ODNOS DOŽIVLJENOG NASILJA NA RADNOM MJESTU I ZADOVOLJSTVA OSNOVNOŠKOLSKIH RAVNATELJA POSLOM I ŽIVOTOM
UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF VIOLENCE EXPERIENCED IN THE WORKPLACE ON WORK AND LIFE SATISFACTION AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

Summary/Abstract: Recently, the topic of violence in schools is being addressed more often as part of research studies. So far, very little is known about vertical violence that ascends from teachers and other staff towards the school principal. The aim of this study was to examine the association between experiencing violence in the workplace and satisfaction with work and life among primary school principals in the Republic of Croatia. This study included a total of 483 principals (27.7% male and 72.3% female) from different regions across the Republic of Croatia. Relevant data were collected using the Socio- Demographic Characteristics Questionnaire, the Workplace Harassment Scale, the Life Satisfaction Scale, as well as the Job Satisfaction Survey. Our results show that as many as 55.5% of the participants reported experiencing at least one form of violence in their workplace on a regular basis, while 40.8% reported experiencing some form of violence more rarely. Only 3.7% of the participants reported that they had not experienced any form of violence. Based on correlation analyses, we found that principals who were more likely to experience violence in the workplace reported lower work and life satisfaction. In addition, regression analyses showed that violence experienced in the workplace was a statistically significant individual predictor of job satisfaction. Principals who were more likely to be exposed to violence in the workplace also reported lower life satisfaction in general and job satisfaction was a significant mediator in this regard. Our findings highlight the need to prevent incidents of school violence against principals since this could result in harmful consequences with respect to the school staff and their relationships, and subsequently reflect poorly on the students and reputation of the school.

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