Iranian Journal of Ergonomics

Introduction: Job involvement is defined as one’s psychological dependence on his/her job. Employees with high job involvement pay more attention to their job. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between teachers’ job involvement and demographic characteristics in Kermanshah (Iran) secondary schools during 2013.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 211 teachers (161 male and 50 female). Data were collected using the Job Involvement Scale. The collected data were analyzed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient, independent t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). P values less than 0.05 were considered significant.

Results: The teachers’ mean age and work experience were 32.21 and 8.49 years, respectively. Low, moderate, and high levels of job involvement were detected in 22.3%, 54.5%, and 23.2% of the teachers, respectively. Job involvement was significantly higher in married teachers than single subjects (p = 0.027). Moreover, teachers without a second job had higher job involvement than those with a second job (p = 0.006). There were no statistical correlations between job involvement and age, sex, work experience, or level of education.

Conclusion: The participating teachers generally had low-moderate levels of job involvement. Low salary, working multiple jobs, and low social prestige were mostly responsible for such low levels of job involvement. Therefore, increasing teachers’ salary, providing teachers with special facilities (e.g. low-interest loans), and developing a system for teachers’ promotion (similar to that existing for faculty members) can be effective in increasing job involvement among teachers

Background and Objectives: Quality of work life is one of the most important factors in promotion of teachers and having them continue their jobs. This study aimed at designing and evaluating a questionnaire for teachers’ work life quality. 
Methods: In this research, a sequential exploratory approach (instrument editing model) was used and in the qualitative stage, a semi-structured interview method was used to determine the quality of life of teachers. In the qualitative stage, indices of work life quality were identified using semi-structured interviews with 12 teachers (9 men and 3 women) of Karaj city (2014-2015 educational year) selected through purposive sampling method. The qualitative data was analyzed using Straus and Corbin method. Subsequently, a questionnaire of teachers’ working life quality was constructed based on these indices and was validiated in the quantitative stage.
Results: Content validity was confirmed by five experts using content validity index. A sample of 760 (387women) teachers selected through multistage cluster sampling were handed out two questionnaires including a researcher-made questionnaire of teachers quality of working life and Walton (1973) quality of work life questionnaire. Construct validity of the research-made questionnaire was examined using exploratory factor analysis. Eight factors were extracted and confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. Fit indices of model indicate compliance. Convergent validity was confirmed by its correlation with the quality of work life questionnaire (P<0.01). Reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0/74-0/88).
Conclusion: The results of the study indicated that the researcher-made questionnaire with regard to its design in the job context of Iranian teachers, with 54 items, is an appropriate tool for assessing the quality of their working life.