Temperament Types, Job Satisfaction, Job Roles, and Years of Service of Doctor of Educational Leadership Candidates and Graduates

Abstract

Some organizational studies examining the relationship between job satisfaction,and temperament type have indicated marginal to significant correlations between thetwo variables (Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman., 2000; Keirsey, 1998; Spector, 1997.Other studies examining the relationship between job satisfaction, temperament type, jobroles, and years of service have produced mixed results (Jennings, 1999). One purpose ofthis survey study was to examine the extent to which there is a relationship between jobsatisfaction and temperament of doctoral candidates and graduates. A second purpose forthis survey study was to examine the extent to which there is a relationship between jobsatisfaction and job role. The third purpose for this survey study was to examine theextent to which the relationship between job satisfaction and job role is affected bytemperament. The fourth purpose of this survey study was to examine the relationshipbetween job satisfaction and years of service. The fifth purpose for this survey study wasto examine the extent to which the relationship between job satisfaction and years ofservice is affected by temperament. The methodology involved a purposeful sampling of45 doctoral candidates and graduates enrolled in cohorts 1-9 at a small, private liberal artsuniversity in the Midwest. Respondents completed the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector,1997) and self-administered Keirsey Temperament Sorter®-II (Keirsey, 1998) onlinequestionnaire. Data were collected from doctoral candidates and graduates to determinelevel of job satisfaction. Finally, factorial ANOVAs were used to test the hypotheses foreach research question. Data results were indicated that temperament, job role, and yearsof service were affected by satisfaction with promotion. Job role affected the satisfactionwith the nature of work and supervision. Satisfaction with contingent rewards was affected by years of service. One implication for action based on results from this studycould provide encouragement for employers in school organizations to implement atemperament type measurement when evaluating the best placement for schoolemployees in various job roles. Employers could periodically use a job satisfactionmeasure to determine satisfaction facets among employees to evaluate the culture of theorganization.