Relation Between Locus of Control of College Teachers and Their Job Satisfaction

The purpose of study was to understand the relationship between locus of control o f college teachers and their job satisfaction. A sample of 150 teachers was selected from the d ifferent colleges of Amritsar city in Punjab, India. The tools used were locus of control scale and job satisfaction scale. The different statistical techniques like Pearson’s product moment coefficient of correlat ion, Mean, Standard error of d ifference between means and Ttest were used for the study. The study reveals a significant relationship between locus of control and job satisfaction of co llege teachers. Among male and female teachers, male teachers with high job satisfaction possess a better locus of control as compared to female co llege teachers with high job satisfaction.


Introduction
Empo werment, learn ing and problem solving are importa nt assets for any human being wishing to reach his fu ll potential and to deal with different problems. But in modern day society, the needs and desires of human are ever widening and ever en larging leading to so many problems. So, when his desires remain unfulfilled, he becomes depressed and unhappy. In such situations, different people perceive differently, the various situations arising due to unfulfillment of their desires, thereby affecting their behaviour. Some people hold chance, fate, God and other people responsible for the happenings of their life events while there are some people who believe in themselves, their own efforts and do hard work that leads to contentment and eternal happiness. Psychologically, this aspect of behaviour is called "Locus of Control".

Locus of Control
The concept of Locus of control was first proposed by Rotter [1] means power of direct ing. Ety mologically, locus of contro l t ells ab out t he p lace wh ere ou r b ehav iou r gets directions. It must be remembered that locus of control is a concept that has a s ignificant effect on ou r daily lives.
Rotter believed that if one finds a link between behaviour and rein forces, then one's behav iou r is affected by the reinforce. Worchel and Goethals [2] conclude that difference in perceived locus of control is important for ad justment in the world. Copper [3] stated locus of control as an important factor for achievement in life. Those with external locus of control believed that environ mental causes and situational factors as being more important than their own or internal factors [4,5]. But those with internal locus of control see the world through a more adaptive perspective. They believe that hard work and personal abilities will lead to positive outcomes. This makes them more likely to meet challenges and succeed in their endeavours.

Job S atisfacti on
Another variable that is important to this study is job satisfaction. In general satisfaction is defined as fulfillment or gratificat ion of desires, feelings, contentment, happiness and optimis m. So, Job satisfaction refers to inner contentme nt or happiness for an employee engaged in any job. It can be described as a positive emotional state resulting fro m evaluating one's job experiences and job dissatisfaction occurs when these expectations are not met [6]. It is a source of satisfaction of physiological, psychological and sociologi cal needs of an individual in h is work. Job satisfaction is overall a feeling about one's job or carrier (co mpensation, autonomy, co-wo rkers) which can be related to specific outcomes such as productivity. Robbins [7] described job satisfaction as an individual's general attitude towards the job. A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive attitude towards the job. Locke [8] defined job satisfaction as employee's affective response to various aspects of the job or job situations. According to Cranny et al [9] , job satisfaction is an effective reaction that results fro m the incumbents' comparison of actual outcomes with those that are desired. Stansbury and Zimmerman [10] concluded from their studies that job satisfaction is related to working conditions and level of professionalism is the key to success. Different researchers co-relates teacher autonomy to their job satisfaction [11,12].

Relation between Locus of Control and Job Satisfaction
Locus of control is a very important parameter for understanding the job satisfaction of a teacher. It may be understood as bipolar construct hanging from external to internal locus of control. Those who make choices primarily on their o wn and believe that control of future outcomes resides primarily in oneself are said to have internal loci or internal control while those who make decisions based more on what others desire and believe in the expectancy that control of events is outside oneself, either in the hands of other powerful persons or due to fate and chance, the decisions of their life are said to have external loci or external control. Generally stated, persons with a strong belief in internal control are more confident and assertive and are active searchers for information that help them to achieve their o wn objectives and are attracted to situations that offer opportunities of achievement. Spector [4,5] found that individuals with an internal locus of control should be more job satisfied because they were less likely to stay in a dissatisfying jobs and were mo re likely to be successful in organizations. Similarly, Kinick and Vecch io [13] reported that individuals who have internal loci are likely to be mo re committed to their organization than those who have external loci. Plu mly and Oliver [14] d iscuss the significant influence of locus of control on the job search process. Individuals with an internal locus of control are found to engage in mo re systematic explorat ion and have more info rmation than externals [15]. Th is suggests that an external orientation may reduce motivation to demonstrate certain types of explorato ry behaviour. Cu mins [16] conducted a study to examine the relationship between social support and locus of control in determining job satisfaction levels and stress. He found that the individuals with an internal loci were shown to be more satisfied with their jobs regardless of the stress levels while those with an external loci tended to be less satisfied with their job and relied upon supervisory support to reduce stress. Kasperson [17] co mp leted a study of hospital emp loyees, which revealed a high positive correlation between negative attitude and external locus of control wh ich resulted in a low satisfaction level with the job while those with positive attitude were generally more satisfied with outcomes because of the amount of control they had to make thing happen. Bruno [18] studied the influence of locus of control and job satisfaction on organizational co mmit ment and found that the combination of work locus of control and job satisfaction could significantly influence the organizat ional commit ment of med ical records personnel in university teaching hospitals. Co leman et al. [19] conducted a study on the relat ionship between work locus of control and organiza tional co mmit ment. The results revealed that internal work locus of control were related to affective co mmit ment, wh ile external work locus of control was associated with continua nce commit ment. Relationship between job characteristics, internal locus of control and job satisfaction of teachers was also studied by others [20][21][22][23][24]. Judge et al. [25] exp lored the effect of core evaluations on job satisfaction and life satisfaction. They found a significant relationship between self-esteem, generalized self-efficiency, locus of control, neuroticism and work outcomes. Even though one's actions may not have anything to do with an outcome, the belief that one can do greatly aid one's psychological well-being. The psychological well-being of a teacher is all the mo re important as he is the corner stone of entire educational arch. If teacher is satisfied with h is job, only then he will be happy, stable and leads a contented life but if he is unwell, all the time remains depressed and disturbed then he will do mo re harm than any good. So, locus of control seems to play an important role in the job satisfaction of a teacher. It is said "No one can rise above the level of a teacher." These words stress the need to pay attention towards the fact that if we want to have a good educational programme, we must have competent and contented teachers.

Objectives of the study
Following were the objectives of the present study:- To study relationship between locus of control of college teachers and their job satisfaction.  To study the locus of control of male and female college teachers in relation to their job satisfaction. The following hypothesis were drawn for the study  There exists a significant relat ionship between locus of control of college teachers and their job satisfaction.
 Male college teachers with high job satisfaction will not differ significantly in respect of locus of control fro m male college teachers with low job satisfaction  Male college teachers with high job satisfaction will not differ significantly in respect of locus of control fro m female college teachers with high job satisfaction  Female college teachers with high job satisfaction will not differ significantly in respect of locus of control from female college teachers with low job satisfaction in respect of locus of control.
 Female college teachers with low job satisfaction will not differ significantly in respect of locus of control from male college teachers with lo w job satisfaction in respect of locus of control.

Method
The present study was designed to study the relationship between locus of control and job satisfaction of college teachers. In order to study this, descriptive survey method of investigation was employed. It is an organized attempt to analyse, interpret and report the present status of a social institution, group or area.

Sample
For the co llect ion of relevant data, the sample in the present study includes 150 college teachers from various colleges of Amritsar city (Punjab) only. The samples consist of both male and female college teachers.

Tools used for the Study
 Locus of control scale (Internal-External Scale) -By Ro ma Pal [26]  Job satisfaction Scale -By S.K. Saxena [27] The purpose of both the scales was clearly exp lained to the subjects. It was assured that their replies would be kept confidential. The subjects were requested to read instructions carefully and to ask the tester, if there was any difficu lty in understanding the instruction. It was emphasized that no item should be omitted and there was nothing "right" and "wrong" about these questions. There was no time limit for the questionnaire. Ho wever, it took appro ximately 30 minutes to complete it.

Results and Discussion
To verify the above framed hypotheses, first of all data was collected fro m different college teachers of Amritsar city (Punjab) using locus of control scale and job satisfaction scale. The raw scores thus obtained were then tabulated for studying the locus of control as well as job satisfaction level of teachers fro m different colleges according to the criteria given in the manual of locus of control scale and job satisfaction scale respectively. Further, to verify the above stated hypotheses firstly Pearson's Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation (r) was calculated between locus of control and job satisfaction for the total sample as well as for male and female co llege teachers separately.
Then, in order to find the h igh and lo w level of job satisfaction among male and female co llege teachers, Kelley's formu la was used (according to which the upper 27%and lo wer 27% of the sample served as criterion groups). Using this formula, the number of college teachers falling in high and low level of job satisfaction were calculated and given in table 1 Thus, from the above table, it was found that a total of 70 college teachers (35 male and 35 female) fall in the category of average job satisfaction whereas 40 male and 40 female college teachers belong to high and low groups respectively. However, it was observed that teachers having average level of job satisfaction, possessed average locus of control and according to manual of locus of control, persons having average locus of control, are regarded to have balanced personality.

Hypothesis 1: there Exists a Significant Relationshi p between Locus of Control of College Teachers and their Job Satisfaction
For the verification of above hypothesis, Pearson's product mo ment coefficient of correlat ion (r) was calculated between locus of control and job satisfaction for the total sample as well as for male and female college teachers separately. In order to calculate r, mean scores were calculated for the total sample of 150 and for 75 males and 75 females separately on the variable of job satisfaction and locus of control respectively. The calculated value of 'r' has been shown in the table 2.  Table 2 shows correlation coefficient i.e. r-value of 0.64 and 0.61 for the male and female college teachers respectively on the variable of locus of control and job satisfaction, which come out to be significant at 0.01 level. This result clearly indicates that there exists a significant relationship between locus of control and job satisfaction of ma le and female college teachers. It also depicts correlation coefficient i.e. r-value of 0.6 for the total sample of 150 college teachers which is also significant. Therefore, it can be inferred fro m this value, that locus of control and job satisfaction of college teachers are related to each other. Thus, the above hypothesis is in line of confirmat ion with the assumption of the investigator that the said variables i.e. locus of control and job satisfaction are related to each other. Hence, this hypothesis is accepted in the light of above discussion.

Hypothesis 2: Male College Teachers with High Job Satisfaction will Differ Significantly in Respect of Locus of Control from Male College Teachers with Low Job Satisfaction
For the verification of above hypothesis, mean and standard deviation scores on the variable of locus of control were calculated for the two group of males, having high and low job satisfaction respectively. In order to see the significance of difference between the means of t wo samples,'t'-test of significance was applied. The calculated tvalue has been shown in the table 3.  Table 3 shows that mean values of locus of control o f male college teachers with high and low job satisfaction are 57.8 and 51.8 respectively. The calculated t-value of 7.8, among male college teachers with high and low job satisfaction on the variable locus of control was found significant at 0.01 level leading to the acceptance of hypothesis no. 2. This indicates that male co llege teachers with high job satisfaction differed significantly in respect of locus of control fro m male college teachers with low job satisfaction. Also, higher mean score in favour of male college teachers with high job satisfaction signified that this group possesses better locus of control in the present sample as co mpared to male college teachers with low job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 3: Male College Teachers with High Job Satisfaction will not Differ Significantly in Respect of Locus of Control From Female College Teachers wi th Low Job Satisfaction
For the verification of th ird hypothesis, Mean and Standard Deviation scores were calculated fo r males having high job satisfaction and females having low job satisfaction on the variable of locus of control. In order to see the significance of difference between the means of two samples, 't'-test of significance was applied. Then t-value has been calculated. All these values have been presented in the table 4.  Table 4 shows that mean values of locus of control o f male college teachers with h igh job satisfaction and female college teachers with low job satisfaction are 57.8 and 55.35 respectively. Also, the calculated t-value of 52.7 as embodied in above table came out to be highly significant. It can, therefore, be inferred that above hypothesis is not confirmed imp lying that there exist a significant difference among male college teachers with high job satisfaction from their female counterparts with low job satisfaction in respect of locus of control. So, in the present sample, higher mean score in favour of male college teachers with high job satisfaction reveal that this group possess a better locus of control as compared to female college teachers with low job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 4: Fe male College Teachers with High Job Satisfaction will Differ Significantl y in Res pect if Locus if Control from Female College Teachers wi th Low Job Satisfaction
For the verification of fourth hypothesis, mean and standard deviation scores were calculated for females having high job satisfaction and females having low job satisfaction on the variable of locus of control. In order to see the significance of difference between the means of two samples, 't'-test of significance was applied. Then calculated t-value has been calculated. All these values have been reported in the table 5  Table 5 depicts the t-ratio of 5.4 among females with high and low job satisfaction on the variable of locus of control, which is again significant. Also, the mean values of locus of control of females with h igh and low job satisfaction on the variable of locus of control are found to be 55.35 and 51.1 respectively. Thus, the fourth hypothesis is accepted, indicating that there exists a significant difference among females with high and low job satisfaction in respect of locus of control. This implies that their level of job satisfaction is affected if there is an increase or decrease in the level of locus of control. As mean score of female college teachers with high job satisfaction is more than female college teachers with low job satisfaction, so the above difference pointed out that female college teachers with high job satisfaction possess a better locus of control. For the verification of fifth hypothesis, mean and standard deviation scores were calculated for females and males having low job satisfaction on the variable of locus of control. In order to see the significance of difference between the means of t wo samp les, 't'-test of significance was applied. Then, t-value has been calculated. All these values have been reported in the table 6. Table 6 depicts the t-ratio of 1.17 among females and males with low job satisfaction on the variable of locus of control, which is insignificant. The mean value in both groups is almost similar. Ho wever, the insignificant t-value justify the assumption of the investigator that there exists no significant difference in the locus of control of female and male college teachers having low job satisfaction. So, in case of group with lo w job satisfaction, locus of control is independent of sex differences.

Conclusions
In the light of the analysis and interpretation of the data mentioned in the previous chapter, following conclusions were drawn: 1. There exists a significant relationship between locus of control and job satisfaction of male and female college teachers i.e. it was inferred that locus of control and job satisfaction of college teachers were related to each other.
2. Male college teachers with high job satisfaction differ significantly in respect of locus of control fro m male college teachers with low job satisfaction and higher mean score in favour of male college teachers with h igh job satisfaction signifies that this group possess a better locus of control in the present sample as compared to male co llege teachers with low job satisfaction.
3. There exists a significant difference among male college teachers with high job satisfaction fro m their female counterparts with low job satisfaction in respect of locus of control. Higher mean score in favour of male college teachers with high job satisfaction reveals that this group possess a better locus of control as compared to female college teachers with low job satisfaction.
4. There exists a significant difference among females with high and low job satisfaction in respect of locus of control. This implies that their level of job satisfaction is affected if there is an increase or decrease in the level of locus of control. As mean score of female college teachers with high job satisfaction is more than female college teachers with low job satisfaction, the female college teachers with high job satisfaction possess a better locus of control. 5. A mong lo w group of job satisfaction, it is found that locus of control is independent of sex d ifferences.

Recommendations
The investigator would like to advance some suggestions for the prospective research workers who may be interested in undertaking similar type of study.
1. First of all, the study depicting the locus of control of college teachers in relat ion to their job satisfaction may be conducted on a large sample to obtain more accurate and reliable results.
2. The study of locus of control of college teachers in relation to their job satisfaction may also be carried out at different levels viz. primary, secondary and University stage.
3. Teachers working in the rural areas may also be included in the study.
4. The study of locus of control of college teachers can also be taken with variables other than job satisfaction such as socio -economic status, social maturity and health etc. 5. Undoubtedly, Pearson's coefficient measures both the degree and direction of the correlation between two variables but it has some limitations viz. It assumes a linear relationship between the variables even though it may not be there, It is tedious to calculate, It is unduly affected by the values of extreme items. So, it is reco mmended to take 2*2 ANOVA design into consideration for the future studies.