276 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) ISSN (Print) 2313-4410, ISSN (Online) 2313-4402 © Global Society of Scientific Research and Researchers http://asrjetsjournal.org/ Professional Competence and Work Engagement: Exploring the Synergy Between Self-efficacy, Job Satisfaction and Job Commitment of Secondary School Teachers in Mbarara District Godwin Tindyebwa Muhangi* Mbarara University of Science and Technology, P.O Box 1410 Mbarara Uganda Email: gomuti@gmail.com Abstract The study examined self-efficacy and job satisfaction as correlates of job commitment of secondary school teachers in Mbarara District. Quantitative data were collected from all the 626 teachers in the 64 secondary schools in Mbarara District, to facilitate testing of pertinent hypotheses. Pearson correlations showed that there is an association among the variables. This suggesting that there are significant relationships among self- efficacy, job satisfaction, commitment in Mbarara District. It was thus recommended that aspects of professional competence (self-efficacy and job satisfaction) should be enhanced so as to improve job commitment among teachers. In addition, the working environment, remuneration and incentives given to teachers should be made better than what they are presently. Keywords: Self-efficacy; Job satisfaction; Job commitment. 1. Introduction Employees’ professional competence is one of the factors that facilitate accomplishment of specific organisational purposes. Professional competence refers to the capability to perform duties of one’s profession generally or to perform a particular professional task with skill of acceptable quality [1]. It thus includes the broad professional knowledge, attitude, and skills required in order to work in a specialized area or profession. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Corresponding author. http://asrjetsjournal.org/ American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 277 Professional competence includes several employee attributes among which self-efficacy and job satisfaction have been considered for the purposes of this paper. As shown in this paper, it is asserted that there is a synergy between professional competence and work engagement. Work engagement refers to the emotional connection an employee feels toward his or her employment organization, which tends to influence his or her behaviours and level of effort in work related activities [2]. The more engagement an employee has with his or her company, the more effort they put forth and this has an implication to job commitment of any employee. While this is the case, the link (if any) between professional competence (conceptualised as self-efficacy and job satisfaction) with work engagement (conceptualised as job commitment) needs to be investigated. While there is literature relating these variables, for example [3] but such were in the context of Mbarara District. Basing on this background, therefore, this paper synthesizes a study about the influences self-efficacy and job satisfaction could have on job commitment of secondary school teachers in Mbarara district. According to the authors cited in [4], the teaching profession faces several challenges; many of such challenges have caused many teachers to quit (an indicator of low job commitment) while many others are looking for careers outside the teaching profession. Only a few have stayed but with an intention to quit when situations allow. This is because the challenges associated with the teaching profession reduce teachers’ motivation and job satisfaction [5]. Available literature such as [6; 7] suggest that teachers’ job satisfaction and self-efficacy determine teachers’ job related behavior. It can thus be argued that how teachers view themselves as professionals in their work has implications to their job commitment. We therefore suggest that in order to examine the effect of teachers’ professional competence on work engagement, it is important to investigate the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy, job satisfaction and commitment. The relationship between these variables is not obvious especially in the context of Mbarara District. The paper therefore aims at clarifying on such a said relationship. Specifically, the paper will (i) examine the relationship between self-efficacy and job satisfaction among secondary school teachers, (ii) explore association between job satisfaction and commitment of secondary school teachers and (iii) examine the composite effect of job satisfaction and self-efficacy on job commitment of secondary school teachers. 2. Related Literature 2.1 Teacher Self-Efficacy Teacher self-efficacy is defined as the teacher’s perception of his or her ability to (a) perform required professional tasks and to regulate relations involved in the process of teaching and educating students and (b) perform organizational tasks, become part of the organization and its political and social processes [8: 684]. This definition suggests that teacher self-efficacy is dependent on a teacher’s self interpretation; whether as a performer or a non performer. This has implications towards how the teacher becomes committed on to the job. Teacher self-efficacy influences teachers’ job related behaviours [9] that is in terms of job commitment, job American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 278 satisfaction, turnover intentions and so on. This is supported by suggestions of Vroom’s Value Expectancy Theory (VET). According to this theory, the likelihood of attaining a valued outcome leads to specific behavior [10; 11]. This implies that if a teacher expects remarkable results from teaching, the likelihood is that similar behaviours will be replicated in related situations. It goes with minimum emphasis therefore that teacher self- efficacy influences the thoughts, feelings, attitudes and effort dedicated to teaching. Teachers with a high sense of self-efficacy exert much effort when teaching students and are rational when teaching. Teachers who believe that they affect student learning are: more likely to tryout different ways of teaching, organized in relation to teaching and student affair, and remain confident and enthusiastic about teaching. These factors are important for job commitment because they influence how teachers comprehend their primary roles and improve their planning and organizational skills [12] and sort of such effects; teachers seek an alternative which is negatively related to job commitment. Past studies found a significant relationship between teacher’s self-efficacy and job commitment for example [13; 14]. The study cited in [14] investigated graduate teachers from Belgium and reported that commitment is positively related to teacher efficacy. On the other hand, Chan and his colleagues reports on a study about primary and secondary school teachers in Singapore that there is a positive relationship between teachers’ self- efficacy and commitment for both secondary and primary school teachers. Studies like these catalysed this study; it was intended to find the validity of such results in the setting of a developing country (Uganda) and more so, a rural district (Mbarara District). 2.2 Job satisfaction Despite the wide usage in business and everyday life, there has not been a generally agreed definition of the term job satisfaction [15]. In this paper however, job satisfaction refers to the attitudes and feelings people have about their work. Positive and favorable attitudes towards the job indicate job satisfaction while negative and unfavourable attitudes towards the job indicate dissatisfaction [16]. This suggests that job satisfaction represents feelings resulting from the perception that the job meets employee’s material and psychological needs [17]. From the above, we can note that lack of job satisfaction negatively influences the success of the employee and the organisation as a whole. As the author in [15] suggests, lack of satisfaction on the job reduces employee loyalty and increases absenteeism. Therefore, if an organisation (in this case a secondary school) intends to maximize achievement of its aims, much emphasis should be put on maintaining the employees satisfied. This is because job satisfaction and job commitment are related and they collectively affect performance. The relationship between job satisfaction and job commitment has been of interest to past researchers and scholars. The researcher in [18] for example studied the job satisfaction of public child welfare employees and found out that their job satisfaction significantly affected job commitment. In the same way, if such results are valid, teachers’ job satisfaction affects their commitment. The extent of validity of such an assertion is not known; such and many unanswered questions were answered in this study. Besides the relationship between job satisfaction and job commitment, past studies have also indicated a relation between self-efficacy and job American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 279 satisfaction in that self-efficacy is an important contributor of job satisfaction [3]. Also the scholar in [19] purports that teachers with low levels of self-efficacy are more likely to be dissatisfied with their jobs such that they have high turnover intentions. 2.3 Job Commitment Commitment is defined as a psychological link between a person and the occupation that is based on an affective reaction to that occupation [20: 800]. This is in agreement with the definition stated in [21] that commitment is the strength of an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular organization. Teacher commitment includes a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization’s goals and values, willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and a strong intent or desire to remain with the organization. Teachers can be loyal and passionate about their teaching profession. Such teachers are committed and productive in their teaching roles which results into good student achievement. Other teachers can be in the teaching profession for the sake of just adding to the number of staff while some other teachers may be categorically discontented with the teaching calling. In this case teachers show their disgruntlement with their job through behaviors like absenteeism. These are examples that show the connection between commitment and teacher behavior [22]. Though commitment is related to diverse organizations outcomes including turnover, absenteeism, performance and job satisfaction, there are few studies that have focused on the commitment of teachers in the educational setting [23]. Authors in [24] argue that teachers have low commitment and associated low work morale. The focus on teacher commitment becomes a pertinent issue because committed teachers are likely to stay longer, perform their duties better and don’t engage in absenteeism. In addition, if teachers feel committed to their organizations they will more likely not express a desire to leave. On the contrary non committed teachers are not fanatical about their career, have high turnover which is costly to the school. Because of high turnover, educators take with them their teaching expertise, counseling and guidance abilities and experience; schools also incur costs in terms of advertising cost for vacant positions, recruiting new teachers, training staff, and mentoring of new educators [24].Therefore, it’s important to examine commitment and factors that are linked to organizational commitment among teachers. Teacher commitment is essential for schools. This has been revealed by several past studies for example the study reported in [25] showed that teacher commitment was positively related to job satisfaction of teachers. Similarly, a positive correlation between teacher commitment and job satisfaction was observed by researchers in [26]. More recently, scholars in [27] also showed that teachers who reported higher commitment also reported greater engagement in organization citizenship behaviors. These findings of positive consequences of teacher commitment underscore its importance and the need to identify factors contributing to teacher commitment. 2.4 Teacher Self-efficacy, Job Satisfaction and Commitment American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 280 Self-efficacy is related to job related attitudes much as job satisfaction is associated with commitment. Previous research studies have found not only a significant relationship between teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction but also teacher efficacy as a predictor of job satisfaction [4]. In a study carried out by Canrinus and colleagues it was found out that teacher class room efficacy was significantly related to occupational commitment [9]. Studies have also reported that teacher self-efficacy is associated with high teacher job commitment [28]. This facilitates achievement of individual intentions for teachers, students and the school. Similarly, teacher self- efficacy is related to job commitment and a significant predictor of job satisfaction among teachers. This implies that improving teacher self-efficacy would certainly result into better job satisfaction among teachers. This keeps teachers passionate about the jobs leading in lower level of teacher attrition [29]. While teachers’ role in society is known, they are still faced with enormous challenges including poor remuneration, low enthusiasm for the teaching job, and the general lack of recognitions of their services. This works negatively against job commitment such that experienced and well qualified teachers have left the teaching sector. It is however noted that competent teachers with a positive attitude toward their profession remain loyal to the teaching profession. Thus, schools should focus on promoting these attributes among teachers to improve on their commitment. This paper therefore is a voice to such a call. 2.5 Hypotheses The study was guided by the following hypotheses: 1. There is a significant relationship between self-efficacy and job commitment of secondary school teachers in Mbarara District. 2. There is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and job commitment of secondary school teachers in Mbarara District. 3. There is a significant difference of commitment with age, gender, teaching experience, and educational qualification of secondary school teachers. 4. There is a composite effect of self-efficacy and job satisfaction on job commitment 3. Methodology Using a quantitative approach, and correlation design, data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire with constructs on personal information, Self-efficacy, Job Satisfaction and Job Commitment. The scales adopted for the study included standardized instruments with known psychometric properties such as classroom and school context teacher self-efficacy scale and so on. The reliability of the scale was .85 as adapted from [30] and measured Validity and reliability of items in each construct in the questionnaire were established using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Cronbach alpha, respectively. Data were collected from teachers in all the 64 secondary schools in Mbarara District. Mbarara Municipality had 26 schools including six government-aided schools and 20 private but registered owned schools. Kashari had 19 secondary schools (six government-aided schools and 13 private and registered schools), and Rwampara had 19 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 281 secondary schools (seven government-aided schools and 12 private and registered schools). All the 626 teachers working in the secondary schools of Mbarara district were included in the study population. Analysis involved use of frequency counts and means at descriptive level. At inferential level, independent samples t-test, Kruskal Wallis test and Pearson’s linear correlation were used to test the study hypotheses. 4. Findings and Discussion 4.1 Self-efficacy and Job Commitment Hypothesis one stated that there is a significant relationship between self-efficacy and job commitment of secondary school teachers in Mbarara District. Pearson product moment correlation was used to analyse the relationship between these variables. The results of the analyses are presented in Table 1. Table 1: Pearson’s Co-relation Co-efficient between self-efficacy and Job satisfaction Job commitment Self-efficacy Job satisfaction Pearson correlation 1 0.197** N 626 626 Self-efficacy Pearson correlation 0.197** 1 N 626 626 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level of significance Table 1 shows Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient results for school context self-efficacy for teachers and their job satisfaction in which r = 0.197, p < .01. Thus there is a positive correlation between school context self- efficacy and job commitment. Thus teachers’ job commitment is positively co- related with the level of self- efficacy at the 1% level of significance. 4.2 Teachers Job Satisfaction Job Commitment Hypothesis two stated that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and job commitment of secondary school teachers in Mbarara District. It was predicted that the level of job commitment for secondary school teachers in Mbarara District depended on their level of job satisfaction. To analyse the variation of job commitment with job satisfaction, Pearson Product Moment correlation was used; results of this analysis are shown in the table below. Table 2 shows Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient results for job satisfaction for teachers and their job commitment in which r = 0.316, p < 0.01. Thus there is a positive correlation between commitment and job satisfaction such that teachers’ job satisfaction depends on of job commitment at the 1% level of significance. 4.3 Teacher Commitment and personal attributes Hypothesis 3 anticipated a significant difference between commitment and personal attributes (age, gender, American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 282 teaching experience, and educational qualification) of secondary school teachers. Kruskal Wallis test was used to examine the relationship between work experience and teacher commitment. A significant difference was found between teaching experience and organizational identification (χ2 = 11.095, df = 4, p = .026). The mean ranks of organizational identification were 308.94 for teachers with 1-5 years of training experience, 312.08 for teachers with 6-10 years’ work experience, 275.27 for teacher with 11-15 years of teaching, 381.10 in favor of teachers with 16-20 years of teaching experience and 344.04 for the teachers with over 21 years teaching experience. Teachers with high accumulated job tenure were proud of being teachers and associated to the schools where they were employed. Experienced teachers had better organizational identification than novice teachers. A significant difference was found among married teachers (Mean rank = 327.20), single teachers (Mean rank = 309.17), cohabiting teachers (Mean rank = 277.08), teachers who were widows or widowers (Mean rank = 259.18) and separated teachers (Mean rank = 209.37) and team-oriented commitment (χ2 = 9.678, df = 4, p = .046). Married teachers were more committed to the colleagues, department, team goals and a sense of dependability for collective outcomes than teachers of other marital status. Independent samples examined the difference between commitment and the demographic data. The results of the statistical analyses are presented in Table 3 below. Table 2: Pearson’s Co-relation Co-efficient for Job Satisfaction and job commitment Job satisfaction Job commitment Job satisfaction Pearson correlation 1 0.316** N 626 626 Job commitment Pearson correlation 0.316** 1 N 626 626 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level of significance Table 3: Commitment and personal attributes M (SD) t p Organizational commitment Move to a different school No 41.92 (7.93) 1.99 .047 Yes 40.70 (7.40) Organizational involvement Applied for a job in the school last year No 15.20 (2.87) 2.23 .026 Yes 14.67 (3.03) Organizational loyalty Applied for a job in the school last year No 12.34 (3.69) -2.19 .029 Yes 12.96 (3.35) Team –oriented commitment Applied for a job in the school last year No 4.03 (0.85) 3.08 .002 Yes 3.81 (0.92) Gender Males 3.98, (0.94) 1.98 .048 Females 3.82 (0.80) American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 283 Results from Table 3 showed that commitment of teachers varied with some personal aspirations and desires. Teachers with aspiration of moving to other schools had a slightly less organization commitment compared to teachers who were devoted to the school (t (624) = 1.99, p = .047). Teachers who actually applied for a job within the school during the year had lower organizational involvement scores than teachers who did not apply for any job in the last year (t = 2.23, df = 624, p = .026). On the contrary Teachers who actually applied for a job within the school during the year had better organizational loyalty scores than teachers who did not apply for non-teaching jobs in the same school in the last year (t = - 2.19, df = 624, p = .029). A significant difference was found between male-teachers and female-teachers on team-oriented commitment, t (624) = 1.98, p = .048. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference between teachers who had applied for a non-teaching job within the school and teachers who did not apply for a job and their team-oriented commitment t (624) = 3.08, p = .002. Male teachers and teachers who did not apply for a non-teaching job were more committed to the colleagues, department, team goals and a sense of dependability for collective outcomes than other teachers. Based on the results presented above results, the prediction that there is a significant difference between commitment, age, gender, teaching experience, and educational qualification of secondary school teacher is accepted for only the demographic aspects that showed significant results. Only teaching experience and gender age provided significant results. 4.5 Correlation between self-efficacy, job satisfaction and job commitment Hypothesis 4 predicted a significant relationship between self-efficacy, job satisfaction, job commitment of secondary school teachers. Pearson correlations were run to explore the association among the variables. Only correlation values of 0.3 and above that account for at least 9 percent of the variance will be considered. The results of the analysis are presented in Table 4 below: Table 4: Pearson’s Co-relation Co-efficient between self-efficacy, Job satisfaction and job Commitment Self-efficacy Job satisfaction Job commitment self-efficacy Pearson correlation 1 0.236** 0.197** N 626 626 626 Job satisfaction Pearson correlation 0.236** 1 0.316** N 626 626 626 Job commitment Pearson correlation 0.197** 0.316** 1 N 626 626 626 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level of significance Table 4 reveals that there were significant correlations between school context self-efficacy and job satisfaction American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 284 (r = .236, p < .01) and job commitment(r = .197, p < .01) while job satisfaction was related to job commitment (r = .316, p < .01). This suggests that the three variables were associated with each other. 5. Discussion 5.1 self-efficacy and Job Commitment This study aimed at examining the relationship between self-efficacy and job satisfaction if any. Results of the study showed that self-efficacy of secondary school teachers in Mbarara District was actually related to job satisfaction. This confirms the theoretical assertions stated in [9] that self-efficacy influences job related behaviours. This is because high self-efficacy creates positive attitudes towards work among employees (in this case teachers). It thus appears logical to assert that self-efficacy is important for a healthy employee- worker relationship. The study further underscores the role of one’s self-belief as regards job performance. As suggested in [31], self-efficacy influences job satisfaction and consequently improves job commitment. Other long term job related behaviours like job retention may also come along with satisfactory self-efficacy. This study corroborates results of different past researchers for example [32] that teacher self-efficacy is significantly related to job satisfaction. 5.2 Teachers Job Satisfaction Job Commitment As related to the preceding, the study also examined the relationship between teacher job satisfaction and their commitment. The study results showed that there is positive significant relationship between job satisfaction and job commitment. This result agrees with the past studies such as [33; 34]. In these studies and many others, it was reported that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and job commitment. 5.3 Personal Characteristics and Commitment There was a statistically significant difference between teaching experience and identification. On the whole, experienced teachers with longer teaching duration and probably advanced in age had better identification than inexperienced teachers. With vast teaching experience, veteran teachers are more likely to use all their energy to ensure they are superiors in their teaching role. In so doing, skilled teachers derive satisfaction in performing their tasks. With time, teacher will take lots of pride in the school work and they strive to achieve the school goals. High Identification will ensure that teachers display appropriate commitment associated behavior such as positive classroom behavior and dedication to the achievement of team goals [35]. In line with previous studies the present study found significant relationship between teaching experience and identification a component of commitment. The researcher in [36] reported that teaching experience was correlated with teacher commitment. Other studies have not noted an association between commitment and teaching experience [13; 37; 38]. On the other hand, the study reported in [39] found a weak but significant negative effect of teaching experience on teacher commitment for public schools only. The results of relationship between teaching experience and commitment remain inconclusive. American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 285 Married teachers tend to be more committed to their job and employer because of the nature of their life. Married teachers need a secure job that provides a constant source of income needed to take care of their needs including the family and children. These ascribed roles allied to married people makes them more reliable, committed and better employees [40]. Male teachers had a slightly better team-oriented commitment than female teachers (see Table 3). These results add more support to the mixed nature of this relationship between gender and commitment. The results contradict those reported in [37] that females had higher commitment than males. In a different study, as reported in [25], gender is a significant predictor of commitment only among white teachers not black teachers. On their part, researchers in [38] found no significant difference between gender and commitment. Other background variables such as education qualification were not significantly related to commitment. The results contradict findings reported in [30] that there is a relationship between age and organizational loyalty. The findings contradict other associations including organizational commitment and age [41], job tenure and commitment [30; 41] and level of education and commitment [42]. Table 3 results reveal that team-oriented commitment of teachers who applied for jobs last year was lower than teachers who did not apply for a job in the previous year. Furthermore, teachers with desires to move to a different school had a lower sense of organizational commitment compared to teachers who were keen to stay. The involvement of teachers who had applied for a non-teaching job in the last year was lower. On the contrary loyalty of teachers who had applied for a job in the school last year was better than teachers who did not apply for a job in the same school. These results point to the dynamics of commitment and intention to leave in relation to background variables. Some scholars such [43] provided a dichotomy where employs are classified as movers or leavers. Teachers who seek another reaching job in a different school were termed as movers while teachers who prefer a non- teaching job are termed as leavers. Movers had a low organizational commitment while leavers possessed a reduced amount of involvement and team-oriented commitment but better loyalty. 5.4 Correlations among Variables The present study findings are consistent with previous studies for example [3; 9; 44] that reported significant correlations among teacher self-efficacy, commitment and job satisfaction. Teacher self-efficacy was associated with job satisfaction and burnout [3; 4; 45; 46; 47; 48]. Therefore, teacher self-efficacy is associated with several work outcomes. Self-efficacy scores were positively correlations to commitment scores. Teachers with high self-efficacy have high commitment. These results have the same opinion with previous research findings [27; 28; 49; 37; 50]. Despite using a different measure of teacher self-efficacy, the results showed that teacher self-efficacy was a predictor of commitment [37; 49; 50; 51]. Consistent with prior studies, job satisfaction was related to employee commitment. The present results further American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 286 confirm the correlation between job satisfaction facets and commitment components [24; 52]. Results revealed significant positive correlation job satisfaction and commitment. These findings are in line with preceding findings [25; 26] that there are associations between job satisfaction and commitment. The results show that generally high levels of teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction and organizational commitment are likely to result in reduced likelihood of turnover intentions among teachers. More so, high scores on teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction and organizational commitment measures are likely to be linked to lower turnover intent scores. The present study findings are in agreement with past research data. 6. Conclusion This study examined the synergy between self-efficacy, job satisfaction and job commitment of secondary school teachers in Mbarara District. It was reported that the level of self-efficacy among teachers was satisfactory. The study suggested that low levels of self-efficacy among teachers have a negative effect on teachers’ commitment on their jobs. The conclusion of this study showed that there is a significant positive relationship between job commitment and self-efficacy of secondary school teachers in Mbarara District Regarding job satisfaction, study results indicated that job satisfaction improves organisational loyalty for teachers. We thus concluded that teachers’ job satisfaction was very important for job commitment. Based on research findings, it is important for schools and their administrators take practical steps that can increase job satisfaction among the teachers. Teacher commitment component of identification was higher for the teachers of Mbarara district compared to other components. Captivatingly the teachers had approximately the same career-oriented and team-oriented commitment. Commitment in general and commitment focus differed with respect to demographics including teaching experience, gender and marital status. There were various correlations among the various subscale score of teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction and commitment. The correlation showed the associations among the variables. These findings confirm previous study results regarding the relationships among these variables. 7. Recommendations Study results revealed self-efficacy, job satisfaction job commitment are related among secondary school teachers in Mbarara District. It is therefore recommended that secondary schools in this district or anywhere else foster aspects of professional competence (such as self-efficacy and job satisfaction) so as to improve on job commitment (an aspect of work engagement). Interventions such as improving working conditions, increasing teaching resources, involving teachers in decision making, provision of refresher courses to old teachers, mentoring the young teachers, providing opportunities to attain further education can have a positive effect towards the improvement of job commitment. Based on the study results, it is suggested that school administrators should take necessary measures to step up or maintain high self-efficacy beliefs of teachers. This will improve teacher commitment and objective achievement for teachers, students and the school in general. American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2017) Volume 27, No 1, pp 276-290 287 This researcher calls upon secondary school stakeholders to focus on correlates, predictors and determinants of job satisfaction among secondary school teachers. Emphasis should be placed on various factors that foster job satisfaction among secondary school teachers. The focus on the work itself, coworker relations, supervisor support, work values, job enrichment, work conditions and provision of timely feedback can improve teacher job satisfaction. The combination of job itself interventions, intrinsic and extrinsic intervention, and other satisfaction domains concurrently will improve overall teacher job satisfaction. Furthermore, educational administrators should target the sources of job commitment among teachers in addition to the focus on job satisfaction. Secondary schools can engage their teachers in actions that can improve both team and career focused commitment. These include team building, adequate supervision, mentorship programs, career development plans, and professional development programs. All these will have a positive effect towards the improvement of work engagement among secondary school teachers. In addition to the above, employers should ensure that teachers have job security, support teachers during the process of attaining better academic qualifications, have good quality leadership, ensure a fair reward system, and provide adequate medical benefits. Schools can also aim at improving the various aspects that result into teacher commitment. The focus on factors that are associated with commitment will in the long-term lead go better satisfaction and less desire to leave the teaching jobs. 8. Limitations This study concentrated on secondary school teachers - a selected group of individuals; this implies that the sample was already biased in terms of variables to be measured. Results of the study may not be generalised with ease to other professions or even teachers from other levels of the teaching profession. This suggests that further studies be conducted to include primary school teachers, universities or other educational institutions. This is because results from this study may have limited transferable value in other settings yet there is a need to replicate studies into other sectors. The methods of data collection limited the study. The study collected and analysed data using quantitative methods. In this case, respondents were limited in terms of presentation of their views; some respondents’ views not included in the questionnaire were certainly left out. Therefore, there should have been provisions to collect data by qualitative methods such as through interviews and focussed group discussions. The study would have been more reliable if for example after collecting quantitative data; this was followed by in depth interviews with some secondary school teachers. In the same way, data was collected at once. This does not clarify on the changes in respondents views with regard to job retention. Another possible limitation could have arisen from the tendency of respondents to answer survey questions in a manner viewed favourably by others. In such a case, the data collected becomes misleading and it is difficult to tell respondents’ views followed such a pattern or not. However, this remains a possibility in this study. References [1]. Definitions.net. “Professional competence”. 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