The relationship between school administrators' work motivation and entrepreneurial levels

This study aims to examine the relationship between work motivation and entrepreneurial levels of administrators serving in Ministry of National Education–affiliated schools in Hatay Province. In this context, the variables of participants' gender, educational status, type of school in which they serve, student population of their schools, job descriptions, professional seniority, and administrative tenure were examined. A total of 400 school administrators participated in the research on a voluntary basis. Data pertaining to the school administrators were obtained using the "Personal Information Form," the "School Administrators' Work Motivation Scale," and the "School Administrator Entrepreneurship Scale." Descriptive analyses, independent-samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation analysis were employed to evaluate the data. Research findings indicated that female school administrators exhibited higher levels of overall motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and commitment compared to their male counterparts. Administrators with postgraduate education demonstrated significantly greater work motivation, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation than those holding only bachelor's degrees. It was also determined that principals scored higher on overall work motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and commitment than vice-principals. School administrators' entrepreneurship levels showed no significant variation by gender, education, school type, enrollment, position, or length of professional or managerial experience. Significant positive relationships were found between entrepreneurial levels and all dimensions of work motivation and commitment, suggesting that administrators' motivation directly influences their entrepreneurial behaviors. The findings call for enriching in-service training, integrating motivation and entrepreneurship criteria into appointments, fostering supportive policies, and pursuing comprehensive multi-method research.