Teacher-principal race and teacher satisfaction over time, region
| Date | 04 September 2017 |
| Published date | 04 September 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-10-2016-0122 |
| Pages | 624-639 |
| Author | Samantha L. Viano,Seth B. Hunter |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
Teacher-principal race
and teacher satisfaction
over time, region
Samantha L. Viano and Seth B. Hunter
Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to replicate prior findings on teacher-principal race congruence and
teacher job satisfaction and extend the literature by investigating trends over time and if the relationship
between race congruence and teacher job satisfaction differs by principal race and region.
Design/methodology/approach –The study sample comes from four waves of cross-sectional data, the
nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey, administered between 2000 and 2012. The analysis is
conducted using ordinary least squares and school-year fixed effects with a comprehensive set of covariates.
Findings –The relationship between race congruence and teacher job satisfaction is attenuating over time
and is likely explained by the lower job satisfaction of white teachers who work for black principals.
Some evidence indicates teacher-principal race congruence has greater salience in the Southern region of the
country. Find evidence that teachers with race-congruent principals report more workplace support than their
non-race congruent colleagues.
Research limitations/implications –Future studies should investigate why racial congruence has
more salience in the Southern region of the country and for white teachers who work with black principals.
At the same time, results indicate that teacher-principal race congruence might no longer be a determinant of
teacher job satisfaction, although further studies should continue investigating this relationship.
Originality/value –Findings on the changing nature of the relationship between principal-teacher
race congruence and teacher job satisfaction over time as well as the differing nature of race congruence in the
Southern region of the country are both novel findings in the literature.
Keywords Teachers, Job satisfaction, Race, Working conditions, Region, Race congruence
Paper type Research paper
Teacher job satisfaction can influence a variety of organizational processes and outcomes.
Previouswork suggests greater job dissatisfaction is associatedwith decreased organizational
commitment (Bogler, 2001; Feather and Rauter, 2004) which, in turn, may weaken bonds
between school andhome as well as school and the broader community (Renzulli et al., 2010).
Prior studies also show that job dissatisfaction is a key predictor of teacher turnover
(Balu et al., 2009; Griffith, 2004; Lee and Mitchell, 1994; Price, 2001; Renzulli et al., 2010;
Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2011). Teacher job dissatisfaction can undermine student outcomes
given its relationship to teacher collaboration and teacher turnover since the former has been
shown to increasestudent achievement(Ronfeldt et al., 2015) whilethe latter negatively affects
student outcomes (Ronfeldt et al., 2012). Job satisfaction among the 3.1 million teachers in
elementary and secondary schools is of economic, educational, and social relevance (National
Center for Education Statistics, 2016).
Prior research suggests school leadership is consistently associated with teacher job
satisfaction. In broad terms, administrator support of teachers and leadership abilities have
been identified as factors shaping teacher job satisfaction (Balu et al., 2009; Boyd et al., 2010;
Curtis, 2012; Grissom, 201 1; Johnson and Birkeland, 2003 ; Johnson et al.,2012;
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 55 No. 6, 2017
pp. 624-639
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-10-2016-0122
Received 13 October 2016
Revised 11 April 2017
Accepted 22 April 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
The authors would like to acknowledge Jason Grissom for his guiding hand in developing and steering
this paper in its beginning phases. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers
for their helpful comments and suggestions.
624
JEA
55,6
Kukla-Acevedo, 2009; Ladd, 2011; Pogodzinski et al., 2012; Stockard and Lehman, 2004;
Tickle et al., 2011). More specific ally, Johnson and Birkeland (20 03) found that
administrators with satisfied, beginning teachers employ similar strategies at their
schools: they assign teachers a manageable workload, provide teachers with sufficient
resources, develop mentorship networks among teachers and administrators, and maintain
a safe and orderly work climate. Thus, factors influencing the allocation of physical, human,
or social capital by principals to teachers can substantially affect teacher job satisfaction.
This collection of prior works suggests policymakers or educational agencies can
improve teacher job satisfaction by promoting certain school administrator behaviors.
Although there are many ways school administrator-teacher interactions might influence
teacher job satisfaction, we focus on the influence of principal-teacher race congruence (i.e.
sharing the same self-identified race) on teacher job satisfaction. Our analysis focuses on
this influence for three reasons: policy relevance, theoretical underpinnings, and prior
empirical research.
Policymakers cannot manipulate the racial identities of currently employed school
principals or teachers. However, policymakers and educational agencies can potentially
influencehow principals and teachers of the sameor different race approach principal-teacher
interactions through human resource training or by setting expectations concerning the school/
work climate. But for such programs/expectations to be effective, educational agencies must
understand how principal-teacher race congruence influences teacher job satisfaction. To this
end, we explore some mediating mechanisms throughwhich principal-teacher race congruence
might affect teacher job satisfaction. For example, we explore if school administrator
recognition of a job well done by their teachers is associated with principal-teacher race
congruence. If teachers sharing the same race as their principal believe they receive more
recognition for their good work than teachers not sharing the same raceas their principal,this
would suggest a particular course of action for local education agencies.
Our second and third reasons for focusing on principal-teacher race congruence are
based on theory and prior empirical research. Similarity-attraction theory, based upon the
idea that individuals sharing common characteristics share similar values and therefore
desire to associate with one another (Byrne, 1971), suggests racial similarity should
positively influence teacher job satisfaction. It is the assumption of common values, not race
per se, leading to positive affective relationships among racially similar individuals
(Tsui and O’Reilly III, 1989). When a principal and teacher share the same race, similarity
attraction suggests that the teacher would receive or perceive that their principal provides
additional resources ultimately influencing their job satisfaction.
Two prior studies have empirically explored racial or ethnic congruence between
principals and teachers as an antecedent of teacher job satisfaction, finding that teachers
report greater job satisfaction in schools in which their principal is from their same racial/
ethnic background (Fairchild et al., 2011; Grissom and Keiser, 2011). We extend the current
literature by examining the influence of racial congruence between a teacher and their
principal and teacher job satisfaction over time, by school region, and by the race of the
teacher and principal. We examine time trends and regional moderation analyses with
respect to the particular race shared by the principal and their teachers in an attempt to
provide educational decision-makers with information they can use to efficiently target
resources aiming to improve teacher job satisfaction.
To meet our research goals we use the 1999-2000, 2003-2004, 2007-2008, and 2011-2012
waves of the School and Staffing Survey (SASS) and employ school-year fixed effects (FE)
to answer the following research questions:
RQ1. To what extent do teachers working for principals of the same race express greater
job satisfaction, relative to teachers working for racially incongruent principals?
625
Teacher
satisfaction
over time,
region
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