Jobs

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

JOB SATISFACTION AS CORRELATES OF TEACHER
ABSENTEEISM IN RURAL PUBLIC SECONDARY
SCHOOL IN ABIA STATE
Duvie, Adanma N.
Department of Agricultural Education
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike and Okorie, Florence U.
Staff School, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine job satisfaction variables as correlates of teacher absenteeism in rural public secondary schools in Abia
State. The study is a descriptive survey based on a correlational design. The population of study is 118 teachers in the rural public junior and senior secondary schools of Abia State. Ikwuano, one of the oldest rural local government areas of Abia State was purposefully selected having well established schools and strong school traditions. Stratified sampling was applied in the selection of the schools to include, boys and girls’ schools as well as coeducational schools. The total population of teachers was used in the study because of the number. The instrument used in the data collection which went through item analysis comprised Job Satisfaction Questionnaire
(JSQ) and Teacher Absenteeism Questionnaire (TAQ). Stepwise multiple regressions were applied in the analysis. The findings of the study revealed that where teachers are not given opportunities to exchange roles or duties or learn new skills, they intend to absent themselves from work. The study also revealed that the more unutilized periods the teachers have and the more the teachers are compelled to discuss the academic performances of their students, the more they absented themselves from work. The study recommends that teachers should not hold unto one schedule of duty in the school for too long. They should be made to utilize all the periods allocated to subjects as well as encouraged to acquire new skills through in-service training to motivate them and bring absenteeism to its barest minimum.

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

Introduction
Job
satisfaction and teacher absenteeism in public secondary schools in Nigeria have been a topical issue for several years now.
Teachers at this level have from time to time demanded for a better working condition to enable them met their needs. Most of the schools infrastructures are always at various levels of decay, teachers’ salaries are low compared with the importance of their services while they are sometimes paid three to four months in arrears in many states. All these have resulted in the society not having much regard for teachers in general. For instance, an advert for the rentage of an apartment some time as far back as 1982 in one of the southern state read thus “House for rentage. Teachers need not apply”.
However teachers have been battling with their demands undetered through ultimatums, warning strikes and total strikes. Taking Abia State as a t ypical Nigerian state, the story is not different. The teachers have been fighting for several years over better working conditions. In 2009 the teachers after several warning strikes went on a total strike for almost three months to press home their demand which included the payment of the new teachers’ salary structure popularly known as TSS. This salary structure is a specialized salary scale peculiar to teachers as professionals.
Apart from their complaints about low and irregular payment, the

working environment of the teachers is not conducive for serious academic exercise. Despite the spirited intervention by the universal Basic
Education Commission (UBEC) through the various states’ Basic
Education Bo ards in renovating and painting some of the classrooms and offices, a good number of school buildings at the junior secondary level are still at various stages of dilapidation. The situation is worse in the senior secondary schools which are the full respo nsibility of the state ministry of education. The condition of educational infrastructures at the rural areas is more pitiable compared with the urban areas particularly in places that are remote.
Transportation in the rural areas is another huddle the teacher needs to surmount as well as housing since secondary schools have seized to provide accommodation for teachers since 1970 when all schools from primary to secondary were taken over from the voluntary agencies and private proprietors by the government. Because of the remoteness of rural secondary schools and the problems they encounter in addition to the normal teacher problems of non payment of a living wage and irregular payment of these wages, the teachers in the rural areas are alleged to engage in other sources of income such as trading or farming to augment their income By so doing they frequently absent themselves from work in addition to

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

the strike period. The remoteness of the schools gives them the confidence that the schools supervisors many not bother themselves to get to such areas. This is alleged to have given rise to students’ poor performances in the junior and senior school certificate examinations. On the other hand the postings of teachers to the rural areas are alleged to be punitive consequently any teacher posted to the rural area regards himself or herself as a victimized person. This sometimes may lead to lack of commitment to work and in extreme cases absence from work.
Teachers on their part are alleged to engage themselves seriously in various forms of businesses particularly during official hours, thus leaving the students to their fate. Some teachers are alleged to be perpetual late comers to school.
Another group when in school hardly teach, they engage themselves in the sale of their wares to their fellow teachers or even move out of the school premises to do so during official hours. There are still others who do not seem to bother to show up at school at all particularly in the rural areas until it is time for salaries to be paid.
With the grave consequences of teacher absenteeism in public secondary schools there is the need for policy makers to have a clear and sincere understanding of the factors associated with teacher motivation and consequent job satisfaction in

order to attract committed high quality people into the teaching profession. This paper intends to identify the job satisfaction variables which are correlates of absenteeism to enable policy makers isolate and handle them.
Theoretical Framework
Bobbitt et al (1994) and Choy et al
(1993) identified a variety of extrinsic factors that have been associated with teacher job satisfaction. These include salary, promotion prospects, and relationship with Co -workers and Supervisors, recognition, work condition (condition of Service) and fairness.
These extrinsic factors are not under the control of the employee. However
Perie and Baker (1997) and
Buitendach and De white, (2005) noted that there were two factor influencing job satisfaction which were either extrinsic or intrinsic.
Intrinsic factors according to them were purely under the control of the employee. Lee Dedrick and Smith
(1991) as cited also by Perie and
Baker (1997) identified such factors as the individuals’ level of education, his or her intelligence, abilities, mental status or control over class room environment as intrinsic factors. Because the teacher has control over the intrinsic factors and can manipulate them, this paper decided to investigate the extrinsic factors the teacher has no control over which are the extrinsic factors.

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

The extrinsic factors adopted in this paper include pay, promotion prospects, relationship with coworkers and supervisors of schools, general working condition, and opportunity to acquire new skills and work activities. The teachers seem to be more concerned with these factors.
Beverly
(2005) referred to absenteeism as employees not showing up for work when scheduled while Casio (2003) referred to it as any failure of an employee to report for or to remain at work as scheduled, regardless of the reason. Because of the various definitions of absenteeism, the Australian faculty of
Occupational medicine (AFOM
1999) suggested that the adoption of a standardized method recording of absenteeism by organizations which would be adopted universally would save the situation. Consequent upon that, two forms of absenteeism were identified, planned and unplanned.
Planned absence is formed in part by sanctioned leave such as annual leave, leave of absence and any other non- illness related leave. Unplanned absence usually regarded as a more generalized definition of absenteeism include, non- attendance at work when work attendance is scheduled.
This could be sick leave, casual leave, time lost during industrial disputes, leave as a result of injury sustained at workplace. In this paper absenteeism was defined as unplanned absence which is nonattendance at work where work

attendance is scheduled such as sick leave, casual leave time loss due to industrial disputes and leave as a result of injury sustained at work.
Tykzak, (1990) found that absenteeism is influenced by dozens of interrelated factors which make it difficult to quantify, qualify or rectify it. One of these factors which have been cited by different researchers is an employee’s level of job satisfaction in the work place,
(Steers, Porter and Bigley, 1996;
George and Jones 2002; Mc Shane,
1984) as cited by Steers et al (1996) asserted that the employees who are dissatisfied with various aspects of their jobs are more likely to be absent from work. This implies that if the rural public secondary school teachers are not satisfied with the various aspects of their job such as pay, promotion prospects, supervisors, working environment,
Co-worker relationship, opportunity to acquire new skills or their work activities in the school, are likely to absent themselves from work.
On the other hand, Lutherns
(1995) noted that wages and salaries are recognized to be a significant, but complex multidimensional predictor of job satisfaction. This implies that the relationship could go in various ways. Spector (1979) and Berkowitz
(1978) found a correlation between the level of pay and job satisfaction to be surprisingly small, which suggests that pay in itself, is not a very strong factor influencing job

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

satisfaction. This implies that the influence of pay in the present study may not be strong as expected.
This study also investigated the influence of irregular or late payment of teacher salaries which is an occurrence in most state schools in
Nigeria. It is normal for teachers to be owed salaries up to four month in many state schools. Since this aspect has never been investigated as it is strange to developed countries this paper investigated it to see how it influences absenteeism.
Luthans (1995) noted that the content of the work performed by employees is a major predictor of job satisfaction. This implies that the nature of any other assignment given to the teacher, including the actual teaching involving the use of his or her skills and abilities as well as the degree of independence given him or her to perform his or her duties will have impact on his or her job satisfaction. Robbins (2005) asserted that employees tend to prefer jobs which afford them the opportunity, variety and freedom as well as jobs that give them constant feedback on how well they are doing.
This implies that the rural teachers if not given opportunity to improve on themselves professionally or get some variety of experience in terms of changing roles from time to time with other colleagues or some freedom to use their talents, skills or abilities as they deem fit or get feedback from supervisors or senior

colleagues on how well they were doing may not give them job satisfaction. Friday and Friday (2003) on their part pointed out that if a job is highly motivating, employees are likely to be satisfied with the job content and deliver higher quality work, which in turn leads to lower rates of absenteeism. As rightly pointed out by steer and Rhodes
(1978) motivation is a determinant of absenteeism. Consequently where teachers are satisfied with various aspects of their job they are likely to be motivated and the issue of absenteeism will be reduced to its barest minimum.
Robbins (1989) found that fair and unambiguous promotion policies and practices promote job satisfaction. Although teachers in the state schools are not promoted according to their performance rather they are promoted according to year of graduation on mass, which should take care of reference perso ns.
However at a certain level, people are selected politically and promoted to the ranks of permanent secretaries which is the peak of their career and directors in the ministry thus making them leave the classroom.
Aamodt, (2004) found that people who enjoy working with their supervisor will be more satisfied with their jobs. This implies that teachers in the public rural secondary schools who enjoy working with their supervisors will be satisfied with their jobs. They would be willing to

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

take corrections and improve on their performances while their students will excel. Researchers have also shown that employee satisfaction increases if the immediate supervisor is emotionally supportive Egan and
Kadushin (2004) and Schlossberg
(1997) as cited by Connolly and
Myers, (2003). This implies that if the subject unit heads are emotionally supportive to their subordinate, the job satisfaction of all the staff will increase. The converse will lead to lack of job satisfaction and consequent absenteeism.
Studies have also shown that employees prefer physical surroundings that are safe, clean comfortable and with minimum degree of distraction (Robbins 2005).
This implies that the rural public schools which have a relative minimum degree of distraction compared to urban schools may have a low degree or rate of teacher absenteeism as it will increase the teachers’ job satisfaction. Jenkins et al (1992) views absenteeism as a withdrawal response from perceived or actual adverse working environment consequently any factor that does not promote job satisfaction promotes withdrawal response at any given opportunity.
The study of absenteeism has always involved the use of demographic variables (Goldbery and Waldman,
2000) According to price (1995) the demographic variables can assist in the construction of causal models

which will help in the management of organizations. Consequent upon this the influence of the following demographic variables were explored, these were, gender, age, length of service, educational qualification and state of origin of the teacher. The states of origin of the teachers were investigated because ethnicity is a political weapon in
Nigeria which can make or mar an institution. In their various investigations, Johnson et al (2003);
Lau et al (2003); Voss, Floderus and
Diderichsen (2001) found that absenteeism is negatively related to age. This implies that absenteeism in this study would be more rampant with younger teachers. Siu (2002) and Voss et al (2001) on the other hand made a contrary finding. They found that older workers were more prone to sickness absence than younger workers. The reason being the health deterioration of older employees and longer recovery period (Robbins et al 2003). This may not necessarily apply in this case as injuries are not quite common with the teaching profession. Hogue and
Islam (2003) found no significant relationship between age and absenteeism. These findings led
Rhodes (1983) as cited by
Martocchio (1989) to conclude that, the relationship between age and absenteeism may depend on the type of absence measured, whether the job is physically demanding, the employee’s gender and

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

inconsistencies in absence classification. In summary early job satisfaction researches emphasized the underlying assumptions that inability o f workers to be satisfied with their jobs as cited by Steers et al
(1996) represents the primary cause of absenteeism. This work is therefore intended to identify job satisfaction as a correlate of teacher absenteeism in rural public secondary schools in Abia State. A secondary intent of the author is to compare the potencies of the moderating demographic variables, if they exert any influence on the teacher absenteeism in rural public secondary schools in Abia state.
The Problem
Job satisfaction has been studied widely and has been linked to organizational commitment (Ostroff,
1992, Mathieu 1991) as cited by
Perie
and
Baker
(1997).
Organizational commitment is the relative strength of worker’s identification and involvement in the organization in which he o r she works. Where a rural public school teacher is dissatisfied with his job in terms of lack of or poor accommodation, dilapidated school infrastructure, poor salary, irregular salary, poor promotion opportunities, poor staff relations and many other factors, commitment to the system would be poor and the person can react in various ways such as refusing

to identify with the system by physically removing himself or herself from the school environment at the least opportunity. However there is no empirical data or evidence in Abia State to support these assertions, there is therefore the need to fully investigate these problems in order to provide data that would support these positions.
Hypotheses
Ho1: Job Satisfaction will make no significant contribution to the explanation of teacher absenteeism in rural public secondary schools.
Ho11: Job
Satisfaction
and demographic variables will make no significant contribut ion to the explanation of teacher absenteeism in rural public secondary schools.
Methodology
This study is a descriptive survey based on a correlational design.
Selection of Samples
One rural local government was selected purposefully from 10 purely rural local government areas in Abia state. Ikwuano Local Government
Area was selected, being one of the oldest rural local government areas in
Abia State. One local government area was chosen because ten percent is the minimum sample required for a descriptive research
Nwankwo
(1984).
Rural local government areas were identified by lack of some of the specific government functional Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

amenities such as high courts hospitals, police stations and not posts, modern markets well layed out streets, with the houses numbered serially, electrification and others.
Ikwuano Local Government Area
(LGA) being one of the oldest rural
LGA’s in Abia State existing during colonial days does not have all these amenities but has some well established schools with entrenched school traditions. It has 9 and 11 senior and junior secondary schools respectively. Out o f these, 3 senior and 3, junior secondary schools were selected respectively by stratified sampling. The total number of teachers in the sample rural secondary schools was
118 out of which 55 and 63 were in the junior and senior secondary respectively. Considering the small number of the teachers, the total population was utilized in the study
Instrumentation
For the purpose of this study a questionnaire was considered the appropriate data gathering instrument being a survey. It is also cheaper to handle and easier to analyze when structured (Weiers, 1988). The questionnaire used for this study was made up of three sections.
Section A – socio – demographic variables Section B – Job Satisfaction survey
Section C – Unplanned absence from work survey1

Job Satisfaction Questionnaire
(JSQ)
The career Resource Center (2005)
Identified among others specific areas of job as the actual features of the Job. These include, the opinion of other people in the work place, the individual personality type and the correlation to the respective job.
Satisfaction
with co -workers, supervision, remuneration were identified as other facets of job satisfaction (Griffeth Home and
Gaertner, 2000). These make up the job description index.
Job satisfaction was measured in terms of job Description Index (JDI).
This is the most commonly used index to measure job satisfaction became it is very reliable and has impressive array of validation evidence behind it (cooper and Locke
2000). The JDI facets were modified into 7 variables viz, pay, promotion potentials, use of skills, work activities, relationship with coworkers relationship with supervisors and general working conditions.
From these a job satisfaction questionnaire (JSQ) was designed.
Test items were written under each job satisfaction sub heading and participants were made to self report on them. Questions such as “How satisfied are you with your present salary”, “the rate at which your salary comes”, “the implementation of the recommendations of school supervisors”, “yo ur relationship with your colleagues” etc. were asked. The

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

instrument for job satisfaction was adapted to a compact measure of job satisfaction developed by Stanton et al (2001).
The participants were to respond to them on a 4-point likert-type scale.
The highest point on the scale was 4 while the lowest point was 1.
Teacher
Absenteeism
Questionnaire (TAQ):
On
absenteeism, a teacher absenteeism questionnaire (TAQ) was designed. It was observed that many schools in the state had no proper record of teachers attendance and movement books. Only a few absence were recorded in the absence logbook and movement books.
In the absence of these documents and their authorized unplanned leave documents, the study relied on self – report questionnaire. Participants were asked to report on how often they had been absent from work in the last six month. The collection of data for only the last six months was to save the respondents the trouble of trying to remember what happened over a longer period (Rentschend
Steel, 1998 as cited by Goldbery and
Waldman 2000). Supervisory ratings were also obtained from the immediate heads of department or

unit to corroborate the participants’ responses. Instrument Validation
The internal consistency correlation was applied in the validation of the measuring instrument.
The
Cronbach’s alpha coefficient obtained for job satisfaction
Questionnaire (JSQ) was 0.7 while teacher absenteeism had an alpha coefficient of 0.6650.
Test Administration
The Sample schools were visited and total of 118 copies of the questionnaires were administered.
Out of this 63 was distributed to the
Senior Secondary School teachers while 55 was given to the junior secondary school teachers. At the end
98 properly completed copies were returned. Fifty one (51) and 47 completed copies were returned by the senior and junior Secondary teachers respectively.
Method of Data Analysis
Multiple regression was used in the analysis of the data considering the large number of variables involved.
This was done stepwise to gradually eliminate the variable that are not correlates of absenteeism. The critical level of significance for all the analysis was not greater than 0.05.

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

Table 1
Distribution of Rural Sample by variables of Classification.
Variable Variable description
Responses NK Percentage number N = 98
Number of respondents per type of
Senior
51
56
1. M
Secondary School
Junior
47
54
2. (M)
Location of Secondary School
Rural
98
100
3.

(M) Gender of respondent

Male
Female

10
88

10.2
89.8*

4.

Age of respondents

0
24
44
30

0
24.5
44.9*
30.6

5.

Length of Service in year

40
14
34
10

4.8
14.3
34.7*
10.2

6.

(M) Salary Grade Level

30
30
28
10

30.6*
30.6*
28.6
10.2

7.

Highest Educational Qualification

20-29
30-39
40-49
50 & above 1–9
10-18
19-27
28 & above 7–9
10-12
13-15
16 & above NCE
B.Ed
M.Ed
Ph.D

10
74
14
0

10.2
75.5*
14.3
0

8.

(M) State of origin of Respondents

Abia
Others
NK = Size of Subgroup K * = Largest Subgroup
M = Major with respect to variable in the title of paper.

95
3

96.9*
3.1

Sample Description
Table 1 gives an outlay of the distribution of the total population by variables of classification. Fifty six percent of the respondents came from

senior Secondary Schools while fifty four percent came from the junior secondary. This implies that there is equal representation of teachers from

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

both senior and junior secondary. In terms of gender 10.2% and 89.8% were males and females respectively.
This indicates that the female population is overwhelming in the sample and will override the opinion of male teachers. There was no respondent in the age bracket of 2029, but 24.5%, 44.9% and 30.6% represented the following age ranges respectively, 30-39,40-49, 50 and above. This indicates that young people hardly go to rural areas to teach. On the other hand the opinion of the teachers here will be that of experienced ones.
In terms of years of service
4.8% of respondents fell within the range of 1-9 yrs of service, 14.3%,
10-18, 34.7% 19-27 and 10.2% 28 and above respectively. This shows that teachers with long service are fond in the rural areas although this may not have much to do with their qualifications considering their salary grade levels. In terms of salary grade level 30.6% respondents fell within the grade levels of 7-9 and 10-12 while 28.6% and 10.2% fell within the grade levels of 13 – 15 and 16 and above. This indicates that 72% of the teachers in this rural area are between level 7-12 while 28% are on levels 13 to 16 and above. This implies that despite the large number of long service teachers in the rural areas they are not high salaried people. These are likely to be those

who grew through the ranks of
Nigeria certificate in education
(NCE) while a number ended up as degree holders probably through sandwich programmes. In terms of educational qualification 75.5% of the teachers were first degree holders while 14.3% and 10.2% were masters’ degree holders and NCE holders respectively. The largest sub group is the first degree holders,
75%. The summary of it all is that teachers posted to rural schools are not young, they have long service and are not on high salary grades, which means that most of them are likely to be sandwich products.
Ninety six point nine percentages of the teachers were Abia state indigene while 3.1% were made up of teachers from other states. This shows that Abia indigenous teachers form the larger sub group which is likely to have influence on the result.
However, where the total sample did not add up to 100%, it was due to undeclared or missing cases during the computer analysis.
The minimum probability level for entry of variable into the equation or model in this study was not greater than 0.15.
Results
Ho1: Job Satisfaction significantly explain absenteeism at work secondary schools.

will not teacher in rural

Duvie et. Al. Review of Education Institute of Education Journal, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Vol. 23. No.1. 137- 155

Table II
Regression of absenteeism on teacher job satisfaction at work.
Index
Beta
SEB
T. Value
Pr>t
R2 variable in model
Intercept
3.67677 0.33348 11.03***