Contribution of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors to Teacher Motivation

Abstract

Teachers feel their work is becoming increasingly stressful and their status is falling leading to less job satisfaction with a concomitant loss in motivation. This study sought to find out in quantitative terms, the amount of motivation that the intrinsic and extrinsic socio-economic factors make to teacher motivation. The research design employed for this research is quasi-experimental. Two thousand and ninety-eight (2,098) teachers were selected from the Upper East Region of Ghana. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. The results showed that intrinsic and extrinsic socio-economic factors do motivate teachers in the execution of their work. However, not a strong association exist between teacher motivation and the intrinsic and extrinsic socio-economic variables. Not much of teacher motivation depends on socio-economic factors. Per the findings of the study, the association between the degree of motivation that teachers receive from the intrinsic and extrinsic socio-economic factors, M_€, and the percentage of respondents that claim they are motivated by the factors, f_€, could be represented by the polynomial relation, M_€ = µ₃(f_€)³ - µ₂(f_€)² + µ₁(f_€) - µ₀. Intrinsic and extrinsic (socio-economic) factors cannot sustain the motivation of teachers permanently, even though the lack of them will lead to demotivation of teachers.