Determining factors that influence job satisfaction or dissatisfaction among agricultural educators in Georgia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate specific factors associated with job satisfaction and dissatisfaction of male and female teachers of agriculture in Georgia. According to Lawler (1977), “the research evidence clearly shows that employees’ decisions about whether they will go to work on any given day and whether they will quit are affected by their feelings of job satisfaction” (Lawler, 1977, p. 361). Researchers (Beavers, Jewell, Malpiedi, 1987; Flowers & Pebble, 1988; Grady, 1985; Newcomb, Betts, & Cano, 1987) concluded that agriculture teachers are fairly or moderately satisfied with their jobs (Cano & Miller, 1992). Ricketts, Stone & Adams (2006) concluded, “females were satisfied with their careers and felt accepted by students, administrators, parents of students, and the community”. Determining the factors that influence job satisfaction and knowledge of the correlations for Georgia secondary agricultural educators will assist teacher educators in offering more appropriate development opportunities for teachers in addition to determining if there are differences in job perception or job issues with respect to gender.