Professionals and Workplace Control: Organizational and Demographic Models of Teacher Militancy

Abstract

Using a sample of 524 elementary and 816 secondary school teachers, the authors evaluate the plausibility of seven alternative models of the determinants of teacher militancy concerning issues of workplace control. The findings suggest that the more plausible models are those that explain militancy as a function of (a) the extent of the teacher's integration into the organization and (b) the teacher's affective response to organizational conditions. For example, a strong inverse relationship was found within both groups of teachers between militancy and satisfaction with supervision. Demographic variables were found to have less impact on teacher militancy than the organizational-integrative variables.