The motivating factors of secondary school assistant principals in southeast Michigan and their impact on job mobility

<p>Recent research identified two broad categories of motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic. These two forms of personal motivation play a large role in determining individuals‟ level of job satisfaction. By affording a level of perceived empowerment, the environment of the workplace is a contributing factor toward encouraging or discouraging individual satisfaction.</p> <p>This study demonstrates the relationships that exist between personal motivation needs, workplace empowerment, and the attempted job mobility or stability of assistant principals, a select group of public school administrators.</p> <p>Prior studies have argued that when an individual possesses both high levels of personal intrinsic motivation needs and high levels of workplace empowerment, individuals are more likely to achieve a state of “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) and demonstrate greater job stability.</p> <p>In the American public school setting, many districts employ assistant principals, who are often viewed as members of the building leadership and administration, but who also leave their position after a relatively short time period. This study shows that although there is no statistically significant relationship between personal motivation needs and the mobility of assistant principals, the intrinsic motivation needs for assistant principals are not being met by employers, resulting in high levels of job mobility, making it unlikely that expertise can be acquired in the role. Future studies should examine the relationships between motivation and job mobility in other geographic regions and pursue the topic from the perspective of building principals and district level leadership.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Leadership and Counseling

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Schmittou, David M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Ronald Williamson, Chair
• Dr. Gary Marx
• Dr. Nelson Maylone

• motivation
• school
• leadership
• tenure
• mobility
• flow theory
• Educational Leadership

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/319

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-1318