Principals' perceptions of their job characteristics and personal outcomes in Hong Kong public primary schools

: diagnosis based on the Job Characteristics Model

Abstract

The aim of this research is to diagnose the Hong Kong public primary school principals' workloads, prioritisation of responsibilities, perceptions of their job characteristics and levels of personal outcomes from their own perspectives so as to provide the school board and the Education Bureau (EDB) more specific recommendations for their job enrichment and professional development opportunities It addresses the shortcomings of the official evaluation of the EDB which provided very limited information about the principals' performance and could hardly help them to make an improvement. Mixed methods were used in this research, consisting of two distinct phases. Quantitative data were collected by questionnaire survey from a randomly selected sample comprised 11% of primary principal population (n=52). The questionnaire items were adapted from the EDB's guidelines on principal responsibilities and Hackman and Oldham's Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS). The reliability and the validity of the questionnaire were high. The findings of the variables indicate that the principals' workloads are manageable, their perceptions of job characteristics and personal outcomes are positive. However, areas for improvement are identified in their workloads and job characteristics. Although the JDS could determine the needs of job enrichment, it was unable to identify the factors affecting their job characteristics and subsequent recommendations for job enrichment. To understand the factors affecting the principals' jobs, the survey participants were stratified by working experience and five of them were selected to join a semi-structured interview which provided exploratory information on their interpretation of the questionnaire items. The interviews helped us to identify the possible factors affecting their jobs and make specific recommendations for job enrichment. Relevant professional development opportunities were also recommended. Lastly, theoretical contributions of the research framework and questionnaire design as well as directions for individual principals' self-reflection and researchers' future longitudinal studies are presented.

Date of Award	24 Jan 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Leon P Tikly (Supervisor) & David Sands (Supervisor)