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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 46 (2012) 1598 1608

WCES 2012

Job satisfaction, organizational commitment and demographic

characteristics among teachers in Turkey: Younger is better?
Ilhami Yucel *, Cetin Bektas
Erzincan University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Erzincan 24078, Turkey

Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between teachers job satisfaction and organizational commitment and evaluates whether
teachers age moderates the relationship between their job satisfaction and organizational commitment in Turkey case. All
constructs were measured using instruments sourced from the extant literature and the questionnaire used in this study is
designed to examine the relationships between job satisfaction, organizational commitment and age among teachers. The study
specifically targeted teachers in secondary schools. In all, 432 copies of the questionnaire were distributed; 173 were returned
and sixteen of them were excluded because they were incomplete; giving a response rate of 36%, which was deemed acceptable.
The results of this study have some important implications for school managers and teachers. Organizational commitment
positively correlated with job satisfaction. We suggest that age differences among teachers have moderating effect on
relationships between their job satisfaction and organizational commitment and these relationships are nonlinear. The role of age
in relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment is worth investigating further. Our findings highlight the
need to consider differences of teachers age and school authorities need to develop strategies to deal with the needs of those
teachers who experience less job satisfaction and commitment.
2012
2012Published
PublishedbybyElsevier
Elsevier
Ltd.

Ltd.
Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Hseyin Uzunboylu
Keywords: Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and age.

1. Introduction
The question of who an older worker is, has been debated in the literature for a long time and there is no
consensus about who is and who is not an older worker. In the retirement literature, older workers are often
identified by years needed to reach retirement age or as having reached retirement age (Beehr, 1986). Using the U.S.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 as a guide, Ng and Feldmans (2008) defines older workers as
those who are age 40 or older. Nevertheless, most scholars would say age 40 falls within the baby boomer
generation so age 40 and over would be a coarse categorization of an older worker. Age is basically a measure of
time which may form a series of temporal marker.

* lhami Ycel. Tel.: +90-446-225-2092

E-mail address:iyucel@erzincan.edu.tr

1877-0428 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Hseyin Uzunboylu
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.05.346

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Johns (2001) noted that time often substitutes for contextual changes by emphasizing the importance of context
in interpreting attitudes and behavior. Hence, age is weaved surreptitiously into the work context and it is an
important measure of time. In our study, we focus on five age cohorts, which give us a similar but broader
conceptualization to recent work on generational differences (Twenge, 2010; Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman, &
Lance, 2010).
Prior research has recognized demographic variables such as age, sex, education, job level, and organization
tenure as potential predictors of organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990) and
leadership outcomes (Walumbwa, Wu, & Ojode, 2004). Age is basically a measure of time which may form a series
of temporal marker. Johns (2001) noted that time often substitutes for contextual changes by emphasizing the
importance of context in interpreting attitudes and behavior. Therefore, age is an important measure of time and it is
weaved surreptitiously into the work context. For example, research suggests that employees who have stayed with
an organization for a long time or are older are likely to become emotionally involved with the organization
(Riordan, Griffith, & Weatherly, 2003).
The prevailing evidence suggests that age and organizational commitment are significantly related. However, it is
unclear as to the form of this relationship as some studies such as Cohen (1993) found a U-shaped relationship
between age and commitment. Our goal is to offer a framework that more substantively reveals if and when age
cohort differences in relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment will emanate. Our
research offers several major contributions to the age cohort literature. First, we examine age cohort differences in
commitment across the teacher in a Turkish context. In our Turkish context, where the teachers frequently include
various age cohorts, we are able to examine age cohort differences in commitment within the teachers. Also, in
recent years, researchers have called for a re-examination of current social science theories with the goal of
determining if they are generalizable to non-Western individuals (Hofstede, 2001; House, Hanges, Javidan,
Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). Second, we predict that a simple linear relationship may not capture the differences
among age cohorts and thus offer nonlinear arguments based on the notion that middle age teachers differ
significantly from both younger and older teachers. Third, we introduce job satisfaction, as an important moderator
of the age, to commitment relationship. Therefore, we are able to discern which age cohorts react more favorably to
job satisfaction from the teachers as evident in higher affective and less continuance commitment. The next section
offers a literature review and theoretical hypotheses.
2. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment
Job satisfaction is that one of the most frequently measured organizational variables in both research and applied
settings and that has been widely studied in organizational behavior and organizational psychology (Spector, 1997)
because job satisfaction can be an important indicator of how workers feel about their jobs and a predictor of work
behaviors such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. (Mount, 2006). Job satisfaction is
refers to people's self-assessments about the extent to which they like or dislike their jobs (Spector, 1997). It could
include specific interactions related to affective behaviors including: pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits of
employment, contingent rewards, operating conditions, coworkers, nature of work, and communication (Spector,
1997; Wegge et al., 2007). Buitendach and de Witte (2005) proffer the view that job satisfaction relates to an
including needs, values and expectations.
Organizational commitment has also an important place in the study of organizational behaviors since the studies
have found relationships between organizational commitment and attitudes and behaviors in the workplace ( Koch
& Steers, 1978; Angle & Perry, 1981). Mowday, Porter and Steers (1979) defined organizational commitment as a
organization. Commitment to organization is linked to very important work-related factors: employee turnover,
absenteeism and performance (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979; Walton, 1985). Organizational commitment is
regularly conceptualized as an affective attachment to an organization as a consequence of an individual sharing the

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organization (Mowday et al., 1979). Previous examinations of commitment reveal that it deals
identification and involvement with an organization (Porter, Steers, Mowday, & Bouhan, 1974). When thought of
this way, commitment is beyond passive loyalty, it involves an active relationship wherein individuals are willing to
give
accepted thoughts on commitment are that it is an indicator of employees who are strongly committed to an
organization and are least likely to leave, hence it is a psychological state that binds an individual to an organization
relationship with the organizational and the decision the employee makes to continue membership in the
organization (Meyer & Allen, 1991).
Several studies have viewed job satisfaction as an antecedent to organizational commitment, and organizational
citizenship behavior (Bateman & Organ, 1983; Koch & Steers, 1978; Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1969; Vandenberg &
Lance, 1992), while others have considered job satisfaction as an antecedent of organizational commitment only
(Williams & Hazer, 1986). Nguni, Sleegers, and Denessen (2006) noted that research was not conclusive on the
causal order of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior. Most studies
have shown a positive, but not always strong, relationship between job dissatisfaction and behavioral responses such
as absenteeism and turnover (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2004; Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2005). Evidence indicates that
dissatisfied workers have higher turnover and absence rate than satisfied workers (Smith et al., 1969). In his metaanalytical study, Hellman (1997) found a significant and consistent inverse relationship between the level of job
satisfaction and workers' intentions to quit their jobs. Turnover intentions were negatively related to job satisfaction
and job security, and positively related to level of educational attainment. Sousa-Poza and Henneberger (2002)
turnovers. Nguni, Sleegers, and Denessen (2006) observed that transformational leadership dimensions had strong
effects on teachers' job satisfaction. They stated that transformational leadership had significant add-on effects to
transactional leadership in the prediction of job satisfaction. In their qualitative and quantitative (meta-analytic)
review, Judge et al. (2001) found a moderate correlation (p = .30) between job satisfaction and job performance.
Bowling (2007) found evidence to support the view that the relationship between job satisfaction and job
performance is spurious with the relationship being partially eliminated after controlling for general personality
traits. Although performance and other criteria such organizational citizenship behaviors are important, this study
only investigated the relationship between job satisfaction and intentions to quit. Various studies have been
conducted to determine if there is a difference in the levels of job satisfaction experienced by men and women. Tang
and Talpade (1999) found males to have higher satisfaction with pay than females, but the latter had higher
satisfaction with coworkers. As long as they are satisfied with other job attributes that are more important to them,
be stated as their willingness and preparedness to stay in the teaching profession. Anderman, Belzer and Smith
(1991) suggested that a school culture is related to teacher satisfaction and commitment and that working
environments within schools that are highly predictive of teacher satisfaction and commitment. Blood, Ridenour,
Thomas, Qualls and Hammer (2002) that the longer they remained in their jobs, the more likely they were to report
higher levels of job satisfaction in their research on speech language pathologists working in public schools,. Rice
and Schneider (1994) stated that the level of participation in decision-making and autonomy are contributory factors
in their levels of job satisfaction for teachers in Australia. Shan (1998) stated that teacher job satisfaction is a
determinant of teacher commitment.
3. Age as moderator of the job satisfaction and organizational commitment relationship
Empirical evidence overwhelmingly supports a positive linear relationship between chronological age and both
global and facet job satisfaction (Herzberg, Mausner, Peterson, & Capwell, 1987; Rhodes, 1983). This indicates that
older employees are generally more satisfied with their job than younger employees, a finding that holds across

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various types of organizations, among white and blue-collar workers, across genders (Rhodes, 1983) and education
levels (Herzberg et al., 1987).
integration and they argue that the negative effects of either group-level or individual-level age demography on
-Gleed, 2002). Meta-analytic evidence has
generally shown that there are small but significant positive associations between age and organizational
commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1993; Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002). Some empirical evidence
shows that age differences in affective commitment are influenced by different work characteristics. Finegold,
Mohrman, and Spreitzer (2002) surveyed a large sample of technical workers employed in various organizations and
found a positive association between age and organizational commitment. Finegold et al. (2002) found that
satisfaction with job security was most strongly linked to commitment among older workers, whereas satisfaction
relationship with intention to leave among individuals under 30 in age.
Age and tenure are considered the important antecedents of organizational commitment as they are the main
indicators of side-bets (Becker, 1960). Organizational commitment and age have been found to be positively related
in a number of studies (Allen and Meyer, 1993; Salami, 2008; Suliman and Lies, 2000). However, not all studies
have confirmed the relationship of age with organizational commitment (Chugtai & Zafar, 2006; Iqbal, 2010; Kwon
& Banks, 2004). Older employees view their past years of service to the organization as an investment, and will
have the psychological barrier that it would be more difficult for them to shift from one job to another. Long-service
employees also develop affective attachment to their organization, therefore; they tend to be more committed to the
organization (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002; Suliman & Lies, 2000).
Researchers examining the relation between age and commitment using the career-stage models have found
mixed results. Allen and Meyer (1993) examined the relationship between commitment and career stages based on
age and job tenure using a sample of library employees and a sample of clerical, supervisory, and management
personnel in a hospital. They found that affective commitment was more strongly associated with age than tenure.
They argue that this finding suggests that it is not only better experiences for older workers, but possible cohort
effects, that lead to increased commitment. Smola and Sutton (2002) suggested that work values of generational
cohorts have changed over time. Younger employees may be more apt to change jobs as this has become more
socially acceptable for them in recent years. Kaiser (2005) examined the relationship between the four generations
of employees working for a community college and organizational commitment values. Kaiser (2005) found higher
commitment levels for Baby Boomers and Generation X generations than for Veteran and Millennials (people born
between 1982 and the present) generations. Kaiser concluded there was variation in organizational commitment
between all four generations based on statistically significant results. Kumar and Giri's (2009) study of 380
employees working at junior, middle, and top level management from various public and private organizations,
mostly banking and telecom in India reported that job satisfaction and organizational commitment differed
significantly across. Results revealed that job satisfaction and organizational commitment differed significantly
across the different career stages of employees.
The literature provides substantial evidence of a positive, linear relationship between age and overall job
satisfaction. Evidence of curvilinear relationships is less frequently reported and of these, U-shaped relationships
predominate, while inverted-U patterns are exceptional. The often-found positive linear pattern is not universal,
however, although evidence of other patterns appears less frequently in the literature. The negative linear pattern
between age and overall job satisfaction is only rarely reported and may be associated with particular contexts or
sample characteristics. For example, in her study of U. S. Air Force pilots, Shriver (1953) reported a negative linear
association between age and job satisfaction. Shriver explained that decreasing job satisfaction was related to
various age-related changes. Shriver proposed that declining job satisfaction was probably due to the sensitivity of
Air Force pilots to age related physiological and cognitive changes. Such curvilinear type theoretical logic does exist
in job satisfaction theory. Some studies found evidence of a U-shaped curvilinear relationship, where satisfaction
falls for several years and gradually rises through that years, rising sharply just before retirement (Clark, Oswald, &
Warr, 1996; Van Maanen & Katz, 1976; Warr, 1997). Greater financial responsibilities may create feelings of

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dependency and insecurity relative to the job. This may increase relative obligations to the job at a time when
personal responsibilities are intensifying (e.g., purchasing a house, raising a family). The potential for dissatisfaction
may be greatest at a time when people form stronger attachments to family (start a family, get married) and make a
more solid commitment to a particular occupation while the opportunities to change both occupation and specific
job are still perceived to be high. If job satisfaction decreases at this point on worker's lives, the rise in job
satisfaction in following those years could be partly explained by a lessening of child care responsibilities and thus
fewer work-family conflicts (Ernst Kossek & Ozeki, 1998). Past research has generally shown that conflicts
between the meaning of life, work and family have generally been shown to occur most frequently when people
reach middle age (Kalleberg & Loscocco, 1983). By comparison, younger and older people have fewer work-life
constraints. We propose that job satisfaction marginally decreases organizational commitment for younger teachers
up to moderate levels but additional satisfaction up to high levels result in substantial increases in commitment:
Hypothesis 1(H1): Job satisfaction has a nonlinear relationship to organizational commitment for younger
teachers. Younger teachers will experience higher levels of organizational commitment when their job satisfaction is
low or high levels compared to moderate levels.
Some studies reported a curvilinear relationship in the shape of an inverted U, with job satisfaction rising until
around age 60, then dropping off sharply (Luthans & Thomas, 1989; Saleh & Otis, 1964). Luthans and Thomas
(1989) attributed the sharp drop in satisfaction after age 60 to unmet expectations and targeting older workers for
early retirement in downsizing strategies. However, this finding may have been related to mandatory retirement,
since Quinn and Staines (1979) found consistent, longitudinal evidence over a period of three years that workers
over 66 years of age were more satisfied with their jobs than any other age group. Evidence of an inverted-U
relationship is limited to studies that included samples of workers over age 60. Rhodes (1983) points out that the
rarity of workers over 60 years of age in studies conducted prior to 1983 means that these studies cannot document
well the level of satisfaction of workers in this category. It is only recently that organizational demographic trends
have provided an opportunity to include a larger proportion of workers older than 60 years of age in investigations
about age and work attitudes. In contrast of younger teachers, older teachers will respond more positively when they
feel satisfied their job. In fact, teacher experience has been found to associate with core self-evaluation, a personality
attribute related to greater confidence in ability and the need for autonomy. Older teachers (more experienced)
teachers are less concerned about relations with their school principal. Too much directive leadership in the
principals appears redundant among older teachers. Older teachers would be considered self-reliant achievers and
need less supervisory direction (de Vries, Roe, & Taillieu, 1998). Given the need for autonomy for older teachers,
we predict that job satisfaction increases commitment for older teachers up to moderate levels. We predict that
beyond moderate levels of job satisfaction detract from the level of autonomy desired by mature teachers resulting
in less commitment.
Hypothesis 2(H2): Job satisfaction has a nonlinear relationship to organizational commitment for older teachers.
Older teachers will experience higher levels of commitment when they feel moderate levels of job satisfaction rather
than low or high levels.
4. Methods
4.1. Sample
The sample used in this study consists of teachers of secondary school providing education and training in
Erzincan city, Turkey. In all, 432 copies of the questionnaire were distributed; 173 were returned and sixteen of
them were excluded because they were incomplete; giving a response rate of 36%, which was deemed acceptable.
We applied branch of national educational directorate in Erzincan for getting permission to survey. They allowed us
to survey and then they made the school principals distribute and collect the survey. The original questionnaire was
in English and was translated from English into Turkish by a bilingual speaker. The Turkish questionnaire was then
given to another bilingual speaker to back-translate into English. In cases where the back-translation was not
equivalent to the original version, the process of translation was repeated (Brislin, 1980). To develop our survey, we

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asked a panel of three management scholars and ten teachers to review our survey and provide feedback. Based on
their feedback, we modified the questionnaire, and then pre-tested it on 20 participants in an executive MBA class,
which confirmed the reliability of our measures. We believe that we obtained a response rate of 36 percent well for
mailed surveys to teachers (Baruch & Holtom, 2008). From the available sample of 157 teachers, 55 percent of
respondents were male and 45 percent were female. Approximately 48 percent of the sample reported that their age
was 31 40 years, while the second largest group of respondents reported being 21 30 years of age. Approximately
40 percent of the sample has been teaching for more than 10 years, while the next largest group of respondents
(38.9%) has been teaching for 4 10 years.
4.2. Independent Variables
Job Satisfaction. Job satisfaction was measured by using the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) designed by Paul E.
Spector (1985). JSS use a fivehas been used in hundreds of studies around the globe. We used 36 items taken from JSS to measure job satisfaction,
including pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating conditions, coworkers, nature
of work, and communication. However, because we did not have any a priori expectation that individual
components of job satisfaction would differentially affect levels of commitment and the nine single components of
job satisfaction usually show high intercorrelations, we combined these scales into one higher-order factor
measuring job satisfaction. Scale coefficient alpha for the scale was .81.
satisfaction on organizational commitment. We collected continuous age but all results show the five categories of
age we created. For age diversity, we categorized participants by 10-year increments (i.e., 21 30, 31 40, 41 50, 5160, and 61 and over).
4.3. Control Variables
In all our analyses, we included several demographic variables such as teacher gender, education, tenure, and
marital status which are potential predictors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Mathieu & Zajac,
1990; Ang, Dyne, & Begley, 2003). Gender and marital status was a dichotomous variable (0 = male, 1 = female)
to t
4.4. Dependent Measures
Organizational commitment. Commitment measured using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire
(OCQ) (Mowday et al., 1979), the most widely used unidimensional measure of organizational commitment. The
organizational commitment questionnaire consisted of 15 statements. Mowday et al. (1979) reported a median
coefficient alpha of .90 with a range of .82 to .93 for 2563 employees in nine different public and private work
organizations. Scale coefficient alpha for the 6-item continuance commitment measure was .88.
5. Results
5.1. Construct Validation
We first examined a dimensional level CFA including all the latent variables in the study (e.g job satisfaction,
organizational commitment,). We used multiple indicators to represent the latent variable job satisfaction by
averaging items for each of the nine subscales (pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards,
operating conditions, coworkers, nature of work, and communication). We compared the proposed two-factor

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measurement model with an alternative one-factor model. The two-factor model consisted of job satisfaction and
organizational commitment. The one-factor model is composed of all job satisfaction and organizational
commitment items. Absolute fit indices for the proposed two83.260, p< .001, goodness of fit index (GFI) = .92, comparative fit index (CFI) = .94, incremental fit index (IFI) =
.94, root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .06. Against this model, we tested an alternative one= .83, IFI= .83, RMSEA = .07). The results indicate that the two-factor model fit our data best. The fact that this
value is statistically significant further suggests that the two-factor model is significantly better than the one-factor
model. Thus, our results provide empirical evidence of the distinctiveness of job satisfaction and organizational
commitment. Table 1 provides the means, standard deviations, and correlations for the study variables. Regression
results for the test of hypotheses are presented in Tables 2.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Intercorrelations

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
a

Age
Gender
Marital status
Teacher Education
Tenure (with teaching)
Job Satisfactions
Organizational Commitment

Mean

S.D.

35
1.45
1.18
1.86
11
3.06
3.14

7.88
.49
.38
.34
8.25
.20
.31

1
-.04
-.09
.29
.78
-.24
-.12

.04
-.03
-.11
.02
.04

-.02
-.17
.18
.07

-.10
-.18
-.09

.06
.08

.85

n=157. Every value above |.172| are significant at the 1% level.

Table 2. Results of Regression Analysis for Organizational Commitment

Organizational Commitment
Model 1

Model 2

Model 3

Model 4

Model 5

Model 6

Gender

.181

(.189)

.125

(.115)

.134

(.114)

.127

(.114)

.122

(.114)

.152

(.114)

Marial Status
Education
Tenure
Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction2
Teacher Age
Job Satisfaction X Age
Job Satisfaction2 X Age

.156
.005
.128

(.161)
(.147)
(.102)

.101
-.112
-.078
.8**

(.105)
(.087)
(.067)
(.03)

.109
-.119
-.081
-.97
.158*

(.112)
(.087)
(.067)
(.452)
(.071)

.102
-.137
-.083
-.003
.124
-.34

(.112)
(.087)
(.067)
(.455)
(.071)
(.124)

.113
-.165*
-.085
-.176
.125
-.384
.037

(.112)
(.087)
(.067)
(.471)
(.071)
(.198)
(.057)

.127
-.132
-.098
-3.28*
.742*
-1.21*
1.032*
-.137*

(.112)
(.087)
(.064)
(1.89)
(.285)
(.678)
(.478)
(.079)

R2
R2 Change
Model F

.021
.021
.858

.460
.439***
47***

.467
.007*
42***

.574
.006
39***

.576
.002
35***

.582
.008*
32***

The coefficients and standard error (in parenthesis) are reported. * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001 (2-tailed). N=157.

5.2. Hypothesis Testing

Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to test all hypotheses. We first regressed organizational
commitment on our control variables (see Step 1 in Tables 2). In our next step we entered job satisfaction to
determine the incremental variance attributable to that variable (see Step 2 in Tables 2). We then entered the job
satisfaction squared to investigate the nonlinear main effect (see Step 3 in Tables 2). Next, our moderator, teacher

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age, was entered to determine the incremental variance attributable to that variable (see Step 4 in Tables 2). In the
next step, we computed the product term for the variables in our two-way interaction and entered it into the
regression equation, to test the joint relationship between job satisfaction and teacher age (see Step 5 in Tables 2).
Finally, we computed the interaction between job satisfaction squared and teacher age, and entered it into the
equation to test Hypotheses 1 and 2 (see Step 6 in Tables 2). Support for our hypotheses would require statistically
) with the addition of the job satisfaction squared by teacher age
interactions. Hypotheses 1 and 2 were assessed simultaneously in Model 6, Table 2. Our test examined the
moderating effect of teacher age on the nonlinear teacher age to teacher organizational commitment relationship. For
teacher job satisfaction, teacher age significantly and negatively moderated the nonlinear job satisfaction
relationship to organizational commitment (b = -.137, p < .05). We divide the dataset into teachers with older (40
action and
commitment is a pronounced inverted U-shape for older teachers as predicted. We also observe the hypothesized Ushape for younger teachers. Therefore, HI and H2 were supported.
6. Discussion
The aim of the present study was to investigate how demographic variables, especially age, effect organizational
commitment and job satisfaction of the teachers in secondary school in Turkey. The control variables studied in this
paper are the gender, marital status, educational level and tenure. All these variables are stated as the antecedents of
organizational commitment. On the other hand organizational commitment appears as a consequence of job
satisfaction. According to results of analysis it was seen that the level of job satisfaction and organizational
commitment differs between younger teachers and older teachers. Based on social exchange theory assumptions
(Eisenberger et al., 1986) and scholars who stress the need to consider job satisfaction context, we found support in
our Turkish data that teache
nonlinear and highlight the importance of understanding the impact of intermediate levels of job satisfaction.
Specifically, we found that teacher age moderated the curvilinear relationship between teacher job satisfaction and
organizational commitment.
For younger teachers, we witnessed a U-shaped relationship between teacher job satisfaction and organizational
as their own, and express the desire to spend the rest of their career at the organization when their job satisfaction
level were either low or high but not moderate. It appears that moderate levels of job satisfaction appear worse than
none at all in that it promotes ambiguous goals for them. In contrast, such intermediate levels of job satisfaction
actually work for older teachers, self-reliant teachers as evident in the inverted U-shaped relationship to
who prefer a great deal of autonomy and who are equipped with the skill set
organizational commitment
necessary to thrive under more uncertain circumstances. However, they are not compatible with the demands of
younger teachers. In fact, at moderate levels of job satisfaction, older teachers show high levels of organizational
commitment in that they only remain with the organization because it would be hard for them to leave due to few
employment opportunities, scarcity of available alternatives, or disruption of their life. This explains why we see an
inverted U-shaped relationship between teacher job satisfaction and organizational commitment for older teachers.
The Turkish context provides supports for the generalizability of the job satisfaction construct in a collectivistic
culture whereas most satisfaction research has been conducted in individualistic cultures. Our Turkish sample also
provides more evidence to support the usage of social exchange theory logic and offers some initial support that this
framework can be generalized across cultures. When it comes to job satisfaction, it seems younger teachers may

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6.1. Limitations and Future Extensions

There are several limitations in the present study that may also serve as future extensions. First, these variables in
essment of their job
satisfaction and organizational commitment. Related to the first limitation, our data was collected at a single point in
time from a single source. We made every attempt to minimize concerns of sampling bias and common method
variance by separating survey questions used in the study from each other (Podsakoff et al., 2003). As for future
research, we believe a time series design would be an ideal way to test our theoretical framework so teacher
commitment can be examined as they move through development stages. Second, although we focus specifically on
relationship. Related to this point, we suggest that future studies compare the relationships we proposed here in
different cultural settings to explore the potential variation in how teacher respond within and between different
countries. Third, the data presented here were cross-sectional and represent teachers from one geographic area in
Erzincan, Turkey; longitudinal research with a larger, more diverse sample of teachers is necessary to test fully both
the intercorrelations and causal ordering of the constructs in this study. Finally, it would be ideal to collect data
directl
6.2. Remarks
We suggest that principals of schools be aware of the individual differences among teachers who vary in personal
needs, and that they attempt to align management styles to teachers needs for improving their job satisfaction and
organizational commitment. We concluded that age differences among teachers have moderating effect on
relationships between job satisfaction and organizational commitment and these relationships are nonlinear.
relationships between perceived job satisfaction and organizational commitment among teachers. Our findings
age and school authorities need to develop strategies to deal
with the needs of those teachers who experience less job satisfaction and commitment.
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