Recruitment Decision Making among International Schools Teachers

Abstract

Effective recruitment of teachers is a vital part of school leadership. Currently, international school leaders lack theoretical guidance to explain why teachers may accept one job offer while rejecting another. This study examines the decision making of teachers when choosing to accept or reject a position with an international school. The research questions guiding this study are: 1. What factors do teachers attend to when making decisions to accept or reject offers from international schools? 2. What processes do teachers use when making decisions to accept or reject offers from international schools? Twenty teachers examining job offers participated in this study. Each of these teachers participated in a think aloud interview while they considered one or more jobs offers. Verbal Protocol Analysis methods were used both to conduct these interviews and to analyze the resulting data. These teachers were found to attend most to their personal well-being, financial compensation, professional growth opportunities, and school quality. Teachers used both rational and intuitive evaluation approaches to evaluate offers. Approaches to gathering more information about the offering school and community proved important for teacher decision making.