JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
JOB SATISFACTION AMONG HIGH SCHOOL ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS IN OHIO:
A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF ROLE AMBIGUITY, ROLE
CONFLICT, JOB FACETS, AND DEMOGRAPHICS
Jaime S. Stewart
A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Findlay’s College of Education in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2020
Committee:
John Gillham, Ed.D.
Chair, Dissertation Committee
Rahman Dyer, Ph.D.
Committee Member
John Cindric, Ed.D.
Committee Member
Julie McIntosh, Ed.D
Dean, College of Education
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
© 2020
Jaime S. Stewart
All Rights Reserved
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
iii
Abstract
While research on the superintendent, principal, or teacher may be prevalent, research on
the assistant principal is lacking. This qualitative study based on phenomenological research was
focused on determining overall job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio as well
as the factor that role ambiguity, role conflict, and/or facet satisfaction play on the overall job
satisfaction. The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 12 high school
assistant principals in Ohio, both male and female with 0-5 or 6 or more years of experience in a
rural, suburban, or urban school district. Data were initially analyzed and coded by hand. Further
coding was accomplished by using MAXQDA, a computer-assisted qualitative analysis software.
Findings followed the theoretical framework used for the study, Lawler’s (1994) Theory of Facet
Satisfaction. This framework, and the study, showed that assistant principals often have different
actual job responsibilities than those they assumed they would have or those they identified as
ideal. Most assistant principals in the study experienced instances of role ambiguity and role
conflict. The majority of the assistant principals had a high rating of job satisfaction regardless of
the differences in job responsibilities or instances of ambiguity and conflict. Recommendations
were given based on the findings of this study for both high and low job satisfaction.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
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Dedication
This work is dedicated to all assistant principals, past, present, and future. Only those that have
been in the trenches truly understand the work of the AP. Sometimes difficult, occasionally
undervalued, most often rewarding, our work is extremely important in the lives of students,
teachers, and other administrators. Keep fighting the good fight!
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
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Acknowledgments
Completion of this work would not have been possible without the love, support, urging,
cheerleading, and belief in me by many people. First, I would like to thank Dr. John Gillham, the
chair of my doctoral committee. Your support, suggestions and recommendations, true interest in
my topic, and guidance throughout the process has been second to none. I appreciate you and all
that you have done for me and my growth.
To the rest of my committee members, Dr. John Cindric and Dr. Buzz Dyer, thank you
for your input and encouragement during the program and dissertation process.
I would also like to recognize a few other professors at the University of Findlay that
urged me to open my mind, broaden my horizons, and made me a better student and educator:
Dr. Amanda Ochsner, Dr. Kara Parker, and Dr. Jon Brasfield.
This is a journey that few understand unless they have done it before or are walking in
step as we go through it. So to those in the program and my cohort, specifically Brian Bowser
and Dolores Swineford, thank you for being on this adventure with me. The many text messages
and phone calls reminded me I was not alone and encouraged me to keep going.
My parents, Mom and Dad, and my bonus parents, Joe and Marilee. Mom and Dad, you
instilled in me early on the importance of an education. You both sacrificed so much for me over
the years and with each step of my education, you have stood by me, cheered me on, offered
your love and support, and shared your pride. I couldn’t have done this without you. Joe and
Marilee, for scoffing at the word “step” but only ever treating me as a bonus, thank you. Joe, you
always tell me how proud you are of me and it means more than you’ll ever know. Mar, I sure
wish you were here in person to see me walk across the stage and to see the diploma, but I know
you watch over me every step of the way. I love you all so much.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
vi
To my sister and my very best friend, Jennifer, thank you for being my biggest
cheerleader. You know when I need to take a break and when I need to get to work. You know
how to help me laugh and share in a good cry. Here’s to more sister road trips in the very near
future! Thanks also to the rest of my family – aunts, uncles, cousins – who help keep me
grounded, share in my joy, and that I know are proud of me because they never cease to tell me.
There is no doubt in my mind that I would never have started this journey without
knowing Dr. Dustin Miller. From the time we became friends, you have been a constant example
and encouragement to me of what I can do and become. We’ve shared tons of laughs, a few
tears, countless memories. Thank you for pushing me gently to enter into and complete this
journey. I have and continue to look up to you and consider myself lucky to call you a friend and
brother.
Friends that are more like family that have encouraged me each step of the way: Ashley
and Jon, Katie and Mike, Chris, Tim and Kevin, Nikki, Gretchen, Shelly, Karen, Sam and
Drema, Beth, Kris, Lindie, Jill, Ann, Laura…and many more that I’m sure I inadvertently left
off. You understood each time I had to say no, for being less than available over the last three
years, but have continued to cheer me on.
Mike Aurin, Jerry Obney, Andrew Wilkinson, Joe Bline, Mike Ulring, Matthew Parrill,
Ryan McClure, Duane Sheldon, Dr. Todd Hoadley, Dr. Tracey Deagle, the entire administration
team at Dublin City Schools and the staffs at Dublin Jerome (especially Barb, Colleen, Kristin,
and Carla!) and Coffman High Schools…thank you. From extra events that you covered so I
could focus on a class, a paper, my study, writing, to your consistent cheerleading,
encouragement, and support, I can’t thank you enough. Specifically to Andy and Jerry, you are
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
vii
amazing assistant principals that I have learned so much from. Having you in my corner has
made every day a good day…thanks guys!
Thank you to the leadership, staff, and Board of Directors of Ohio Association of
Secondary School Administrators. It has been a pleasure and an amazing learning experience
serving beside you for the last seven years.
Finally, and most importantly, my eternal thanks go to my husband, Spencer. I never
would have started this journey if you had not thrown all of your support behind me. Thank you
for everything but specifically for loving me beyond my faults, for always showing up big, and
consistently pushing me to the finish line. My life is simply better with you in it and I can’t wait
to get back to our fun adventures. I love you!
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Table Of Contents
Page
Chapter I: Introduction ..........................................................................................................
1
Background of the Problem .......................................................................................
2
Rationale & Significance of the Study.......................................................................
5
Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................................
8
Theoretical Framework ..............................................................................................
9
Research Questions ....................................................................................................
11
Definition of Terms....................................................................................................
11
Subjectivity & Researcher Positionality ....................................................................
13
Chapter II. Literature Review ...............................................................................................
15
History of the Assistant Principal ..............................................................................
17
Roles and Responsibilities of the Assistant Principal ................................................
17
Discrepancies Between Ideal, Assumed, and Actual Responsibilities ......................
21
Role Ambiguity..........................................................................................................
25
Role Vulnerability......................................................................................................
27
Role Conflict .............................................................................................................
28
Job Satisfaction .........................................................................................................
30
Facets of Job Satisfaction...........................................................................................
33
Summary ....................................................................................................................
41
Chapter III. Methodology .....................................................................................................
43
Research Questions ....................................................................................................
43
Research Design & Qualitative Approach .................................................................
44
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
ix
Participants & Sampling Technique ..........................................................................
45
Ethical Considerations ...............................................................................................
46
Instrumentation & Data Sources ................................................................................
47
Data Collection Procedures........................................................................................
51
Data Analysis .............................................................................................................
52
Assumptions...............................................................................................................
54
Trustworthiness ..........................................................................................................
54
Chapter IV. Results ............................................................................................................
56
Research Question 1 ..................................................................................................
58
Actual Responsibilities ..................................................................................
58
Assumed Responsibilities ..............................................................................
60
Ideal Responsibilities .....................................................................................
62
Research Question 2 ..................................................................................................
64
Research Question 3 ..................................................................................................
67
Research Question 4 ..................................................................................................
68
Facet Satisfaction ...........................................................................................
69
Overall Job Satisfaction .................................................................................
79
Additional Findings ...................................................................................................
80
Summary ....................................................................................................................
83
Chapter V. Conclusions And Recommendations..................................................................
86
Review of the Study ...................................................................................................
86
Discussion ..................................................................................................................
87
Research Question 1 ......................................................................................
87
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Research Question 2 ......................................................................................
91
Research Questions 3 .....................................................................................
92
Research Question 4 .....................................................................................
94
Conclusion .................................................................................................................
98
Conclusion #1 ...............................................................................................
98
Conclusion #2 ...............................................................................................
99
Conclusion #3 ...............................................................................................
99
Conclusion #4 ...............................................................................................
99
Recommendations ......................................................................................................
99
Recommendations for Future Studies ...........................................................
99
Recommendations for State Departments of Education ............................... 100
Recommendations for School District Administration/Human Resources .. 101
Recommendations for Building Principals ................................................... 102
Recommendations for Higher Education Principal Preparation Programs ... 102
Limitations ................................................................................................................. 103
Future Research Opportunities .................................................................................. 104
References
..................................................................................................................... 106
Appendix A.
IRB Approval .............................................................................................. 112
Appendix B.
Invitation To Participate In The Study........................................................ 118
Appendix C.
IRB Consent Form ...................................................................................... 119
Appendix D.
Initial Survey Sent Through Email Using Google Forms ........................... 121
Appendix E.
Interview Questions Used for One on One Interviews ............................... 122
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List Of Tables
Table
Page
1
Top Eleven Job Facets ...............................................................................................
38
2
Bottom Ten Job Facets...............................................................................................
39
3
List of Participants for Study .....................................................................................
46
4
Research Basis for Design of the Research Instrument .............................................
50
5
Codes from Interview Data ........................................................................................
57
6
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding Actual Responsibilities ............................
59
7
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding Assumed Responsibilities .......................
61
8
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding Ideal Responsibilities ..............................
63
9
Summary of the Assistant Principal Comments on Role Ambiguity ........................
65
10
Summary of the Assistant Principal Comments on Challenging Job Facets .............
69
11
Summary of Assistant Principal Comments on Aspects of the Job They Do Well ...
72
12
Summary of the Assistant Principal Comments on Aspects of the Job They Find as a
Struggle ......................................................................................................................
74
13
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding the Best and Worst Facets of the Job ......
76
14
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding Overall Job Satisfaction ..........................
79
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List Of Figures
Figure
1
Page
Model of the Determinants of Satisfaction ................................................................
35
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Chapter I. Introduction
Turnover among school administrators is a serious issue in the United States. The
National Association of Secondary School Administrators (NASSP) found that the average
tenure of a principal is four years (Levin & Bradley, 2019). More specifically it was found that
35% of principals remain at their school for only two years and 18% leave after one year. The
research by NASSP found that there were five reasons that principals leave their positions: 1)
inadequate preparation and professional development; 2) poor working conditions; 3) insufficient
salaries; 4) lack of decision-making authority; and 5) high-stakes accountability policies. The
same research showed that the principals that are less likely to leave their position are those that
are seemingly more prepared for the position based on schooling, professional development,
and/or having advanced degrees, those with internships or mentors, and those who are thought of
as more effective by their teachers and supervisors (Levin & Bradley, 2019). While the majority
of the studies that come out of NASSP revolve around the principal, it is reasonable to assume
that the same results are true of assistant principals.
Each of the reasons why principals leave their position or choose to remain in their
position represents a facet of the job of a school administrator. Each is a part or piece of the
overall puzzle of the job description. This suggests that individual factors, or facets, play a role
in overall job satisfaction to the point of determining whether to stay or leave. McClellan and
Casey (2015) found that the majority of potential principals rise from the ranks of assistant
principal. Therefore, the assistant principal is a vital component to the education system that
needs to remain filled with quality administrators. With the rate of turnover and the potential
fallout from turnover, the need to identify what specifically assistant principals enjoy about their
jobs and dislike about their jobs and then determine how to address these areas is apparent.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
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Background of the Problem
While it is evident that the assistant principal position is critical, it is often difficult to
determine their job description. The reason for this is that “The assistant principal seldom has a
consistent, well-defined job description, delineation of duties, or way of measuring outcomes
from accomplishment of tasks” (Marshall & Hooley, 2006, p.7). The list of expectations of an
assistant principal is exhausting, often blurred, and sometimes confusing. This often leads to role
ambiguity. Role ambiguity means that the job description is not well defined, often inconsistent,
and that the lines of responsibilities are at times gray or blurred. Role ambiguity may have a
negative effect on job performance by decreasing performance and creating uncertainty in
decision-making (Celik, 2013). A popular last line on many assistant principal job descriptions
reads similarly to, “All other duties as assigned by the building principal.” This line could lead to
vulnerability and unclear or inconsistent responsibilities. A gap exists between what an assistant
principal was trained to do or what they thought they would be doing and what they are assigned
to do (Mitchell et al., 2017). Role ambiguity makes it difficult for assistant principals to prepare
for their work, uncertain of what may be coming.
Role conflict is similar to role ambiguity in that it can create confusion for assistant
principals. Role conflict can also lead to burnout (Celik, 2013). “Assistant principals experience
role conflict when the immediate demands of the school interfere with doing the work they value
as an expression of their professionalism” (Marshall & Hooley, 2006, p.8). For example, if an
assistant principal truly enjoys working with the teachers on creating a co-teaching model but has
to spend the majority of their day dealing with student discipline. They can experience role
conflict, as they are not getting to spend time on the work they value over the work that they
have to do. Role conflict occurs when a person is being pulled in different directions to
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accomplish a variety of duties. Role conflict can occur both at school and at home. Initially, role
conflict can increase performance and satisfaction on the job. Working to successfully complete
tasks can make one feel positive about their accomplishments and create joy in the success.
“Role conflict and overload occur when job responsibilities demand so much time, energy, and
emotion that little is left for the assistant principal’s personal life or professional development”
(Marshall & Hooley, 2006, p.8). Role conflict also occurs when an assistant principal tries to
juggle the demands of work with the demands of their home life. The constant tug of ‘I should be
here, but I should be there’ is one that is hard to manage. This imbalance can often lead to a
feeling of being overloaded.
Clarity in job descriptions and responsibilities, role ambiguity, and role conflict can all
help to establish a baseline of understanding to help determine job satisfaction for a high school
assistant principal. A 2015 study found that most current assistant principal duties are in the
areas of curriculum and instruction, discipline, monitoring and evaluation, communication,
relationships, and visibility. The main pressures initiated by the principal puts APs in a position
to do what they are told, but not necessarily what they were taught in the leader preparation
programs (Militello et al., 2015). While completely following the dictates of the principal may
lead to security in the assistant principal position, it may not prepare them for the next step in
their professional career.
The many responsibilities of the position is one of the main challenges of the assistant
principalship but it does not stand alone. While some of the challenges may change over time,
many of them are similar for beginning and experienced assistant principals. Barnett, Shoho, and
Oleszewski (2012) used semi-structured interviews with 37 assistant principals with 0-3 years of
experience (novice) and 66 assistant principals with more than three years of experience
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(experienced) for the purpose of studying the job realities of both novice and experienced
assistant principals. One of the questions asked about the biggest challenges they experience in
their position. Regardless of experience, managing time and tasks was the biggest challenge with
57% of novice APs and 42% of experienced APs. Conflicts among staff were identified as a
challenge by 30% of both novice and experienced APs. Both student issues and parent issues fell
in at 24% for novice and 27% for experienced APs. Other areas that were ranked at 3-10% for
both levels of APs were program implementation and external expectations. Major changes
between the novice APs and experienced APs included motivation and morale (11% for novice,
20% for experienced), assessment and data analysis (3% for novice, 9% for experienced), and
physical and emotional strain (3% for novice, 12% for experienced). This suggests that time
management is more difficult for beginning APs but improves with time, while all of the other
areas tend to get more difficult over time.
Yerkes and Guaglianone (1998) found that the traditional assistant principal role is often
viewed negatively due to the areas deemed as challenges and difficulties with the position. In
interviews with high school administrators completed in 1997, the difficulties that came up the
most included hours per week, the workload and complexity of the duties of the job, supervision
of evening activities, high expectations of stakeholders, district and state mandates, paperwork,
complexity of societal issues coming into the schools, and the minimal pay differential between
the highest paid teachers and the entry level assistant principalship (Yerkes & Guaglianone,
1998). These are only several of the reasons that the assistant principalship has often been
described as the most difficult and demanding position in a school district.
Anecdotal evidence suggests over the last few years that there is a shortage of qualified
applicants for open administrative positions. This can be attributed to the fact that there is indeed
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a shortage or that the qualified are not applying. The literature supports these commonly held
assumptions. The National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National
Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) have both reported nationwide shortages
in quality applicants (Yerkes & Guaglianone, 1998). Munoz and Barber (2011) found that the
declining applicant pools for assistant principal and principal positions are due to the hours
required to work, complexity of job responsibilities, supervision of evening activities, small pay
increase compared to their current position, the overwhelming expectations from stakeholders,
paperwork, and increasing issues due to society. In their own research, NASSP (2017) found that
20% of the principals in 2011-12 had left their position and/or school by the 2012-13 school
year. They also predict that by 2022, the demand for principals will increase 6% simply due to
population. This added to the shortage already being experienced would make things worse.
Rationale & Significance of the Study
Scholars have noted that there is very little research offered on the assistant principal
position, and specifically on job satisfaction of assistant principals (Glanz, 1994; Hunt, 2011;
Kwan, 2009; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Sutter, 1996). In a 1996 study of assistant principals in
Ohio, Sutter (1996) stated, “...additional research concerning the job and career satisfaction of
assistant principals is needed. The position must be more thoroughly investigated so that a more
complete understanding and appreciation of the assistant principal can be developed” (p.1). Over
the last 23 years, very little research has been completed specifically on the assistant principal.
Most studies on school personnel focus on the teacher or the principal.
Although vice-principals (VPs) are generally considered as key members of the school
management team and to whom principals are supposed to share out their leadership, the
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number of studies focusing on vice-principalship has far lagged behind those on
principals and schoolteachers (Kwan, 2009, p.204).
Due to the lack of research on the assistant principal position, the true nature of the
position is not fully understood by scholars. It can be argued that the assistant principalship is a
critical position in education that should not be overlooked. The position itself is often a step
toward the principalship or central office administrative positions, assistant principals are usually
the first to deal with disciplinary problems, they often act as mediator between students, staff and
students, or parents and staff, and they are dealing with many of the dilemmas that interrupt a
school community on a daily basis (Marshall & Hooley, 2006).
Marshall, Mitchell, Gross, and Scott (1992) found that many assistant principals view
their position as an opportunity to prove themselves and show that they have the skills to
progress into other leadership positions. However, James and Whiting (1998) found that many
assistant principals were not actively pursuing the principalship because of the job demands, role
overload and stress, limited contact with students, inadequate funding, fear of failure and public
disclosure of mistakes, uncertainty of their own ability to perform the role, and lack of time with
family (Barnett et al., 2012). Hausman, Nebeker, McCreary, & Donaldson (2001) found that
there were differences in the time spent on certain tasks between female assistant principals and
their male counterparts. In comparison to male APs, female APs spent more time on instructional
leadership, professional development, personnel matters, and public relations. “This finding
supports the notion that women and men leaders perceive the world differently as a result of
differing experiences” (Hausman et al., 2001, p.152). Thus, gender is one demographic that may
show to have differing points of view on job satisfaction based on the feelings of assistant
principals on time spent on certain facets of the job.
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The research study presents findings on job satisfaction that can assist school district
human resources departments to determine strategies to support assistant principals. This is vital
to reduce the administrative shortage that is certain to occur if qualified people are not interested
in applying for open positions due to a lack of job satisfaction in their current role. In a position
statement on the principal shortage, the National Association of Secondary School
Administrators (NASSP 2017) stated,
According to the Institute for Education Statistics, one in five principals working in
schools in the 2011-12 school year left their school by the 2012-13 school year.
Additional research shows that one out of every two principals is not retained beyond
their third year of leading a school. School leaders who are retiring, transferring schools,
or pursuing new opportunities within the education sector are not being replaced by
enough qualified candidates. As a result, many school districts across the country report
principal vacancies and a serious lack of qualified applicants to replace them.
In addition to researching overall job satisfaction, there is a significant importance in
researching facet satisfaction. Lawler (1994) defines facet satisfaction as, “People’s affective
reactions to particular aspects of their job” (p.82). Facet satisfaction makes the assumption that
there are some aspects of a job that people may enjoy more than others. Johnson & Holdaway
(1994) stated that:
Studies which examine both facet and overall satisfaction could provide important
information about the changing experiences and attitudes of principals, and so help to
inform policymaking in ways that could benefit principals’ working lives and ultimately
the quality of education delivered (p. 31).
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While the previous two quotes speak to the experiences of principals, it is not
unreasonable to suggest that the same could also be true for assistant principals. One reason is
that many times the AP is hoping to move in to a principal role. Also, if principals are
transferring schools or pursuing new opportunities, APs may also be doing the same. With very
little research done on the assistant principal as a stand-alone position, these conclusions have
yet to be tested. This study sought to contribute to the body of research on the assistant principal
by providing an understanding of the facets of the job that assistant principals like and dislike,
describing the gray areas that exist between job expectations, job descriptions, and daily
responsibilities, discussing possible conflicts between personal and professional life, and if
demographics such as gender, years in a position, and/or type of school play a role in job
satisfaction.
Sodoma & Elyse (2009) conducted research and a study of job satisfaction of public
school principals in Iowa. During their research, they found that no consistent or systematic
program exists to study job satisfaction of administrators in the United States of America.
Continued research in this area benefits by providing a manner in which to study job satisfaction.
Specifically, it gives Ohio administrator associations, school districts, and school leader
preparation programs a glimpse into the levels of job satisfaction of Ohio high school assistant
principals. Even though this study focused on Ohio, the research findings in this study can
benefit all states.
Purpose of Study
The purpose of the qualitative study was to explore perceived job satisfaction and facet
satisfaction among Ohio high school assistant principals by comparing the results from different
demographics including gender, type/location of school, years of experience, and job
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
9
responsibilities. This produced findings by demographics that could be generalized to other
geographic areas. In addition, a look at the theory of facet satisfaction helped to determine that
the belief is accurate that assistant principals can be more satisfied with certain aspects of their
job over others. “It is important that those concerned with schooling and school administration
have a sense of responsibility, involvement, and a guide to action for addressing the concerns of
the assistant principalship” (Marshall & Hooley, 2006, p.115). School districts might use the
findings of this study to better plan for addressing job satisfaction among assistant principals in
their district. Also, it could assist in retaining their best administrators rather than losing them to
other positions, districts, or opportunities.
Theoretical Framework
A qualitative study was conducted, including semi-structured interviews, specifically
focusing on a phenomenological approach. By following this plan, I collected individual
interpretations of each assistant principal’s job situation and their satisfaction. Even if two
assistant principals work in the same school, their perceptions of their job may be different. Their
satisfaction level may be the same but could be for different reasons. Their satisfaction level
could also be very different. This aligns directly with interpretivist paradigm that knowledge is
gained through personal experiences and that, “...reality is indirectly constructed based on
individual interpretation” (Mack, 2010, p.8), as each assistant principal has their own reality in
their own position.
Lawler’s Theory of Facet Satisfaction formed the basis for understanding the facet job
satisfaction of assistant principals in the study. Defined as, “People’s affective reactions to
particular aspects of their job” (Lawler, 1994, p.82), facet satisfaction surmises that there are
some aspects of a job that people may enjoy more than others. Lawler used theories from four
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
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approaches to develop the importance in distinguishing between overall job satisfaction and facet
satisfaction. The fulfillment theory, based on work from Schaffer (1953), Vroom (1964), Mobley
& Locke (1970), and Morse (1953), states that an individual’s satisfaction is based on how much
of an outcome they are receiving. For example, if a person relies on positive interactions with
colleagues for satisfaction, and they receive those positive interactions regularly then their level
of satisfaction is probably higher. Hence, they are being fulfilled in that area. The discrepancy
theory states that a person’s satisfaction is based on the difference between what they want and
what they perceive they receive. If wants outweigh what is received, the higher the rate of
dissatisfaction. If a person is being paid $60,000 a year for a job in which they feel they should
be paid $70,000, the theory predicts that this person will be dissatisfied with their pay. Many
have studied the discrepancy theory but for his facet satisfaction theory, Lawler primarily looked
at the work of Katzell (1964) and Locke (1969). The third theory, the equity theory, shows that
satisfaction is determined by the balance of what a person gets out of their job compared to what
they put into their job. This theory is feelings and motivation based and follows work from
Adams (1963). Putting little in and getting much out can lead to guilt while putting much in and
getting little out can lead to feelings of inequity. Finally, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory rounds
out those that make up Lawler’s Theory of Facet Satisfaction. The Two-Factor Theory separates
job factors into satisfiers and dissatisfiers (Herzberg et al., 1975; Herzberg et al., 1959).
Herzberg stressed that satisfaction and dissatisfaction do not run in a straight line from one to the
other, but rather they run from satisfied to neutral and dissatisfied to neutral. This means that a
person can be both satisfied and dissatisfied with their job at the same time, based on separate
facets that they like and dislike. While Lawler argues that the equity theory and discrepancy
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
11
theory are the two strongest theories to explain satisfaction, he used the four described to develop
his model of facet satisfaction (Lawler, 1994).
Research Questions
Scholars (Kwan, 2009; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Sutter, 1996) concur that very little
research has been done specifically on the assistant principal position and that more research is
needed. The purpose of this study was to explore perceived job satisfaction among Ohio high
school assistant principals and compare the results from different demographics including
gender, type/location of school, years of experience, career advancement wishes, and job
responsibilities.
Specific questions that guided the research are:
1. How do the discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities affect the job
satisfaction of high school assistant principals?
2. What are the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in
Ohio?
3. What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in
Ohio?
4. How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction differ among high school
assistant principals in Ohio?
Definition of Terms
The following terms will be used throughout this study:
Actual Responsibilities. Job responsibilities the high school assistant principal is required
by their principal to complete.
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12
Assumed Responsibilities. Job responsibilities the high school assistant principal thought
they would be completing upon accepting the position.
Burnout. A syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that
has not been successfully managed. Characterized by three dimensions: 1) feelings of energy
depletion or exhaustion; 2) increased mental distance from one’s job; and 3) reduced
professional efficacy (World Health Organization, 2018).
Facet Satisfaction. Contentedness with certain aspects of the job.
Ideal Responsibilities. Job responsibilities that the assistant principal would prefer.
Job Satisfaction. For purposes of this study job satisfaction is defined as, “A pleasurable
or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (Locke,
1975, p. 1304).
Professional Relationships. Positive and negative interactions colleagues and/or parents
of students that assistant principals encounter as a part of their position.
Role Ambiguity. Uncertainty about the expectations, responsibilities, and consequences
associated with the role of high school assistant principal.
Role Conflict. When various roles, such as personal commitments and professional
responsibilities, are in opposition to one another.
Role Vulnerability. Role causes susceptibility to psychological and structural exposure.
Student Issues. Areas that are addressed by assistant principals when working with
students, including but not limited to mental health, drug/alcohol use, violence, school discipline,
home life, and trauma.
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Subjectivity & Researcher Positionality
I have been an assistant principal for fourteen out of the twenty-two years of my career in
education. I am currently serving at the fourth different high school and in the second school
district in my career as an assistant principal. The two districts are very different from one
another, with one being suburban and one urban. There are days that I have been more satisfied
than others; there are responsibilities in my job description that I find more satisfying than
others; there is a rank order of the buildings that I have served based on satisfaction.
Having had fourteen years of experience and overseeing so many different
responsibilities, brings quite a few different perspectives on job satisfaction. I have had to work
through role ambiguity, conflict, and vulnerability each year as a high school assistant principal.
The same can be assumed of other high school assistant principals as well.
As a current assistant principal, there is the possibility of bias. To reduce this bias, I
chose a qualitative study consisting of interviews, specifically focusing on an interpretivist
paradigm with phenomenological philosophy. Scotland stated that the interpretivist paradigm is
one that “does not question ideologies; it accepts them” (Scotland, 2012, p.12). He also cited
Cohen’s work in that the people that are experiencing their lives are the ones that can truly
understand it (Scotland as cited in Cohen et al., 2007, p.19). The ontological assumption of the
interpretivist paradigm is that people’s reality is based on what is relative to their own personal
experience. Mack stated, “Reality is indirectly constructed based on individual interpretation and
is subjective…there are multiple perspectives on one incident” (2010, p.8). This assumption is
used in helping to reduce any bias that may exist in personal experiences as an assistant
principal. In conducting personal interviews, the quotes came directly from the subjects in the
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
14
research rather than from my interpretation of the answers. This helped to effectively deliver the
assistant principals’ individual interpretations.
Implicit biases that are possible include gender, race, and age bias. For this study, implicit
biases may impact the way that interviews were coded and data was interpreted. I was aware of
possible biases and confronted them so as to include important data and analyze the interviews
correctly, completely, and effectively.
As a longtime assistant principal, I was aware of possible design bias in question type and
wording due to own feelings of job satisfaction. Questions and word choices were a focus in
developing interview questions. Open-ended questions were utilized. Measurement bias was also
a possibility, so I stuck strictly to the interview questions and only allowed more open-ended
topics if the subject went in that direction. I did not offer personal thoughts and opinions before,
during or after the interviews.
Design, sampling/selection, and population bias were addressed in selecting subjects for
the study from a statewide database of assistant principals, by covering a variety of types of
schools worked in, and attempting to have an equal number of male and female subjects. I
contacted male and female assistants from schools covering urban, rural, and suburban districts. I
also selected subjects that had been working as an assistant principal for 0-5 years and 6+ years
to account for possible differences among those new to the position versus those who have been
in the position for a while. Analysis bias was addressed by coding the interviews appropriately.
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15
Chapter II. Literature Review
Researchers have established that there is a lack of research on the assistant principal
(AP) and the job satisfaction of the AP (Sutter, 1996; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Kwan, 2009). It
has been and continues to be argued that the assistant principalship is a critical position in
education. McClellan and Casey (2015) found that the majority of potential principals rise from
the ranks of assistant principal. Therefore, the assistant principal is a vital component to the
education system that needs to remain filled with quality administrators.
Marshall and Hooley (2006) stressed the importance in answering the question, “As
assistant principals deal with numerous duties during the course of a single day, how do they
derive meaning and purpose from their work?” (p.4). In the same vain, these researchers also
asked how those numerous duties affect satisfaction, in part and/or whole, of the job. Finding the
answers to these questions will be able to help school leadership preparation programs and
school district human resources departments focus on areas to prepare and support assistant
principals. The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the National
Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) have both reported nationwide shortages
in quality applicants (Yerkes & Guaglianone, 1998). The NASSP released a position statement
on the national principal shortage in 2017, and as one of the recommendations said that
preparations programs should:
Decrease the gap between principal training and practice. Many of today’s preparation
programs are irrelevant to and inadequate in developing the skills and competencies
required for the principalship. Preparation programs must include a clinical component
comparable to other professional preparation programs and be oriented toward
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
16
competencies judged critical to principal effectiveness in improving instruction, teacher
quality, and student achievement.
This would be increasingly important for preparing assistant principals as well. Many
preparation programs focus solely on the principal position and don’t often prepare candidates
for the assistant principalship (Marshall & Hooley, 2006). Similarly, evaluation instruments
designed are often specific to the principal and do not focus on the individual job responsibilities
of the assistant principal (Ohio Department of Education, 2019).
Many assistant principal job descriptions vary and often contain a line referring to the
other duties as assigned by the building principal (Mertz & McNeely, 1999). This often leads to
ambiguity and vulnerability on the part of the assistant principal and their job requirements. This
uncertainty about their job duties, conflicting responsibilities, and vulnerability can affect job
satisfaction.
The questions that guided the research are:
1. How do the discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities affect the job
satisfaction of assistant principals?
2. What are the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in
Ohio?
3. What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in
Ohio?
4. How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction differ among high school
assistant principals in Ohio?
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17
History of the Assistant Principal
There is a tremendous lack of literature and research specific to the role of the assistant
principal (Glanz, 1994; Hunt, 2011; Kwan, 2009; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Sutter, 1996).
Historically, the assistant principal was someone that was hired to relieve some of the work of
the principal if the enrollment grew too large to be managed by one person (Hausman et al.,
2001). Over time, the position has grown into an entry-level move into school administration. In
1970, a study of the assistant principal was completed showing that many thought of the AP as
someone to oversee discipline and attendance (Kwan, 2009). Through the years, the position has
changed to include other duties such as strategic leadership, curriculum leadership, management,
student issues, parent and community issues, staffing, and operations (Cranston et al., 2004).
The assistant principal role is crucial in schools as the AP is often the first school official
to deal with the many issues that arise on campus. Assistant principals maintain the norms and
rules of the school culture (Marshall & Hooley, 2006). Although researchers have determined the
importance to the assistant principals, many of the researchers tend to focus more on the
principalship, which has a greater body of research than the AP (Hunt, 2011; Kwan & Walker,
2012; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Sutter, 1996). In the same way, many university training
programs do not specifically design their programs for the assistant principal, instead focusing
primarily on the principal (Glanz, 1994; Hunt, 2011). Although not much research exists in
comparison to research on the principal, there have been studies over the years to account for the
depth of the responsibilities of the assistant principal position.
Roles and Responsibilities of the Assistant Principal
Although it has been stated that there is a lack of research on the assistant principal, the
research that has been done confirms that the traditional role of the AP was to be a disciplinarian
and then expanded to include attendance as an area of responsibility (Glanz, 1994). The changes
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18
to, and complex nature of, education has led to a change in the assistant principal role
(Calabrese, 1991). Calabrese stated, “The assistant principal as a leader models a commitment to
excellence. This commitment is demonstrated by a high level of involvement” (p.52). The scope
of duties of an assistant principal has widened to include discipline, instructional leadership,
change agent, prescriptive agent, motivation, ethical model, community relations, innovation,
staff development, curriculum, attendance, student activities, staff support and evaluation,
supervision, guidance, master schedule, operations, reports, budget, and other duties (Calabrese,
1991; Glanz, 1994; Hausman, Nebeker et al., 2002; Hunt, 2011; Kwan, 2009; Kwan & Walker,
2012; Marshall & Hooley, 2006).
Calabrese (1991) described the assistant principal as a change agent who is expected to
understand the dynamics and politics of change, to be involved in the process of change, and to
include appropriate stakeholders in bringing about change. Calabrese also described the assistant
principal as a prescriptive agent as they have expanded their knowledge over time to gain an
understanding of the multiple facets in education and educational leadership. They are expected
to share this knowledge to improve their school.
In the study by Hunt (2011), 27 assistant principals were asked to participate in an online
survey, with 17 responding. Of the 17, 100% reported that they were responsible for supervising
events. Sixteen out of seventeen had to complete teacher evaluations; fifteen out of seventeen
were responsible for student discipline; ten out of seventeen oversaw special education; and eight
out of seventeen dealt with curriculum, built the master schedule, and supervised other student
activities. Other than event supervision and teacher evaluations, responsibilities varied among
the assistant principals even though this was virtually the same position in the same state.
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19
An assistant principal should be on a united team that advocates for excellence composed
of visionary leaders, change agents, communicators, motivators, and climate setters (NASSP,
1991). Taking on more of these roles will not only benefit the students and staff, it will help the
assistant principals to be more well-rounded administrators. The assistant principal is an
extension of the principal. The assistant principal is vital to the success of a school and, in the
last 15 years, has taken on more relationship building, policy building, leader and teacher growth
and development, staff management, resource management, quality assurance and accountability
and increased involvement in curriculum and instruction (Kwan & Walker, 2012; Militello et al.,
2015). Given all of the change that has occurred over the last 15-30 years, a 1994 study of
assistant principals in the public schools in New York City showed that the main duties of the
APs still include discipline, parent complaints, lunch duty, scheduling, and paperwork. Ninety
five percent of the assistant principals surveyed stated that they do lunch duty, 94% of the
assistant principals acknowledged that they conduct student discipline, and 91% showed that
they spend much of their time on parent complaints, scheduling, and paperwork (Glanz, 1994).
Bastian and Henry (2015) looked at first year principals and student outcomes to
determine if the principals’ characteristics and/or their position they held immediately prior to
becoming a principal were associated with student achievement. The researcher’s hypothesis was
that the learning that an assistant principal gains during their years as an AP will have a direct
effect on their performance as principals. This could have a direct effect on student achievement.
For their study, the researchers used data provided by the North Carolina Department of Public
Instruction on students, personnel, and schools over a five-year period. The sample included 918
first year principals. 90% of the principals that had served as assistant principals prior to their
principalship served as an AP in the same district where they became principal. They had served
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
20
as an AP for an average of 3.5 years. In looking at student achievement, there was a positive
correlation in the high school principal having served as an assistant principal at the same school
level prior to becoming principal. For example, assistant principals serving high schools were
more effective as a principal at the high school level than principals that moved from the
assistant principal role from a different school level (middle school or elementary school). The
only catch in this was that there was no significant association between serving as an AP in the
same exact school where they became a principal. The authors suggest that assistant principals
need opportunities for meaningful practices such as observation of effective leadership and direct
engagement in school leadership.
In 2011, the Kentucky Department of Education gave the Teaching, Empowering,
Leading, and Learning Survey (TELL) to all teachers and building level administrators.
Houchens, Niu, Zhang, Miller, and Norman (2018) used the data to examine how principals and
assistant principals differed in their perceptions on eight areas (time, facilities and resources,
community support and involvement, managing student conduct, teacher leadership, school
leadership, professional development, and instructional practices and supports), if those
differences relate to student achievement, and whether high school demographic factors (size,
ethnic composition, poverty rate, teacher experience, parent involvement) and non-academic
factors (attendance, graduation rate, retention rate, dropout rate) were associated with the
different perceptions. The survey was made up of Likert-type scale questions with the choices 1)
strongly disagree, 2) disagree, 3) agree, and 4) strongly agree. The mean was figured for each
area on the TELL. In the comparison on perceptions, 6 out of the 8 areas (time, facilities and
resources, community support, professional development, instructional support, and overall
satisfaction) were very close, within 0.00-0.008 points of a four-point scale. Two areas that were
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21
significantly higher from the principals’ perception were teacher leadership (0.12 higher) and
school leadership (0.14 higher). The researchers found that the assistant principals’ perceptions
were more in line with the teachers in these areas. They posited that this may be the case because
the APs are more involved in the day to day policies while principals are working on big picture
and long-term planning. The findings showed that the differences in opinions between the
principals and assistant principals held no significant correlation to student achievement or
indicators such as attendance or graduation rates. In their final part of the research, the authors
found that school size was the strongest predictor of perception gap having an influence on
student achievement. As the school size increased, there was a bigger gap in perceptions on
school leadership. Although the findings held no significant effect on student achievement, these
findings suggest that the perceptions of the assistant principals held a lower level of satisfaction
on teaching conditions than the principals. This proves the importance of strong communication,
partnerships, and mentoring between principal and assistant principal. This could improve job
satisfaction and effectiveness (Houchens et al., 2018).
The assistant principal often has a job description that is unclear or varies between states,
districts, and even schools within the same district (Barnett et al., 2012). Often the job
responsibilities are more clouded by the last line of most assistant principal job descriptions,
“And all other duties assigned by the building principal.” This often leads to confusion and
frustration as there are discrepancies between the assumed job responsibilities, actual job
responsibilities, and ideal job responsibilities.
Discrepancies Between Ideal, Assumed, and Actual Responsibilities
When an assistant principal first joins the ranks of administration, they have duties and
assumed responsibilities that they believe they will be in charge of, including those that are listed
on the job description. After starting the AP role, they then learn of the duties and responsibilities
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
22
that they are actually required to complete, some that were on the job description, some that they
assumed they would be responsible for, and even more that they knew nothing about. In addition
to the assumed and actual job responsibilities lie the parts of the job that assistant principals
prefer the most, the ideal job responsibilities. Studies have been completed on the ideal,
assumed, and actual job responsibilities of the assistant principal (Cantwell, 1993; Glanz, 1994;
Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Militello et al., 2015).
In a study by Cantwell (1993), 72 assistant principals in New York City stated that their
duties ranked in order from the most to least time spent on each duty were: clerical, instructional,
discipline, organization, curriculum, parent/community, personal/social. The same assistant
principals stated that ideally the majority of their time would be spent on instructional duties,
curriculum, organization, and personal/social, in that order, and a lesser amount of time on
clerical duties and discipline. Cantwell also found that district superintendents wanted assistant
principals to spend 49% of their time on instructional supervision but those same APs reported
only 38% of their time spent on this area. The following year, Glanz (1994) conducted a study of
164 assistant principals in New York City using a questionnaire on job responsibilities. As
previously reported, their main duties were discipline, parent complaints, lunch duty, scheduling,
and paperwork. The percentages of APs that stated they would prefer to work on other duties
included 93% on teacher training, 92% on staff development, 91% on curriculum development,
90% on instructional leadership and teacher evaluations.
In a 2015 study by Militello, Fusarelli, Mattingly, and Warren, assistant principal
participants were given a list of 21 responsibilities of successful and effective school leaders as
defined by the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (MCREL). Participants in
the study were given statements that correlated to each of the responsibilities and were asked to
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
23
sort them twice. The first sort consisted of what the assistant principals thought they should be
doing, defined as ideal responsibilities. The second sort was what responsibilities they actually
carry out. The participants identified their top ideal responsibilities as curriculum and instruction,
communication with teachers and students, monitoring and evaluating curriculum and
instruction, visibility, culture, and focus. Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) defined
curriculum, instruction and assessment as being knowledgeable and/or directly involved in the
design and implementation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment practice. Visibility is
having good contact and interactions with students and staff. Culture means that the assistant
principal helps to create a shared belief and sense of community among the school. If an assistant
principal has focus, they establish clear goals and keep those front and center for the staff and
students. The same group of assistant principal participants stated that their actual
responsibilities were discipline and order, involvement in curriculum, instruction, and
assessment, visibility, communication, and relationships, in order based on their perception of
time spent on the activities. The research from this same study showed that assistant principals
are often time restricted by management duties such as textbook inventory, paperwork, and lunch
duty, rather than being able to spend time on ideal responsibilities such as professional
development, instructional and curriculum leadership, and having a greater influence on
academics (Militello et al., 2015).
Empirical evidence proves that assistant principals would rather have a position that
focuses on instructional leadership than one that focuses on discipline. In a study completed in
Kentucky, researchers used a recruitment simulation instrument and a three-way between-within
Analysis of Variance to determine the impact of job responsibilities, school level, and school
performance on an applicant’s rating of a specific AP position (Munoz & Barber, 2011). School
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
24
level and school performance were the between factors, or dependent variables, and job
responsibilities were the within factors, or independent variables. The assistant principals were
asked to rate their likelihood of applying for a specific job posting based on a five-point scale
with one being very unlikely to apply and five very likely to apply. They were also asked to rank
in the same manner how likely they would be to accept the position described if offered. The
results of the study showed that job responsibilities have a significant effect on the desire to
apply and/or accept a position. Assistant principals completing the simulation had a higher draw
to the position focused on instructional duties rather than the position focused on discipline.
The gaps that exist between what APs are assigned to do and what they would rather do
can cause frustration and mental and emotional vulnerability. In a 2017 qualitative study,
Mitchell, Armstrong and Hands conducted interviews and focus groups with 25 assistant
principals and found that the APs struggled with structural uncertainty and unclear roles, political
and influential challenges, and cultural dilemmas within the school and community. Two
participants spoke specifically to the tension that occurred and a lack of appropriate preparation
due to unclear role responsibilities. Participants also spoke to frustrations with the ever-changing
level of autonomy they had based on the responsibilities. These included not always being able
to work on areas of strength, but sometimes were left working on what the building principal did
not want to do. Political and influential situations identified by participants included having the
principal publicly override decisions made by the AP which led to a feeling of having authority
weakened, consistently having to seek the principal’s approval prior to making a decision, and
the principal blatantly taking credit for work that the assistant principal completed. Cultural
dilemmas reported were balancing a new role as assistant principal within the same building in
which they were a teacher. Navigating relationships with former teaching colleagues can cause
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
25
angst. There was a significant emphasis on the importance of having a good working relationship
with the building principal. This study confirmed the presence of ambiguity and inconsistency in
the role of assistant principal.
An assistant principal’s job satisfaction is directly related to the differences that they
perceive between their ideal and actual work responsibilities. In a study by Kwan & Walker
(2012), 331 vice principals from secondary schools in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire
created by the authors to measure actual involvement and ideal involvement. Fifty-six activities
were labeled in seven dimensions: strategic direction and policy environment; teaching, learning
and curriculum; leader and teacher growth and development; staff management; resource
management; quality assurance and accountability; and external communication and connection.
Four-point scales were used to measure both actual involvement and ideal involvement. In all
measured areas of work responsibilities, the actual involvement rating was lower than the ideal
involvement with the exception of staff management. The largest gap area was in resource
management meaning that the participants report very little involvement in school resources and
financial management but wanted to be able to spend more time on this area. The second largest
gap was in leader and teacher growth and development. The third largest gap was in teaching,
learning, and curriculum. The final consensus from this study reported that those assistant
principals that responded did not get to spend enough time in the areas that they found the most
desirable.
Role Ambiguity
The literature demonstrates that the role of the assistant principal rarely has a consistent,
well-defined job description or delineation of duties. Roles and duties are often inconsistent, not
very well defined, and include many gray areas (Marshall & Hooley, 2006). When the job duties
are not adequately defined, and uncertainty and difficulty in decision making ensues, role
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
26
ambiguity can occur. In a 2013 study by Celik, the Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity
Questionnaire originally developed by Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970) was adapted from the
original seven-point Likert scale into a five-point Likert scale ranging from very false to very
true. The adapted scale was to help increase clarity. The role conflict scale had eight items
including: 1) I have to do things that should be done differently; 2) I receive an assignment
without the manpower to complete it; 3) I have to buck a rule or policy in order to carry out the
assignment; 4) I work with two or more groups that operate quite differently; 5) I receive
incompatible requests from two or more people; 6) I do things that are apt to be accepted by one
person and not accepted by others; 7) I receive an assignment without adequate resources and
materials to execute it; and 8) I work on unnecessary things. The role ambiguity had six items
including: 1) I feel certain on how much authority I have; 2) Clear, planned goals and objectives
for my job; 3) I know that I have divided my time properly; 4) I know what my responsibilities
are; 5) I know exactly what is expected of me; and 6) Explanation is clear of what has to be
done. The results of their study showed that role ambiguity has both direct and indirect negative
effects on job performance. Role ambiguity can lead to confusion and frustration. Job
responsibilities can be overlooked, either due to being overwhelmed or simply not knowing what
was expected. Role ambiguity was also shown to lead to burnout (Celik, 2013). This can leave an
assistant principal vulnerable and stressed, as well as being unable to adequately prepare for
his/her work. In the 2017 qualitative study by Mitchell, Armstrong, & Hands, interviews with 38
participants showed findings of role ambiguity and inconsistent responsibilities in the assistant
principal role.
Although role ambiguity can benefit those assistant principals who are risk takers and
have mentors who push them to get district level notice, it can also create vulnerability and role
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
27
conflict in many. Having responsibilities in many areas can make it difficult to perform well in
multiple areas and some responsibilities are often ignored or dismissed (Marshall & Hooley,
2006). In a 2010 study completed with vice-principals in Germany, researchers found that role
ambiguity can produce a lack of perceived competence and empowerment (Schermuly et al.,
2010). Questionnaires were sent out asking the APs to rate their thoughts concerning
empowerment, job satisfaction, burnout, and days absent from work on Likert scales. The
researchers found that empowerment was strongly and positively associated with job satisfaction.
So, the more that the APs were empowered with certain tasks and responsibilities, the higher
their satisfaction level with their job. Emotional exhaustion had a strong negative association
with job satisfaction. The higher the emotional exhaustion, the more days of work the AP
missed. As stated earlier, the researchers hypothesize that role ambiguity can be a cause of low
empowerment from the building principal to the assistant principal due to the belief that the AP
has a lower level of competence. The actual problem could be that the AP has a true confusion as
to what are their actual responsibilities. Assistant principals need to be explicitly asked to
describe their job responsibilities (Barnett et al., 2012). The benefits of this would be numerous,
but to start it would help develop more specific and accurate job descriptions/responsibilities and
could begin to close the gray areas of role ambiguity. The vulnerability and conflict caused by
the role ambiguity can lead to assistant principals choosing not to pursue the principalship as
well as possibly even leaving administration.
Role Vulnerability
The discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities, the many
challenges of the position of assistant principal and the role ambiguity within roles and
responsibilities can all lead to role vulnerability. Several reference points were used in study by
Mitchell, Armstrong, & Hands (2017) to define the concept of vulnerability. They stated that
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
28
exposure to psychological, emotional, or physical harm and perceived role conflicts, role tension,
and exposure to criticism all lead to vulnerability in the assistant principal position. In the
assistant principalship, a literature review completed by Mitchell, Armstrong & Hands (2017)
showed two branches of vulnerability: structural and psychological. Structural vulnerability is
imposed by the nature of the position. Psychological vulnerability is perceived by those in the
assistant principal role. This qualitative study found that participants operated with varying
degrees of autonomy. They reported that they often worked on areas that were not in their
comfort zone, stating that they were weak in areas that lessened their confidence. Structural
vulnerability can be caused by what an assistant principal thinks what they should be doing
versus what they really should be doing as demanded by administration above them.
Psychological vulnerability can be caused by what assistant principals are assigned to do and
what they really want to do, or role conflict. In a literature review completed by Oleszewski,
Shoho, and Barnett (2012) on the development of assistant principals, it was found that unclear
job descriptions impact both emotional well-being and job performance.
Role Conflict
When teachers rise to the rank of assistant principal, sometimes they do so in the same
building where they taught. This can cause some push and pull of emotions. Role conflict has
been defined as tension that comes from role pressures that conflict and occurs when people
engage in multiple roles that are not compatible with each other (Schermuly et al., 2010). When
one becomes an assistant principal, it is important not to forget what it was like to be a teacher:
the demands, the lesson planning, the preparation for state assessments, etc. With that in mind,
the first form of role conflict that assistant principals can experience is in thinking they will come
in ready to advocate for teachers but quickly learn that mandates from the district or state can
conflict with what the teachers want. This also occurs with the discipline of students as what the
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
29
teacher would like to see happen is not always what is decided on by the assistant principal
(Hausman et al., 2002; Marshall & Hooley, 2006).
A second form of role conflict occurs between the demands of the assistant principalship
and personal life. Studies have shown that there is a negative impact on job satisfaction when the
conflict between professional and family life exists. When a school administrator misses family
events due to the requirement to attend school events, the negative impact is the most powerful
(Conrad & Rosser, 2007). Conrad and Rosser used structural equation modeling (SEM) to show
many interrelations of the administrator position. If the standard is 1.0, this study showed that
personal life situations can have a -0.22 effect on job satisfaction. Principals often feel guilty
because their job duties require them to miss family events. The long hours and requirements of
the job add to the role conflict between work and home. Hansen (2018) interviewed six
principals from rural schools; all six listed family needs as a personal factor creating conflict
between school and their home life. This was the only area under personal factors that garnered
this reaction from all participants. In the study by Hausman, Nebeker, McCreary, and Donaldson
(2002), assistant principals were asked to rate their level of agreement on work-life indicators
such as professional commitment, community support, sense of efficacy, goal congruence, and
balance between personal and professional life. The only indicator with a low rating was balance.
Assistant principals in the study reported difficulty in balancing their personal and professional
lives. Female APs reported a more significant rate of difficulty with balance than male APs. The
researchers posited this was due to society’s expectations of mothers (Hausman et al., 2002).
Role conflict also occurs when the list of job responsibilities grows to a point where the
demands and expectations are incompatible and almost impossible. Examples of this are
discipline and developing positive relationships with students, coaching teachers and dealing
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
30
with resistant teachers, and being visible in classrooms and hallways and being bogged down
with clerical paperwork. The roles, responsibilities, mission and authority of assistant principals
need to be defined more clearly by their principal, superintendent, and/or human resources
department so as to help eliminate the role conflict that often exists (Celik, 2013). When roles are
at cross-purposes with each other, and when the demands of the job interfere with the work that
assistant principals value the most, the role conflict will be the highest (Marshall & Hooley,
2006). Role conflict can have a negative impact on the overall satisfaction assistant principals
have with their job.
Job Satisfaction
Edwin Locke defined job satisfaction as, “A pleasurable or positive emotional state
resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (Locke, 1975, p.1304). Glick (1992)
defined job satisfaction (as cited in Graham & Messner, 1998) as, “An affective response by
individuals resulting from an appraisal of their work roles in the job that they presently hold”
(p.197). Both look at job satisfaction from a positive perspective. There are conflicting findings
in the literature regarding the job satisfaction of assistant principals. Some research shows that
assistant principals view their position as a chance to learn and prove themselves in order to
move up the administrative ladder, while others show that they are not seeking advancement due
to a lack of satisfaction in their current position due role overload, stress, limited contact with
students, fear of failure, uncertainty in their own abilities, and lack of time with family (Barnett
et al., 2012).
Studies completed by Graham and Messner (1998), Oplatka and Mimon (2008), and
Sodoma and Else (2009) on job satisfaction in the school setting used Herzberg’s (1959, 1966)
Motivation-Hygiene Theory, also known as the Two-Factor Theory. This theory puts factors into
categories of satisfiers and dissatisfiers. Graham and Messner used the Principals Job
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
31
Satisfaction Survey based on Herzberg’s theory. Satisfiers that led to high levels of job
satisfaction in the principalship were achievement, recognition, advancement, need for
autonomy, and self-actualization. Dissatisfiers were personal life, supervision, relationships with
superiors, relationships with subordinates, and relationships with peers. The researchers found
that almost 93% of the principals that participated in the study were satisfied with their current
job, 91% were satisfied with colleagues and co-workers, and 89% were satisfied with the level of
responsibility they had. The participants were less satisfied with their pay at a 60% satisfaction
rate, opportunities for advancement at 61.5% and fringe benefits at 67.7%.
Chang, Leach, and Anderman (2015) used items adapted from The Work Climate
Questionnaire and the Affective Commitment Scale as well as specific demographic variables to
study. Following the Analysis of Variance, those perceiving support by their superintendent had
a .97 variable rating of satisfaction, and those with the greater attachment to their school had a
.87 variable. This confirmed the finding that principals that perceive their superintendent
supports them have a higher report of emotional attachment to their district and are more
satisfied with their job. The longer a principal was found to stay with their district, the greater
their emotional attachment was to their school. A statement by the National Association of
Secondary School Principals (1991) suggests that the same principle applies to the assistant
principals as well, saying that a team approach between the principal and assistant principal can
lead to better job satisfaction and empowerment among the APs. The principal should be
confident in sharing responsibilities and decision making. This increases empowerment in APs
and in turn gains a higher level of job satisfaction.
Sutter (1996) completed a study in Ohio where it was found that assistant principals who
believed that they were accomplishing more had a higher level of job satisfaction. The researcher
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
32
used Weiss, Dawis, England, and Lofquist’s (1967) Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire,
Hoppock’s (1935) Job Satisfaction Measure, as well as part of Super and Thompson’s (1988)
Adult Career Concerns Inventory. Sutter used statistical analyses to determine the results of the
levels of job satisfaction of Ohio secondary school assistant principals. In addition to the higher
level of satisfaction based on feelings of accomplishment, he found that APs had a higher level
of job satisfaction if they felt that there were opportunities for advancement, if they had a desire
to advance, and if they felt their skills were being utilized. The researcher also found that female
assistant principals in the study had a higher rate of job satisfaction than male APs (Sutter, 1996).
Locke’s (1976) Value Theory states that job satisfaction is related to how the outcomes
match those that were desired by the principal. This theory also states that satisfaction can be
determined by what principals want and what they receive (Oplatka & Mimon, 2008). The
previous study was completed in Israel with 15 female, Israeli principals. Semi-structured,
personal interviews of open-ended questions were used to gather data. The interviews were
analyzed using coding for categories, themes, and patterns. One theme that emerged regularly
was the thought that high levels of satisfaction could be a detriment to the school as it might lead
to too much routine and become stagnant. Following this pattern, the principals shared that
dissatisfaction was not thought of a negative but as a motivator to get better. This line of thinking
is in contrast to what is usually thought of as job satisfaction and dissatisfaction (Oplatka &
Mimon, 2008).
There is very little research devoted to the job satisfaction of public-school principals or
assistant principals in the United States. In the research during their study of job satisfaction of
Iowa public school principals, Sodoma & Else (2009) found that there is no consistent or
systematic pattern in studying job satisfaction of administrators in the United States. The benefits
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
33
for completing this research and adding to the small base that does exist are numerous. In this
study, questionnaires were given to Iowa public school principals in 1999 and 2005. The
questions measured job satisfaction on a rating scale of 1 (very satisfied) to 5 (very dissatisfied).
The mean score for overall satisfaction in 2005 was 1.90 compared to a score of 2.24 in 1999.
Satisfaction rose even though there had been a rise in responsibilities. While this was surprising,
it could not be assumed that this would be the case everywhere. Sodoma and Else (2009) stated
that more consistent research can help school boards and legislators reduce or eliminate barriers
that exist and handcuff the work of school administrators.
Further benefits could increase the understanding of job satisfaction and thus reducing the
absenteeism and turnover of administrators, reduce levels of stress, feelings of alienation, and
accountability, thus leading to a better life in society (Johnson & Holdaway, 1994). Munoz and
Barber (2011) found that the declining applicant pools for assistant principal and principal
positions are due to the hours required to work, complexity of job responsibilities, supervision of
evening activities, small pay increase compared to their current position, the overwhelming
expectations from stakeholders, paperwork, and increasing issues due to society. The research on
job satisfaction of assistant principals is crucial to addressing the shortage of qualified principal
applicants (Kwan, 2009). Of the research that has been completed on assistant principal job
satisfaction, much of it has been completed using simple surveys with very little opportunity for
open ended feedback. “Surveys of tasks and job satisfaction do not adequately capture the
essence of the assistant principalship” (Marshall & Hooley, 2006).
Facets of Job Satisfaction
While many researchers have looked at job satisfaction as a whole, one is either happy
and satisfied with the job or they are not, others have determined that facet satisfaction is more
appropriate to study. Several researchers have looked at Lawler’s Theory of Facet Satisfaction,
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
34
stating that workers find satisfaction in parts, or facets, of their job (Conrad & Rosser, 2007;
Johnson & Holdaway, 1994). Lawler (1994) defined facet satisfaction as, “People’s affective
reactions to particular aspects of their job,” (p.82). He expressed the importance of distinguishing
between facet satisfactions and overall job satisfaction. Overall job satisfaction is often
determined by combinations of peoples’ feelings about certain facets of their job. In a study on
model job facet satisfaction with public employees, Conway, Williams, and Green (1987)
surmised that facets can be identified that contribute to overall job satisfaction, and in essence, if
one could increase their satisfaction in one or more of those facets, the overall job satisfaction
will also increase. Facets that they discovered included supervision, challenge, autonomy, pay,
promotion, stress, structure, benefits, and job security among others. Lawler’s research backs this
up with his model of facet satisfaction. His model, as shown in Figure 1, identifies satisfaction as
the difference between what a person feels they should receive and what they actually receive
(Lawler, 1994).
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
35
Figure 1
Model of the Determinants of Satisfaction
Note. From “Motivation in Work Organizations” by Edward E. Lawler, 1994, p. 97.
Lawler used theories from four approaches to develop the importance in distinguishing
between overall job satisfaction and facet satisfaction. The fulfillment theory states that an
individual’s satisfaction is based on how much of an outcome they are receiving. The
discrepancy theory states that a person’s satisfaction is based on the difference between what
they want and what they perceive they receive. If wants outweigh what is received, the higher the
rate of dissatisfaction. The third theory, the equity theory, shows that satisfaction is determined
by the balance of what a person gets out of their job compared to what they put into their job.
This theory is feelings- and motivation-based. Putting little in and getting much out can lead to
guilt while putting much in and getting little out can lead to feelings of inequity. Finally,
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
36
Herzberg’s (1959, 1966) Two-Factor Theory rounds out those that make up Lawler’s Theory of
Facet Satisfaction. The Two-Factor Theory separates job factors into satisfiers and dissatisfiers
that are independent from each other. Herzberg stressed that satisfaction and dissatisfaction do
not run in a straight line from one to the other, but rather they run from satisfied to neutral and
dissatisfied to neutral. This means that a person can be both satisfied and dissatisfied with their
job at the same time, based on separate facets that they like and dislike. While Lawler argues that
the equity theory and discrepancy theory are the two strongest theories to explain satisfaction, he
used the four described to develop his model of facet satisfaction (Lawler, 1994).
In her research about rural principals leaving their position, Hansen (2018) hypothesized
that there are three categories of facets that influence a person to stay or leave their current
position. Personal facets are those that are in the control of the principal, including family needs
and career aspirations. Institutional facets are those that are within the realm of control or
influence of the school district. These include school academic performance, job duties, and
salary. Environmental factors are outside of the control of the principal or school district. These
can include community expectations, isolation, and legislative mandates. Hansen used semistructured interviews to question six principals that had left their position in the previous year.
Several themes that emerged from the study included career opportunities (five of the six
participants, or 83%), family needs (100%), community expectations (67%), workload (100%),
lack of professional support (100%), general decisions or relationship (100%), principal salary
and contract negotiations (100%). The importance of this study specifically speaks to the
importance of knowing the individual facets or factors that can lead to an administrator’s
departure (Hansen, 2018).
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
37
Conrad and Rosser (2007) conducted a study with elementary principals, high school
assistant principals, high school principals, and assistant superintendents from school districts in
Missouri. Administrators were surveyed on morale, satisfaction, and desire to stay in or leave
their position. The researchers used structural equation modeling to determine the effect job
satisfaction had on the administrator’s intent to pursue an inside or outside promotion and/or
their intent to leave their current position or leave their career altogether. Within job satisfaction,
the researchers also looked at facets of satisfaction as interpersonal building and district
relationships, career support, working environment, and recognition for competence. They used
demographic data including degree level, race, years in education, years on the job, gender, and
position. The outcomes of the study showed that there was a direct, positive relationship between
all of the work-life factors and job satisfaction. Personal and family issues, including personal
conflicts, demands on family, time, and pressure, had a powerful, negative impact on
satisfaction. The higher the degree of education that an administrator had in this study, the higher
their satisfaction level, and the higher the chance that they would pursue advancing their career.
The study showed that those administrators that had higher incidents of personal and family
issues, the greater the desire to leave their position and career. Those who had been in education
longer and were closer to retirement were less likely to want to advance their career. Female
administrators had the same level of satisfaction as the male administrators, but females were
less likely to want to advance in their career. Assistant principals in the study had a much greater
chance of wanting to pursue career advancement (Conrad & Rosser, 2007).
Facets such as goals, role perceptions, role conflict, role ambiguity, role clarity,
autonomy, challenge, stress, and burnout can possibly influence an assistant principal’s overall
job satisfaction (Johnson & Holdaway, 1994). In the 1994 study, Johnson and Holdaway used
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
38
questionnaires and interviews with 131 K-6 principals and 94 principals from grades 7-9 in
Alberta, Canada. The results from the grades 7-9 principals were examined for the purpose of
this literature review as the study will be completed with high school assistant principals which
could potentially include grades 7-12. The researchers asked the participants about their
satisfaction with 41 different facets of their job, using a six-point scale (1 - highly dissatisfied to
6 - highly satisfied) as well as the importance of those specific facets on their overall job
satisfaction, using a four-point scale (1 - not important to 4 - extremely important). In Table 1,
the top eleven job facets found in the study are listed with their satisfaction mean score and
importance mean score.
Table 1
Top Eleven Job Facets
Job Facets
Satisfaction Mean Score
Importance Mean Score
Working relationships with
5.52
3.98
teachers
Relationships with students
5.39
3.8
Freedom to allocate teaching
5.39
3.82
assignments
Responsibility for formal
5.24
3.64
teacher evaluation
Relationships with central office
5.18
3.32
staff other than the
superintendent
Sense of accomplishment
5.16
3.85
Relationship with
5.11
3.42
superintendent
Attitudes of parents to school
5.08
3.85
Authority of position
5.07
3.55
Satisfaction of morale of staff
5.06
3.96
Achievement of own
5.06
3.6
professional objectives
Note. From Johnson, N.A. & Holdaway, E.A. (1994). Facet importance and the job satisfaction
of school principals. British Educational Research Journal, 20(1), 17-33.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
39
In Table 2 the last ten job facets from the Johnson and Holdaway (1994) study are listed along
with their satisfaction mean score and importance mean score.
Table 2
Bottom Ten Job Facets
Job Facets
Satisfaction Mean Score
Importance Mean Score
Salary
4.07
3.38
Involvement in district
4.26
3.13
decision-making
Fringe benefits in contract
4.29
3.17
Consultation between board
4.29
3.46
and teachers about
working conditions
Attitudes of teachers to
4.46
3.73
change
Opportunities for
4.52
3.19
advancement as an
administrator
Effect of job on personal life
4.53
3.57
Number of hours required to
4.53
3.25
work
Attitude of students towards
4.59
3.83
education
Involvement in hiring
4.59
3.75
teachers
Note. From Johnson, N.A. & Holdaway, E.A. (1994). Facet importance and the job satisfaction
of school principals. British Educational Research Journal, 20(1), 17-33.
Prior to ranking their facet satisfaction, the same group of principals reported 36% were
highly satisfied, 49% were moderately satisfied, and 3% were dissatisfied overall with their job.
The results in these charts show that specific facets have an effect on their overall satisfaction. It
also shows that some areas of the job are more desirable than others. Johnson & Holdaway
(1994) surmised that:
Studies which examine both facet and overall satisfaction could provide important
information about the changing experiences and attitudes of principals, and so help to
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
40
inform policymaking in ways that could benefit principals’ working lives and ultimately
the quality of education delivered (p. 31).
In a study on job satisfaction of principals from Midwestern states, 226 principals
returned the Principals Job Satisfaction Survey based on Herzberg’s (1959, 1966) MotivationHygiene Theory. Herzberg’s Theory, also called the Two-Factor Theory, is one of the theories
that Lawler (1994) used in determining the Theory of Facet Satisfaction. Herzberg’s theory
highlights the fact that different job facets can determine feelings of satisfaction and
dissatisfaction, and that a person can be both satisfied and dissatisfied with their job at the same
time. Although the principals reported a 92.9% overall satisfaction rate, the rates of satisfaction
with various facets were wide ranging. The satisfaction rates were as follows: Co-workers
(92.8%), level of responsibility (87.85%), opportunity for advancement (61.15%), pay
(60.325%), working conditions (75%), fringe benefits (68.15%), and supervisor (71.85%)
(Graham & Messner, 1998). Assistant principals also experience differences in facet satisfaction.
In several studies it was determined that assistant principals showed higher levels of satisfaction
in the facet areas of professional commitment, sense of efficacy, goal congruence, community
support, working relationships with teachers, and relationships with students. Lower areas of
facet satisfaction occurred with conflict, bureaucracy, powerlessness, funding, workload,
imbalance between personal and professional life (Johnson & Holdaway, 1994; Kwan, 2009).
Figuring out what drives an assistant principal, getting what they want in relation to what they
need, completing duties that require expertise and administrative ability, having a high level of
empowerment, self-determination, and impact are all areas that have been proven to have a
strong, positive association with facet satisfaction and, in turn, overall job satisfaction (Conrad &
Rosser, 2007; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Schermuly et al., 2010).
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
41
Summary
The findings in the literature on principal and assistant principal job satisfaction are
varied. Of the research that has been completed on assistant principals and job satisfaction, most
only give us numbers and these percentages of people that are satisfied or not, or the numbers of
certain demographics, only show one side of a large story. Due to the lack of qualitative research
on the overall and facet job satisfaction of the assistant principal, this study attempts to answer
“why?”, why a person is or is not satisfied, and if that satisfaction is global or pertains only to
certain facets of the job.
The literature includes very little research on the assistant principal, including the
changes of the position over time. Initially thought of as a disciplinarian, the role of the assistant
principal has morphed into one covering everything from student issues, to working closely with
parents and teachers, and instructional leadership (Cranston et al., 2004). In many instances there
is a lack of clarity regarding what exactly the job description is, as well as differences among the
job descriptions of the assistant principal in different school districts. With this challenge, it is
even more important to take a hard look at the work life experiences of current administrators
that are possible future principals and superintendents and the factors in play to affect their desire
to advance in administration (Conrad & Rosser, 2007). These factors could include the
difference between ideal, assumed, and actual responsibilities of an assistant principal. The
discrepancy between these responsibilities increases the challenges that lead to role vulnerability,
role ambiguity and role conflict. The research has shown that there is a nationwide shortage of
qualified administrators (Yerkes & Guaglianone, 1998). Role ambiguity, role vulnerability, and
role conflict can lead to frustration and burnout, which can play a part in this shortage. (Mitchell
et al., 2017).
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
42
Several of the studies highlighted in the literature used surveys based on Herzberg’s
Motivation-Hygiene, or Two Factor, theory (Graham & Messner, 1998). This theory is one, of a
few, that anchored Lawler’s (1994) Theory of Facet Satisfaction. Lawler states that a person’s
level of satisfaction is directly related to what they feel they should receive compared to what
they actually receive. This could be pay, respect, level of independence, or any number of facets
of the job. The facets of an administrative position can be categorized as personal, institutional,
and environmental (Hansen, 2018). The many facets of the assistant principal’s job and the
personal satisfaction level an assistant principal has with each of these facets potentially
determine their overall job satisfaction.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
43
Chapter III. Methodology
Previous studies have determined that additional research is needed on the assistant
principal position (Sutter, 1996; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Kwan, 2009). Understanding more
about the job satisfaction of assistant principals is also important to recruiting and keeping
quality candidates. This qualitative study was designed to explore job satisfaction levels and
facet satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio. In addition, this study took the
assistant principals’ own words to determine the impact of discrepancies in job responsibilities,
effects of role vulnerability, ambiguity, and conflict on their overall job satisfaction. This study
was designed to answer the questions of “what” and “why” rather than “how many.” For this
reason, the qualitative method of personal, semi-structured interviews was most appropriate to
get a more in-depth perspective from each subject.
Administrator preparation programs, researchers, and school district human resources
departments can use the results of this study to better understand satisfaction levels of assistant
principals and develop possible programs to support administrators. This chapter starts with a
review of the research questions followed by a description of the research design. Next is a
description of the participants of the study and how they were chosen. Following this will be a
discussion of the ethical considerations of the study and a description of the instrument used to
collect the data. Finally, the chapter will close with an explanation of how the data was collected
and analyzed and a description of the assumptions and trustworthiness of the study.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided this study:
RQ1: How do the discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities
affect the job satisfaction of assistant principals?
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
44
RQ2: What are the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction of high school assistant
principals in Ohio?
RQ3: What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction of high school assistant
principals in Ohio?
RQ4: How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction differ among high
school assistant principals in Ohio?
Research Design & Qualitative Approach
The goal of this study was to determine the job satisfaction of high school assistant
principals in Ohio including overall satisfaction versus facet satisfaction based on the lived
experiences of the APs. This qualitative study followed the phenomenological approach using
semi-structured interviews. Cresswell and Poth (2017) define a phenomenological study as one
that describes the commonalities of lived experiences of several individuals. Fraenkel, Wallen,
and Hyun (2015) termed these commonalities as the essence, or essential characteristic, of their
experiences. The phenomenon is the object or subject of the experience. Seidman (2013) states
that interviews allow people to tell their stories. In hearing these stories, the interviewer can gain
an understanding of someone’s lived experiences and the meaning they made out of those
experiences. The phenomenological approach helps us to understand a person, their thoughts,
ideas, and opinions, from their point of view.
I also used Lawler’s Theory of Facet Satisfaction to test if facet satisfaction determines
overall job satisfaction. Facet satisfaction is the physical and emotional reaction that people have
to certain aspects of their job (Lawler, 1994). Lawler explained the importance of distinguishing
between overall job satisfaction and facet satisfaction is that many theories surmise that job
satisfaction is determined by a combination of the reactions to the many facets of their job.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
45
Lawler’s model as shown in Figure 1, states that if a person’s perceived amount of facet
satisfaction that they should receive from their work is equal to the amount they believe they
receive then they will have positive overall satisfaction. This same theory and model can be used
for individual job facets as well. For instance, Caston and Briato (1983) explained that the
satisfaction level with various facets of an individual’s work is dependent upon the importance
that each individual puts on that particular facet. Rather than put a weight on a set of facets, each
facet should be weighed separately as well as considering each individual and their thoughts on
each facet.
Participants & Sampling Technique
Purposeful sampling was used to determine the subjects for this study. An initial
demographic survey was sent to all high school assistant principals in Ohio that are current
members of the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators (OASSA). This survey
established a database of potential interview participants. The full database was separated into 12
groups. Group One consisted of male assistant principals with 0-5 years of experience in a rural
school. Group Two contained female assistant principals with 0-5 years of experience in a rural
school. Group Three was male assistant principals with six years or more of experience in a rural
school. Group Four had female assistant principals with six or more years of experience in a
rural school. Group Five consisted of male assistant principals with 0-5 years of experience in an
urban school. Group Six contained female assistant principals with 0-5 years of experience in an
urban school. Group Seven was male assistant principals with six years or more of experience in
an urban school. Group Eight had female assistant principals with six or more years of
experience in an urban school. Group Nine consisted of male assistant principals with 0-5 years
of experience in a suburban school. Group Ten contained female assistant principals with 0-5
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
46
years of experience in a suburban school. Group Eleven was male assistant principals with six
years or more of experience in a suburban school. Group Twelve had female assistant principals
with six or more years of experience in a suburban school. One participant was randomly chosen
from each group using the web based random number generator Random.org. One female and
one male with 0-5 years of experience in each of three types of schools (rural, urban, suburban)
and one female and one male with 6 or more years of experience from each of three types of
schools made up the population for the interviews. The purpose of selecting participants from
both gender groups, both groups of years of experience, and the three types of schools was to
gather a broad look at the data spanning a wider range of backgrounds. Details on the twelve
participants randomly selected for the study are listed in Table 3.
Table 3
List of Participants for Study
Participant
AP1
AP2
AP3
AP4
AP5
AP6
AP7
AP8
AP9
AP10
AP11
AP12
Gender
M
M
F
M
M
F
M
F
F
M
F
F
Years of Experience
0-5
0-5
0-5
6+
0-5
6+
6+
6+
0-5
6+
6+
0-5
Type of School
Suburban
Urban
Urban
Suburban
Rural
Urban
Rural
Rural
Rural
Urban
Suburban
Suburban
Ethical Considerations
Participants may have been concerned that their answers would somehow be reported to
their district or discovered by district leadership and therefore held against them. To address
these concerns, all participants’ names, schools, districts, and all other identifying information
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
47
were kept confidential. All data was de-identified and the responses that appear in the study
cannot be tied to the participants or their workplaces. Each participant was assigned a number
randomly from one to twelve. They are referred to as AP1, AP2, etc. Participants signed a
consent form informing them of their rights and that they were guaranteed confidentiality. I
worked to establish rapport with each participant by making small talk and getting to know the
participant prior to the interviews in an effort to help the comfort level of the participants.
Instrumentation & Data Sources
A preliminary survey was sent by email to approximately 650 high school assistant
principals in Ohio that are members of Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators
(OASSA). The email stated that the assistant principal was being invited to participate in a study
of Job Satisfaction of Ohio High School Assistant Principals. The potential participants were told
that I was seeking to learn about the level of job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in
Ohio, as well as the relation of job satisfaction to individual facet satisfaction and the relation to
demographics and job responsibilities. They were told that they were selected as possible
participants in this study because they were a current high school assistant principal in Ohio and
a current member with the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators. They were
asked to complete the survey if they chose to participate. Further, the assistant principals were
told that the survey was simply designed to gather a database of possible participants in an
interview process to gather more information on job satisfaction of high school assistant
principals in Ohio. Assistant principals were told that by completing the survey they were
implying their consent to participate in that stage of the study. The email informed potential
study participants that phase two of the study would include one-on-one interviews between
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
48
them and myself and that it would allow me to gather data on job satisfaction of the participant
for use in the study (Appendix C).
The initial survey was used specifically to screen possible assistant principals for the study.
The sample survey questions were:
1. Please select your gender:
Female
Male
2. How many years have you been an assistant principal?
0-5 years
6+ years
3. Is the district in which you are currently working:
Urban
Rural
Suburban
4. Would you be willing to participate in a follow up interview about the roles of an
assistant principal and job satisfaction if selected?
Yes
No
The return rate of the initial survey was 17.54%. The results from this survey were used
to create a list of assistant principals to randomly select an equal number of males and females,
those serving as an administrator for 0-5 years and 6+ years, and those in urban, rural, and
suburban districts. One male and one female in each year band in each type of district were
chosen for the study.
Once the randomly selected sample was chosen, personal semi-structured interviews
were administered in person, over the phone, or through Skype/FaceTime to 12 Ohio high school
assistant principals that fit the needed subgroups of gender, years of service as an administrator,
and type of district. In addition to the pre-determined interview questions, urgings such as “Give
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
49
me an example of…” and “Tell me more about…” or further explanation of a question were
utilized.
As shown in Table 4, I was seeking to determine if participants found discrepancies
between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities and if so, if these discrepancies had an
effect on overall job satisfaction. I also wanted to find what the effects of role vulnerability, role
ambiguity, and role conflict had on the job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in
Ohio. Finally, I set out to determine how overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction
differ among high school assistant principals in Ohio. I identified the factors associated with job
satisfaction and facet satisfaction in the literature and used those to formulate specific questions
for the participants. Table 4 contains the type of questions, the questions, and the research basis
for each question.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Table 4
Research Basis for Design of the Research Instrument
Question
Research Basis
What are your general job
Calabrese (1991); Glanz (1994);
responsibilities?
Hausman et al. (2002); Hunt
(2011); Kwan (2009); Kwan &
Walker (2011); Marshall &
Hooley (2006)
Do these differ from what you
Cantwell (1993); Glanz (1994)
assumed your responsibilities
would be? If so, how?
What would you prefer to have as job Cantwell (1993); Glanz (1994);
responsibilities as an assistant
Militello et al. (2015)
principal?
What about the job is most
Barnett et al. (2012)
challenging?
Within your position, do you find
Celik (2013); Marshall & Hooley
there are any gray areas or lines of
(2006); Mitchell et al. (2017);
responsibility that blur between
Schermuly, C et al. (2010)
what you think you are supposed
to do and what you are told to do?
(role ambiguity)
Do you find any conflicts between
Celik (2013); Conrad & Rosser
your responsibilities at school and
(2007); Hansen (2018);
your responsibilities at home?
Hausman et al. (2002); Marshall
(role conflict)
& Hooley (2017); Schermuly, C.
et al. (2010)
What part of the job do you think you Mitchell et al. (2017)
do very well?
What part of the job do you struggle
Mitchell et al. (2017)
with the most?
What are the aspects of the position
Lawler (1994)
that you like best? Worst?
If you weighed the ideal, assumed,
Lawler (1994)
and actual job responsibilities of
the position, how would you
describe your overall job
satisfaction?
Do you have anything else that you
Lawler (1994)
would like to add about job
satisfaction or your satisfaction
with any particular aspect of your
current position?
50
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
51
I developed the interview questions based on the research on job satisfaction, job
satisfaction and responsibilities of high school assistant principals, and Lawler’s Theory of Facet
Satisfaction. The purpose of each interview question was to identify and collect data for each
research question. Interview questions 1-4 were directly related to the first research question.
Interview questions 4-8 were related to the research questions two, three, and four. Interview
questions 9-11 were related to the fourth research question. Lawler’s (1994) definition of facet
satisfaction, “People’s affective reactions to particular aspects of their job” (p.82), directly
relates to the interview questions as I was looking for the participants’ specific feelings on the
multiple aspects of their jobs.
Data Collection Procedures
High school assistant principals who were current members of OASSA were sent an
email asking them to participate in a survey utilizing Google Forms. The email told the assistant
principal that they were being invited to participate in a study of Job Satisfaction of Ohio High
School Assistant Principals. The email explained that I was seeking to learn about the level of
job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio, as well as the relation of job
satisfaction to individual facet satisfaction and to determine the role of demographics and job
responsibilities. The assistant principals were told that they were selected as possible participants
in this study because they were a current high school assistant principal Ohio and a current
member with OASSA. They were asked to complete the survey if they chose to participate.
Further, the assistant principals were told that the survey was simply designed to gather a
database of possible participants in an interview process to gather more information on job
satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio. Assistant principals were told that by
completing the survey they were implying their consent to participate in this stage of the study.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
52
The email informed potential study participants that phase two of the study would include oneon-one interviews between them and myself and that it would allow me to gather data on job
satisfaction of the participant for use in the study.
The survey collected information including gender, years served as an assistant principal,
the type of district/school they were working in, and if they would be willing to participate in the
study. This survey provided a database of 12 groups of potential subjects to contact for
participation in an interview. Using random.org, a male and female assistant principal were
randomly selected from those serving as an administrator for 0-5 years and 6+ years in urban,
rural, and suburban districts. This yielded a total of 12 participants. The initial email sent to
potential participants explained that those who return the sampling survey would be entered into
a random drawing for a $25 gift card.
One-on-one semi-structured interviews were held with each of the 12 individuals who
were randomly selected from among the survey respondents. Two interviews were conducted in
person, one interview was conducted using FaceTime, while the nine others were conducted over
the phone. Each interview was planned for 30-45 minutes but was given as much time as needed
to allow the participants to answer all questions and offer any additional insight. All interviews
were audiotaped for transcription and coding. Each participant was asked to sign a written
consent form and they were asked for permission to tape the interview. This verbal permission
was also recorded at the beginning of each interview. Each interview participant was given an
unannounced gift of a $25 gift card. Following transcription of the interviews, original
recordings were destroyed.
Data Analysis
For phase one of the study, I contacted potential participants with a Google Forms
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
53
survey. The purpose of the study was to collect demographic information in order to identify
assistant principals that fit the parameters for the study. Semi-structured interviews were used
with audio recording and each interview was transcribed. As presented by Creswell and Poth
(2017), the data analysis spiral activities of managing and organizing data, reading and memoing
emergent ideas, classifying the codes into themes, developing and assessing interpretations, and
representing and visualizing the data were completed. MAXQDA, software for qualitative
research, was used to code the interviews. Some pre-determined codes were used during the
coding, while others developed from the interviews. Codes were applied to portions of the
interview questions that aligned with the pre-determined codes, or for additional themes that
emerged from the participants’ answers. Pre-determined codes were chosen based on the initial
research completed for the study and in developing the interview questions. Pre-determined
codes were:
Ideal Responsibility. Job responsibilities that the assistant principal prefers.
Assumed Responsibility. Job responsibilities that the assistant principal thought they
would be completing upon accepting the position.
Actual Responsibility. Job responsibilities that are required to complete.
Role Ambiguity. Uncertainties that occur within the position.
Role Conflict. Incompatibility between roles at school or between school and home.
Individual Facets. Discipline, teacher evaluation, student coverage, paperwork,
curriculum/instructional leadership.
Job Satisfaction. Overall feeling, positive or negative, with full spectrum of the position.
Within the interviews and during coding the transcriptions, memoing was used to make
note of trending topics between the interviews or independent views that have strong correlation
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
54
to previous research. Points of view from the subjects were discovered and reported from their
perspectives. This was accomplished by developing a description of job responsibilities, the
different roles experienced, and developing the essence of the experience of what the subjects
experienced and how they experienced it (Creswell & Poth, 2017). These steps are specific to the
phenomenological approach to analyzing and representing data collected during the study.
Assumptions
I made several assumptions during this study, specifically during the interview process.
The first assumption is that the subjects were truthful on the sample survey so that interviewed
subjects were randomly chosen based on the information they provided. The second assumption
is that the participants of the interviews felt safe and secure enough to be honest and open with
their responses without fear of retribution from their current or future districts. The third
assumption is that the participants would have no relation to the study other than their answers so
as not to sway information with hidden agendas. The final two assumptions are that the interview
questions were sufficient enough to draw out answers that helped determine themes on facet
satisfaction of the assistant principal position and that each interview provided enough time for
the participants to fully express their thoughts and views.
Trustworthiness
Following the lens strategy for validation of Creswell and Poth (2017), assessing the
accuracy of the findings through me, the participants, and the readers, I increased the validity of
the study. In the researcher lens, results and evidence were confirmed through triangulation of all
of sources. The first step in this was sending original transcripts to participants to review for
accuracy. They were asked to read the transcript from the interview to make sure that what they
said was correctly captured and gave them a chance to clarify, edit, subtract from and/or add to
any of their statements. Through the participant lens, following the data collection and analysis,
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
55
participants were asked to review the findings. Themes found in the interviews were shared with
the subjects to solicit their feedback on the findings. This helped ensure the study was credible,
and that the results accurately interpreted the meaning that the participant gave in their answers.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
56
Chapter IV. Results
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the facet satisfaction and
overall job satisfaction of Ohio high school assistant principals by comparing the results of
interviews based on gender, years in the position, type/location of school, and job
responsibilities. Individual assistant principals were provided an opportunity to share about their
actual, assumed, and ideal job responsibilities, experiences of role ambiguity and role conflict,
what they feel that they do well and struggle with, their favorite aspects of the job and those they
do not like as well, and their overall job satisfaction. Interview questions were developed based
on studies on the assistant principal, role ambiguity, role conflict, job facets, facet satisfaction,
and job satisfaction.
Data was gathered from 12 individual interviews with both male and female assistant
principals with 0-5 or 6 or more years of experience in a rural, suburban, or urban school district.
Participants were given the choice to talk in person, interview over the phone, or through
FaceTime/Skype. Two chose a face-to-face interview, one in a school office and one at the
conclusion of a professional conference for Ohio secondary school administrators; one
participant chose to use FaceTime; and nine interviews were conducted over the phone.
Participants were assigned a pseudonym of AP and the number of the order they were
interviewed (Table 3). All of the interviews were recorded using a personal MP3 recording
device. One interview was transcribed by the interviewer and 11 were transcribed by Landmark
Associates, a transcription and translation company from Phoenix, Arizona. Once transcribed,
the interviews were initially analyzed and coded by hand through reading and becoming familiar
with the data. The hand coding also included finding larger themes emerging within the answers.
Further coding was accomplished by using MAXQDA, a computer-assisted qualitative analysis
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
57
software. Coding systems used were those taken from suggestions by Miles, Huberman, and
Saldana (2020). The coding systems used were jotting and memoing, provisional coding,
descriptive coding, and theming the data. Jotting and memoing consisted of making notes during
the actual interviews and while initially reading through the interview transcriptions. Provisional
coding involves a list of a priori codes that evolved from what research showed may be found in
the interviews. Descriptive coding determines a word or phrase that summarizes the basic topic
of a piece of qualitative data. Themes emerge as a word, phrase, or sentence that summarizes
what the data is about.
The a priori codes and the additional codes are listed in Table 5.
Table 5
Codes from Interview Data
A Priori Codes
Additional Codes
Actual Responsibility
Time/Weight/Enormity of the Position
Assumed Responsibility
Positive Working Relationships/Support
Ideal Responsibility
Expectations of Female Administrators
Role Ambiguity
Role Conflict
Individual Facets
Job Satisfaction
This chapter analyzes the data that was gathered from participant interviews and is
separated by research question. Additional themes that emerged from the participant answers are
also presented within each research question. A summary of the overall data follows the last
research question.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
58
Research Question 1
How do the discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities affect
the job satisfaction of high school assistant principals?
For the purposes of this study, actual job responsibilities are those that the assistant
principal are required by their principal to complete. Assumed responsibilities are those that the
assistant principal thought they would be completing when they accepted the AP position. Ideal
responsibilities are those facets of the job that the assistant principal would prefer to do. These
three areas of job responsibilities were chosen for this study based on previous research showing
the wide range of responsibilities of the assistant principal and their potential effect on job
satisfaction (Cantwell, 1993; Glanz, 1994; Kwan & Walker, 2012; Marshall & Hooley, 2006;
Militello et al., 2015; Mitchell et al., 2017; Munoz & Barber, 2011).
Actual Responsibilities
Assistant principal participants were asked, “What are your general job responsibilities?”
The actual job responsibilities of the assistant principals interviewed were lengthy and varied.
Responsibilities included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
student management
IEP/504 meetings
lunch/bus duty
teacher and staff evaluations
department oversight
resolving conflict
teacher based data teams
test coordination
discipline,
safety and security
extra or co-curricular coverage (sports, performing arts, dances)
open house
technology
attendance/House Bill 410 (HB410)
curriculum
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
59
master schedule
facilities and maintenance
purchasing
PBIS
school culture and conduct
club advisor
oversight of athletics program
Many of the APs mentioned that they did more than they listed but knew they would forget a
few things. Only two gave very vague answers such as, “Everything an assistant principal does,”
or “Everything with students and teachers.” Detailed lists of responsibilities from each assistant
principal participant is listed in Table 6.
Table 6
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding Actual Responsibilities
Assistant
Principal
(AP)
Response
AP1
Student management, IEP meetings, lunch duty, evaluations, oversee Special
Education and Science departments
AP2
TBTs (teacher-based teams), evaluations, support English and Social Studies
departments, Ohio state testing coordinator, data analysis for the PBIS
(Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) committee, discipline,
safety drills, homecoming, open house, technology, IEPs, 504s, House Bill
410
AP3
Special Education, 504s, curriculum, attendance, master schedule, discipline,
coverages
AP4
Discipline, facilities manager, purchasing, maintenance, evaluations
AP5
Discipline, teacher evaluations, hiring and evaluation of classified staff
AP6
Evaluations, technology committee, managing the one-to-one program, morning
announcements, PBIS, discipline, English and art departments, safety and
security
AP7
Truancy, discipline, Special Education, evaluations, House Bill 410 and
attendance, track Star data, intervention, lunch and bus duty
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
60
Assistant
Principal
(AP)
Response
AP8
“My duties right now are everything that an assistant principal or principal would
be doing.”
AP9
“My job responsibilities mainly deal with students and teachers.” Putting out
fires, teacher evaluations, counseling and helping with coping skills
AP10
School culture, student conduct, attendance
AP11
Tenth grade discipline, English department instructional leader, testing
coordinator, Hope Squad and ROX advisor
AP12
Assistant Principal in charge of athletics, oversight of all athletic programs,
eligibility, coach evaluations, sophomore and junior discipline, ACT and
AP testing, evaluation of science, art, and career-technical department
teachers, oversee custodial and library staff, monitor staff and clerical comp
time
Assumed Responsibilities
To learn the job responsibilities that the assistant principals interviewed assumed they
would have going into the position, I asked, “Do these (general job responsibilities) differ from
what you assumed your responsibilities would be? If so, how?” Responsibilities named off by
the APs that they thought they would be doing when they accepted the job of an assistant
principal included: instructional leadership including more walkthroughs, coaching teachers,
being more involved in decision making, and sharing best practices. One AP mentioned that they
thought the quality of life of an AP would be better than it is. Several APs listed what was
different in what they expected as the quantity of what they are doing and the time it takes to get
it all done is much higher than they anticipated. One AP did not expect to have to be as involved
with attendance as they are and another did not anticipate the quantity of counseling and mental
health issues, vaping and drug issues, and student management issues that they deal with. Yet
another mentioned that they did not expect the job to include putting out fires among adults as
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
61
much as they do. One AP that was an administrator of an online school prior to becoming an AP
in their school mentioned that the job is completely different than what they were doing at the
online school. Specific answers from each assistant principal regarding assumed responsibilities
are listed in Table 7.
Table 7
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding Assumed Responsibilities
Assistant
Response
Principal (AP)
AP1
More of an instructional leader
AP2
Making more of an impact in the classrooms, walkthroughs, providing
coaching, setting best practices
AP3
“I don’t think programs or the interview process prepares you for what you
really are required to do. Quality of life differs quite a bit…”
AP4
“I thought I would be more involved with instructional leadership.”
AP5
“I don’t think the duties themselves varied much. It was just, maybe, the
quantity or the proportion of the day that each of them consumed was
probably a little bit different than what I expected.”
AP6
“I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but I had no clue. Sometimes
it’s hard to just get out of my office because you are putting out one fire
after another.”
AP7
“I pretty much assumed, I think I assumed right.” Addition of House Bill 410
and attendance was not known.
AP8
More putting out fires with adults than assumed
AP9
“I was an assistant principal for an online school before. My job is definitely
different than what I thought it would be, but that’s not bad.”
AP10
Expected to have more of a hand in school culture, operations, academics
AP11
“I was very well prepared to be an assistant principal.” Shadowed
administrators in the building prior to moving into the position.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
62
Assistant
Response
Principal (AP)
AP12
Did not anticipate mental health issues, vaping and illegal drugs, unexpected
challenges of student management
Within the topic of assumed responsibilities, there were a few notable differences based
on gender and type of school. None of the female participants mentioned that they assumed they
would be more of an instructional leader, while half of the males cited this as something they
assumed they would be doing more often. None of the participants from suburban schools
mentioned the amount of time the job takes or the quality of life of an assistant principal on the
job, but APs from both rural and urban schools mentioned this as a surprise and something they
did not assume going into the position.
Ideal Responsibilities
In order to determine the ideal job responsibilities of the assistant principals interviewed,
they were asked, “What would you prefer to have as job responsibilities as an assistant
principal?” Ideal responsibilities identified by the assistant principals interviewed included:
academic/instructional leadership, scheduling, graduation paths and guidance, enough time to do
the job, teacher evaluations done in a different way than the current system, the ability to have
better relationships with higher performing students, time to get into the classrooms more,
discipline, management of events, more time to talk through issues with students and teachers,
and better training for mental health issues. Only one assistant principal answered that they
would not change anything about their responsibilities and that what they are doing is the
ideal. Answers for each assistant principal on ideal responsibilities is listed in Table 8.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
63
Table 8
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding Ideal Responsibilities
Assistant
Principal
(AP)
Response
AP1
Academic leadership
AP2
“I’d like to spend more time with the guidance, the scheduling, the graduation
pathways, building more credentials for our building…”
AP3
“I think it would be more of what I could take away.” Unstructured time,
standing around and watching students (lunch duty), more realistic
understanding of what is and should be priority
AP4
Instructional leadership, change teacher evaluations
AP5
Better relationship and more interaction with higher performing students
AP6
Get into classrooms more, different teacher evaluation process, no discipline
(“But that’s just reality.”), no cafeteria duty
AP7
“Truthfully, I think I’d like what I’m doing right now. I probably wouldn’t
change anything.”
AP8
Discipline, setting up and hosting big events, teacher evaluations, working with
teachers to improve instruction
AP9
“I really wouldn’t change much of anything. I think a little more time probably
for talking about some issues, maybe with all teachers. I feel like there’s not
enough time to get everything done.”
AP10
More involvement in all aspects of the school, ability to give input on academics
and operational matters
AP11
More time to be an instructional leader and get into classrooms, model lessons
and work with teachers
AP12
“I wish I was better at making recommendations to teachers for improvement of
curriculum delivery. I wish I were better trained in the mental health aspect
of helping students.” Working with students in an educational setting, going
back into the classroom
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
64
Two themes emerged from the questions on ideal and assumed responsibilities. The first
was that the APs thought they would be and would prefer to be involved more with instructional
leadership. A second theme was that the time invested in the job was more than the APs
anticipated and was more than is ideal. These themes spanned all demographic categories
included in the study: gender, years of experience, and type of school.
Specific mentions on instructional leadership by the assistant principals included
curriculum, working more with teachers on improving lessons, and more input on academics and
scheduling. Comments about the time invested in the job included mentions on thinking that they
knew what they were taking on but being surprised by the enormity of the position.
Research Question 2
What are the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction of high school assistant
principals in Ohio?
Role ambiguity is defined as the uncertainty about the expectations, responsibilities, and
consequences associated with the role of high school assistant principal. Of the twelve assistant
principals interviewed, only two, AP9 and AP11, stated that they do not experience any role
ambiguity. Both were female assistant principals but had different levels of experience and were
in different types of schools with one in a rural school and the other in a suburban school. The
other nine assistant principals gave examples of role ambiguity. The examples given fell into
three categories: professional relationships, lack of time/resources, and mandates/organizational
issues. When referring to role ambiguity, professional relationships included working with adults
in similar roles but differences of opinions, new principals with new expectations, and handling
parent expectations. Mandates and organizational issues included additions of work due to
legislation with no additional time or resources, blurring lines of school safety and whose
65
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
responsibility it is to ensure, and juggling the academic demands of the district and state with the
mental health and counseling needs of the students. These are summarized by number of
comments in each category in Table 9.
Table 9
Summary of Assistant Principal Comments on Role Ambiguity
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Lack of
Time/Resources
Mandates/
Organizational
Issues
Assistant Principal 2
X
X
Assistant Principal 3
X
X
Assistant Principal 1
Assistant Principal 4
Professional
Relationships
X
X
Assistant Principal 5
X
Assistant Principal 6
X
Assistant Principal 7
X
Assistant Principal 8
X
Assistant Principal 10
X
Assistant Principal 12
X
Total Number of
Comments
6
3
3
Three APs mentioned that there is a bit of gray area when working with students that may
not line up with their assigned alphabet or grade level, specifically mentioning that they may
have assigned a different discipline than the assigned AP and then having to work through a
consensus. One of these APs also mentioned the same with working with teachers that may not
be in their department. One of the APs interviewed oversees the athletic department but also has
an athletic supervisor. They mentioned that the lines often blur between the two positions with
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
66
having to correct the supervisor who oversteps boundaries at times. Another AP mentioned that
they had been in their role working for several different principals and with this brings new
expectations at times which can cause uncertainty. In a similar situation, an AP interviewed was
currently serving both as an AP and principal as the building principal was out on a short
medical leave. They anticipated there being potential confusion when the principal returns until
they get back into their assigned roles. Several assistants mentioned frustration in directives that
they are given from their central office and/or the state. Examples include adding the
responsibilities and workload that come with House Bill 410 (new legislation in Ohio on student
attendance that requires school administrators to develop absence intervention teams, secure
parent participation on the team, develop absence intervention plans, notify parents of the plan,
and make referrals to juvenile courts as necessary based on truancy) but not providing assistance
or additional time, the expectation of getting into the classroom more but also adding to the
amount of paperwork to complete, school safety issues blurring between the AP role and the
operations position at central office, and being told to help with the mental health crisis of our
students but then being told they are not a counselor. Other blurred lines occurred between
stressing the importance of getting test scores raised but needing to address mental health issues
with students, parents expecting an immediate answer but not knowing if it is the AP’s
responsibility or place to give an answer, and deciding when a student needs discipline or
counseling. One AP mentioned times when they felt like the principal was not giving them
enough responsibility and a previous principal giving them work they felt was being dumped on
them as things the principal did not want to do.
There were a few notable commonalities in the responses based on the demographics of
the study participants. An equal amount of male and female participants mentioned role
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
67
ambiguity in professional relationships, but there were more professional relationship issues
mentioned among participants with six or more years of experience than those with 0-5 years of
experience. Lack of time and resources was not mentioned by any participants with six or more
years of experience or in suburban or rural schools. Like a lack of time and resources, mandates
and organizational issues were prevalent in answers from assistant principals from urban schools
but not mentioned at all by those participants from suburban or rural schools.
Research Question 3
What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals
in Ohio?
The two types of role conflict that were considered for this study were the conflict
between moving from a teacher to an administrator within the same building and the conflict that
exists between home and school.
Two assistant principals interviewed stated that they did not experience any type of role
conflict. One, a female with six or more years of experience working in a suburban school,
mentioned that they were a good time manager and had no problem finding balance, so it was not
an issue. The second, a male with 0-5 years of experience from an urban school, mentioned that
his family is very supportive so there were no issues.
Only AP10 moved into the current position after being a teacher in the same building.
They mentioned that there was conflict at the beginning. They stated,
When I first started, I came right out of teaching, four years teaching in that building, to
being an administrator. Absolutely there was tons of conflict. People who you were
friendly with when maybe you had to make a student behavior decision, they would look
at you and say, ‘Are you kidding me? You’re not going to bat for me on this?’ The
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
68
teacher's lounge can be a wicked place. You go from being a teacher, where you’re part
of the conversation. Where, as an administrator, you walk in, it goes silent.
The remaining nine assistant principals all spoke of role conflict existing with the
majority mentioning stress between spending time at school and home. One stated that there are
days that they struggle to adequately care for their pet and with little time in life to be able to find
a partner. The presence of guilt for missing family or child events was mentioned often with six
APs mentioning that they had to miss one or the other, school or home, and that if they were at
one, they felt they should be at the other. One AP stated that they had to hire a nanny to help
with everything. Another mentioned that between being an AP of a middle school and high
school and the athletic director for the high school that they were working 80-90 hours a week.
They stated that this left no time for a life. A male AP specifically mentioned the stress on his
family as he finds himself emotionally unavailable for them after all of the time and emotion that
he puts into his job and the students and staff at school.
There were no notable differences between gender, years of experience, and type of
school when looking at role conflict between home and school. The nine assistant principals that
spoke of this conflict spanned both male and female, 0-5 or six or more years of experience, and
urban, rural, or suburban schools in near equal numbers.
Research Question 4
How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction differ among high school
assistant principals in Ohio?
Within this study, facet satisfaction is defined as contentedness with certain aspects of a
job. The decision to study facet satisfaction was the basis for the research, specifically looking at
the satisfaction with certain aspects of the job and the effect that satisfaction has on overall job
69
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
satisfaction. Lawler’s (1994) Theory of Facet Satisfaction was used as the theoretical framework,
surmising that the assistant principals in the study will have some aspects of the job that they
enjoy more than others.
Facet Satisfaction
When looking at facet satisfaction, I chose to ask the assistant principals about the most
challenging part of their job, the parts of the job that the APs feel they do well and those they
struggle with, and the best and worst parts of the assistant principalship.
When asked, “What about the job is most challenging?”, the assistant principals answered
consistently in three themes: the enormity and weight of the job, professional relationships (as
previously defined including upper management), and student issues. Student issues include
mental health, violence, discipline, home life, and trauma. Counts of comments in each category
as well as specific quotes from assistant principal participants are listed in Table 10.
Table 10
Summary of Assistant Principal Comments on Challenging Job Facets
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Enormity / Weight of
the Position
Assistant Principal 1
“I feel like I have to
be ‘on’ all the
time.”
Assistant Principal 2
“The balance. In
general, it would
be the non-stop
whirlwind we call
it.”
Assistant Principal 3
“Keeping yourself
from becoming
completely
Professional
Relationships
(including upper
management)
Student Issues
“We’ve had kids that
have taken their
own lives. We’ve
70
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Enormity / Weight of
the Position
Professional
Relationships
(including upper
management)
exhausted, that
knowing when
you need a
break.”
had kids who
have died, kids
who have been
murdered.”
Assistant Principal 4
“Staying consistent
with the other
administrators I
work with.”
Assistant Principal 5
“Parents. Parents and
confrontations
with adults.”
Assistant Principal 6
“Hard to get out of
the office because
you are putting
out one fire after
another.”
Assistant Principal 7
Assistant Principal 8
“When you make a
decision, but the
parents are not
logical or
rational.”
“Having to remove
privileges because
students make a
bad choice.”
“Dealing with parents
can be a
challenge.”
“The workload.”
“The expectations
from upper
management.”
Assistant Principal 9
“Helping students
coming from very
troubled
environments.”
“The kids that have
experienced just
terrible trauma
that I can’t fix
things for them.”
Assistant Principal 10
Assistant Principal 11
Student Issues
“The disconnect from
the upper
management levels
to the school
itself.”
“Just being able to get
out there. We get
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JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Enormity / Weight of
the Position
Professional
Relationships
(including upper
management)
Student Issues
bogged down
with paperwork.”
Assistant Principal 12
Total Number of
Comments
“Finding time to meet
everyone’s needs
and doing
everything well.”
7
6
4
When asked about what part of the job is most challenging, none of the male participants
mentioned student issues, while four of the female participants stated it as a challenge. Male
participants with six or more years of experience were more likely to mention professional
relationships as a challenge than female participants or those with 0-5 years of experience. The
enormity or weight of the position appeared to be a challenge across all demographic variables
included in the study.
To continue looking at facet satisfaction, assistant principals were asked, “What part of
the job do you think you do very well and what part of the job do you struggle with the most?”
The answers to both questions fell into one of three categories that were developed by theming
the interviews: relationships (students and adults), operations, and organization. For the facet
satisfaction questions on what assistant principals believe they do well and what they struggle
with, there were no significant differences based on demographics included in the study.
Answers were fairly equal among the categories for male or female, 0-5 or six or more years of
experience, and rural, suburban, or urban school. Table 11 shows how many assistant principals
72
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
responded to each category as well as specific quotes they shared on what they do well they do in
the areas of relationships, operations, and organization.
Table 11
Summary of Assistant Principal Comments on Aspects of the Job They Do Well
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Relationships
Assistant Principal 1
“I’m starting to
establish trusting
relationships with
the departments.
Assistant Principal 2
“A strong trait of
mine is I
communicate very
efficient and direct
to whatever
stakeholder that’s
involved.”
Assistant Principal 3
“I think I work really
well with families
and advocate for
students and listen
to the needs of the
staff, my team of
people.”
Operations
Organization
“I think I do a very
good job with
discipline.”
“I thought I did a very
good job with the
organization of
the testing
process.”
Assistant Principal 4
“I think I do the
facilities, and the
purchasing, and
the maintenance
piece well.”
Assistant Principal 5
“I like the variety, the
pace. I like the
challenge of
running an
investigation,
getting stuff to fit
together, and
trying to unravel
it.”
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JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Relationships
Operations
Assistant Principal 6
“Connections and
relationships with
families.”
“In terms of what I do
very well, I think,
is just school
operations.”
Assistant Principal 7
“I also thing I have a
good rapport with
the teaching staff.”
Assistant Principal 8
“Relationships that I
build with staff
and students…
communicating
with them…just
building those
relationships.”
Assistant Principal 9
“I’m really good at
relationships.
Assistant Principal 10
“I think it’s the
rapport with
students. I relate to
the kids that go to
the school. We
have a lot in
common
understanding how
things are in the
neighborhood and
the way people
experience life
there.”
Assistant Principal 11
Assistant Principal 12
“I do well with
meeting deadlines
and fulfilling my
job duties.”
“I have the ability to
multi-task and do
it really well.”
“Testing coordinator
specifically I do
pretty well.”
“I am the best at
building
Organization
“I’m very detail
oriented so I think
I take on the
position of testing
coordinator pretty
well.”
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JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Relationships
Operations
Organization
relationships and
liking students. I
enjoy kids.”
Total Number of
Comments
9
5
4
Table 12 shows how many assistant principals responded to each category as well as specific
quotes they shared on what they struggle with in the areas of relationships, operations, and
organization.
Table 12
Summary of Assistant Principal Comments on Aspects of the Job They Find as a Struggle
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Relationships
Assistant Principal 1
“I struggle with
ignoring others
and not creating
relationships with
those I don’t
work closely
with.”
Assistant Principal 2
Operations
“Follow up is
something I need
to get better at.
Remembering to
close the
communication
loop.”
“House Bill 410.”
Assistant Principal 3
“The struggle is not
taking things
personally or not
being defensive.”
Assistant Principal 4
“The piece that I’m
struggling with
now is relating to
the kids.”
Organization
“I have a goal to keep
working on
organization.”
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JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Relationships
Operations
Assistant Principal 5
“I’ve lost a lot of
faith in a lot of
my bearings with
just where
students are. I
think we have a
drug problem in
the community.”
“The most frustrating
thing would be a
lot of weakness
in the
superintendent’s
office…”
Assistant Principal 6
Assistant Principal 7
“The part I struggle
with the most is
my knowledge of
curriculum.”
“I can always
improve upon
dealing with
parents.”
“Keeping up with the
demands of
paperwork.”
Assistant Principal 8
“The area of special
education and
finding
interventions
that are
effective.”
Assistant Principal 9
“I have a hard time
sometimes with
being fair, so the
idea of justice in
my mind isn’t
always the
same.”
Assistant Principal 10
“It comes back to the
hierarchical
structure of our
school, based on
the
management.”
Assistant Principal 11
Organization
“Blocking out the
time to get into
classrooms.”
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JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Assistant Principal
(AP)
Relationships
Assistant Principal 12
Total Number of
Comments
Operations
Organization
“I want to be a fullservice
curriculum
leader and have
not been able to
transition into
this.”
5
6
5
Finally, when discussing facet satisfaction, the assistant principal participants were asked,
“What are the aspects of the position that you like best? Worst?” Themes that emerged from the
best parts of the assistant principalship included student and adult relationships and the
operations and organization of a day. Unlike the professional relationships that created role
ambiguity discussed earlier, adult relationships were spoken of positively as trusting, advocating,
and building rapport. The three biggest themes from those aspects that the APs identified as the
worst part of the job were student issues, professional relationships, and the time and weight of
the position. Table 13 lists the thoughts on the best and worst aspect of the assistant principal
position from each AP participant.
Table 13
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding the Best and Worst Facets of the Job
Assistant
Best Facets of the Job
Principal (AP)
Worst Facets of the Job
AP1
“No two days are alike. I actually enjoy “It’s the hours. It’s the sheer hours and
the healthy busy.”
the constant guilt that I feel from
what’s going on with my family.”
AP2
“I like working as a team with a lot of
different stakeholders.”
“I had a concussion breaking up a fight,
had a dad come in and threaten to
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JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Assistant
Best Facets of the Job
Principal (AP)
Worst Facets of the Job
kill me. Those are some pretty
rough moments. Work from 6-4 and
come home still with a list of 9 or
10 things that I want to get done
that day.”
AP3
“I love working with kids.”
“The things that I don’t like the most are
just the random duties...things that
don’t have value to the overall.”
AP4
“The things I’m good at, the facility
“The discipline I don’t like. The amount
scheduling, maintenance, and the
of time it takes to do the full cycle
purchasing, those actually turned
teacher observations, it gets in the
out to be the things that I really
way of just going into the
like right now.”
classroom on a more regular basis
and watching teachers teach, and
interacting with kids.”
AP5
“I really like the variety and the pace. I “I’ve really lost a lot of faith in a lot of
like the challenge of running an
my bearings with just where
investigation. I really enjoy being
students are. I think we have a drug
in a leadership role among
problem in our community and in
teachers and among colleagues.”
our county, and it’s only getting
worse. A lot of weakness in the
superintendent’s office, a lot of my
decisions overturned or not
supported, stuff not followed
through s I would have done it or
had it done or as I explicitly asked
for it to be done.”
AP6
“My favorite part is working with the
kids. I don’t mind the evening
events.”
AP7
“I help people every day. I don’t mind “Dealing with irrational parents. I don’t
being the bad guy. I like doing the
like dealing with budgets and
discipline aspect of it.”
money and requisitions and
purchase orders.”
AP8
“Building those relationships.”
“I hate when I get pulled out of the
building to do our all-principal
meetings or secondary principal
meetings. The worst part is dealing
with the people who are not
rational.”
“The hours. That part of the job is just
brutal.”
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JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Assistant
Best Facets of the Job
Principal (AP)
Worst Facets of the Job
AP9
“Spending time with the kids and with “I don’t like the same tasks that I do
the teachers.”
every week, like printing out
attendance letters and sending
those. Just the little tasks that take
away from building relationships
or time I can spend in classrooms.”
AP10
“Working with the students.”
AP11
“I wanted to have a bigger impact
“It’s just making sure that while I’m
outside the four walls of my own
there, that I’m able to manage my
classroom. I love seeing the kids.”
time wisely, so again, blocking out
that time to get in the classrooms,
but still taking care of all of my
other duties and just finding that
balance.”
AP12
“Interactions and people.”
“Sometimes it’s difficult dealing with the
parents.”
“The compassion fatigue that comes with
dealing with problems and
negativity most days. The worst
days are those when you feel you
don’t make a difference, and sadly,
there are a lot of those days.”
When considering the demographics of the participants and their responses to the best
and worst part of the job, participant responses to best and worst were sharply divided along
gender lines. An equal number of male participants stated that the best part of the job for them
was relationships or the operations and organization of the day. Female participants all
mentioned relationships as the best part of the job. Equal numbers of males mentioned student
issues, professional relationships, and the time/weight of the position as the worst part of the job.
All but one female stated that the time/weight of the position was worst for them. Years of
experience or type of school was not a factor for both best and worst part of the assistant
principalship in this study.
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79
Overall Job Satisfaction
Assistant principal participants for the study were asked to describe their overall job
satisfaction when thinking about their ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities. The
question posed to the participants was open ended. Out of 12 assistant principals interviewed,
eight answered very favorably when asked about their overall job satisfaction. Of the remaining
four, three gave answers that were considered fair and one gave an answer that was not
favorable. Quotes from each assistant principal on their job satisfaction are listed in Table 14.
Table 14
Assistant Principal Responses Regarding Overall Job Satisfaction
Assistant
Principal
(AP)
Response
AP1
“Overall I am satisfied with my job. I would still rate it as an eight or an eight
and a half. I really do enjoy it.”
AP2
“I would say pretty good.”
AP3
“It really depends. In the role of an assistant, it depends on who your boss is. It’s
pretty good ‘cause I feel very supported.”
AP4
“Right now I would say fair. I don’t mind coming to work but I don’t look
forward to it like I used to. With my kids, there are times when I miss some
of their activities. I think that’s what kinda drops it from good to fair.”
AP5
“I’d say in a given week, I’d probably have one or two pretty good days.”
AP6
“Overall, I really like my job. I’m very satisfied.”
AP7
“It’s very high now. I think I’m doing what I should be doing as an assistant. As
far as my job satisfaction, I’m in a good spot. I’m happy to be here for a
long time.
AP8
“I’d say my job satisfaction is, mm, pretty good, really. Previously I was ready to
get out of the profession. There’s still problems, it’s just different
problems… It’s just different, but I am much happier, largely because it
wasn’t the job itself, it was the hours that were killing me before.”
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80
Assistant
Principal
(AP)
Response
AP9
“Very high.”
AP10
“I’m somewhere in the middle. I’m not dissatisfied with the job, but I’m not
totally satisfied with it either.”
AP11
“I love my job. We have a really great administrative team, so my job
satisfaction is probably as high as it’s ever been.”
AP12
“On a scale of 1-10, I would say job satisfaction is at a 6. Lukewarm.”
Overall satisfaction was higher for the female participants with five of six answering very
favorably compared to three of six for male participants. Four participants in each of the 0-5 and
six or more years of experience groups answered very favorably. One more participant in each of
rural and urban schools answered very favorably than did participants in suburban schools.
Additional Findings
Within the interviews, three additional themes emerged from the answers to the questions
about facet satisfaction and job satisfaction. The themes were time/weight/enormity of the
position, positive working relationships/support, and the expectations of female administrators.
Concluding the interviews, I asked the participants, “Do you have anything else that you
would like to add about job satisfaction or your satisfaction with any particular aspect of your
current position?”, six of the assistant principals had statements to make. AP1 stated,
One of the interesting things for me was how my job satisfaction changed during the
course...my first year I really struggled with my decision that I had made. I thought I
made a pretty major mistake. Where I’m at today, knowing that I can actually do the job
and I know who to go to and I know people and I’ve got relationships and trust is there, I
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81
think that I’m definitely much more satisfied today than I was three years ago at this
time.
AP2 said,
One thing I’d say that’s made this job so much fun or enjoyable is that we surround
ourselves with a great positive, support team. This job is very difficult, but if I had to do
this job without people that I get along with, it would be absolutely miserable.
AP4 shared that they were looking forward to retirement, but Ohio changed the retirement rules.
“Now I’ve got to hold on for another five years, ‘cause I’ve got to go to 35, and I just don’t
know...you never know what is going to happen in five years.” AP5 mentioned that in their area
people do not understand why others willingly become assistant principals.
I think the reputation is that, at least where I am, it’s an undesirable place to be. I still
think it’s like a meat grinder, no matter what goes in, it’s all the same coming out. It’s not
usually very fun.
Like several others, AP8 talked a bit about who you work with having an effect on job
satisfaction.
A large part of job satisfaction, I think, has to do with your principal. If you work for a
good principal, I think your satisfaction is going to be higher than if you work for
someone whose leadership is not...you can have different leadership styles, but someone
with different ethical values or beliefs. That would be very difficult.
AP12 added, “I don’t ever want to be the negative nelly and complain about problems, offering
no solutions. I find myself often overwhelmed by the challenges faced by schools, but don’t
know that I have the answers or the ‘fix’.”
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82
Stemming from several questions, answers from AP3 and AP6 highlighted feelings that
they have specifically from being a female in the position of assistant principal. AP3 shared that,
The most challenging part—oh, god. It’s hard to narrow that down. I would say the most
challenging part is keeping yourself from becoming completely exhausted, that knowing
when you need a break or when you have to call in reinforcements. Because I’m the only
female here, there’s four administrators. Three of us are assistants, one’s the principal.
It’s as if I’m the only person that can solve a problem. That’s not true, but I think it’s the
idea that as a female, I’m more empathetic. As a female, I can relate or that I somehow
have that pine, and others don’t, so I think it’s brought to me. You name it. If it’s any
type of a sensitive issue somehow it becomes mine because—I get it. The stereotypical
things that happen males versus females in terms of leadership, opportunities. There’s
still the idea that females aren’t able to do all the things that males can do. Like I said,
before I get saddled with a lot of the emotional issues or anything dealing with females
that could be potentially harassment any of that kind of stuff, I end up with because the
idea is that I’m the only one that would be capable. I think that sometimes—and I don’t
know if that’s in every district, but I know here that’s been the experience.
AP6 shared some of the same concerns, saying,
I think, as women, particularly, we have this sense of we’re supposed to be superheroes at
everything we do. Like I said in the beginning, there’s eight administrators in my
building. I am the only female. Not only am I the only female, but I’m the youngest by a
considerable amount. I always feel like I have to be upholding my responsibilities at
school, so they don’t think I’m weak. I always have to be careful with my tone of voice
because I don’t want them to think I’m a complete bitch, but I am very assertive and
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83
kinda tell it how it is. I feel like I’m supposed to run this perfect household and have
perfect children and perfect everything. I’m just, like, ‘There’s only 24 hours in a day. I
don’t know how I’m supposed to get this all done!’ I don’t know. You do what you gotta
do. I feel like I owe it to my family to be my best, and I feel like I owe it to my school
family to be my best, and sometimes they just don’t get my best.
Summary
High school assistant principals in Ohio may have different opinions on the satisfaction
they feel from their job. This study explored four research questions. The first was: How do the
discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities affect the job satisfaction of
high school assistant principals? The actual responsibilities named by those APs interviewed
spread a wide range of activities. While some were repeated by nearly all of the assistant
principals, some were only named by one AP. A theme that emerged from the assistant
principals speaking on their ideal and assumed responsibilities was that they thought they would
be and would prefer to be more of an instructional leader. A second theme stemming from the
three types of responsibilities was that the time invested in the job was more than what was
anticipated and more than ideal.
The second research question was: What are the effects of role ambiguity on job
satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio? Only two assistant principals interviewed
stated that they felt no role ambiguity at all. All others experienced the gray areas in some
fashion. These situations included responsibilities such as working with students or teachers that
may be on another administrator’s list, areas of the work that bleed between two departments,
and situations that require them to follow policy and that policy not matching up with what may
be best for the student or situation.
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84
The third research question was: What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction
of high school assistant principals in Ohio? Similar to role ambiguity, there were two assistant
principals that reported no conflict at all in their position, either at work or at home. The
remaining ten APs all spoke of role conflict. One AP cited the move from teacher to assistant
principal within the same building as the source of conflict. The other nine APs shared that
conflict exists between home and work due to the time that is required of the position,
specifically covering events in the evening.
The fourth research question was: How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job
satisfaction differ among high school assistant principals in Ohio? The assistant principals
interviewed for this study spoke on the facets of the position that they find the most challenging,
facets they do well and those they struggle to complete, and those they like most about the job
and facets that are the worst. Themes emerged from these questions that include the time
required and the weight they feel from the issues, specifically dealing with adult and student
issues, as being both the challenging and least desirable facets of the job. Relationships with
students and adults and the operations side of the position are themes that came from facets that
they APs felt they both do well and enjoy the most. Those same themes were shared by APs as a
struggle. Organization in trying to keep up with the demands of the job was also a theme in
facets that APs struggle. Overall, the majority of those interviewed gave a favorable response
when asked about their overall job satisfaction. Three participants gave a response considered
fair. Only one AP responded in a manner that could be considered dissatisfied.
Three additional themes emerged from the interviews. They were the
time/weight/enormity of the position, the importance of positive working relationships/support,
and the additional expectations of female administrators.
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85
When reviewing all of the data from the interviews with 12 assistant principals
throughout Ohio, it is difficult to pinpoint a solid, all-encompassing claim that all assistant
principals are or are not satisfied with their job or that the facets of their job that they like or
dislike have an impact, positive or negative, on their overall feelings of job satisfaction. What
can be deduced is that assistant principals can identify facets of the job that they consider a
challenge, that they do well and/or struggle with, and those that they feel are the worst and/or
best part of the job.
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86
Chapter V. Conclusions And Recommendations
This chapter discusses the findings of the study as well as how the findings support or
differ from previous research on job responsibilities, role ambiguity, role conflict, facet
satisfaction, and overall job satisfaction of the high school assistant principal. The chapter is
organized as follows: 1) review of the study; 2) discussion of the findings of each research
question; 3) conclusion; 4) recommendations; 5) limitations; and 6) future research opportunities.
Review of the Study
The purpose of the current study was to explore and compare the perceived facet
satisfaction and overall job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio. Additionally,
satisfaction was looked at from the viewpoints of gender, years of experience, and type of
school.
The research questions guiding the study were:
1. How do the discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities affect the job
satisfaction of high school assistant principals?
2. What are the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in
Ohio?
3. What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in
Ohio?
4. How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction differ among high school
assistant principals in Ohio?
Initially, 114 high school assistant principals in Ohio responded to a survey collecting
demographic data and potential interest. These APs were filtered into a database separated by
gender (M/F), years of experience (0-5/6+), and type of school (rural/urban/suburban). From this
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87
database, one participant was randomly selected in each subgroup for a total of 12 participants.
Each of the 12 APs selected participated in a one-on-one interview consisting of open-ended
questions (Appendix E) offering their insights on life as an assistant principal and their job
responsibilities, role ambiguity and conflict, and facet and overall job satisfaction. Answers to
the interview questions were in the participants’ own words and were initially coded by hand
using memoing and then coded using a computer-assisted qualitative analysis software,
MAXQDA. Coding initially used a list of a priori codes with additional codes emerging from the
data.
Discussion
Research on the assistant principal and specifically, their job satisfaction, is minimal
(Glanz, 1994; Hunt, 2011; Kwan, 2009; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Sutter, 1996). The goals in
this study were to add to the body of research on the assistant principal, determine if assistant
principals find certain facets of their job responsibilities more enjoyable than others, and gauge
whether the facet satisfaction has an effect on overall satisfaction. The final goal was to provide
schools and districts recommendations for using the information discovered through the study to
help address job satisfaction and retention of assistant principals.
Research Question 1
How do the discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities affect
job satisfaction of high school assistant principals?
Assistant principals in the study shared a wide range of actual job responsibilities
including discipline, evaluations, student management/duties, attendance, testing coordinator,
among many others. The actual job responsibilities that the participants listed were in line with
past research completed on assistant principals (Calabrese, 1991; Cantwell, 1993; Glanz, 1994;
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88
Hausman, et al.,2002; Hunt, 2011; Kwan, 2009; Kwan & Walker, 2012; Marshall & Hooley,
2006). Several of the participants mentioned that they felt they were missing or leaving out part
of their responsibilities in the interviews. This is suggestive of just how many responsibilities
that assistant principals have in their jobs.
When looking at the demographics of the participants of the current study, several
notable differences emerged. Actual responsibilities listed by female assistant principals that
were not named by male assistant principals were curriculum, master schedule,
counseling/coping skills, club advisor, athletics, and coach evaluations. Those listed by males but
not by females were student management, lunch duty, teacher-based teams, facilities, purchasing,
hiring, and data tracking. I do not believe that this means that none of the male assistant
principals participate in any way with the curriculum, or master schedule, or that none of the
females cover lunch duty or participate in hiring. Rather, I attribute their answers to the wide
range of responsibilities of the assistant principal, and absent a list to read from or compare to,
many are forgotten or left off inadvertently when describing the job.
Entering into the position of assistant principal, one third of the participants stated that
they thought they would be more involved in instructional leadership, coaching teachers, and
having more of an impact in the classroom. Nearly half of the participants mentioned that they
were not prepared for the amount of or depth of issues and the time they take to work through,
including both adult and student issues. Professional relationships mentioned include “putting
out fires” between adults. Student issues included social/emotional and mental health, vaping and
illegal drug use, and the challenges students have in managing themselves. One reason for the
assistant principals having job responsibilities that do not match up with what they assumed they
would be doing may be that the assistant principalship seldom has a consistent, well-defined job
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89
description (Marshall & Hooley, 2006). Within the demographics of assistant principals
interviewed for the current study, at least one person from each demographic group answered
that they assumed incorrectly about the time required of the position. This meant that they either
believed that the hours worked would be less, that they would have more time in their day to
complete the everyday work, or that some of the duties would not take as long to complete as
they actually do. One participant shared, “I don’t think that the program…educational leadership
Master’s degree…or the interviewing process…I don’t think that prepares you for what you
really are required to do.” This quote directly aligns with Mitchell et al.’s (2017) finding that
assistant principal “participants indicated that they were unprepared for the diverse demands of
the transition to administration” (p. 8). In assuming that they would be more of an instructional
leader, female assistants and assistant principals in a rural school did not share this assumption.
When asked about their ideal responsibilities, the assistant principal participants shared
that they would like to be more involved with academic/instructional leadership, including
scheduling and student guidance, more time to work with teachers on instruction and with
students in the educational setting, and more time, in general, to get through their
responsibilities. The ideal job responsibilities named in the current study align with those found
in studies by Cantwell (1993), Glanz (1994), Kwan and Walker (2012), and Militello, et al.
(2015). In the current study, several of the participants gave suggestions rather than identify an
actual duty they would rather have. For example, several stated that they would rather restructure
the time of the day. One participant said
There’s a lot of unstructured time in our school day, and the standing around and
watching children do things unstructured is not good use of time, in my opinion. There is
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all these other things that you’re being required to do. I end up doing my job at the end of
the day, at night.
Other suggestions given included a change to the teacher evaluation system, and a dream of no
discipline or duties. No participants from rural schools listed academic leader as an ideal job
responsibility. All other demographic areas were covered for this responsibility.
Based on the answers to the actual, assumed, and ideal job responsibilities from the
participants, Cantwell’s (1993) findings match with the current study in that the assistant
principals have a diverse range of responsibilities and often do whatever is necessary.
Four of the assistant principals interviewed for the current study reported a less than
favorable or not favorable rating for overall job satisfaction. Between the four APs, actual job
duties listed included discipline, facilities/maintenance, evaluations, student conduct and culture,
attendance, athletics, and testing. All four of them mentioned that they thought they would have
more time in instructional leadership and that the amount of time that they spend on certain
issues was more than they thought it would be. Among the job responsibilities that were listed as
ideal were more instructional leadership and curriculum involvement, a change in teacher
evaluations, and more positive interactions with students. This could lead one to surmise that the
desire for the job responsibilities that the assistant principals assumed they would be doing or
would prefer to be doing carry more weight in determining overall job satisfaction than their
actual job duties. In the reverse of this, those assistant principals who reported a positive rate of
job satisfaction may get enough or more satisfaction from their actual job responsibilities than
those they stated they assumed they would be doing or would prefer to do.
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Research Question 2
What are the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction of high school assistant
principals in Ohio?
Within this research study, 10 of the 12 participants stated that they had experienced role
ambiguity within their position. The areas of ambiguity identified included professional
relationships, lack of time/resources, and mandates/organizational issues, with the professional
relationships being the most prevalent. Examples of the professional relationship issues include
differing of opinions with other assistant principals or teachers when assigning discipline,
dealing with a person overstepping boundaries, and understanding different leadership styles
among new principals every few years. The lack of time and resources and mandates and
organizational issues hinder the ability to get all of the responsibilities thoroughly accomplished.
Every demographic area covered in the current study named professional relationships as an area
of ambiguity. Half of the male and female participants named professional relationships in
comparison of only one female named lack of time/resources or mandates as an area of
ambiguity. None of the participants from suburban or rural schools named areas falling under
lack of time/resources or mandates/organizational issues as areas of ambiguity.
Celik’s (2013) study on role ambiguity discovered that these areas of uncertainty can
have a negative effect on performance and could lead to burnout. Mitchell, Armstrong, and
Hands (2017) also found that assistant principals struggle with structural uncertainty, unclear
roles and inconsistent responsibilities leading to burnout and, potentially, a shortage of
administrators. Although several of the participants in the current study mentioned burnout, they
did not align it specifically with role ambiguity. One participant commented on role ambiguity
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that could align with burnout stating that the demands of new legislation such as House Bill 410
added another three to five hours of work including calls, letters, and meetings.
Comments that were particularly interesting from the current study include one assistant
principal stating that they “constantly” feel role ambiguity and that they feel the majority of what
they do is blurred and gray. Another shared specifically that there is frustration when the areas of
ambiguity blur between trying to do what is best for students but that may not specifically be the
job responsibility of the assistant principal. For example, this assistant principal needs to help
students with mental health issues and assessing for suicidal ideation and then getting the student
help but being told by others that they are not a social worker. It appears evident that these areas
of ambiguity could have an impact on one’s feelings of job satisfaction. All four APs that
reported a less than desirable rate of job satisfaction reported areas of role ambiguity. Two were
reported as professional relationships and two as mandates/organizational issues. In their specific
incidents, one could surmise that the role ambiguity was great enough to negatively affect their
job satisfaction, while the remaining assistant principals who experienced some role ambiguity
did not have it weigh as heavy on their feelings of job satisfaction.
Research Question 3
What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals
in Ohio?
Nine assistant principals in the current study have experienced role conflict between their
work life and personal life. This role conflict included caring for pets, childcare, guilt associated
with time away from home, lack of time for a life outside of work, and feelings of being
emotionally unavailable for family.
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Previous studies found that a lack of a balance between personal and professional life can
lead to a low rating of job satisfaction and potentially leading to burnout (Celik, 2013; Hausman,
et al., 2002; Schermuly, et al., 2011). Two participants in the current study related their role
conflict to burnout. The female assistant principal in an urban district with six or more years of
experience said,
I’m getting better. I’m not perfect yet, but I’m getting better at—after a certain time, I’m
not gonna look at my school email. Or, if I do happen to, okay, but I’m not gonna
respond. I have to be able to shut it off or else you live that life 24/7 and you get burned
out.
The female assistant principal in a rural district with six or more years of experience stated that,
“The hours can be brutal…that part of the job just—I think it leads to burnout.”
Conrad and Rosser (2007) found that there was a significant effect of professional versus
family life role conflict. Missing family events was found to have a negative impact. In a
standard of 1.0, this study showed that personal and professional life situations interfering with
each other had a -0.22 effect on job satisfaction. In the current study, one participant mentioned
that their job satisfaction level is fairly high but would be better if facets such as extra-curricular
coverages could be scaled back. Another stated that they felt the reason people leave school
administration is because there is not a good quality of life with the time that is put into the job.
One participant stated, “My kids are getting older. There are times when I miss some of their
activities. I think that’s what kinda drops it [job satisfaction] from good to fair.”
Two participants in this study stated that they did not have any role conflict in their
position or between their personal and professional life. One participant experienced professional
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role conflict when they became an assistant principal in the same building where they were
previously a teacher.
Given the statements from the assistant principals who participated in the current study
that were shared previously, it could be considered surprising that the rates of job satisfaction
were as high as reported. Other than the two APs who reported no role conflict, six of the
remaining APs who had conflicts still reported a high level of job satisfaction. This would lead
one to believe that all other areas of their job and the satisfaction they find in their job is stronger
than the negativity of role conflict.
Research Question 4
How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction differ among high school
assistant principals in Ohio?
Participants in this study were asked about facets of the assistant principal position that
they found the most challenging, what part of the job they feel they do well and what they
struggle with the most, and what are the best and worst parts of the job. When answering what is
the most challenging, three themes emerged from the assistant principals: the enormity and
weight of the job, professional relationships (including upper management), and student issues.
Several items of note based on the demographics of the participants in the current study are that
while both male and female assistant principals named the enormity and weight of the job and
professional relationships as challenging, no male participants or any participants from a
suburban school named student issues as challenging. Four female participants named student
issues as a challenge. Participants from both urban and rural schools named student issues as a
challenge.
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Three themes also highlighted the answers for both what the assistant principals feel they
do well and those they struggle with: relationships (students and adults), operations, and
organization. Themes that emerged from the best parts of the assistant principalship included
student and adult relationships and the operations and organization of a day. The three biggest
themes from those aspects that the APs identified as the worst part of the job were student issues,
professional relationships, and the time and weight of the position. One gender disparity to note
in the current study for facets that the participants feel they do well and those they struggle is that
four males and only one female identified developing relationships as a struggle. More
participants in both groups of years of experience identified relationships as something they do
well compared to operations or organization. Four assistant principals from urban schools
identified developing relationships as something they do well compared to two assistant
principals from suburban schools and three assistant principals from rural schools.
Hansen (2018) completed a study to determine why principals of rural schools leave their
positions. The reasons fit into three categories: personal, institutional, and environmental. These
same categories fit well with the categories identified as challenging, what APs struggle with,
and those that are the worst part of the job within this current study. Hansen (2018) identified
personal facets as those pertaining directly to the administrator such as family needs or career
aspirations. Institutional facets are those in control of the school or district including academic
performance, job duties, and salary. Environmental facets include expectations of the
community, isolation from the position, and legislative mandates.
The personal facet mentioned the most by participants in the current study was the time
away from their family and the guilt that comes from it as well as time to take care of
themselves. Institutional facets were mentioned often in the current study and included feeling
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like they have to be ‘on’ all of the time, the lack of balance, staying consistent with other
administrators, dealing with difficult parents, expectations of or disconnect from upper
management, and the amount of paperwork. Environmental facets that were identified as
challenging in the current study include legislation in place about student attendance, the lack of
resources to deal with mental health issues, and the lack of help offered to deal with new
legislation.
Similar to the current study, Barnett, Shoho, and Oleszewski (2012) found in their
research that the challenging aspects of the assistant principal position are managing time, staff
conflict, and student/parent issues. Kwan’s (2009) research also agrees with the current study in
that assistant principals find higher facet satisfaction for relationships and lower facet satisfaction
for conflict, workload, bureaucracy, and imbalance in personal and professional life.
Lawler’s (1994) definition of facet satisfaction is, “People’s affective reactions to
particular aspects of their job,” (p. 82). His model of the determinants of satisfaction shows that a
person’s job satisfaction is based on the difference between what they feel they should receive
from a job and what they actually receive. This is not limited to pay but is also feelings and
motivation based. Researchers have used Lawler’s theory when studying the satisfaction of both
school administrators and public employees (Conway, et al., 1987; Conrad & Rosser, 2007;
Hansen, 2018; Johnson & Holdaway, 1994). Within the current study, 11 out of 12 of the
participants were moderately to extremely satisfied with their job. Although every one of them
named facets of the position that are challenging, a struggle, and that they feel are the worst parts
of the job, the large majority stated that they are satisfied with their job. This shows that the
facets they listed as those they feel they do well and are the best parts of the job, outweigh those
facets that are less desirable. This also leads one to surmise that the answer to Marshall and
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Hooley’s (2006) question on how assistant principals derive meaning and purpose from their
work while dealing with a large number of duties during a school day is that the facets they enjoy
and do well give them meaning and purpose.
Beyond the facets or responsibilities, many of the participants stated that the difference
maker in their job satisfaction is based on who they get to work with. One stated,
One thing I’d say that’s made this job so much fun or enjoyable is that we surround
ourselves with a great, positive, supportive team. This job is very difficult, but if I had to
do this job without people that I get along with, it would be absolutely miserable.
Another participant said, “It [job satisfaction] really depends. In the role of an assistant principal,
it depends on who your boss is. It’s pretty good because I feel very supported.” Yet another
participant added,
A large part of job satisfaction, I think, has to do with your principal. If you work for a
good principal, I think your satisfaction is going to be higher. The principals I have
worked under have been good, solid leaders and positive role models and easy to get
along with.
One last statement from a participant added that their job satisfaction is as high as it has ever
been due to the fact that they have a “really good” administrative team. This fits directly with the
findings from Mitchell et al. (2017) in which they stated,
The relationship with the school principal was critically important because the principal
served as the primary gatekeeper for the vice-principal’s admission into the
administrative cadre. Give the power of the gate-keeping role, participants agreed
unanimously that a good relationship with the principal smoothed the cultural transition
from teaching to administration.
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In referring back to Lawler (1994), the current study appears to prove his belief that a
person’s job satisfaction is not only based on pay but also feelings and motivation. The majority
of the participants in the current study have high levels of job satisfaction because the areas they
put the most weight in are areas of self-described strength and enjoyment. These outweigh the
areas of weakness and those that are less desirable. Although several previous studies on job
satisfaction identify pay as a motivating or demotivating factor (Conway, et al., 1987; Graham
and Messner, 1998; Munoz and Barber, 2011; Yerkes and Guaglianone, 1998), none of the
participants discussed pay at all, in a positive or negative light.
Conclusion
The current qualitative study found insight on the overall job satisfaction of high school
assistant principals in Ohio. This study utilized a qualitative methodology therefore, statistics
were not determined on levels of job satisfaction. There were interesting similarities between
ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities, role ambiguity and conflict, and the types of facet
satisfaction and the effect of all on overall job satisfaction. The following conclusions were
reached based on my findings.
Conclusion #1
When comparing actual job responsibilities and assumed job responsibilities, assistant
principals thought they would be spending more time on instructional leadership and were not
expecting the quantity or gravity of situations or the amount of time the position requires.
Ideally, they would prefer more instructional leadership opportunities and time to meet the
requirements and expectations.
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Conclusion #2
Role ambiguity was found in the areas of professional relationships, lack of time and/or
resources, and mandates and/or organizational issues. Most often, blurred lines of responsibility
or a need for greater and better communication created the role ambiguity among the adults.
Conclusion #3
Role conflict was most prevalent in comparing school responsibilities and home
responsibilities. This also included the emotional push and pull of guilty feelings when at work
and wanting to be home or vice versa.
Conclusion #4
Although each participant shared challenges, struggles, and worst facets of the position,
they also shared aspects of the job that they do well and those they find the best part of being an
assistant principal. In the majority of the interviews, the positive outweighed the negative and the
overall job satisfaction was very high.
Recommendations
Studies on facet and overall satisfaction could help provide information to benefit the
work lives of administrators (Johnson & Holdaway, 1994). A study by Sodoma and Elyse (2009)
found that there is no consistent or systematic program to study or address the job satisfaction of
administrators in the United States of America. Therefore, the following recommendations could
potentially help with retention, facet satisfaction and overall satisfaction of high school assistant
principals.
Recommendations for Future Studies
Twelve subjects were interviewed, and although urban, rural, and suburban schools were
represented, the assistant principals’ opinions and perceptions cannot be assumed to represent the
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majority. With only 12 participants in this study, the sample size was appropriate for a study
based on phenomenology but was small based on the overall number of assistant principals in
Ohio. Future research opportunities could include a large scale quantitative study on assistant
principal job satisfaction. Assistant principals from different states may also have different
viewpoints on job satisfaction based on the education mandates in their state.
Recommendations for State Departments of Education
Mounting mandates continue to add to the workload of assistant principals. Rarely are
additional resources provided to schools and/or districts to carry out the responsibilities added to
the already full plate of an administrator. State departments of education could make resources
available to handle these mounting mandates. Within the current study, the time demands of
Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) and House Bill 410 Attendance Bill were named
several times as very time consuming. Ideas on how to help with the demands of OTES include
decreasing the amount of digital paperwork associated with the system and instead allowing for
narrative style feedback for teachers that are not in a full cycle evaluation year. Thoughts to help
with House Bill 410 and attendance tracking include linking with the county and courts to
provide a liaison to each district and/or school to help investigate attendance issues.
A few of the assistant principals in the current study stated that they thought they knew
what they were getting into when they entered the assistant principalship, but then quickly found
they were overwhelmed and surprised by the enormity of the job. State boards of education
should provide continued and devoted mentoring programs for new administrators, similar to the
resident educator programs for teachers that provide mentors for several years.
State departments of education should also consider conducting their own research on the
assistant principal position and making that research available. Within this research they may
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find that setting ratios of students per assistant principal in each high school beneficial and a
guide for school districts to follow.
Recommendations for School District Administration/Human Resources
First and foremost, districts should make sure that the job descriptions for assistant
principals are well-defined, up to date, and reflect the actual duties that assistant principals are
required to complete. They also need to have more resources available to handle mounting
responsibilities. One resource is more personnel. This could include more assistant principals per
school or adding deans to deal with all discipline not resulting in a suspension or attendance
administrators to handle all attendance issues. This is difficult as more resources usually means
more money which is not always available in schools. Other resources can be secured with grants
or reallocating funds.
Districts should provide wellness programs to all staff. Through the program, specific
outreach should be made to address the stress that administrators encounter. Wellness programs
are opportunities offered to staff, including administrators, to address physical and mental wellbeing. Programs can include incentive programs to get staff engaged in health screenings, CPR
training, reaching out to a health coach, participating in weight loss or lifestyle change. Wellness
programs can also offer online doctors and employee assistance programs that offer counseling
in many areas. Finally, wellness programs can offer many forms of exercise classes.
Mentoring for beginning assistant principals should be available within district in
addition to mentoring available through the state departments of education. These programs
would allow for a veteran administrator to be linked to a beginning assistant principal to advise
and guide. For smaller districts, schools can link together in the surrounding area or work
through their county educational service center.
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Finally, districts should provide ongoing training for current issues with students and
staff. Current issues for students that were mentioned at least one time in the interviews of the
current study include social/emotional/mental health needs of students, vaping, illegal drug and
alcohol use, finding effective interventions, mediation, grief, and coping skills. Staff issues that
assistant principals could benefit from additional training include standards covered in the Ohio
Teacher Evaluation System, social/emotional/mental health, how to handle difficult
conversations, and parent versus teacher conflict.
Recommendations for Building Principals
One responsibility of a building principal is providing ongoing professional development
for their assistant principal. It should be a goal of principals to help the assistant principal to
prepare for the principalship if that is the goal of the AP. Therefore, the principal should involve
the assistant principal in more instructional leadership discussions and responsibilities and not all
managerial duties. The role of the assistant principal is not to do all of the job responsibilities
that the principal does not want to do. Examples of instructional leadership given in the
interviews for the current study included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
building a master schedule
working with students on graduation pathways
helping to build more credentials for students for a successful life
being more involved in setting the goals for the year
working with teachers in the classroom setting; modeling lessons
becoming more intuitive with making recommendations to improve curriculum delivery
working with budgets
Recommendations for Higher Education Principal Preparation Programs
Principal or administrator preparation programs for K-12 schools often focus solely on
building principal position with little to no attention on the assistant principal. Given that the
assistant principalship is often a steppingstone to the principal position, higher education
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programs should offer a course specifically on the assistant principal position. In addition to the
course, K-12 administrator program students should also have the opportunity to complete an
internship with an assistant principal in addition to the internship with the building principal.
This will give those going into administration a hands on opportunity to better understand what
an assistant principal position entails.
Limitations
This study utilized personal, semi-structured interviews with subjects. Time constraints
created one limitation of the study. The interview consisted of ten questions and several subjects
gave very brief answers. More questions or more time for discussion may have allowed for more
specific or in-depth answers. Specific questions that could have increased the scope of the study
include:
•
How do you feel that the differences between the actual, assumed, and ideal job
responsibilities has had a direct impact, positive or negative, on your overall job
satisfaction?
•
If you have experienced role ambiguity, do you think it has had a negative impact on
your job satisfaction?
•
If you have experienced role conflict, do you think it has had a negative impact on your
job satisfaction?
•
How do you feel that your satisfaction level with certain facets of the job has had a direct
impact, positive or negative, on your overall job satisfaction?
An additional limitation is the possibility of researcher bias due to the close relationship
to the topic.
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Future Research Opportunities
Several of the answers within the current study suggested differences based on gender.
Additional research regarding assistant principals could include a more focused study on the
different job responsibilities and the effects of role ambiguity and role conflict separately for
female and male assistant principal participants. Specific topics uncovered in this study include
female administrators feeling as if they are brought sensitive or emotional issues because the
female administrator is viewed as more empathetic or that they are the only one that can deal
with female students’ issues. The reverse of this is a thought that one of the female participants
shared that, “There’s still the idea that females aren’t able to do all the things males can do.” This
thinking is not always pressed upon female administrators by their male counterparts, but can be
self-imposed, as shared by another female participant. “I think, as women, particularly, we have
this sense of we’re supposed to be superheroes at everything we do. I always feel like I have to
be upholding my responsibilities at school, so they don’t think I am weak.” In the reverse of the
thoughts of a few of the female participants, none of the male participants distinguished between
male and female assistant principals and job responsibilities. Gender differences could also be
studied based on the focus on student issues as a challenge for female administrators versus male
administrators and the disparity in relationships as a struggle for male administrators versus
female administrators.
Studies could also be conducted in similar fashion but further breaking down within
years of experience and type of school. For example, only one person in the study rated their job
satisfaction as low. They have less than five years of experience and work in a rural school.
Given the low numbers of participants, this should not make one assume that all assistant
principals with less than five years of experience and/or in a rural school will not like their job.
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Instead, it shows that there is an opportunity to conduct more thorough research on job
satisfaction and years of experience or type of school. An additional possibility is a large-scale
quantitative study that might provide more evidence to suggest correlations between job
satisfaction and each of the demographics used in the current study.
This study was able to provide new findings on the differences between actual, assumed,
and ideal job responsibilities of an assistant principal. In addition, it shared results of the feelings
of role ambiguity and role conflict among high school assistant principals in Ohio. Finally, the
study compared the facet satisfaction and overall job satisfaction of the participants. This study is
significant because it started to uncover information that is lacking on the assistant principal. The
effective research method of individual interviews allowed the participants’ own words to
explain their feelings. This information was supported by Lawler’s Theory of Facet Satisfaction
in that certain facets of a person’s job can help determine their overall job satisfaction. This
study has provided information that can add to the lacking and desperately needed research on
the assistant principal position.
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JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Appendix A
Institutional Review Board
Date: August 21, 2019
To:
Dr. John Gillham
CC:
Jaime Stewart
RE:
Job Satisfaction of Ohio High School Assistant Principals
Project Expiration date: August 21, 2020
The University of Findlay Institutional Review Board (IRB) has completed its review of your project
utilizing human subjects and has granted authorization. This study has been approved for a period of
one year only. The project has been assigned the number 1348 .
In order to comply with UF policy and federal regulations, human subject research must be reviewed
by the IRB on at least a yearly basis. If you have not completed your research within the year, it is
the investigator’s responsibility to ensure that the Progress Report is completed and sent to the IRB
in a timely fashion. The IRB needs to process the re-approval before the expiration date, which is
printed above.
Please note that if any changes are made to the present study, you must notify the IRB immediately.
Understand that any proposed changes may not be implemented before IRB approval, in which case
you must complete an Amendment/Modification Report.
Following the completion of the use of human subjects, the primary investigator must complete a
Certificate of Compliance form indicating when and how many subjects were recruited for the
study.
Please refer to the IRB policy and procedures manual for additional information. Please include the
project number on any other documentation or correspondence regarding the study.
Thank you very much for your cooperation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact
IRB at (419) 434-4640 or email irb@findlay.edu.
Sincerely,
Adam Larson, Ph.D.
Co-Chair, Institutional Review Board
Cc: IRB Office
112
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University of Findlay IRB Proposal
Consent/assent forms, instruments, recruitment material and other requested documentation
to be attached as appendixes to this proposal
1. Project Introduction/Overview
Please provide your statement of purpose, significance of study, and relevant supporting literature
The purpose of the qualitative study is to explore perceived job satisfaction and facet satisfaction among Ohio high school assistant principals
and compare the results from different demographics including gender, type/location of school, years of experience, and job responsibilities.
This is vital so as to reduce the administrative shortage that is sure to occur if qualified people are not interested in applying for open positions
due to a lack of job satisfaction in their current role. “School leaders who are retiring, transferring schools, or pursuing new opportunities
within the education sector are not being replaced by enough qualified candidates. As a result, many school districts across the country report
principal vacancies and a serious lack of qualified applicants to replace them” (NASSP 2018).
There is very little research on the assistant principal position, and specifically on job satisfaction of assistant principals. This study seeks to
contribute to the small body of research on Assistant Principals. Specifically it will give Ohio administrator associations, school districts,
school leader preparation programs, and districts a glimpse into the levels of job satisfaction of Ohio high school assistant principals.
Although this study will focus on Ohio, it can be assumed that the information gained will be able to benefit all states.
In 2015, a study found that most current assistant principal duties are in the areas of curriculum and instruction, discipline, monitoring and
evaluation, communication, relationships, and visibility--the main pressures coming from the principal so that the APs are put in a position to
do what they are told, not necessarily what they were taught in the leader preparation programs (Militello, Fusarelli, Mattingly, Warren 2015).
The study that will be conducted for this dissertation also focuses on different demographics including gender, years in the same position,
years with the same school and/or district, and whether the school is rural, suburban, or urban. This will help to make generalizations of job
satisfaction related to the demographic areas. In addition, a look at the theory of facet satisfaction will help to determine if the belief holds
true that assistant principals can be more satisfied with certain aspects of their job over others. “It is important that those concerned with
schooling and school administration have a sense of responsibility, involvement, and a guide to action for addressing the concerns of the
assistant principalship” (Marshall & Hooley, 2006, p.115).
Lawler’s Theory of Facet Satisfaction is a solid framework for the study. Defined as, “People’s affective reactions to particular aspects of
their job” (Lawler, 1994, p.82), facet satisfaction surmises that there are some aspects of a job that people may enjoy more than others. Lawler
used theories from four researchers, with Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of satisfiers and dissatisfiers as the most relatable to this study.
2. Research Question and/or Research Hypothesis
Please provide concise answers
RQ1: How do the discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities affect the job satisfaction of assistant principals?
RQ2: What are the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio?
RQ3: What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio?
RQ4: How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction differ among high school assistant principals in Ohio?
3. Setting
þIs the study conducted in, or recruited from the following categories?
__X__Private/Public P-12
____Hospital
____ College
____ General Public
____Other
Please describe setting used:
Researcher will survey and interview Ohio high school assistant principals. Interviews will take place at a neutral location.
4. Subjects
a. Characteristics of Subject Group
____ Pregnant
____ Fetus
þAre any of the subjects in the following categories?
____ Children
____ Mentally Impaired
____ Legally Restricted
_X_Other
Please describe subjects used:
Subjects will be assistant principals serving in Ohio high schools.
b. Health of Subject Group
þ Check the physical and mental health of the subjects for inclusion in this study.
Physical Health:
____ Poor
____ Good
____ Excellent
__X__ Unknown
Mental Health:
____ Poor
____ Good
____ Excellent
__X__ Unknown
Please state the necessity of using these particular groups:
Health status is irrelevant in this study as long as the subjects are physically and mentally capable of completing their job responsibilities.
c. Subject Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria:
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Please describe the population and provide concise and complete answers for inclusion and/or exclusion criteria:
Inclusion: Ohio high school (grades 9-12) assistant principals who are current members of Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators.
Exclusion: Ohio high school assistant principals who are not current members of Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators.
d. Recruitment of Subjects: þ Check which one applies to the recruitment of your subjects.
____ Recruitment of UF class,
students, or personnel
__X__ Outside agencies, schools,
organizations, or data base
____ Open call for particpants
(general public)
Please describe how you will recruit participants and attach copies or script (if recruiting orally) of the recruitment material (e.g. flyers,
advertisements, letters, etc.):
An initial survey will be sent to all Ohio high school assistant principals that are current members of Ohio Association of Secondary School
Administrators. In the initial survey, subjects will be asked to agree or disagree to continue on to a person interview if randomly selected. From the
results of the initial survey, potential subjects will be placed into one of twelve groupings: male/0-5 years of experience/rural school, female/0-5
years of experience/rural school, male/6+ years of experience/rural school, female/6+ years of experience/rural school, male/0-5 years of
experience/urban school, female/0-5 years of experience/urban school, male/6+ years of experience/urban school, female/6+ years of
experience/urban school, male/0-5 years of experience/suburban school, female/0-5 years of experience/suburban school, male/6+ years of
experience/suburban school, female/6+ years of experience/suburban school. One assistant principal will be selected randomly from each group,
using a web based random number generator. Those randomly selected will be contacted to determine their interest in continuing in the study. If
any subjects decline, the web based random number generator will be utilized to select the next potential participant.
e. Sampling Plan:
þ Check which one applies.
____ Random Sampling
__X__ Stratified Sampling
____ Convenience Sampling
____ Other
Please provide a rationale for your sampling plan:
The original sample will include all Ohio high school assistant principals who are current members of the Ohio Association of Secondary School
Administrators. The second sample will come from those members who returned the first survey agreeing to potentially participate in the personal
interviews. Those will be separated into groups of males and females with 0-5 or 6+ years of experience in urban, rural, and suburban schools. This
will establish 12 lists of potential participants. One participant will be randomly chosen from each group.
f. Sample Size
Please provide the total number of expected participants and rationale.
Approximately 650 assistant principals will receive the initial survey. The total number of participants for interviews is 12 assistant principals.
5. Instruments (Attach all instruments to be used)
Please briefly describe all means used to collect data and attach the instruments to be used (e.g. interview questions, surveys, assessments, etc.):
An initial survey developed using Google Forms will be distributed through email to all current Ohio high school assistant principals that are
members of Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators. This survey will be used to collect demographic information and identify
potential subjects for the research study. Twelve participants will be randomly selected within each grouping identified. Each of the participants
will participate in a semi-structured interview in person, by phone, or on Skype/FaceTime. The interview questions were developed by the researcher
with the intent of gathering data to answer research questions identified in the study. Questions cover areas including job responsibilities, ideal job
responsibilities, challenges of the position, role ambiguity, role conflict, role vulnerability, and overall satisfaction versus facet satisfaction.
6. Procedures
Please briefly describe the procedures used to collect data based on identified instruments and total time investment of the participant:
Ohio high school assistant principals who are current members of Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators (approximately 650 APs)
will be emailed a link to a survey through Google Forms in September or early October. The survey should take no longer than 5 minutes.
The assistant principals that fit each demographic area (male or female, 0-5 or 6+ years of experience in each of rural, suburban, and urban districts)
that have agreed to potentially participate in an interview will be added to a database. 12 total participants will be randomly selected (a male and
female from each experience band and type of school). Those subjects will be contacted to confirm their participation.
Each subject that has agreed to participate in an interview will be interviewed in person, by phone, or through Skype/FaceTime. Each interview
should take no longer than 30-60 minutes.
7. Analysis
Please briefly describe how you will analyze the data collected:
The data analysis spiral activities of managing and organizing data, reading and memoing emergent ideas, classifying the codes into themes,
developing and assessing interpretations, and representing and visualizing the data will be completed. MAXQDA will be used to code the
interviews. Some pre-determined codes will be used during the coding including ideal responsibility, assumed responsibility, actual responsibility,
role vulnerability, role conflict, role ambiguity, individual facets, and job responsibility, while others will develop from the interviews. Codes will
be applied to portions of the interview questions that align with the pre-determined codes, or for additional themes that emerge from the participants’
answers. Pre-determined codes were chosen based on what is being looked for within the research questions.
8. Risk to the subjects
þIdentify the following risk categories and your perception of the level of risk involved
Please note that Health & Human Services (HHS) states that there is always risk to the subject and have defined the
categories of risk as follows.
____ Physical
__X_ Psychological __X__ Social
____ Legal
__X__ Economic
Please describe the risk in detail:
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There is a social risk as subjects will be commenting on their job satisfaction with a job in which they are currently employed. The psychological
risk, although minimal, may occur as subjects are asked to think about topics involving their job satisfaction that they may not have considered
before. The economic risk, also minimal, exists as a participant’s job status could be effected if someone found out about a negative comment they
made about this job.
Perceived level of risk
_____ Less than minimal
__X__ Minimal
_____ Greater than Minimal
9. Mitigation of Risk to the Subject
a. Researcher Mitigation
Please describe how the researcher will try to mitigate the risk:
To mitigate psychological and social risk, the researcher will maintain confidentiality of all participants by assigning numbers to each subject and
using a description of their school rather than the name (ex: rural high school in northwest Ohio). Interviews will be conducted in a place that is
removed from the participants’ job sites so that no one can hear the responses. Transcripts will be made from the recordings and then the recordings
will be deleted so that no one will hear the participants’ voices.
b. Research Gain
Please describe the importance of the information gained in relationship to the risk:
The findings of this study will be valuable to school districts, human resources departments of the districts, superintendents, principals and assistant
principals. Districts and leaders of the districts can use the information to plan for ways to support assistant principals professionally.
c. Equity and Equality
Please describe how the researcher will ensure equity and equality for the participants:
The assistant principals participating in this study will all be provided the same survey and one-on-one interview questions. The questions will be
scripted and any additional questions will only come from themes emerging from the individual’s answers. All participants will be treated equally
and respectfully. No one participant will be required to answer any more or less than another.
10. Compensations and Benefits
a. Are you offering any compensations to individuals for
participating in your study?
____ Yes*
__X__ No
If yes, please describe:
There is no compensation for participation in the study. However, all assistant principals that completes the
initial survey collecting demographic information and possible participants to be entered into a database to
choose from randomly for interviews will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card. Each of the twelve
randomly chosen participants will receive a $25 gift card.
b. Benefits to individual
Outside of any compensation offered what are the benefits for the individual for participating?
The initial benefit will be the contribution to research of the job satisfaction of Ohio high school assistant principals. There will be personal benefit
of contribution as the information gained could help to improve job satisfaction. In addition, participants have the potential personal and professional
benefit of being more reflective of their roles at work and home.
c. Benefits to society
How will participating in this study benefit society?
The findings of this study will be valuable to school districts, human resources departments of the districts, superintendents, principals and assistant
principals. Districts and leaders of the districts can use the information to plan for ways to support assistant principals professionally.
11. Consent Procedures
Federal regulations require precautionary measures to be taken to insure the protection of human subjects on
physical, psychological, social, economical and other issues. This includes the use of “informed consent”
procedures.
a. Type of Consent
þWhich one(s) applies to your study?
____ Oral Consent
__X__ Written Consent
(Script must be provided
with short consent form)
(Long Consent forms must be
provided)
__X__ Waiver
*Implied Consent
(Consent description must be
provided)
____ Assent
(In conjunction with parental
consent for children 8-17)
_____ Oral
_____ Written
* If requesting a waiver please give rationale for waiver request.
Email consent. If subjects respond to the initial survey, they are agreeing to participate in the first stage of the study. Written consent will be
collected from interview participants.
b. Are your subject(s) minors or mentally impaired?
____ Yes*
__X__ No
If yes, Please describe how and by whom permission will be granted. *Subject Assent form must accompany legal guardian’s consent form.
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c. Do subject(s) have a cognitive limitation/impairment and/or a
language/literacy barrier?
____ Yes
__X__ No
Please describe the limitation/impairments and/or barrier and how you plan to ensure participants understanding for informed consent.
d. Will subject(s) be provided copies of all consent documentation
including implied consent description?
___X_ Yes
____ No
If consent/assent documentation is not provided to participants please justify why.
12. Disclosure
þ Check which one applies.
Federal regulations require precautionary measures to be taken to insure the protection of human subjects on
physical, psychological, social, economical and other issues. This includes the use of “informed consent”
procedures.
__X__ Full-disclosure
____ Less than Full Disclosure
____ Necessary Deception
Please describe how you will disclose the study to the participants. If less than full disclosure or necessary deception is chosen, please justify the
need for such action. All studies using less than full disclosure or necessary deception must provide a debriefing script or handout explaining to
the participants the true purpose of the study and need for deception.
The purpose of the study will be fully disclosed in the consent email.
13. Data Confidentiality
a. Does this data fall within:
_____ Public Domain
__X__ Confidential Domain
b. Data Access
Please describe all parties who will have access to the data.
Please provide (in an attachment) evidence of human subject training/confidentiality agreement for those who have access.
Individuals with access to the data:
Jaime Stewart - student researcher
Dr. John Gillham - chair of dissertation committee
c. Subjects’ anonymity/confidentiality
How do you plan to protect the individual subjects’ anonymity/confidentiality?
All subjects will remain confidential and described only by number (Example: AP1, AP2, etc.) The participants’ school and school district will
remain anonymous and if needed, will be given a pseudonym.
Information in survey will be collected through Google Surveys and protected by a password protected computer and password protected Google
account.
Typed transcripts of interviews will be stored in password protected Google document and in a locked filing cabinet.
d. Data Storage
How, where and for how long will the data be stored? (Please not that for IRB purposes all data must be stored for a minimal of three years.)
Survey data will be stored in digital form in a password protected Google Drive account for a period of three years at which point it will then be
erased. Data will also be kept on a non-internet connected, password protected computer in the office of the Chair of the Doctorate of Education
Program.
Interview transcripts will be stored in a password protected Google document for a period of three years at which point it will be erased. Hard
copies will be kept in a locked filing cabinet for a period of three years at which time they will be shredded. Audio from the interviews will be
deleted following the transcriptions.
e. Data Deletion
How will the data be destroyed? (Please address all data sources, e.g. video, audio-visual, interview, questionnaires, consent forms, electronic
data, etc.)
At the end of three years:
Digital survey results will be deleted from Google Drive account.
Consent forms via email will be deleted and shredded.
Interview transcripts will be deleted from Google Drive and shredded.
Audio of the interviews will be deleted following transcriptions.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
117
Data stored in the office of the Chair of the Doctorate of Education Program will be kept for the period prescribed by federal law (3 years) and
then deleted.
14. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act)
If you answer “Yes” to any of the following questions, your project is subject to HIPAA and you must complete the HIPAA Supplement (available
Research and Grants Office and IRB CD) and attach it to the application.
____ Yes
__X__ No
____Yes
__X__ No
____ Yes
__X__ No
Will health information be obtained from a covered entity (a health plan, health care
clearing house, or a health care provider who bills health insurers (e.g. hospitals,
doctor’s offices, dentists, the UF Student Health Center, UF Counseling Services, etc.)?
Will the study involve the provision of health care in a covered entity?
If the study involves the provision of health care, will a health insurer or billing
agency be contacted for billing or eligibility?
Upon completion of this form (including all documentation requested),
please submit one proposal copy electronically to irb@findlay.edu and one hard copy to Heather Riffle, Academic Affairs.
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
118
Appendix B
September 1, 2019
Dear Ohio High School Assistant Principal:
You are invited to participate in a study of Job Satisfaction of Ohio High School Assistant
Principals. I hope to learn without prejudice about the level of job satisfaction of high school
assistant principals in Ohio, as well as the relation of job satisfaction to individual facet
satisfaction and the relation to demographics and job responsibilities. You were selected as a
possible participant in this study because you are a current high school assistant principal Ohio
and a current member with the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators. If you
choose to be a possible participant in this study, please complete the enclosed survey. Your
completion and submission of this survey is implied consent. The survey is designed to gather a
database of possible participants in an interview process to gather more information on job
satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio. It will take about 5 minutes to complete
the survey. By answering this survey, you will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 gift card.
In addition, your responses will be used to develop a database of potential participants for phase
two of the study, which will include one-on-one interviews between the researcher and
participants. This will allow the researcher to gather data on job satisfaction of the participant for
use in the study. Any discomfort or inconvenience to you derives only from the amount of time
taken to complete the survey.
Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you
will remain confidential and will not be disclosed. Your decision whether or not to participate
will not prejudice any future relationships with The University of Findlay. If you decide to
participate, you are free to discontinue participation at any time without prejudice.
If you have any questions, please ask. If you have any additional questions later, contact Dr. John
Gillham at (419) 434-5934 or gillham@findlay.edu.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Jaime Stewart
stewartj5@findlay.edu
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
119
Appendix C
Institutional Review Board
Consent Form
DATE: August 12, 2019
PROJECT TITLE: Job Satisfaction of Ohio High School Assistant Principals
PRIMARY INVESTIGATOR(S) AND CO-INVESTIGATORS: Dr. John Gillham, Jaime Stewart
INTRODUCTION: You are invited to participate in a study on the job satisfaction of high school assistant
principals in Ohio.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The purpose of the qualitative study is to explore perceived job satisfaction and facet
satisfaction among Ohio high school assistant principals and compare the results from different demographics
including gender, type/location of school, years of experience, career advancement wishes, and job responsibilities.
We hope to learn without prejudice the answers to the following research questions:
1. How do the discrepancies between ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities affect the job
satisfaction of assistant principals?
2. What are the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio?
3. What are the effects of role conflict on job satisfaction of high school assistant principals in Ohio?
4. How do overall job satisfaction and facets of job satisfaction differ among high school assistant
principals in Ohio?
DESCRIPTION OF STUDY PROCEDURES: Ohio high school principals who are current members of Ohio
Association of Secondary School Administrators were emailed a link to a survey through Google Forms in September
or early October. The survey should have taken no longer than 5 minutes.
The assistant principals that fit each demographic area (male or female, 0-5 or 6+ years of experience in each of rural,
suburban, and urban districts) that agreed to potentially participate in an interview were added to a database. 12 total
participants were randomly selected (a male and female from each experience band and type of school). Those subjects
were contacted to confirm their participation.
Each subject that agreed to participate in an interview will be interviewed in person, by phone, or through
Skype/FaceTime. Each interview should take no longer than 30-60 minutes.
TIME ASSOCIATED WITH STUDY: 30-60 minutes
POTENTIAL RISKS: The potential risks to participants are minimal.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS: The initial benefit is the contribution to research of the job satisfaction of Ohio high
school assistant principals. There is personal benefit of contribution as the information gained can help to improve
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
120
job satisfaction. In addition, participants have the potential for personal and professional benefit of being more
reflective of their roles at work and home.
PROJECT ALTERNATIVES TO PARTICIPATION IN THE STUDY: There is no project alternative to
participation in this study.
CONFIDENTIALITY OF DATA: The information provided will be kept in a confidential manner and all
publications will only present de-identified information.
COSTS AND/OR COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION: There are no costs for participation. Subjects
will be given a $25 gift card for participating in the study.
CIRCUMSTANCES FOR DISMISSAL FROM THE STUDY: There are no circumstances for dismissal from
the study.
COMPENSATION FOR INJURY: There is no compensation for injury for this study.
CONTACT PERSONS: For more information concerning this research, please contact Dr. John Gillham at (419)
434-5934. If you believe that you may have suffered a research related injury, contact Dr. John Gillham at (419)
434-5934. If you have further questions about your rights as a research subject, you may contact: IRB Chairperson
University of Findlay Findlay, OH 45840
VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION: Participation in this study is voluntary. You are free to participate or to
withdraw at any time, for whatever reason. In the event that you do withdraw from this study, the information you
have already provided will be kept in a confidential manner.
CONSENT: Federal regulations require precautionary measures to be taken to insure the protection of human
subjects on physical, psychological, social, and other issues. This includes the use of “informed consent”
procedures.
I, _________________________________ (PRINTED NAME OF SUBJECT) have been adequately informed
regarding the risks and benefits of participating in this study. My signature also indicates that I can change my mind
and withdraw my consent to participate at any time without penalty. I will receive a copy of this consent form.
SUBJECT PRINTED NAME:__________________________________________________________________
SUBJECT SIGNATURE:______________________________________________________________________
DATE
I have witnessed the consent process and believe the subject has been fully informed, understands the research
study, and has agreed to participate in the study.
WITNESS PRINTED NAME:___________________________________________________________________
WITNESS SIGNATURE:______________________________________________________________________
DATE
JOB SATISFACTION ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Appendix D
Initial Survey Sent Through Email Using Google Forms
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122
Appendix E
Interview Questions Used for One-on-One Interviews
1. What are your general job responsibilities?
2. Do these differ from what you assumed your responsibilities would be? If so, how?
3. What would you prefer to have as job responsibilities as an assistant principal?
4. What about the job is most challenging?
5. Within your position, do you find there are any gray areas or lines of responsibility that
blur between what you think you are supposed to do and what you are told to do? (role
ambiguity)
6. Do you find any conflicts between your responsibilities at school and your
responsibilities at home? (role conflict)
7. What part of the job do you think you do very well and what part of the job do you
struggle with the most?
8. What are the aspects of the position that you like best? Worst?
9. If you weighed the ideal, assumed, and actual job responsibilities of the position, how
would you describe your overall job satisfaction?
10. Do you have anything else that you would like to add about job satisfaction or your
satisfaction with any particular aspect of your current position?