The Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions among Graduate Teachers a Case Study of Graduate Teachers in Koforidua, Ghana

Abstract

The reason why graduate teachers decide to quite their job is difficult to tell because of the complexity of turnover decision processes involving a large number of variables. This study therefore, aims at assessing how relative weights of teacher's satisfaction with salary, working conditions, and professional training experiences on job satisfaction affects turnover intentions, and actual turnover. One hundred graduate teachers made up of fifty males and fifty females were purposively sampled for the study. Data was gathered by administering a questionnaire which consists of three standardized scales, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and perception of work environment. These scales elicited information on job satisfaction and turnover intention of the selected participants in addition to demographic data which elicited information on age, marital status, number of years in teaching among others. Findings revealed that work environment had no influence on job satisfaction and turnover intentions whiles job satisfaction correlates negatively with turnover intentions. Male participants expressed higher turnover intention than their female counterparts. It was also found that, number of years of service (tenure) has minimal influence on teachers' intentions to leave. It was concluded that in order to reduce turnover intentions among graduate teachers in order to resolve constant shortage of graduate teaching personnel, a lot more is needed to be done on job satisfaction among teachers.