The need configurations underlying the motivations of public school teachers are examined here with regard to teacher perceptions of pay equity relative to other factors such as work autonomy, intrinsic work elements, and satisfaction of so-called higher-order needs. A Q sort forced distributions research instrument containing 37 attitudinal statements was administered to a group of 167 teachers of a medium-sized city in Oklahoma. The survey netted 135 usable questionnaires (76%). The data were R factor analyzed producing six clear factors, which dealt with: social variables and collegial support; positive supervisor relations; gratification from intrinsic work elements and dissatisfaction with extrinsic elements such as pay and benefits; interesting work and appropriate responsibility levels; opportunities for learning and development combined with negative attitudes about day-to-day duties; and job security, clear expectations, and excessive workloads. The study concluded that teacher motivation is based in the freedom to try new ideas, achievement of appropriate responsibility levels, and intrinsic work elements. The latter were of transcendent importance to our respondents. Based upon our findings, schemes such as merit pay were predicted to be counterproductive in service organizations which employ professionally trained people.

The responses of 1473 subjects were utilized to examine the relationship between job satisfaction and extra-work satisfaction to test Wilensky's three hypothesized relationships. The current study regressed job satisfaction against the social trust of respondents, their sense of social equity, institutional confidence, and their satisfaction with government's handling of nationalproblems. These social attitudinal indices were added to factors utilized in previous research such as objective job factors, demographic variables, general life satisfaction, and their levels of social involvement. The results produced two previously unreported extra-work attitudinal contributors to job satisfaction: social trust and institutional confidence. The findings supported Wilensky's spillover theory but produced no evidence in support of Wilensky's segmentation or compensation alternatives.

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