Are self-regulation and self-control mediators between psychological basic needs and intrinsic teacher motivation?

The focus of this paper is the investigation of personal and environmental conditions of intrinsic teacher motivation. Teacher motivation and particularly underlying conditions for intrinsic teacher motivation still constitute a peripheral issue in educational and psychological research. The question whether relatively stable personality dispositions predict intrinsic teacher motivation has been largely neglected, too. Following self-determination theory [...] and Kuhl’s Personality-Systems-Interaction Theory [...], we investigate whether perceived support of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and social relatedness), as well as the personality aspects self-regulation (self maintenance) and self-control (goal maintenance) are related to intrinsic teacher motivation. The sample of the survey study consists of 136 Austrian secondary school teachers. Structural equation modeling supports a model in which self-regulation serves as a mediator between the perceived support of basic needs and intrinsic teacher motivation, whereas self-control does not play a signifi cant role for the prediction of intrinsic teacher motivation. (DIPF/Orig.)