An Economic Explanation on
the Effect of Work Flourishing on
Teacher Job Satisfaction and Job Performance

Dela Chica, Patricia Anne1, Agner, Mary Grace2, Janeo, Viory Yvonne2, Dacanay, Jovi3
1 Graduate Staff, School of Economics, University of Asia and the Pacific
2 Instructor, School of Economics, University of Asia and the Pacific
3 Assistant Professor and Doctoral Program Director, School of Economics, University of Asia and the Pacific

働く人の主観的な幸福感を向上させるにはどうしたらいいか。フィリピンの学校教師を対象に、ワーク・フラリッシング（職場での持続的幸福感）の観点から調査した。

Abstract

Economic researchers have discussed the possibilities of not only using objective, observed variables that can
explain subjective well-being, but also using subjective variables that can explain are outside that of objective variables. It is also important to note the relevance of aspiration levels, and how it can contribute to higher individual
utility. Work flourishing is a fairly new concept that is being discussed in the field of psychology. Its relevance tothe study of Subjective Well-Being (SWB) has garnered the necessary attributes that needs to be looked at in orderto study the totality of happiness. This psychological definition is linked with the economic concept of aspirationlevels that individuals seek to achieve. This study offers an economic explanation on the effect of work flourishingon job satisfaction and job performance. The study sample focuses on teachers from PAREF schools and MarymountAcademy, where it aims to answer three objectives: (1) determine the effect of work flourishing through empiricalanalysis, (2) explain job satisfaction and job performance based on objective and subjective variables, and (3) compare results of PAREF and Marymount. The results show that using correlation and communalities, work flourishinghas a high capacity to explain the variables. It also shows that complementing objective and subjective variables to
explain teacher job satisfaction and job performance produces a more fruitful explanation in increasing teacher
utility. Lastly, PAREF and Marymount have different results on how work flourishing affects their teachers’ job satisfaction and job performance levels.
Keywords

Subjective Well-Being, Objective Utility, Work Flourishing, Job Satisfaction, Aspiration Levels

Introduction

Many things happen in the life of educators behind
the whiteboard: professional development, mentoring,
workplace issues. The science of Economics can explain
the effect of workplace flourishing on the job satisfaction and performance of teachers. Flourishing at work is
a fairly new concept that is being discussed in the fieldof psychology. Its relevance to the study of Subjective
Well-Being (SWB) has garnered the attributes thatshould be considered when studying the totality ofhappiness.
This psychological definition is linked with theeconomic concept of an individual’s aspiration levels
and how these contribute to higher individual utility.
Objective and Subjective Utility is a comprehensive andcomplementary study on individual utility and happiness. Economic researches have discussed the possibilities of not only using objective, observed variables thatcan explain SWB, but also of using subjective variables
that can explain objective variables.
This study offers an economic explanation of theeffect of workplace flourishing on job satisfaction andjob performance. The study, which takes a sampling ofteachers from Parents for Education Foundation Inc.

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Dela Chica, Patricia Anne, et al.

(PAREF) schools and Marymount Academy, aims (1) todetermine the effect of workplace flourishing throughempirical analysis; (2) explain job satisfaction and job
performance based on objective and subjective variables;and (c) compare the results of the two institutions.
Using correlation and communalities, workplaceflourishing very well explains the objective and subjective variables and shows how teachers are more satisfied
with their job and perform better when said variables
complement each other.
Finally, it is interesting to note how the PAREF andMarymount group differ in their results, which in turninfluences the satisfaction and performance levels of
their teaching staff.
Happiness research on various aspects of social life
has been a topic of economic research especially withregards to making sound economic policy and improving the conditions of educational institutional conditions, such as quality of governance, size of wealth, andsocial capital. Happiness research can also delve into
subjective well-being (SWB), which is a prevalent concept in psychology. As early as the 1970s, emerging economic research opened up new possibilities for analyzing
happiness (Frey and Stutzer, 2002).1
SWB is generally referred to as an individual’s stateof satisfaction in life (Ryan and Deci, 2001)2 , where it
can be considered as a “satisfactory empirical approximation of individual utility (Frey and Stutzer, 2002).”
Several studies have shown how looking into individual
utility offers value-added information about increased
workplace productivity. Employee productivity remains
a main concern of management in any field. The studyof SWB has significantly contributed to enhancing
employee satisfaction and performance. Happiness economics research relies on “psychological views that ultimately rely on philosophical views” (Crespo andMesurado, 2014)3. This more subjective approach toanalyzing happiness economics has yielded moreinsightful findings.
Delivering Happiness
The study on well-being opened up research topics
related to boosting productivity in the workplace.
Previous studies have generated fascinating studies on
improved employee work performance, relating motivation, competence, and the work environment to job performance and job satisfaction (Arifin, 2015; Rajpal,
2016; Muhammad, Rehaman, and Ahmed, 2015).
Positive correlation of said factors to job performanceand satisfaction allowed companies to provide employees better opportunities to be consistently loyal and productive. An increasing number of studies today focus
more on the subjective factors that influence job performance and satisfaction. The need for greater productivity in the workplace allows employers to be moreeducated in dealing with their employees and to improve
professionally and individually.
Rothmann, Redelinghuys, and Botha (2018)4 introduced the concept of workplace flourishing, whichmainly stems from SWB, and allows organizations to
see if their workers are functioning well at work. Theirstudy revolved around the workplace flourishing ofteachers who are expected to meet the different demandsof their stakeholders, including students, supervisors,
school, and parents. Such demands may contribute to
how well they function at work. Teachers are among theworld’s busiest professionals in the world. They need towear many hats to meet what is expected of them.
Besides crafting the curriculum and teaching, they mustfind ways to make their topics easy to teach, ensure that
their students are truly learning and not lagging behind,

1 Frey, Bruno S. and Stutzer, Alois. 2002. What can economists
learn from happiness research? American Economic Association
40, no. 2 (June 2002), http://www.jstor.org/stable/2698383 (accessed
May 19, 2018)

3 Crespo, Ricardo F., and Mesurado, Belen. 2014. Happiness economics, eudaimonia and positive psychology: From Happinesseconomics to flourishing economics. Springer, (June 20, 2014).
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-014-9541-4,
accessed February 13, 2019)2 Ryan, Richard M., and Deci, Edward, L. 2001. On happiness andhuman potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic
well-being. Annual Reviews Psychology, no. 52 (2001)

4 Redelinghuys, Rothmann, Bathos, 2018. Flourishing-At-Work:The Role of Organizational Practices. Psychological Reports.
DOI: 10.1177/0033294118757935 (Accessed on May 18, 2018)172

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maintain a harmonious relationship with their superiors,work colleagues, parents, and students, come up withtests and in order to grade their students, and engage in
off-school work, such as tutoring and further education.
Workplace flourishing helps explain the conditions
required for teachers to be fully functioning, that is,“positive experiences and the efficient management of
job-related factors.” Teachers seek fulfilment and satisfaction in all aspects of their life, and most especially
their life at work. Workplace flourishing looks into theutility of the individual, studies how often teachers
think about meeting the demands of the job, and how
they can be better at it.
Thus, it is important to determine job satisfaction
and performance of teachers: Does workplace flourishing explain teacher job satisfaction and performance?
The study focuses on determining the factors that
explain teacher job satisfaction and performance basedon the objective and subjective variables according to
the Utility Function; and to compare the job satisfaction
and job performance of teachers in PAREF andMarymount Academy schools.
This work is relevant to teaching today in that it canfacilitate the goal of education, which is to boost an
individual’s chances for a better future by enhancing thequality of the very person who directly influences one toattain his goals—one’s teacher.
This study will help determine the significance of the
explanatory variables of teacher job satisfaction and job
performance, most especially in relation to SWB. SWB
offers education research a new perspective on a subjective understanding of the role of teachers, which will
benefit the following stakeholders: (a) Schools will havea more comprehensive understanding of the teachers’
overall work experience and provide opportunities forthem to develop as professionals and as individuals; (b)Teachers may be able to consciously reflect on their attitude towards their school and realize their level of job
satisfaction and performance; (c) Policymakers may
come up with policies and activities that will improve
the psychological well-being of teachers; (d) Researchers
may find the value-added economic contribution of
studying subjective well-being in relation to teacher job

satisfaction and job performance.
The study will significantly discuss the concept ofworkplace flourishing and SWB from the economic perspective, or “utility,” which is why its main frameworkis that of Objective and Subjective Utility.
Subjective utility will be used to explain the subjective variables, like motivation, teacher effectiveness,work environment, school atmosphere, professional
development, and workplace flourishing. The respondent teachers will rank on the Likert Scale their opinions on their performance in their respective schools.
The survey questions should reflect their current happiness levels regarding their job. Personal judgements canbe biased as they only apply to the individual respondent however it is deemed necessary for the study basedon the assumption that subjective variables can be significantly used in econometric analysis.
The study will not consider workplace flourishing as
a dependent variable of job satisfaction and job performance. Workplace flourishing falls under Positive
Psychology, which means that there is limited literaturethat can support the relationship of workplace flourishing with job satisfaction and job performance. In addition, the gender-specificity of the PAREF school
curricula and teacher training will not be considered as
said factors make for diverse goals and objectives whenit comes to workplace flourishing. Finally, the findingsof this study may only be relevant to the schools being
surveyed.
Happiness Economics
In economics, happiness has always been perceived
and measured in terms of an individual’s income andwealth. Many studies have shown that people of a higher
economic status enjoy life more and “get by” better thanthose of a lower status. Of late, new studies assume amore subjective approach to this.
Ryan and Deci (2001) briefly discussed the conceptof happiness and well-being. The concept of well-being
has been considered “complex” and a “controversial” inpsychology. According to the Greek philosopher
Aristippus, well-being constitutes pleasure or happinessand is therefore life’s ultimate goal. This idea was later

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Dela Chica, Patricia Anne, et al.

known as “hedonism.” On the other hand, Aristotle did
not equate happiness to pleasure alone but as an expression of virtue, or the act of doing what is worth doing.
Ryan and Deci described this perspective of happinessas “eudaimonism”.
Taking together these two perspectives, well-being
becomes a multidimensional concept where hedonismand eudaimonism overlap but remain distinct. Researchshows that in the pursuit of personal goals, doing welland feeling happy may be disconnected from finding
meaning and acting with integrity.
Most studies that revolve around the concept of happiness base their definition on hedonism, which only
dwells on the topic of SWB. Many researchers however,are starting to figure out that such research must take on
both a hedonistic and an eudaimonic approach to paint a
complete portrait of “happiness.”
Aristotle idealized and defined eudaimonia as “final,”“self-sufficient” and guided by “reason” and “virtue”(Crespo and Mesurado, 2014)5. By explaining happinessthrough eudaimonia, the concept of “flourishing” isintroduced. Thus happiness becomes a process and not
simply a state of being.
Human flourishing has been constantly discussed inpositive psychology to evaluate an individual’s state ofwell-being. According to Deiner et al. (2008), SWB“focuses on the conscious experience of feelings andcognitions of the individual.” It can also be understoodas “the appraisals individuals make regarding their
quality of life which is not only about “feeling good” butalso about functioning well (Rothmann, 2013).” SWB
deals with an individual’s perception of how one is satisfied with life, measured according to three dimensions: emotional well-being (EW), psychologicalwell-being (PW), and social well-being (SW).
Studies on flourishing-at-work reveal a state where
an individual who experiences positive emotions is“more likely to enter novel situations, interact with other

5 Crespo, R. and Mesurado, B. (2014). Happiness Economics,
Eudaimonia, and Positive Psychology: From Happiness Economics
to Flourishing Economics. Springer. doi: 10.1007/s10902-0149541-4

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people, and pursue new goals (Rothmann, 2013)6.” An
individual’s different states of well-being serve to gauge
one’s overall SWB at work.
Defining “Happy”
Earlier studies prove that the wealthier one is, themore one is able to enjoy life. In recent decades, however, it is important to see that satisfaction in life is notbased on income alone. Brickman and Campbell in
Hedonic Relativism and Planning the Good Society(1971) revisited the topic from the economic perspective
using the adaptation level theory and extended it to suit
both individual and collective happiness. Their findings
show that more wealth “produces no lasting effects on
personal well-being.”7 Thus Richard Easterlin (1974)
coined the term “paradox of happiness,” triggering
debate on the “subjective self-evaluation of one’s happiness and life satisfaction.” Delving into happiness studies with psychological perspectives debunked previous
studies by proving that there is no direct relationshipbetween the two concepts (Bruni, 2006, Frey andStutzer, 2002). Further, “…the divergence of economics
and well-being measures demonstrates that well-being
indicators add important information that is missed byeconomic indicators. Economic development willremain an important priority, but policies fostering economic development must be supplemented by policies
that will have a stronger impact on well-being (Diener
and Seligman, 2003).”
Explaining happiness only through income seems
incomplete because it fails to give importance to the“interpersonal domain,” which is happiness and well-being. Even Amartya Sen reminds economists that “happiness, in order to be a proxy of a good life, must betranslatable to human flourishing, in terms of capabili-

6 Rothmann, I. (2013). Flourishing in works and careers (takenfrom Psycho-Social Career Meta-Capacities: Dynamics of contemporary career development, edited by Melinde Coetzee).
Springer, 11, 203-220).
7 Bruni, L. (2006). Civil Happiness: Economics and Human
Flourishing in Historical Perspective. Routledge. London and
New York: Taylor and Francis Group.

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ties and functioning, human rights and freedom.”8
The Philippine Context
The study was based on selected private schools in
the Philippines to see the effect of workplace flourishing
to job satisfaction and job performance of teachers. On
2013, The Philippines changed their education system toa K-12 system, or the Republic Act No. 105339 entitled“The Enhanced Basic Education Act 2013.”. Previously,
the old education system only had a 6-year or 7-year elementary course, but with the K-12, more years wereadded and it reconstructed secondary education byadding Senior High School. This addition was implemented so that it would smoothen the transition of students who want to pursue college or just get a job evenwith only a high school diploma. By equipping highschool students with essential competencies and skills
as early as high school, many students would havegreater potential to attain work and employment once
they graduate.
Table 1 Top 5 Most Number of Graduates, by DisciplineGroup

the Philippines who picture themselves as teachers fortheir professional careers.
However, it is important to note that data on those
who take the LET, or the Licensure Examination for
Teachers, only less than 50% of them get to pass.
Generally, LET is required for teachers especially in theelementary level. It is important to have a license toteach to acquire relevant training and skills as a professional teacher.
Table 2 Selected PRC Takerws and Passers, by Profession

Source: Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC)

There is a need to match the number of education andteacher training graduates to the LET passers so that it
balances the quantity and quality of teachers in the
country. In fact, there is a Philippine Professional
Standards for Teachers (PPST) that serves as the basic
framework for teacher quality. This was framed to complement and ensure that the teachers are properly
equipped to effectively implement the K-12 Program.
The 7 standards have to be met by the teachers whowant to pursue the profession under education.

Theoretical Framework
Source: CHEDIn the Philippines, education and teacher training is
included in the top 5 most number of graduates by discipline group. From the school year 2006-2007, almost
70,000 students graduated with education or teacher
training. By 2016, the graduates became 118,000. The
data shows that there are a good number of students in
8 Ibid9 Republic Act No. 10533, May 15, 2013; Implementing rules andregulations, September 4, 2013.

The framework of the study is hinged on the concepts of objective and subjective utility. Economic theories have always maintained an objective stance on the
topic of individual choice and utility. This type of thinking however hinders a full understanding of SWB.
Objective utility has always only looked at an individual’s observable choices, such as goods and services.
However, Frey and Stutzer (2002) believed that linking
happiness research to economics can provide a wider
understanding of subjective well-being (SWB) beyond
just looking at the objective position of economic theories “The subjective approach to utility offers a fruitful175Dela Chica, Patricia Anne, et al.

complementary path to the study of the world.10” By
looking into decision utility, which offers an objectivist
perspective of individual choice, as well as experienceutility and procedural utility, researchers may determine individual happiness from the perspective of
economics.
The study of SWB usually falls under the field of
psychology but, since the late 20th century, economists
have taken great interest in the topic and contributed
extensively to the study on determinants of happinessamong countries and periods.
Assuming that SWB is a valid measure for humanwell-being, then individual SWB can be expressed as:

Where:
W = Subjective well-being of an individual i at time t
X = vector for known latent variables x1, x2, …, xn
ɛ = error termThis function evaluates the factors that are correlated toindividual happiness. Income has been linked to happiness studies across the globe. Past research state thatthose who are materially wealthy tend to be happier thanthe less privileged. Since the former group is consideredhappier, then it can be said that they tend to have a higher
SWB. However, due to diminishing marginal utility,
higher income does not necessarily increase happinessor utility. Furthermore, Frey and Stutzer (2002) showedthat the trend of happiness tends to be constant over along period, which led them to believe that SWB is morethan just about income. An individual’s quest for happiness evolves through time and can be subject to “adaptation” where one continues to aim for higher aspirationlevels.

10 Frey and Stutzer (2002). “Can Economists Learn from HappinessResearch?” Journal of Economic Literature, Vol 40, No. 2, pp.
402-435.

176

Source: Frey and Stutzer (2002) and Authors’ Framework

Figure 1a H
 appiness, Income, and the Role of Aspiration
Level

Figure 1a illustrates the relationship between happiness and income through aspiration levels. The adaptation level theory, which has solid foundations in the fieldof psychology, proposes that happiness lies in the difference between aspiration and achievement. Because
individuals have insatiable needs, their aspirations to do
more and have more are depicted by the upward curve.
However, an individual can have more than one aspiration level. As one’s happiness reaches a certain point at
a certain income level, one’s aspiration level dips as one
perceives that he can pursue higher levels of happiness.
For the purpose of this study, the utility function will be
used as the theoretical framework to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance(which replaces “Happiness” in Figure 1a) and the
explanatory variables, which can be objective andsubjective.

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Source: Frey and Stutzer (2002) and Authors’ Framework

Figure 1b Relationship of Job Satisfaction and Job
Performance to Selected Objective andSubjective Variables

The definition of workplace flourishing (Crespo andMesurado, 2014 and Rothmann, 2013) in psychology
coincides with the aspiration levels that Frey and Stutzer(2002) discuss from the point of view of economics. In
this context, workplace flourishing can be considered an
explanatory variable for job satisfaction and job performance. Workplace flourishing and professional development will be considered as aspiration levels, as well as
subjective variables to explain job satisfaction and job
performance. For now, it will not be considered as adependent variable because of the limited literature thatlinks workplace flourishing with job satisfaction andperformance. Professional development, divided into
two subgroups, will complement workplace flourishing
because of its impact on job satisfaction and job
performance.

Conceptual Framework

Identifying the objective variables and studying the
subjective variables would enrich this study on the job
performance and satisfaction of teachers. The objective
variables will include age, years of teaching experience,years of teaching in one’s current school, LET scores,
and grants and educational support. These variables
have positive correlation with job performance andwould encourage teachers to stay longer in their current

positions.
On the other hand, subjective variables include motivation, teacher effectiveness, relationship with colleagues and supervisors, school atmosphere, professional
development, and work flourishing. There are various
types of motivation: intrinsic, extrinsic, introjected,
integrated, identified, and amotivated. Teacher effectiveness consists in how they conduct classes and go
about their tasks. The teacher’s work environment
covers one’s relationship with colleagues and supervisors and the school atmosphere in general. Professional
development and workplace flourishing have been seen
to have significant links with the job performance, satisfaction, and retention of teachers. This sets up a positive
correlation and provides teachers the opportunity to
improve their current position and well-being.
Workplace flourishing founded on subjective well-beingis the sum total of an individual’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

Source: A uthor’s conceptual framework, modified for the purpose of the
study

Figure 2 C onceptual Framework for Teacher Job
Performance and Job Satisfaction

Empirical Methodology

The study will make use of descriptive, qualitative
methods to find out the possible relationships of the
explanatory variables with the independent variables. A
survey questionnaire is the main instrument for data

177

Dela Chica, Patricia Anne, et al.

gathering. Data will be analyzed using Minitab program. Existing literature on how these concepts relate to
one another will be provided to support the quantitative
data from the survey questionnaire. The study will use
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze said
data. Two procedures, Factor Analysis and Censored
Regression, will be used to estimate the results.
Factor analysis: Grouped attributes to variables.
Besides conducting a factor analysis to simplify dataand group inter-correlated attributes into factors or constructs, a factor analysis will be conducted to determine
the capacity of workplace flourishing as a variable for
explaining the factors. This analysis will assess communalities among factors to show how much variability acertain factor has in each of the factors. A communality
near 1 indicates that the factors well explain the variable.
Tobit Regression (Censored Normal Regression).
The second and third objectives will be explained
through regression analysis. The Tobit Regression will
be used to explain the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables. The Tobit
model assumes that “the dependent variable has anumber of its values clustered at a limiting value.11” It is
a form of Censored Normal Regression that deals withcensored and truncated data and allows β to provide
more information because of the “decomposition” that isachieved to “determine both changes in the probabilityof being above the limit and the changes in the value ofthe dependent variable if it is already above the limit.”12
In censored regression, the data used are usually categorical and have a non-normal distribution. Because ofthis, censored regression corrects the error distribution
and uses weighted coefficients. R 2 is not important. The
signs of the variables and the significance of the explanatory variables to the dependent variables are the primary factors that will be considered in the Regression
Analysis.

11 McDonald, J.F. & Moffitt, R. A. (May 1980). The uses of Tobit
analysis. The Review of Economic Statistics, Vol. 62, No. 2, pp.
318-321. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1924766.
pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A9907f7acf37c487211c4dabe00d9dd86
12 Ibid.

178

Models. The dependent variables that will be used in
the study are job satisfaction and job performance ofteachers. These will be represented by salary and benefits. The independent variables that will be estimated toacquire these two concepts will be factors under motivation, professional development, skills competence
and teacher effectiveness, work environment, and work
flourishing of teachers. These are expressed in the following models:The first model will estimate the relationship between
the explanatory variables and teacher job satisfaction.
By looking into this, the study can find the relevant factors that teachers consider when deciding to stay in thejob. The second model will use the same independent
variables to determine their relationship with job performance, which is considered when examining the relationship of the teacher’s decision to remain in one’s
present job and possibly improve one’s performance.
Both models will also include the Workplace FlourishingIndex, which will test the utility of the teachers. Besides
the subjective variables, objective variables, such as age,
total number of years teaching and years spent teachingin their current school, are included to determine theirimpact on the dependent variables.
Instrumentation. An eight-part questionnaire, whichis the main data gathering instrument, is divided asfollows:
1. General sociodemographic questions (e.g. age,gender, educational background;
2. Three questions on job performance;
3. 18 items from the Worker’s Intrinsic and Extrinsic
Motivation (WEIM) Survey, constructed by Tremblay,6th AFC Best Papers

Blanchard, et. al (2009);13
4. 17 statements on teacher effectiveness;
5. A five-item measure on job satisfaction and retention adapted and modified to fit the study from the 1991
Prison Social Climate Survey (PSCS) under the Bureauof Prisons (BOP) (Camp, 1994);
6. An 18-item scale that measures school atmosphereand the teacher’s relationship with colleagues and supervisors. This was drawn from the PSCS and modified forthis survey.
7. Promotion Criteria developed by MacLean (1992)
consisting of 25 items divided into seven dimensions:length of service, teaching ability and potential, administrative ability and potential, relationship with decision
makers, other experiences, demographics, and social
affiliations. This will represent the professional development of teachers.
8. A 17-item scale that measures the frequency of thethree kinds of SWB that teachers experience. It was
taken from the Flourishing-at-Work Survey–Short Form
(FAWS-SF) developed by Rautenbach (2015) and used
by Redelinghuys, Rothmann, and Botha (2018) in theirstudy.
Survey Method and Characteristics of Respondents.
The study sample is made up of elementary and secondary school teachers of PAREF Woodrose School,
PAREF Rosehill School, PAREF Southridge School,
and Marymount Academy. Survey questionnaires werehanded over or sent by email to those presently teachingin these schools.
The schools were chosen based on their similarities
and differences. The PAREF schools are founded andrun by the same organization, which means they sharesimilar values and principles. They focus on homeschool collaboration and spiritual and character
formation.
Marymount Academy, on the other hand, focuses on
educating students in 21st century skills. It offers stu-

13 This survey has also been used in a previous thesis written by Ma.
Anne Teresa Rivera entitled, “A Study on the Determinants of theEarnings and Job Performance of NCR Science High School
Teachers” (2014)dents a technical track that offers practical subjects.
It is important to consider the schools’ respective
backgrounds as these reflect their desired teacher typeand qualifications, that is, hiring depends on how anindividual’s ideals and values are aligned with those of
the school. That said, such considerations can cause arise or drop in job satisfaction and performance.

Results

The survey conducted among teachers at our selectedschools puts forth real, concrete data that will help
determine the effect of workplace flourishing on job satisfaction and job performance; the factors that explain
teacher job satisfaction and performance based on theobjective and subjective variables under the Utility
Function; and the differences in the job satisfaction andjob performance of teachers in PAREF schools and theMarymount Academy.

Source: Survey Results

Figure 3 Teacher Respondents, by School

A total of 96 teachers—50 from PAREF and 46 fromMarymount-- responded to the survey questionnaire(Figure 3). From the PAREF schools, 10 were from
Rosehill, 19 from Woodrose, and 21 from Southridge.
Majority (70%) of respondents come from Marymount.
Almost 63% were female and 37%, male. Almost 70%of the respondents are less than 40 years old, with a
median age of 28-32 (Table 3).

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Dela Chica, Patricia Anne, et al.

Table 3 Respondents by Age and Gender

Source: Survey Results

Their mean basic monthly salary is P15,000-25,000.
The average total of years of teaching experience is 11,
while they count an average total of seven years teaching in their current school, considering some outliers--teachers who have been with the school for over 20
years (Table 4).

of 10.4%. The communality percent variance is 60.7%,
or the average of the squared distances between theobserved values and the expected value. Zero variancemeans that the values of the data are identical. A higher
variance indicates that the values of the data are spreadout. A high communality percent variance is recommended because it shows that the attributes that were runin the Factor analysis explains more than 50% of the data.
One of the main results of the Factor Analysis was
the separation of the attributes under Professional
Development into two factors. The 25 attributes ofProfessional Development were originally categorized
into seven dimensions: length of service, teaching ability and potential, administrative ability and potential,
relationship with decision makers, other experiences,demographics, and social affiliations (see Table 5).
Table 5 List of Attributes by Factors

Table 4 Income of Teachers by School

Source: Survey Results

Factor Analysis was conducted to determine theinter-correlation of observed variables. Such variables
can be grouped into constructs or factors to serve as a
guide to construct the regression models that will simplify the factors that explain the variance of the data set.
Using the Maximum Likelihood with Varimax rotation,
11 factors emerged from the data set that was run under
Factor Analysis. Table 5 contains a summary of the listof attributes grouped according to their factors.
Factor loadings 0.40 and above are considered significant however we will still include attributes with low
factor loadings in the regression model. The Cronbach
Alpha is 0.9464, where Factor 1 has the highest variance180

Source: Survey Results

Factor 1 includes all the attributes that have been categorized under the first five dimensions, where theirfactor loadings range from 0.486 to 0.884. On the other
hand, the last eight attributes under the last two dimensions have been constructed together under Factor 6,
where the percent variance explains 4.6% of the data,with factor loadings of 0.473- 0.949. These were6th AFC Best Papers

separated into the subjective and objective variables that
help explain Professional Development.
Factor analysis was conducted to show the extent of
the communality of WF compared with the other variables (see Table 6). It also helped identify the degree of
WF across all variables, which can be explained throughthe communalities and the variance. In the Original
Total, with an almost 71% variance, it is seen that WF
has a relatively high communality (0.690) compared tothe other subjective variables. It is already a given that
objective variables tend to have higher communalities,
so it is interesting to compare WF with the subjective
variables. Taking into consideration the separation of
the two schools, it can be seen that even if PAREF andMarymount have moderately high communality of WF,
other subjective variables come into play to explain thevariance of 86.3% and 78.3%, respectively.
Table 6 Communalities of the Variables for Original andFactor Variables by Group

Workplace flourishing in Total Factor has the highest
communality among all variables, with a value of 0.982.
Its presence in all the variables means it has the highest
capacity to explain the total variance. The Marymountfactor contributed to this with the communality of WF
at 0.969, which is considered the highest. WF in the
PAREF Factor is moderately high compared to the othervariables but is still considered high with a communality of 0.934. In terms of the communalities of WF, thefactor variables group gave higher communalities thanthe original variables. This can be supported by the
spreading of the data after factor analysis, where thereconstruction of factors effectively explains the relationship among the variables. The factor analysis results
were used for the eventual regression conducted.
The over-all results of the regression are shown in aconceptual map. (See Figure 4)
Figure 4 is a conceptual map that visually describes
the relationships of all the significant objective and subjective variables with the dependent variables.
Overall, it can be seen that work flourishing positively affects job satisfaction and job performance. The
theoretical framework indicates that teachers who flourish at the workplace increase their objective and subjective utility, which contributes to their happiness in theirjobs. Teachers who give importance to their objective
and subjective utility tend to be happier and performbetter.
Each school reflects differences in results whichmeans that teachers from different schools have different
measures to explain utility. PAREF schools have established a culture that increases teacher utility and allows
them to flourish. This culture encourages teachers to be
more competent and the schools to be proactive aboutdeveloping their faculty.
On the other hand, teachers from MarymountAcademy are flourishing with regards to subjective utility. They are satisfied with their work but are not flourishing in their performance. Performance is based onsalary and almost all the teacher respondents fall underthe most basic salary group, regardless of qualifications
or length of stay. However, it can also be seen that
Marymount has a positive and highly significant professional development. This can be due to the grants andeducational support that the teachers receive however
there seems to be a gap or a hindrance to total satisfaction. Salary could be an important concern. It is highly
recommended that school management study the importance of relating objective and subjective utility with thejob satisfaction and performance levels of their teachers.
The regression results are in the Appendix.
High expectations of their role in the development of
their students is a challenge to teachers. They must
juggle catering to the demands of their various stakeholders with the struggle to grow and become better at

181

Dela Chica, Patricia Anne, et al.

Figure 4 Significant Objective and Subjective Variables to the Dependent Variables, TOTAL and by Schools

their job. This makes the study of happiness and SWB
relevant to deter-mining how to best improve job satisfaction and performance so that teachers indeed excel incarrying out their critical role in education.
This study was conducted to identify the significanceof workplace flourishing of private school teachers in
the Philippines to their job satisfaction and performance.
Empirical analysis demonstrated that workplace flourishing has a significant effect on the variables that wereconsidered in this study. Besides looking into SWB, thestudy also tested the significance of subjective andobjective variables, such as motivation, work environment, professional development, and job experience.
Since workplace flourishing is a concept rooted in
Psychology, studying the utility function best explains
SWB from the economic perspective. Data gathering
was conducted via a survey that was answered byteacher respondents from selected private schools in thePhilippines--three PAREF schools (PAREF Woodrose,
PAREF Southridge, and PAREF Rosehill) andMarymount Academy.
PAREF schools are known to be strong in character
formation and academic excellence. With the K-12

182

Curriculum, SHS offers students more academic tracks
besides the General Strand, such as Accounting,Business and Management (ABM), Humanities andSocial Sciences (HUMSS), and Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Marymount,on the other hand, offers mostly the same tracks with theaddition of a Technical track that requires hiring specialized instructors for SHS. This is where PAREF
results differ from those of Marymount.
Overall, the teachers are satisfied with their jobs
because of workplace flourishing and good management.
The expectations of the teacher hire at PAREF were met
because of the good relationships that the school establishes with and among the teachers. On a separate note,
PAREF schoolteachers are satisfied with their jobs
because of the school and their effectiveness in teaching
while Marymount teachers are satisfied because they
are motivated to stay on because they know they canflourish there.
On the other hand, both schools exhibit job experience and workplace flourishing as the main influencersof the job performance of teachers. Motivation andworkplace flourishing in PAREF schools are6th AFC Best Papers

significantly positive but significantly negative inMarymount. The negative results for motivation andworkplace flourishing can be remedied due to the significance of their professional development to their performance. The school has the means to give their teachers
professional training, but not the kind that they needgiven that they are not flourishing in the workplace andtheir low motivation. Table 7 summarizes the results
based on the desired objectives of the study.

Conclusion.

Happy Teachers Make Happy Students
Workplace flourishing significantly explains teacher
job satisfaction and performance. In economics, theobjective approach has always been used to determine
an individual’s productivity. An employee’s contribution to one’s company is usually reflected in one’s salary.
Emerging studies that link happiness and SWB to theseconcepts have led economics researchers to take on amore subjective approach to determining job performance. Happiness and utility are important factors toconsider because these have great impact on output andgives teachers greater reason to stay longer in their current jobs. The happiest teachers are most likely those
who enjoy the job and are motivated to stay on and produce quality work.
Due to differences in academic tracks and philosophies, PAREF schools and Marymount Academy focus

Table 7 Summary of Results by Objectives

183Dela Chica, Patricia Anne, et al.

on different variables that affect the job satisfaction andjob performance of their teachers. Both schools aim to
imbue their students with a similar set of characteristics.
PAREF schools focus on character formation and academic excellence as pillars of community development.
On the other hand, Marymount focuses on imparting
21st century skills, such as entrepreneurship. PAREF
schools are strongly founded on home-school collaboration, encouraging synergy between parents and theteachers as primary educators while MarymountAcademy aims to provide students with the best educators to help them achieve greater heights in the 21st
century.
Despite similar goals, the results of the study reflectthat PAREF schools have well- developed career paths
for their teachers such that motivation and work flourishing turned out significant and positive. PAREF teachers find a sense of fulfilment and are happy with theirjobs, which allow them to perform better. School culture
is deemed important to contributing to teacher satisfaction. By allowing them to flourish by increasing theirobjective and subjective utility, they end up more satisfied and so perform better.
Marymount Academy is seen to have significant professional development strategies that positively affectteacher performance which, however, does not benefit
their teachers in terms of motivation and workplaceflourishing. The school has the potential for helping
their teachers achieve professional success, but something is lacking or hindering them from flourishing.
This is reflected in job performance. Despite having
worked for the school for over 10 years the teacher only
earns a monthly salary of P15000-25000.
Given the abovementioned results and conclusions,this study can generate future expansive studies. First,
one can focus on larger sample groups, particularly public-school teachers, since the public-school education
system is the largest in the country. Future research canlook into the impact of workplace flourishing and utilityon the job satisfaction and performance of Filipino public-school teachers. Second, future studies can focus on
how gender-specificity can affect individual utility.
Finally, future research can incorporate certain

184

demographics or objective variables, such as income,and LET/non-LET that would be relevant in thePhilippine context, especially the lower income scales.
By enhancing work conditions of teachers in bothprivate and public schools, we open doors to attracting
more qualified and committed professionals to the field;
and by restoring to the profession its due prestige andrespect, the greater the chances of producing a generation of students with the learning, wisdom, and the heart
to bring about the changes that society today seeks.

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APPENDIX

Regression Results

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