The Investigation of Job Characteristics of Physical Education Instructors Based on JCM Model

The aim of this study was to investigate the job characteristics of physical education instructors based on JCM model and also the attitudes of physical education instructors towards five job internal characteristics and their relationships with Growth Need Strength (GNS) and job satisfaction. All physical education instructors in Golestan province (N=457), except for those who were employed between 2010 and 2011 participated in this study as the sample, but only 430 subjects (94.1%) filled out the questionnaires of the attitudes towards the job, growth need strength (GNS) and job satisfaction. Validities of these questionnaires were verified by 15 physical education professors, and their reliabilities were assessed by Cronbach’s alpha as r=0.88 for job attitude questionnaire, r=0.88 for growth need strength questionnaire and r=0.82 for job satisfaction questionnaire. The results showed that physical education instructors prioritized the five characteristics of job feedback, task identity, skill variety, task significance and autonomy respectively in their jobs (P≤0.05). These characteristics were above the average level. Although there was no significant relationship between these characteristics and job growth needs and job satisfaction, there was a significant positive relationship between these five characteristics and subject's potential motivational competence (R=0.68 to R=0.33). Moreover, the results of regression test showed that job feedback was the best predictor of job satisfaction (R2=0.18) while task significance had a significant negative effect on job satisfaction. It should be mentioned thatthese relationships were balanced up to 0.08 of variance by job growth needs (P≤0.01). Also, although task significance had a negative effect on job satisfaction, it had a significant positive effect on growth needs. Therefore, job internal characteristics can influence the motivation and growth needs of instructors and their satisfaction may depend on not only the important psychological conditions in JCM model but also job external aspects.