus and direction for the study For that reason, the research hypotheses of the current dissertation were formulated They are as follows:

H1: Administration has a positive effect on teachers’ satisfaction

H2: Working Conditions has a positive effect on teachers’ satisfaction

Research problem?

Reliability Analysis Cronbach’s Alpha

Regression Analysis

Results and Report

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H3: Compensation has a positive effect on teachers’ satisfaction

H4: Human Relation has a positive effect on the satisfaction

H5: Professional Development has a positive effect on teachers’ satisfaction

H6: Institution Safety has a positive effect on teachers’ satisfaction

3.3.2 Theory Foundation for the Research Framework

Paul (2003) suggested that job satisfaction as a cluster of evaluative feelings about the job and indentified nine factors of job satisfaction These facets are pay amount and fairness of salary; the fairness of promotion opportunities; supervision fairness; the fairness of compensation at work; high respect, recognition and appreciation; operating procedure-policies, procedures, rules, perceived red tape; competence and pleasantness among colleague; nature of career enjoyment; human relations and interaction

Herzberg’s two factor theory (Schulz et al., 2003)

In 1959 Herzberg suggested motivation-hygiene theory In his theory, he emphasized the factors that make employees feel satisfied or at work According to his theory, employees who are satisfied at work attribute their satisfaction to internal factors, while dissatisfied employees ascribe their behavior to external factors Motivators are factors that make employees satisfied, while hygiene’s are factors that make them dissatisfied

at work These set of two factors are also called the intrinsic and extrinsic factors Schultz et al., (2003) gave a schematic representation of the two-factor theory as the figure 3.2 follows: It can be argued that if the hygiene factors are removed, that it is unlikely workers will be satisfied Both the hygiene factors and motivators play an important role in the performance of the individual

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Motivator continuum Hygiene continuum

Figure 3.2: Herzberg’s two factor theory (Schultz et al., 2003)

Theories of Teacher Job Satisfaction

Evans (2001) divided job satisfaction into three levels and indicated some facets of job satisfaction for teacher At level I, he emphasized policy, condition of service and payment has much impact on satisfaction At level II, leader styles of headmasters and senior teacher, and organizational climate have much impact on satisfaction In this case, managerial style consists of the pattern of management of the schools, method of accountability of the teachers, level of local people interference, freedom of teachers, etc At level III, he listed determinants of job satisfaction Individual’s attitude, norms, values, personality and emotion also reflects in this level

Determinants of Teacher Job Satisfaction

Determinants of teacher job satisfaction can be summarized into some groups of variables as the followings:

- Teachers’ characteristics variables can be described by gender, family status, job experience, qualification

- Human relations variables can be described by colleagues interaction and communication, meetings with the director, vice director, headmasters, parents and school inspectors

- Contract conditions variables can be described by civil servant or private employee, job perspectives, additional work apart from teaching

- Working environment and school variables can be described by class size and structure, students’ performance, availability of books, electricity, tables, blackboards

Ideal

Bad Satisfaction No Dissatisfaction

No Satisfaction Dissatisfaction

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and other equipment

- Compensation variables can be describes as salary, insurance, bonus, flexible schedules, union help, holiday, parental leave

- Labour Rule variables can be describes as school safety rules, safe guarding; first aid’s facilities

- Country-specific differences can be described as management regulation, policies, specified principals for national education

3.3.3 Research Framework

The research framework of this current study is constructed based on the theories of job satisfaction These theories, especially the Herzberg theory (1959), help to suggest the researcher to construct the research framework as the figure 3.3 follows

Figure 3.3: Research Framework

Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

Administration

Working Conditions

Prof.Development Human Relation

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3.4 Object of Survey

This study focuses on the employees of LHU in Bien Hoa City, Vietnam

Questionnaires were personally delivered and collected from 15thDecember, 2012 to

15th January, 2013

3.5 Data Collection Procedures

Data were primarily collected through questionnaires and interviews (preliminary interviews and official interviews) The researcher sent the questionnaires to LHU staff directly and waited for get back results The researchers also gave help enthusiastically

by using email The data collection in the natural setting was important because the natural setting is the place where the researcher is most likely to discover, or uncover, what is known about the incident of interest (Maykut and Morehouse 2003)

3.6 Questionnaire Design

Questionnaire plays an important role in the success of a survey research Therefore, this questionnaire was based on fundamental theories of the book “Questionnaire design, interviewing, and attitude measurement” by Oppenheim, A.N (Abrahan Naftali), 1992

This research paper is written for education planners, policy makers, educators, academics and human resource development and strategic managers that might help them improve LHU A questionnaire was designed as an instrument of data collection The research questionnaire was designed by the author with the help of his adviser and some experts Besides, translation is employed during the process of using questionnaire

to help interviewers answer questions easily

Questionnaire was designed with typical standard of reliability and validity Firstly, about reliability, it was in clear sections and well defines in order to not confuse the respondents and repeatability In using questionnaires, researchers should rely totally on the honesty and accuracy of participants ‘responses Secondly, an instrument is valid if

it measures what is intended to measure Muijs (2004) recommends that literature had to

be reviewed to get the theoretical knowledge about the content or definitions of concepts that are used before designing the instrument for the particular study.Reliability is a characteristic of the instrument itself, but validity comes from the way the instrument is employed The validity of a questionnaire relies first and foremost on

+ the determinants that impact on the satisfaction of teacher in LHU

+ the teachers’ satisfaction level that LHU has offered to its employees

A thorough overview of other studies in the same or similar problems previously will be done to find out what factors have not been examined yet and how this questionnaire can be developed from what have already been discovered As a result, in this study, the following aspects are to be examined:

- The personal information: Gender, Age, Profession, Income, etc

- General information relating to the observations

- Factors of Faculty Members’ Satisfaction Impacting on the Education and Training

in Lac Hong University, Vietnam

- Also from these factors, what is the current satisfaction level that LHU has offered

to its employees?

 The first part of the questionnaire is about demographics It is consisted of several items about the personal information of the school staff and the teachers and the staff such as age, gender marital status, experience, education level, teaching field, income All of these factors usually affect the need and requirement in choosing their favorite career Descriptive statistics are used in analyzing the data in this part

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 The next parts (Evaluation of the importance level and satisfaction) composed of two matched sets of 28 items There are six aspects in total that are given to collect teachers’ opinion about the importance and satisfaction of teaching career in the progress of working in LHU Each of these items describes the expectations and perceptions for six dimensions of teacher job satisfaction, including School Administration, Working Conditions, Teacher-Student Interaction, Professional Development and School Safety The respondents will evaluate the importance of each statement in above six dimensions The evaluation is arranged in a column named

“Importance level” And, in order to evaluate the current performance of LHU, any employees who used to or currently work at here will evaluate his/her satisfaction level

on the statements based his/her actual experience This evaluation is organized in a column named “Satisfaction level” From the partial evaluation, they are finally asked to express their overall satisfaction level to LHU

 The last part is overall question about teachers’ satisfaction towards this organization

In order to analyze the data in part 3, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Reliability analysis and Regression analysis are used with the help of computer software called SPSS

The average time to fill out this questionnaire is about four minutes

As mentioned above, the followings are 28 items describes the expectations and perceptions for six dimensions of teacher job satisfaction, including School Administration, Working Conditions, Teacher-Student Interaction, Professional Development and School Safety

- School Administration dimension has 5 items: Support and encourage of

administrators and head masters; Procedure for teacher performance evaluation; Influence of teacher over school policy and practices; Respondents of head masters to teachers’ suggestion; Cooperative effort among the staff

- Working Conditions dimension has 5 items: Teaching workload; Institution

facilities; Teaching aids; Role of teacher in classroom; Sense of achievement getting from work

- Compensation dimension has 5 items: Parental leave; Rewards for faculties’ children; Bonuses; Time off and flexible schedules; Long term incentives

Human Relation dimension has 5 items: Students’ discipline; Ability to work

effectively through and with other people; Competition at workplace; Can you get along well with others in the workplace?; Students’ respect to faculties

- Professional Development dimension has 4 items: Training courses provided by

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university; Professional development evaluation and reward; Promotion opportunity; Improving teaching skills exams

- Institution Safety dimension has 4 items: local area’s attention towards the

security around (your) campus; school safety rules; instrumentation and laboratory practice; safe guarding and first aid’s facilities

There are many types of variable but the most important, for the vast majority of research methods, are the independent and dependent variables The independent variable is the core of the experiment and is isolated and manipulated by the researcher The variables of six dimensions, includes School Administration, Working Conditions, Teacher-Student Interaction, Professional Development and School Safety are considered as independent ones The dependent variable, which named as overall satisfaction, is the measurable outcome of this manipulation, the results of the experimental design For many physical, isolating the independent variable and measuring the dependent is generally easy

The five-point Likert scale (Rensit Likert)

These items were in the form of five-point Likert scale A likert scale is

a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that employs questionnaires The scale is named after its inventor, psychologist Rensit Likert (wikis) When responding

to a Likert questionnaire item, respondents specify their level of agreement or disagreement on a symmetric agrees-disagree scale for a series of statements

The research questionnaire’s options were ordered as; “Strongly dissatisfy”,

“Dissatisfied”, “Undecided”, “Satisfied” and “Strongly satisfied” in Satisfaction level and “very unimportant”, “unimportant”, “moderate”, “important”, and “very important” The answers were ordered from “Strongly Dissatisfied” to “Strongly Satisfied” and “Very unimportant” to very important” by grading them from 1 to 5

The last part included the question evaluates the overall level of satisfaction of teachers and school staff Options were ordered as “Strongly dissatisfy”,

“Dissatisfied”, “Undecided”, “Satisfied” and “Strongly satisfied” The answers were ordered from “Very Dissatisfied” to “Very satisfied” by grading them from 1 to 5 In this part, to determine the validity of questionnaire was used the technique of content- related validity according to the opinions of the experts

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3.7 Data Collection

The questionnaire was personally delivered and collected from 15th December, 2012 to

15th January, 2013 by the researcher after receiving objective criticisms and suggestions from the instructors who are experts in Measurement and Evaluation The research questionnaire was designed and sent to LHU employees in current case study taken in Bien Hoa city, Vietnam The participants were teachers and staff who had earned permanent status and were employed full time

In the cases where respondents did not answer every question, the questionnaires were discarded Therefore, in the total of 235 questionnaires retrieved, 35 questionnaires were discarded; thus 175 questionnaires were deemed good to be analyzed, which represented

a response rate of 85, 1%

3.8 Data Encoding and Inputting into SPSS

In order to analyze the data from the survey, it is important to have a fixed encoding system for the responses The valid responses are encoded as in Table 3.1, Table 3.2 and Table 3.3

Table 3.1: Encoding system for part 1 and part 2 of the questionnaire

Question# Content Variable Response Encoding

PART 1: PERSONAL INFORMATION

Table 3.2: Encoded system for part 02 of the questionnaire

level

Satisfaction level

1 Support and encourage of school

2 Procedure for teacher performance

evaluation

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17 Ability to work effectively through and

with other people

18 Can you get along well with others in the

workplace?

21 Local area’s attention towards the security

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Table 3.3: Encoded system for part 03 of the questionnaire

Satisfaction level

1 Overall, how satisfied are you with this organization as

3.9 Data Analysis Method

3.9.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

EFA, traditionally, has been used to explore the possible underlying factor structure of a set of observed variables without imposing a preconceived structure on the outcome (Child, 1990) EFA is a technique within factor analysis whose overarching goal is to identify the underlying relationships between measured variables It is commonly used

by researchers when developing a scale (a scale is a collection of questions used to

measure a particular research topic) and serves to identify a set of latent

constructs underlying a battery of measured variables

EFA is also defined as a variable reduction technique which identifies the number of latent constructs and the underlying factor structure of a set of variables, ƒ hypothesizes

an underlying construct, a variable not measured directly, estimates factors which influence responses on observed variables, allows you to describe and identify the number of latent constructs (factors), includes unique factors, error due to unreliability

in measurement, traditionally has been used to explore the possible underlying factor structure of a set of measured variables without imposing any preconceived structure on the outcome (Child, 1990)

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There are two major classes of factor analysis: Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) In general speaking, EFA is heuristic In EFA, the researcher has no idea about the variables which are to be explored in nature; whereas, CFA approach is usually used to test a proposed theory or model In contrast to EFA, CFA has assumptions and expectations based on priori theory regarding the number of factors (Williams et al, 2010)

This study also applied exploratory factor analysis as a highly useful and powerful multivariate statistical technique for effectively extracting information from large bodies of interrelated data When variables are correlated, the researcher needs ways to manage these variables: grouping highly correlated variables together, labeling or naming the groups, and perhaps even creating a new composite measure that can represent each group of variables (Joseph et al 1992) In this study, the factors that affect the employees’ satisfaction are not known; hence, it is proposed to use EFA approach which will group highly correlated variables together into a factor The factors are assumed to represent dimensions within the data set Therefore, it could be said that EFA approach will identify representative variables from a much larger set of variables for use in subsequent multivariate analysis and create an entirely new set of variables which are much less than the original set The process to reduce the number of variables from a larger set is called “Data reduction” which is conducted as per the steps in Figure 3.4

Figure 3.4: The 5-step Exploratory Factor Analysis Protocol (Williams et al, 2010)

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Goals of factor analysis are to help an investigator determine the number of latent constructs underlying a set of items (variables), to provide a means of explaining variation among variables (items) using a few newly created variables (factors), to define the content or meaning of factors

 Step 1: Is the data suitable for factor analysis?

Prior to the extraction of the factors, several tests should be used to assess the suitability

of the respondent data for factor analysis These tests include Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO), Measure of Sampling Adequacy and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity The KMO index, in particular, is recommended when the cases to variable ratio are less than 1:5 The KMO index ranges from 0 to 1, with 0.50 considered suitable for factor analysis The Bartlett's Test of Sphericity should be significant (p<0.05) for factor analysis to be suitable (Williams et al, 2010)

 Step 2: How will the factors be extracted?

The aim of rotation is to simplify the factor structure of a group of items, or in other words, high item loadings on one factor and smaller item loadings on the remaining factor solutions There are numerous ways to extract factors: Principal components analysis (PCA), principal axis factoring (PAF), image factoring, maximum likelihood, alpha factoring, and canonical However, PCA is used most commonly in the published literature in EFA approach (Williams et al., 2010)

 Step 3: What criteria will assist in determining factor extraction?

The aim of the data extraction is reduce a large number of items into factors In order to simplify the factor solutions, several criteria are available to researchers However, given the choice and sometimes confusing nature of factor analysis, no single criteria should be assumed to determine factor extraction Many extraction rules and approaches exist including: Kaiser’s criterion (Eigenvalue > 1 rule), the Scree-test, the cumulative percent of variance extracted, and parallel analysis

Among approaches, Kaiser’s criterion is widely used and also known as Latent root criterion technique Its rationale is that any individual factor should account for the variance of at least a single variable if it is to be retained for interpretation With the component analysis, each variable contributes a value of 1 to the total eigenvalue Hence, only factors that have the eigenvalues greater than 1 are considered significant; all other factors with eigenvalues less than 1 are considered insignificant and disregarded

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According to Hair et al (2010) in the natural sciences, factors should be stopped when

at least 95% of the variance is explained In the humanities, the explained variance is commonly as low as 50-60%

 Step 4: Selection of Rotational Method

Rotation maximizes high item loadings and minimizes low item loadings, therefore producing a more interpretable and simplified solution There are two common rotation techniques: orthogonal rotation and oblique rotation Researchers have several methods

to choose from different rotation options, for example, Varimax/ Quartimax (Orthogonal) or Olbimin/ Promax (Oblique) Orthogonal Varimax rotation, first developed by Thompson, is the most common rotational technique used in factor analysis which produces factor structures that are uncorrelated As a result, Varimax rotation is suggested to use in this study

 Step 5: Interpretation

After relevant factors are extracted, the researcher examines which variables are attributable to a factor, and giving that factor a name or theme Traditionally, at least two or three variables must load on a factor so it can be given a meaningful interpretation The labeling of factors is a subjective, theoretical, and inductive process

In this stage, it is important to consider the values of factor loading which is defined as the correlation between the original variables and the factors Squared factor loadings indicate what percentage of the variance in an original variable is explained by a factor

In order to evaluate the significance of a factor, the sample size in a study must be met Based on the significance level of 0.05, the factor loadings are proposed as in Table 3.4 (Hair et al, 2010)

Table 3.4: Identify significant factor loadings based on sample size

Factor loading Minimum sample size

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In short, in this study, the overall criteria making the Exploratory Factor Analysis appropriate are summarized in Table 3.5

Table 3.5: Summary of criteria used in this study

No Parameters Values

3.9.2 Reliability Analysis

Reliability analysis is an assessment of the degree of consistency among multiple measurements of a variable One of the most important usages of reliability is to test the internal consistency which applies to the consistency among variables in a summated scale Its rationale is that the individual items or indicators of the scale should all be measured under the same construct for its high inter-correlation And, one of the popular measures is Cronbach's alpha which is usually believed to indicate the degree to which a set of items measures a single unidimensional latent construct Cronbach’s Alpha is most appropriately used when the items measure different substantive areas within a single construct (Cronbach, 1951)

A commonly accepted rule of thumb for describing internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha in exploratory research is illustrated in Table 8 (George and Mallery, 2003)