Download 1. Men`s Motivation, Well-being, and Acting Possibilities in Female

Men's motivation,
well-being and perceived
options in female dominated
working environments
Assistant Professor
Rune Storli
Queen Mauds College of Early Childhood Education
Norway
Background and relevant research
• 5% of skilled pre-school teachers (Tønder,
2003) and 9% of primary school teachers at
1. – 4. grade are men in Norway (SSB, 2005).
• Men have encountered a substantial pressure
to occupy stereotypic roles in pre-school.
• Gender differences in motivation, sense of
well-being and achivement/ effort among
1.year pre-school and teacher students in
Norway.(Bratterud et.al, 2003)
Theory
• Motivation theory
(Deci & Ryan, 1991; Maehr & Braskamp,
1986)
• Organisation- sociological theory
(Theory of relative numbers; Kanter 1993)
Performance
Situation
Personal
experiences
Age/ stage
Sosio-cultural
context
Information
Personal Goals/Goal-orientation
(need of competence)
Perceived Options/Choices
(need of autonomi )
Sense of Self
(need of self-determination)
Sense of Relatedness
(need of belonging)
PERSONAL INVESTMENT/INTRINSIC MOTIVATION
EFFORT
WORK PERFORMANCE
SENSE OF WELL - BEING
ACHIEVEMENTS
Figure 1 Antecedents of Perceived Meaning and Intrinsic Motivation, as a Foundation
for Sense of Well-Being, Work Effort, Work Performance and Achievements in a
Work Setting (From Bratterud, Børresen, Holthe, Lillemyr and Tangen, 2003;
based on Maehr & Braskamp 1986 og Deci & Ryan 1991)
Approach
• In what degree is being in minority (male
in female dominated working
environment) decisive for motivation,
sense of well-being and perceived options
at work?
Sample:
• All men employed in pre-schools in the county
of Sør-Trøndelag (ST).
• All male teachers in primary schools in the city
of Trondheim + 4 selected municipalities in the
county of ST.
• Respons: All over 47%
» 77% pre-school teachers (n = 48)
» 40% teachers (n = 109)
Methods
• Questionnaire
Model of analysis/ Design
Background variables
age
seniority
education/ profession
gender distribution at place of work
leisure-time interests
Experience of meaning
expressed as

Perceived options

Personal goal: mastery/
sense of competence

Belonging
Personal investment
(involvement)
expressed as
Intrinsic motivation
Well-being
Effort
Analysis
• SPSS(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)
 Frequences
 Correlations
 Mean differences (t-tests)
Results:
 Our findings confirm the theory, indicating strong
relations between experience of meaning and
personal investment.
 According to our findings, to be in a minority
position is not decisive for the experience of
motivation, sense of well-being and perceived
options for male pre-school teachers or male
teachers in primary school.
 Male pre-school teachers experience significantly
stronger perceived options and more sense of wellbeing at work than male teachers in primary school.
 Male pre-school teachers does not report any
significant changes in sense of well-being, effort or
motivation in regard of seniority/ length of service.
 Male teachers in primary school with seniority less
than 7 years report a significant drop in motivation
from their first year till today.
Conclusions:
 Our investigation confirms the theory model of a
combination of Deci & Ryan (1985; 1991) and
Maehr & Braskamp (1986) that there is a
relationship between strong experience of meaning
and personal investment.
 However, we did not find that being in a minority
position (as a male) had a negative effect on
motivation at work, on sense of well-being or on
perceived options at work.
 Nevertheless, our study can be seen as a contribution
to a more differentiated view of the theory of relative
numbers (Kanter, 1993).
 For a more thorough examination of these reseach
problems, qualitative post-studies would be
recommended.