# I. Background of The Study he study on employee's satisfaction with compensation has been initiated and exhibited in the early 1960s, two index measurements as Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) have been utilized in the pay or compensation satisfaction dimension in the literature of the pay satisfaction (Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1969;Williams, McDaniel & Ford, 2007;Velnampy, 2008). Heneman and Schwab (1985) examined the compensation satisfaction with the help of the four dimensions as satisfaction with pay level, pay raises, benefit level, and pay structure and administration. Further, the perception towards pay satisfaction among. employees may differ from person to person. Every person perceives the world differently based on their attitudes and behaviors (Aloysius, 2011). In this context, we have to empirically analyze the facts that, whether personal demographic factors have the influence on the pay satisfaction or not. Due to that, we have selected the school teachers in Northern Province, Sri Lanka. Northern Province is considered as the emerging province among other provinces in Sri Lanka. Especially in the post war context, the Northern Province has been already focused by the government for the renovation and development perspective. In this context, education should be viewed as the fundamental need of the community, which will give the value in the long run to get the better society in terms of well organized culture, social status, better income level & standard of living etc. In the world of education, Teaching is a profession that lies at the heart of both the learning of children and young people and their social, cultural and economic development. It is crucial to transmitting and implanting social values, such as democracy equality, tolerance cultural understanding, and respect for each person's fundamental freedoms ( MacBeath, 2012).in this context, Schools today are better places for children with special needs and learning difficulties in countries where teachers have access to research and enjoy opportunities to take part in continuing professional development ( MacBeath, 2012). Further, Teachers come into the profession for differing reasons in different country contexts, in differing economic circumstances and with varying expectations of the rewards and challenges of the role The main objective of the study is to find out the significant mean difference in pay satisfaction among personal demographic variables of the school teachers as gender, age, family size, subjects for teaching, educational qualification, work place and work experience. Further, secondary objective is to suggest the government authoritative bodies to enhance pay satisfaction, which will give the long term value to the Northern Province, Sri Lanka in terms of social, economical and political development. T significant mean difference in pay satisfaction among personal characteristics of the school teachers as gender, age, family size, subjects for teaching, educational qualification, work place and work experience. Further, secondary objective is to suggest the government authoritative bodies to enhance pay satisfaction, which will give the long term value to the Northern Province, Sri Lanka in terms of social, economical and political development. The study employs independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA (f-test) to test the operational hypotheses. The survey method used in this study is a questionnaire and a total of 360 usable responses were obtained using simple random sampling technique. Findings revealed that, there is a significant mean difference in pay satisfaction among family size, subjects for teaching, educational qualification and working experience. In contrast, researchers found that, there is no significant mean difference in pay satisfaction among gender, age level and work place. Further, researchers suggested that, When the drafts on policies in terms of the pay structure and administration of the school teachers especially in the northern part of the Sri Lanka are initiated or designed, governmental bodies like ministry of education should consider the differences in the level of pay satisfaction among personal characteristics. This study would hopefully benefit to the academicians, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners of Sri Lanka as well as other countries. Reinforcement theory and expectancy theory have been viewed as the earliest theories to give insights on how pay influences employee behavior. Reinforcement theory (Skinner, 1953) suggested that, pay acts as a general reinforce. People learn from life experiences that a primary need, such as food or shelter, can be satisfied if money is obtained. Vroom's (1964) expectancy theory stated that how pay influences future behavior. According to expectancy theory, three components determine motivation: judgment regarding to the likelihood that an effort leads to a certain level of performance (expectancy); Judgment regarding to the likelihood that this level of performance leads to a certain outcome (Instrumentality); the importance of the outcome to the individual (valence) ( Faulk, 2002). Further, Important link between pay and pay satisfaction has been originated by Herzberg's (1968) two-factor motivational model, which suggested that, it is the individual's affective reaction to pay, pay satisfaction, which impacts motivation. Further, it suggested that, the pay is a hygiene, or contextual factor, that prevents an employee from being motivated by such things as the work itself. The effect of self-esteem and pay satisfaction on adjustment and outcome variables among teachers has been carried by Richardson , Kirchenheim and Richardson , 2006. The results revealed that, there is evidence of a relationship between pay satisfaction and other job-related factors, namely job satisfaction and turnover intention. All of the outcome factors correlate positively with adjustment. It should be noted that the pay satisfaction measure used is multi-dimensional. Clearly, then, there is a relationship between perceptions of pay and benefits, overall adjustment, and other work related factors. Findings suggested that, from an organizational perspective, the accurate measurement of some of these identified intrinsic and extrinsic factors may provide valuable information to the employer regarding those applicants that have the greatest probability of adjustment. The study on salary differential and managerial job satisfaction in Nigeriaa has been conducted by okpara, 2004. In which gender gap is utilized. Further, In Nigeria, number of women who have entered the banking profession in recent years has been increasing. The population for this study comprised bank managers who were members of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN). The aim of the mentioned study is to investigate whether there is a male / female salary differential for bank managers. Results indicated that, (Nakata & Takehiro, 2002).Gender inequality may also be attributed to the socio-cultural environment of the country, which strongly accords the traditional roles of housewife and mother to women. This cultural status may be responsible for some significant gender inequality in the industrial and service sectors of the Nigerian economy. Furthermore, Correlation results also indicated that a significant relationship exists between salary and gender, education, and experience. These variables explain the reasons for salary differential between male and female bank managers in Nigeria. Baakile (2011) focused the study on comparative analysis of teachers' perception of equity, pay satisfaction, affective commitment and intention to turnover in Botswana. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships between equity, pay satisfaction, affective commitment and intention to turnover among junior and senior secondary school teachers in Botswana. Results revealed that, the relationship between equity and pay satisfaction was strong and significant for both junior and senior secondary school teacher. The relationship between equity and affective commitment, pay satisfaction and intention to turnover, and affective commitment and intention were all significant. The major conclusions are that teachers' perception of these variables is similar regardless of whether they are at a junior or senior school. Nguyen, Taylor and Bradley ( 2003) conducted the study on the determinants of job satisfaction. It included actual pay, relative pay, hours of work, job autonomy and several personal characteristics. Researchers also investigated the determinants of satisfaction with pay conditional on a worker's satisfaction with other domains of job satisfaction, such as satisfaction with job security. Findings revealed that, income predicted from a wage equation and a worker's prior expected income have the negative effect on satisfaction with pay. The estimated coefficients indicated, however, that the impact of relative income on satisfaction with pay is small compared to the estimated impact of actual income. Current income and hours worked have the expected effect on satisfaction with pay they also found that the major influence on satisfaction with pay is the degree of freedom that workers have over how they do their job. Further, personal characteristics have little effect on satisfaction with pay. Based on the review of literature, we can construct the conceptual Model for this study. salary differential does exist between male and female bank managers. Findings are consistent with other empirical works in the west and other industrial nations There is a significant mean difference in the levels of pay satisfaction between male and female school teachers H2: There is a significant mean difference in the levels of pay satisfaction among the age levels of school teachers H3: There is a significant mean difference in the levels of pay satisfaction among the family size of school teachers H4: There is a significant mean difference in the levels of pay satisfaction among the subjects which have been taught by the school teachers H5: There is a significant mean difference in the levels of pay satisfaction among the educational qualification of school teachers H6: There is a significant mean difference in the levels of pay satisfaction among the work experience of school teachers H7: There is a significant mean difference in the levels of pay satisfaction among the of the work place of school teachers II. # Methodology a) Data Sources Primary and secondary data were used for this study. Primary data were collected through the questionnaire. Secondary data were collected from, texts, journals and magazines. # b) Research Design and Model Quantitative method is utilized to answer the research question as "To what extent Personal characteristics influence the pay satisfaction among School teachers of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka". # c) Sampling frame work In the quantitative approach, the survey instrument in the form of close-ended questionnaire was developed for the purpose of collecting the main data for the study. The study was limited to school teachers in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. Therefore, Probability sampling method as simple random sampling has been adopted to select respondents( Zikmund, Babin, Carr and Griffin, 2012). And researcher has taken the details of the school teachers in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka., with the help of the document which is uploaded in the URL of the Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka. In which, the document is named as Sri Lanka Education Information, 2012. According to the document, in the Northern Province, 944 school teachers who are graduate, trained, untrained, and trainee are practicing their profession as teaching. We have used 38 % to get the adequate sample size (944 * 40 % = 370) form the population as 944 school teachers. Further, Krejcie and Morgan (1970) pointed that, sample size as 274 is adequate for the population size as 950 through the table for determining sample size from a given population. In this study, researchers considered the sample size as 360. Due to that, sample size for this study is adequate. In addition, when researchers considered the sample respondents, personal characteristics as gender, age, family size, subjects for teaching, educational qualification, work place and work experience have been considered. Researcher has issued Three hundred and eighty (380) questionnaires for selecting the respondents. Out of Three hundred and eighty (380) questionnaires, Three hundred and seventy (370) was returned; the response rate was 97%. Then, Out of Three hundred and seventy (370), Three hundred and sixty (360) was used for the study purpose. # d) Instrument development The research instrument used in this study is composed of two parts .The part one included a number of demographic questions such as gender, age, family size, subjects for teaching, educational qualification, Results And Analysis a) Data analysis method Statistical methods have been employed to compare the data collected from 360 respondents. These methods include inferential statistics, which involves in drawing conclusions about a population based only on sample data. It includes t-test and f-test, which was used to identify the significant mean difference between the levels of pay satisfaction across the personal characteristics. # Personal Characteristics Gender # b) Reliability The internal consistency of the research instrument should be tested by reliability analysis (Ndubisi 2006). Nunnally (as cited in Ahsan et al., 2009) suggested that the minimum alpha of 0.6 sufficed for early stage of research. The cronbach's alpha in this study were all much higher than 0.6, the constructs were therefore deemed to have adequate reliability. (Overall Cronbach alpha value was 0.758.) c) Normality of data Normality data should be tested before conducting the inferential statistics (Ahsan et al., 2009).According to the "Test of Normality" all the variables in this research were in 0.05 level significant. Therefore the normality assumption is the valid one. # d) T-Test and F-Test Analysis i. T-Test was used to identify the significant difference between the two variables. In this research, among the several t-tests, the independent sample t-test was used. The Independents-Samples t-test procedure compares means for two groups of cases. F-Test was also used to identify the significance of differences between sample means where more than two conditions were used, or even when several independent variables were involved (Velnampy, 2012 ; Sivathaasan, Achchuthan,& Kajananthan, 2013). And also the data analysis for the proposed research was performed with the latest SPSS computer package. ii. Independent samples t-test is utilized to indentify the significant mean difference in pay satisfaction between male and female group. According to the Table . 5, Results of Independent sample one-way ANOVA test, there is a significant mean difference in pay satisfaction across the family size of school teachers. The significant levels for the dimensions as pay level & benefit, pay raises and pay structure & administration are less than the 0.05 levels (P < 0.05). It means that school teachers who hold different family size in their family have dissimilar levels of pay satisfaction in terms of pay level & benefit, pay raises and pay structure & administration. # Gender Vs Pay satisfaction We can also explain the finding summary through the Mean Plot. # According to the Table. 4, Results of Independent sample one-way ANOVA test, there is no significant mean difference in pay satisfaction across the age levels of school teachers. The significant levels for the dimensions as pay level & benefit, pay raises and pay structure & administration are greater than the 0.05 According to the Table . 6, Results of Independent sample one-way ANOVA test, there is no significant mean difference in pay satisfaction in terms of pay level & benefit and pay raises across the subjects for teaching. The significant levels for the dimensions as pay level & benefit and pay raises are greater than the 0.05 levels (P > 0.05). In contrast, we found that, there is a significant mean difference in pay satisfaction in terms of pay structure & administration across the subjects for teaching. The significant level for the dimension as pay structure & administration is less than 0.05 levels (P < 0.05). It means that school teachers who taught different subjects as social studies, business studies and commerce, pure science, fine arts have different level of pay satisfaction in terms of pay structure & administration. We can also explain the finding summary through the Mean Plot. # Mean Plot for Subjects for Teaching Vs Pay Structure and Administration According to the mean plot, school teachers , who taught fine arts subjects have high level of pay satisfaction in terms of pay structure and administration than the teachers who taught subjects like social studies, pure science, and business studies & commerce. Further, teachers who taught social studies According to the Table . 7: Results of Independent sample one-way ANOVA test, there is a significant mean difference in pay satisfaction in terms of pay raises and pay structure & administration across the educational qualification .The significant levels for the dimensions as Pay raises and pay structure & administration are less than 0.05 levels (P < 0.05). It means that school teachers who hold the educational qualifications as GCE A/L , diploma, Bachelor degree and masters have the different levels of pay satisfaction in terms of pay raises and pay structure and administration. In contrast, we found that, there is no significant mean difference in pay satisfaction in terms of pay level and befits across the educational qualification. The significant level for the dimension as pay level & benefit is greater than the 0.05 levels (P > 0.05). We can also explain the finding summary through the Mean Plot. Mean Plot for Educational Qualification Vs Pay raises We can also explain the finding summary through the Mean Plot. According to the Table. 9, Results of Independent sample one-way ANOVA test, there is no significant mean difference in pay satisfaction across the work places of school teachers. The significant levels for the dimensions as pay level & benefit, pay raises and pay structure & administration are greater than the 0.05 levels (P > 0.05). It means that school teachers who are in different work places have the same level of pay satisfaction in terms of pay level & benefit, pay raises and pay structure & administration approximately. Therefore, H7 is rejected. # IV. Conclusion And Recommendation Based on the overall study findings, there is a significant mean difference in pay satisfaction among family size, subjects for teaching, educational qualification and working experience. In the family size, school teachers who have the family size as 1-2 hold the high level of pay satisfaction in terms of pay level & benefit, pay raises and pay structure & administration than others. In relation to the subjects for teaching, school teachers, who taught fine arts subjects have high level of pay satisfaction in terms of pay structure and administration than the teachers who taught subjects like social studies, pure science, and business studies & commerce. In terms of educational qualification, school teachers , who have the educational qualifications as GCE A/L hold high level of pay satisfaction in terms of pay raises and pay structure & administration. Further, in the working experiences, school teachers, who have the working experience as 1-5 and 21 and above years When the drafts on policies in terms of the pay structure and administration of the school teachers especially in the northern part of the Sri Lanka are initiated or designed, governmental bodies like ministry of education should consider the differences in the level of pay satisfaction among personal characteristics. Finally, this study would hopefully benefit to the academicians, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners of Sri Lanka as well as other countries. hold the high level of pay satisfaction in terms of pay structure and administration. In contrast, researchers found that, there is no significant mean difference in pay satisfaction among gender, age level and work place. ![Figure 1 :](image-2.png "A") ![School Teachers' Perception Towards Pay Satisfaction and Personal Characteristics: A Study of Northern Province, Sri Lanka 68 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XIV Issue II Version I](image-3.png "100") ![Source: Survey data (2014) Source: Survey data (2014) Mean Plot for Family size Vs Pay level and Benefit Mean Plot for Family size Vs Pay Raises Mean Plot for Family size Vs Pay Structure and Administration](image-4.png "") 2![Figure 2 :](image-5.png "Figure 2 :") 3![Figure 3 :](image-6.png "Figure 3 :") 4![Figure 4 :](image-7.png "Figure 4 :") 5![Figure 5 :](image-8.png "Figure 5 :") 67![Figure 6 :](image-9.png "Figure 6 :Figure 7 :") 1DescriptionFrequencyPercentageGender:Male175Female185Total360Age:20 -306231-4016341 -509051 and above45Total360Family Size1-2513-52666-843360Educational qualifications:G.C.E. (A/L)s10526.7Diploma11151.3Bachelor Degree10413.3Master Degree408.7Total360100Subjects for Teaching :Social Studies6919.2Pure Science3810.6Business Studies and Commerce5114.2Fine Arts4311.9Other Subjects15944.2Total360100Work Place:Jaffna15041.7Vavuniya6016.7Mannar5013.9Kilinochchi5013.9Mullaitivu5013.9TotalWork Experience: 2 3t-test variablest-valuep-value / sigMean differencePay Level and Benefit-1.0160.310-.1398Pay Raises-1.7470.081-.2375Pay Structure and Administration-1.0080.314-.1288Std.Std.ErrorGenderNMeanDeviationMeanPay Level and BenefitMale1752.83311.30271.09848Female1852.97301.30814.09618Pay RaisesMale1752.70481.28547.09717Female1852.94231.29344.09510PayStructureandMale1753.03241.23470.09333AdministrationFemale1853.16131.19225.08766According to the Table. 2,Results ofTherefore, H1 is rejected.Independent samples t-test, there is no significant mean difference in pay satisfaction between male and female school teachers (P > 0.05). It means that both male and female school teachers have approximately same levelIndependent sample one -way ANOVA test. One-way ANOVA test can be used to find out the significant mean difference in pay satisfactionof pay satisfaction in terms of pay level & benefits, payraises and pay structure & administration. 4Therefore, H2 is rejected. 5Sum of Squares dfMean Square FSig. 6Sum of Squares dfMean Square FSig. 7Sum of SquaresdfMean Square FSig. 8Sum of Squares dfMean Square FSig.Pay Level and BenefitBetween Groups13.23743.3091.962.100Within Groups598.6743551.686Total611.911359Pay RaisesBetween Groups8.82842.2071.324.260Within Groups591.6023551.666Total600.429359PayStructureandBetween Groups14.17043.5432.446.046AdministrationWithin Groups514.1353551.448Total528.305359Source: Survey data (2014)According to the Table. 8 : Results ofthan 0.05 levels (P < 0.05). It means that schoolIndependent sample one-way ANOVA test, there is noteachers who hold the working experience as 1-5, 6-10,significant mean difference in pay satisfaction in terms11-15, 16-20 and 21 and above have the differentof pay level & benefit and pay raises across the workinglevels of pay satisfaction in terms of pay structure &experience of school teachers. The significant levels foradministration.the dimensions as pay level & benefit and pay raises aregreater than the 0.05 levels (P > 0.05). In contrast, wefound that, there is a significant mean difference in paysatisfaction in terms of pay structure & administrationacross the working experience. The significant level forthe dimension as pay structure & administration is less 9Sum of Squares dfMean Square FSig. © 2014 Global Journals Inc. (US) * MS M C MAloysius The Relationship between Perceived Job characteristics, and Job Satisfaction among Bank Employees. Available at SSRN 2137515 2011 * Comparative Analysis of Teachers' Perception of Equity, Pay Satisfaction, Affective Commitment and Intention to Turnover in Botswana MBaakile Journal of Management Research 3 1 2011 * Pay Satisfaction Consequences: Development and Test of a Theoretical Model (Doctoral dissertation, Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Interdepartmental Program of Business Administration by Larry H IIFaulk LH 2002 Faulk II BS, Louisiana State University * Pay satisfaction: Its multidimensional nature and measurement IiiHeneman HGSchwab DP International journal of Psychology 20 1 1985 * One more time: How do you motivate employees FHerzberg 1968 Harvard BusinessReview Boston * Validity of the dimensions of the pay satisfaction questionnaire: Evidence of differential prediction TAJudge Personnel Psychology 46 2 1993 * Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and psychological measurement RVKrejcie DWMorgan 1970 30 * Future of teaching profession JMacbeath 2012 Educational International Research Institute and University of Cambridge * Employment and Wages of Female Japanese Workers: Past, Present, and Future YF. & RNakata Takehiro Industrial Relations 41 2002 * A structural equation modelling of the antecedents of relationship quality in the Malaysia banking sector NONdubisi Journal of Financial Services Marketing 11 2 2006 * Relative pay and job satisfaction: some new evidence. The Department of Economics ANguyen JTaylor SBradley 2003 Lancaster University Management School * Introduction to psychological measurement JCNunnallyJr 1970 * The Impact of Salary Differential on Managerial Job Satisfaction: A Study of the Gender-Gap and its Implications for Management Education and Practice in a Developing Economy JOOkpara Journal of Business in Developing Nations 8 2004 * Gender and the relationship between perceived fairness in pay, promotion, and job satisfaction in a sub-Saharan African economy JOOkpara Women in Management Review 21 3 2006 * Teachers and Their International Relocation: The Effect of Self-Esteem and Pay Satisfaction on Adjustment and Outcome Variables WRichardson CVon Kirchenheim CRichardson International Education Journal 7 7 2006 * Work and rewards theoiy HGHeneman Iii DPSchwab ASPA handbook c>f personnel and mdustrial relations DYoder HGHenemanJr Washington, DC Bureau of National Affairs 1979 * Demographic Variables of University Teachers and Usage of Electronic Information Resources: A Case in Sri Lanka NSivathaasan SAchchuthan RKajananthan International Journal of Business & Management 8 2013. 19 * Science and human behavior BFSkinner 1953 Macmillan New York * The measurement of satisfaction in work and retirement: A strategy for the study of attitudes PCSmith LMKendall CLHulin 1969 Rand McNally Chicago * Association among personal demographic variables and incentive systems in Sri lanka TVelnampy Proceedings of International Conference on Business Management International Conference on Business Management 2012 3 * Job attitude and employees performance of public sector organizations in Jaffna district TVelnampy Sri Lanka. GITAM Journal of Management 6 2 2008 * Work and Motivation VHVroom 1964 Wiley New York * Understanding multiple dimensions of compensation satisfaction MLWilliams MAMcdaniel LRFord Journal of Business and Psychology 21 3 2007 * WZikmund BBabin JCarr MGriffin Business research methods. Cengage Learnin 2012 * School Teachers' Perception Towards Pay Satisfaction and Personal Characteristics: A Study of Northern Province Sri Lanka