Purpose: The instructor-student relationship influences instructor job satisfaction. As the instructor-student relationship is created and maintained through communication, it makes sense that how instructors communicate in the classroom will be an expression of their satisfaction with their job. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between instructors’ job satisfaction and their perceptions of their own (a) self-efficacy for teaching, (b) motivation to teach, and (c) presentational traits (i.e., socio-communicative orientation, communicator style, and self-disclosure) while teaching. Method: Participants were 107 instructors, including 68 males and 39 females, representing 51 departments at a large Mid-Atlantic university. Instructors were solicited to participate through the campus mail system. Data were collected using a survey that included six scales. Specifically, participants completed the Teacher Satisfaction Scale (Plax, Kearney, & Downs, 1986), the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (Mottet, Beebe, Raffeld, & Medlock, 2004), a modified version of the Student Motivation Scale (Baringer & McCroskey, 2000), the Socio-Communicative Orientation Scale (Richmond & McCroskey, 1990), the Communicator Style Measure (Norton, 1978), and the Teacher Self-Disclosure Scale (Cayanus & Martin, 2008). Implications: Overall, these findings indicate that instructors who are satisfied perceive that they use positive, relational communication behaviors (e.g., responsive socio-communicative style, friendly communicator style) in the classroom. The fact that perceived use of potentially negative communication behaviors (e.g., assertive socio-communicative style, dominant communicator style) were not related to job satisfaction suggests that instructors communicatively take charge of the classroom independent of their satisfaction with teaching. In other words, both satisfied and unsatisfied instructors may enact argumentative behaviors while teaching. Interestingly, self-efficacy was not related to job satisfaction. It is possible that satisfied instructors do not report high levels of self-efficacy because they contemplate ways to improve their teaching abilities to enhance student learning in the classroom. In this study, motivated instructors were also satisfied. As the results do not show causality, it is important to note that motivation may lead instructors to be satisfied, or that job satisfaction may enhance feelings of motivation to teach. Future research should match self-reports of instructor job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and motivation to observations of instructor socio-communicative style, communicator style, and self-disclosure in the classroom.

1. “I Can’t Get No (Teacher) Satisfaction:”
Presentational Traits in Relation to Instructor Satisfaction
Rebecca K. DiClemente, Elizabeth A. Ditrinco, & Kaitlyn E. Gibbons – West Virginia University
Introduction Results
An instructor’s job satisfaction is influenced by the interaction they have with their students (Klassen, Usher, & Bong, 2010). As the Self-Efficacy
instructor-student relationship is created and maintained through communication, it makes sense that how instructors communicate in
the classroom will be an expression of their satisfaction with their job. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship Instructor satisfaction was not related to self-reported self-efficacy for
between instructors’ job satisfaction and their perceptions of their own (a) self-efficacy for teaching, (b) motivation to teach, and (c) teaching.
presentational traits (i.e., socio-communicative orientation, communicator style, and self-disclosure) while teaching.
Motivation
Instructor satisfaction was positively related to self-reported motivation for
Method teaching.
Participants Socio-Communicative Orientation
Participants were 107 college instructors who were Instructor satisfaction was positively related to self-reported use of
recruited via campus mail to complete a written survey. responsive socio-communicative style in the classroom.
Survey Instructor satisfaction was not related to self-reported use of assertive
socio-communicative style in the classroom.
The survey included quantitative measures of job
satisfaction, teaching self-efficacy, teaching motivation,
socio-communicative orientation, communicator style,
Communicator Style
and self-disclosure.
Instructor satisfaction was positively related to self-reported use of
* See the handout for a list of scales used in the study. attentive, friendly, open, relaxed, and impression-leaving communicator
styles in the classroom.
Instructor satisfaction was not related to self-reported use of animated,
dramatic, contentious, dominant, or precise communicator styles in the
References Implications classroom.
Klassen, R. M., Usher, E. L., & Bong, M. (2010). Instructors who are satisfied also see themselves as using positive, relational communication Self-Disclosure
Teachers’ collective efficacy, job satisfaction, and
job stress in cross-cultural context. The Journal of
behaviors in the classroom. The fact that perceived use of potentially negative communication
Experimental Education, 78, 464-486. behaviors were not related to job satisfaction suggests that instructors communicatively take Instructor satisfaction was not related to self-reported use of self-disclosure
doi:10.1080/00220970903292975 charge of the classroom independent of their satisfaction with teaching. in the classroom.