Comparing Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment, and Emotional Intelligence Among Teachers in Public and Seventh-day Adventist Schools in Romania

This paper examines levels of job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and emotional intelligence among 269 K-12 teachers working in public schools and in Seventh-day Adventist schools in Romania during the 2024-2025 academic year. Emotional intelligence was evaluated using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Short Form (Petrides, 2009), which uses a 7-point Likert Scale. Job satisfaction was measured using the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1985), using a 6-point Likert Scale. Organizational commitment was measured using the Three-Component Organizational Commitment Scale, Revised Version (Meyer, Allen & Smith, 1993), using a 7-point Likert Scale. In addition, demographic data were also collected. Of the 269 teachers in the study, 166 were from public schools and 103 from Adventist Schools. There was no statistically significant difference in the emotional intelligence of the teachers from public and from Adventist schools. However, job satisfaction and organisational commitment were significantly higher among teachers working in Adventist schools. The mean job satisfaction score was 4.194 for public school teachers and 4.653 for those working in Adventist schools. The mean organisational commitment score was 4.927 for teachers in public schools and 5.160 for teachers in Adventist schools. Future research could explore the reasons behind these differences, especially since pay in Adventist schools in Romania is equal to or lower than in public schools.