Factors Affecting Organizational Factors Affecting

Commitment Among Teachers in Egyptian

Public Primary Schools Organizational Commitment
Since its emergence in 1960, the concept of “organizational commitment”
Among Teachers in Egyptian
has gained momentum in behavioural and organizational sciences. The
importance of this concept pertains to its ability to provide explanations for Public Primary Schools
employee absenteeism, turnover, misuse of authority, low performance
levels and employee discontinuity with their organizations. This thesis
focused on the public education system in a leading Middle Eastern country Mohamed Mousa
(Egypt) and employed both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore
“the main factors affecting teacher organizational commitment”. Fifty
semi-structured interviews were conducted and 750 usable questionnaire
forms were collected. From the analysis of the interviews, it appeared that
workplace spirituality, cultural diversity, organizational culture, uncertainty,
and organizational cynicism were found to play a major role in shaping
teacher organizational commitment. Furthermore, and based on statistical
analysis, it appeared that only cultural diversity challenges, traits of
organizational culture, and dimensions of organizational cynicism fully affect
the approaches of organizational commitment, whereas uncertainty types
and workplace spirituality dimensions partly affect them.

Estonian Business School, Lauteri 3, Tallinn

Copyright: Mohamed Mousa 2017
ISBN: 978-9949-9872-6-9

Doctoral Thesis in Management

No. 27 Tallinn 2017
 Estonian Business School

FACTORS AFFECTING ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMITMENT AMONG TEACHERS IN
EGYPTIAN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

by
Mohamed Mousa

Tallinn, 2017
The Estonian Business School, Estonia

Dissertation is accepted for the defence of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

in Management by the Research Council of Estonian Business School
on June 19, 2017.

Supervisors: Professor Ruth Alas, Ph. D.,

Chair of Management, Estonian Business School, Estonia

Professor Riina Koris,

Estonian Business School, Estonia

Opponents: Professor dr. Vilmante Kumpikaite-Valiuniene

Kaunas University of Technology

Maris Zernand-Vilson, PhD

Tallinn University of Technology

Public Commencement on January 11, 2018 in Estonian Business School,

Lauteri 3, Tallinn.

Language editor: Michael Haagensen

Copyright: Mohamed Mousa, 2017

978-9949-9872-6-9
978-9949-9872-7-6 (pdf)

EBS Print, Lauteri 3, Tallinn

DEDICATION OF THE THESIS

To the soul of my grandfather whom I wish could have attended the discussion of
my thesis.

3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis would not have been possible without the incredible support and
encouragement provided by several people. First among these is my supervisor,
Professor Ruth Alas, who has encouraged me to design a proper structure and
content for my thesis, helped me in preparing my questionnaire, and supported
me with highly professional feedback, understanding and encouragement. Second
are Professor Olav Aarna and professor Riina Koris who gave me feedback on
several occasions on how to improve the abstract and the research process of my
thesis. Thirdly, I was incredibly fortunate to know some other experts, such as Hala
Abdelgaffar, international IELTS examiner and trainer at IDP Egypt and senior
instructor at the American University in Cairo. She met with me on a number
of occasions, added more value to my questionnaire and provided insightful
comments about the results of my study.

All have sharpened my analytical skills and added depth to my research outcomes.
Their advice, feedback and support have been more helpful than they may have
realized. They have contributed to taking this thesis to a scholarly standard. Finally,
I can say that I am responsible for any errors in my thesis. Thank you all.

5
CONTENTS

LIST OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

AT CONFERENCES 9
LIST OF TABLES 10
LIST OF FIGURES 10

1. INTRODUCTION 17
2. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT 21
2.1 Theory of organizational commitment 21
2.2 Overview of studies on organizational commitment 23
2.3 Factors affecting organizational commitment 25

3. RESEARCH PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY 41

3.1 The research process 41
3.2 Sample 47
3.3 Models used in the research process 49

4. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION 51

4.1 Summary of the research questions 51
4.2 Conclusion 55
4.3 Contributions to theory 56
4.4 Implications for managers 58
4.5 Limitations and directions for future research 59

5. REFERENCES 61

6. PUBLICATIONS 69

7. Appendices 201

7
LIST OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS AT
CONFERENCES

1. Mousa, M. & Alas, R. (2016). Organizational Commitment: A Case Study

of Egyptian Teachers Post Revolution. International Journal of Business
Administration 7 (4). Pp.33-42. (ETIS 1.2)
2. Mousa, M. & Alas, R. (2016). Workplace Spirituality and Organizational
Commitment: A Study on Primary Public Schools’ Teachers in Menoufia
(Egypt). African Journal of Business Management 10 (10). Pp.247-255. (ETIS
1.2)
3. Alas, R. & Mousa, M. (2016). Cultural Diversity and Organizational
Commitment: A Study on Teachers of Primary Public Schools in Menoufia
(Egypt). International Business Research 9 (7). Pp.154-163. (ETIS 1.2)
4. Mousa, M. & Alas, R. (2016). Uncertainty and Organizational Commitment:
A Study on Primary Public Schools’ Teachers in Menoufia (Egypt). European
journal of Business and Management 8 (20). Pp. 38-47. (ETIS 1.2)
5. Mousa, M. (2017). Clouds over Egypt: Culture Traits and Organizational
Commitment in Public Education. International journal of education and
management studies 7 (2).Pp 251-258. (ETIS 1.2)
6. Mousa, M. (2017). Organizational cynicism and organizational commitment
in Egyptian primary public education: when spring yields black flowers.
Management research and practice 9 (3). Pp 13-29. (ETIS 1.2)

9
LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Existing research on factors affecting organizational commitment 27

Table 2. Existing studies about the organizational commitment of
school teachers in different countries 38
Table 3. Survey Data 48

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. The thesis research process 41

Figure 2. Model of factors affecting organizational commitment 57

10
ABSTRACT

Purpose

In 1960, the United States witnessed a major debate about why corporate managers
have emotional bonds with their workplaces while university professors do not
(Staw, 2007 included in Smith & Hitt, 2007). This debate was the real starting
point for all following discourse about organizational commitment. Since this time,
great attention has been devoted to employees’ commitment to their organization
not only in the field of organizational behavior but also in that of human resources
management, leadership, and strategic management (Meyer & Allen, 1991).

Early studies on organizational commitment have focused on assessing employees’

level of emotional attachment to their employer (Becker, 1960). This assessment is
known as “the attitudinal perspective on commitment” and was conceptualized by
Porter, Steers and Boulian (1974) as “an attachment to the organization, characterized
by an intention to remain in it, an identification with the values and goals; and a
willingness to exert an extra effort on its behalf” (p. 604). In 1982, Mowday, Porter
and Steers made the calculative perspective on commitment which indicates that
an employee’s continuance of membership within his/her organization depends
mostly on the costs and benefits of leaving it. The tri-dimensional perspective
on commitment was introduced by both Allen and Meyer (1990) who divide the
concept of organizational commitment is into three approaches:
• Affective commitment: This refers to an employee’s emotional attachment
to, integration with, and involvement with his/her organization (Bryant et
al., 2007).
• Continuance commitment: This refers to an employee’s perceived costs of
leaving his/her organization (Bryant et al, 2007).
• Normative Commitment: This reflects an employee’s obligation to stay in
his/her organization (Bryant et al, 2007).

The study in this dissertation is conducted in the context of primary public schools
in Menoufia (Egypt) and aims to qualitatively and quantitatively identify the main
factors affecting teachers’ organizational commitment in this context.

Theoretical background

The thesis is rooted in the theory of organizational commitment which started in

the late 1960s when scholars attempted to differentiate between cosmopolitans
who have a high level of loyalty to their job roles and low level of loyalty to their
workplaces; and locals who are committed to their organizations but who have
a low level of loyalty to their job roles. (Gouldner, 1958). Etzioni (1961) used
the term “involvement” instead of commitment to conceptualize the behavioral

11
phenomenon. He differentiated between moral involvement that reflects employees’
positive feelings towards their organization and calculative involvement that
reflects employees’ decision to give something to their organization in return for
another thing.

In 1982, Mowday, Porter and Steers defined commitment as an acceptance

of an organization’s goals, a full utilization of employee capacity to attain an
organization’s goals, and a desire to continuously maintain membership in an
organization. Mowday et al. (1982) also highlighted that employee’s organizational
commitment is a completely voluntary attitude that doesn’t preclude an employee
from being committed to other social systems such as a club, political party,
religious group and etc.

Research gap

All of the studies on organizational commitment which the author has been able to
identify within the context of this research can be divided into three categories. The
first category focuses on measuring the level of organizational commitment among
employees in either public or private settings (Rajendran & Raduan, 2005 and Ortiz
et al., 2015). The second category examines the relationship between organizational
commitment and primarily one of the following four factors – job performance,
employee absenteeism, employee turnover or employee citizenship behaviour – in
a specific organizational setting (Faloye, 2014; Wang, 2014 and Mirmohhamdi &
Marefat, 2014). The third category mostly focuses on determining the consequences
of low or high organizational commitment in a specific workplace (Turunen, 2014).
What has been noted is the existence of a number of academic papers with titles
like “factors affecting organizational commitment”. However, in going through
them, the author discovered that they only employ a quantitative approach and have
been conducted in Asian countries besides focusing on addressing the relationship
between organizational commitment and some human resource factors, namely:
work engagement, leadership style and job status (Sowmya & Panchanatham, 2011;
Khanifar et al., 2012; Nguyen et al., 2014; Khan & Zafar, 2014; Njenga et al., 2015;
Jena, 2015; Sze et al., 2015; Saha, 2016; Khaliq et al., 2016). The authors of these
previous papers mostly assumed that there are some human resource practices that
are in correlation with organizational commitment, and consequently they affect
organizational commitment. Accordingly, the author of the present thesis did
not touch upon any previous attempt to explore the main determinants or factors
influencing the level of organizational commitment among employees in Middle
Eastern countries especially in the education sector. Therefore, the present thesis
seeks to fill in a gap of management literature in this regard. It is worth mentioning
that the search for previous studies on organizational commitment extended to
more than twelve months, and the search process occurred in both English and
Arabic – the languages the author can manage. Consequently, the author of this
thesis aims to qualitatively and quantitatively identify the main factors affecting

12
teacher organizational commitment in the context of public primary schools in
Menoufia (Egypt).

Research problem

Since its emergence in 1960, the concept “organizational commitment” has gained
momentum in behavioral and organizational sciences, as previously mentioned.
Even though organizational commitment is commonly believed to deal with
employees’ continuity with their organization, Abidin et al. (2010) indicate that
this concept provides an explanation for employee absenteeism, intentions to
leave, turnover, misuse of authority, inefficiency, and low performance levels. In
the past six years, the Egyptian education system has witnessed a very serious
problem. Teachers who are working in public schools are leaving their jobs in
search of better opportunities in Egyptian private educational centers or in the
gulf countries. Moreover, the level of performance among those who stay in their
schools is not satisfactory. Given the importance of education for Egypt and the
fact that teachers are the backbone of any education system, this study attempts to
answer the following questions:
• Why do teachers in Menoufia public primary schools have a low level of
organizational commitment?
• To what extent is there a relationship between factors yielded in the first
question and teachers’ approaches to organizational commitment (To what
extent could the answer to the first question be statistically justified)?

The majority of studies about organizational commitment have been conducted

in Western countries to measure levels of employee commitment or to investigate
the relationship between organizational commitment and other organizational/
individual behaviors such as absenteeism, turnover, performance, or organizational
citizenship behavior (e.g. Allen & Meyer, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1991, Meyer &
Allen, 1997 and Perry, 2004). To the best of the author’s knowledge, there is a
shortage of studies on organizational commitment in Middle Eastern domains of
research. Furthermore, the majority of organizational commitment studies have
focused on private and for-profit organizations. This study exceeds all geographic
and institutional limits by focusing on the public education system in a leading
Middle Eastern country (Egypt). Moreover, it employs both qualitative and
quantitative methods to address a topic that has not been examined before, which
is “the main factors affecting teachers’ organizational commitment”.

Research instruments

To answer the first question, an exploratory case study was done to comprehensively
yield as much information as possible, since not much is known about organizational
commitment in various Egyptian work settings. A total of 50 face-to-face semi-

13
structured interviews were conducted and coded. Yin (2003) affirms that a case
study is often used to create a model, develop a theory or suggest propositions.
Based on the analysis of the resulting qualitative data, the main factors affecting
teachers’ organizational commitment were found to be the following: workplace
spirituality, cultural diversity, uncertainty, organizational culture, and organizational
cynicism. Accordingly, the following propositions (P1–5 below) were constructed
to be statistically tested.

P1: Dimensions of workplace spirituality are positively associated with approaches

to organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

P2: Not all cultural diversity challenges are positively associated with approaches
to organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

P3: Uncertainty types are negatively related to approaches to organizational

commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

P4: Traits of organizational culture are positively associated with approaches to

organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

P5: Dimensions of organizational cynicism are negatively correlated with

approaches to organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

To answer the second research question, a quantitative study was employed to

examine the 5 propositions constructed and suggested by the exploratory case study
conducted to answer the first research question. Five different sets of questionnaires
were distributed to the same teachers and were subsequently used to collect the
primary data. Most questions included in the questionnaire were based on pre-
established models with some modifications made to the original questions to
adapt to the cultural context. Out of 1000 questionnaire forms distributed, 750 were
collected and analyzed using Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis.

Results

From the analysis of the interviews, workplace spirituality, cultural diversity,

organizational culture, uncertainty, and organizational cynicism were found to
play a major role in shaping teachers’ organizational commitment in the chosen
educational directory. Furthermore, and based on the statistical analysis, all
cultural diversity challenges, traits of organizational culture, and dimensions
of organizational cynicism are correlated with approaches to organizational
commitment. Therefore, propositions 2, 4 and 5 are fully confirmed, whereas, not
all dimensions of workplace spirituality and uncertainty types are in association
with the three approaches to organizational commitment (affective, continuance
and normative). Accordingly, propositions 1 and 3 are not fully confirmed.

14
Given the results of this thesis, it is recommended that school administrations
constantly rely on open, persuasive, interactive, well-planned formal and informal
communication to assist teachers in understanding their schools’ direction.
Communication is vital not only to help staff in understanding their roles but also
in perceiving the feedback of their fulfilled responsibilities (Abidin et al., 2010).
Accordingly, keeping teachers well-informed fosters their sense of community
and urges them to feel that they are in well-coordinated schools. Implementing
spiritual lessons, meditation and yoga classes will assist in decreasing hyper
stress in teachers and also create care, love, and peace between teachers and their
schools. More specifically, Egyptian school administrations should understand that
cultural diversity management is no longer limited to management intervention
but a detailed applied approach to equality, inclusion, transparency and solidarity
on which schools depend for recruiting, hiring, training, evaluating and upgrading
their teachers. Finally, Egyptian school administrations should engage with their
stakeholders in creating a clear policy to psychologically and socially manage
teacher trauma and imbalance resulting from the economic, political, cultural and
social uncertainty and instability that Egypt is currently witnessing.

As a contribution to theory, it is worth mentioning that this thesis serves as one

of the earliest to discuss the factors affecting organizational commitment at
least in Egypt and the Arab region and among teachers. Moreover, and relying
on publications related to this thesis, the author is considered one of the few to
examine the relationship between cultural diversity challenges and organizational
commitment (publication 3), uncertainty types and organizational commitment
(publication 4) and organizational culture traits (using the Dension model) and
organizational commitment (publication 5).

15
1. INTRODUCTION

Research into organizational commitment started in the 1960s with reference to the
assessment of employees’ level of affective attachment to their organizations (Kaur
and Sharma, 2015), and was later expanded to include individuals’ behavior within
their organization (Clercq and Rius, 2007). Over the past three decades, there has
been an influx of studies (Becker, 1960; Mowday, Porter and Stears, 1982; Allen
and Meyer, 1990; Allen and Meyer, 2000; Gbadamosi, 2003 and Sharma and Sinha,
2015) investigating the definition, content and consequences of organizational
commitment. Despite the wealth of research on organizational commitment, few
studies have investigated the factors that have redefined this concept in view of the
fast growing dominance of technologization and globalization together with the
transitional periods many countries are witnessing.

Egypt, is a third world nation with a population estimated at ninety million is

described as a Muslim country with a Christian minority. It has witnessed two
political revolutions, as claimed by its current regime, over the past six years.
Many religious and cultural groups (e.g. Baha’is and Shia Muslims) have started to
call for their own rights (Tabaar, 2013). A serious public discourse on women and
youth empowerment has been fostered (Stel, 2013). Some economic and social
legislations concerning low and middle income families have been incorporated.
Recently, a national scheme for developing the overall public educational process
has been launched.

During and after revolutionary changes in attempt to enhance the educational

process, Egyptian public schools have witnessed “an escape” of their teachers in
search for better job opportunities at private centers and in gulf countries and even
in the form of complete career shift. Even though the matter has been a major issue
of Egyptian public discourse, the country has not taken any significant steps to
conceptualize and then solve the problem. Furthermore, some investigations done
by Egyptian journalists affirm that even when teachers decide not to leave their
schools or change their career, they tend to show very low levels of performance
in their schools.

Abidin et al. (2010) indicates that lack of organizational commitment provides an

explanation for the misuse of power, inefficiency, irresponsibility, and employees’
low performance levels. With this in mind, a research on the commitment of public
school teachers would yield a reliable institutional starting point for improving
behavioral practices in not only Egyptian schools but also schools in countries
experiencing the same transformational/ transitional phase.

This doctorate study aims at contributing to a better understanding of teachers’

organizational commitment and the factors affecting it. The study can be considered
a step towards creating and maintaining a healthy school environment in which

17
teachers believe more in the meaning of their work, culture of their schools, security
of their positions, and openness to cultural differences, a matter that entails many
personal and organizational benefits.

Thid thesis studies teachers´ commitment in public primary schools in Menoufia

(Egypt). The object of study is public primary schools, which represent the majority
of schools in Egypt and the destination of children of both low to middle-income
families (http://www.albawabhnews.com/487259). Thus, it intended to explore
potentials and set recommendations that would reflect positively on all counterparts
of the educational system; namely, the private and international schools as well
as the public schools in-and–out of the research target community. This would
subsequently support current and future institutional, political and social reforms
required in Egypt.

Because research on organizational commitment among teachers and the factors

affecting it is still at an embryonic stage in Egypt, the current doctorate serves as
a pioneering attempt to spur educators to realize the significance of teachers in
shaping a promising future for Egypt post revolution. To achieve the main aims of
this thesis, this study is divided into two tasks.

Resorting to an exploratory case study which included 50 face-to-face semi-

structured interviews with teachers, the first task was to qualitatively identify
why teachers who work in public primary schools in Menoufia (Egypt) are not so
committed to their schools. Upon analyzing and coding the conducted interviews, it
became apparent that the main factors affecting organizational commitment among
teachers are workplace spirituality, cultural diversity, organizational culture, types
of uncertainty and organizational cynicism (publication 1). Accordingly, the author
constructed the following 5 propositions.

P1: Dimensions of workplace spirituality (meaningful work, sense of community

and alignment with organizational values) are positively associated with affective,
continuance and normative approaches to commitment (publication 2).

P2: Not all cultural diversity challenges (communication, discrimination and

training) are positively associated with affective, continuance and normative
approaches to commitment (publication 3).

P3: Uncertainty types (strategic, structural and job-related) are negatively related
to affective, continuance and normative approaches to commitment (publication
4).

P4: Traits of organizational culture (involvement, consistency, adaptability, mission

and knowledge sharing) are positively associated with affective, continuance and
normative approaches to commitment (publication 5).

18
P5: Dimensions of organizational cynicism (cognitive, affective and behavioral)
are negatively associated with affective, continuance and normative approaches to
commitment (publication 6).

The second task was to quantitatively test the 5 propositions constructed by the
exploratory case study elaborated above.

It is also worth mentioning that research on organizational commitment has

mostly been undertaken by Western researchers with a special focus on private
and profit-seeking organizations (Buchanan, 1974 and Li, Ahlstrom & Ashkanasy,
2010). The present study exceeds such geographic and academic limits and moves
on to cover this aspect not only in a Middle Eastern country but also in public
not-for-profit schools. This is an issue that opens further academic research for
other management scholars to investigate the same topic in other boundaries and
organizational settings.

In the Egyptian context, the author has contributed to the development of a

model to measure the impact of cultural diversity challenges on approaches to
organizational commitment (publication 3). Furthermore, and owing to the
climate of globalization and competitiveness the world is witnessing, the author
has considered knowledge sharing as a fifth trait of organizational culture and has
added it to the Dension four-trait model of organizational culture (involvement,
consistency, adaptability and mission) (publication 5).

19
2. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

2.1 Theory of organizational commitment

The late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States witnessed a sharp extended
societal debate about employees’ commitment to their workplaces. This debate was
spurred by the striking distinction between corporate managers who have emotional
bonds toward their companies and university professors who are not committed
to their workplaces. Therefore, questions about the nature of commitment,
employees’ ways of forming emotional bonds towards their businesses, as well as
the legitimate role of employees in work organization have been raised.

According to Becker (1960) and Kanter (1968), early research studies on

organizational commitment paid attention to macro instead of micro (individual)
level of commitment. Admittedly, one of the earliest trials on commitment was
made by Gouldner (1958) who distinguished between cosmopolitan and local
members of an organization. He used ‘cosmopolitans’ to describe employees who
have low levels of loyalty to their organization but have a high level of commitment
to their task, while ‘locals’ were those who have a high level of loyalty to their
organization and low levels of commitment to their job roles.

Despite the valuable contribution made by Gouldner, he failed to provide a

description and meaning of the case of employees who have a high level of both
loyalty to their work organizations and commitment to their job roles, as well as,
the case of employees who have a low level of loyalty to their working organization
and job roles as well.

In a book written by Etzioni (1961), the concept “involvement” is used instead

of commitment. Moreover, he differentiated between three types of involvement:
• Moral involvement that reflects employees’ positive feelings towards their
organization because of their belief in its values and objectives.
• Calculative involvement that reflects employees’ rational relationship with
their organization. In this relationship, an employee offers effort in return for
something (e.g. salary).
• Alignative involvement that reflects employees’ negative attitudes
towards their organization, and this negativity originally emanates from
circumstances of coercion and force perceived by the employee.

The third attempt to explore organizational commitment came from a small group
of researchers in 1960 at the University of California. Their main objective was
to discover all individual- organizational linkages. The group investigated all
definitions of commitment at the time. Apparently, the most popular definitions
of organizational commitment during this period were the definition introduced
by Becker (1960, p. 32) who sees organizational commitment as “the result of a

21
consistent line of activity”, Kanter (1968, p. 499) who sees it as “the willingness
of social actors to give their energy and loyalty to social systems, the attachment
of personality systems to social relations which are seen as self- expressive”,
and finally, Grusky (1966, p. 489) who considered commitment as “the nature of
relationship of the member to the system as a whole”. The group came up with
three key ideas to define commitment:
• Commitment to organization means commitment to the place of employment.
• Commitment to organization assumes the existence of a specific attitude
from employees to their workplace.
• Commitment to organization entails something deeper than loyalty to an
organization.

Using the three assumptions developed by the previously mentioned group, Mowday,
Porter and Steers (1982, p. 27) have come up with a definition of organizational
commitment as “the relative strength of an individual’s identification with, and
involvement in, a particular organization”.

For Steer (1977) and Mowday et al. (1982), the process of developing organizational
commitment passes through three stages:
• Anticipation stage
Reflects how fast and strong an employee’s personal characteristics (e.g.
values, beliefs and other personality characteristics) and expectations about
his/her organization (image about it) can develop his/her organization.
• Initiation stage
Reflects how strong and how soon an employee’s real job activities and task
assignment can enhance or diminish his/her commitment to his/her organi-
zation.
• Entrenchment stage
Reflects how factors like changing job duties, updating organizational poli-
cies and etc. can assist an employee in continuing his/her long-term mem-
bership in his/her organization or end his/her organization journey.

In 1982, Mowday, Porter and Steers suggested that to be committed means to

accept organizational goals, to utilize full capacity to attain organization’s goals
and to have the desire to continuously maintain membership in the employing
organization. Mowday et al. (1982) also highlighted that employee’s organizational
commitment is a completely voluntary attitude that doesn’t preclude an employee
from being committed to other social systems such as club, political party, religious
group and etc.

Research on organizational commitment initially started in North America and was

furthered at a global level to explore its different facets. Needless to say, all of the
conducted research has confirmed the significance of organizational commitment
in shaping an employee’s attitudes toward his/her organization. However, many
studies have assured that organizational commitment is not the only determinant of

22
an employee’s behavior inside his/her workplace. What have affirmed this notion
are the changes that have been occurring lately in various work environments
over the last two decades. Downsizing and contingency workforce have become
common terms and many studies have confirmed that organizational commitment
negatively correlates with work-life balance and employee work stress (Capelli,
1999). However, and despite of what has preceded, Collins (2001) highlights
that organizational commitment, hiring the right people, and designing detailed
job descriptions are the main factors on which companies rely to become great
companies.

2.2 Overview of studies on organizational commitment

Over decades, the behavior of employees in-and-out of their workplaces has

generated a lot of attention and research in the field of human resource management,
organizational behavior, leadership and strategic management (Meyer & Allen,
1991). Even disciplines that are not considered a part of behavioral science such as
psychology, sociology and anthropology have devoted a considerable amount of
research space to employee behavior (Meyer & Allen, 1997).

Actually, such increasing awareness of human resource behavior is not surprising

and comes in congruence with the findings of the resources-based theory which
indicates that human resources are one of the most valuable resources that shape
an organization’s current performance and future orientation (Brayfield, 1968 and
Julius, 2000).

According to Arthur (1994), human resource behavior falls into two types: control
and commitment. The control type emphasizes an employee’s rules, efficiency,
rewards and results; whereas the commitment type elaborates on an employee’s
behaviors, attitudes, personal goals, organizational goals, trust, and satisfaction.
The present doctorate focuses in whole on the commitment type not only because
of its significance in interpreting employee behavior in diverse organizational
settings but also because there are many gaps in the commitment type that need to
be investigated.

The concept ‘organizational commitment’ was first introduced by researchers of

industrial and organizational psychology (Meyer & Allen, 1991). Early studies
on organizational commitment aimed to assess employees’ level of affective
attachment to their employer (Becker, 1960). This was known as the attitudinal
perspective on commitment which was conceptualized by Porter, Steers and
Boulian (1974) as “an attachment to the organization, characterized by an intention
to remain in it; an identification with the values and goals of the organization; and
a willingness to exert extra effort on its behalf” (p.604).

23
The second perspective on organizational commitment was offered by Mowday,
Porter and Steers (1982) and known as “the calculation perspective on commitment”.
According to this perspective, employees have a tendency to continue their
membership in their organizations based on calculated costs and benefits of leaving
it.

In 1990, Allen and Meyer have introduced the tri-dimensional perspective

on organizational commitment which divided the concept of organizational
commitment into three aspects: affective, continuance and normative.

Affective commitment

This refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to, integration with, and

involvement with his/her organization (Bryant et al., 2007). Enriquez et al.
(2001) elaborates that organizational objectives, vision, and the level of freedom
that employees enjoy are three determinants for the level of employee affective
commitment. Perry (2004) points out that promoting healthy, friendly, and
supportive discussions with supervisors may positively affect the level of an
employee’s affective commitment.

Continuance commitment

This refers to an employee’s perceived costs of leaving his/her organization (Bryant

et al, 2007). Becker (1960) indicates that employees invest time, effort, health,
money, and so on in their organizations. Such investments strongly affect their
decisions and/or intentions to leave or remain in their organizations. Accordingly,
Sharma and Sinha (2015) maintain that an increase in an employee’s age and tenure
within organizations raises his or her perceived cost of leaving it. Employees may
also think about their pension, knowledge, job security, and unused vacations upon
considering the decision to leave their jobs (Sharma & Sinha, 2015).

Normative Commitment

This reflects an employee’s obligation to stay in his/her organization (Bryant et

al, 2007). Organizational culture, rewards, punishments, and employee autonomy
play a vital role in deciding the level of normative commitment (Meyer & Allen,
1997; Chang, 2002; Haar & Spell, 2004, and Sharma & Sinha, 2015).

In light of what has preceded, Porter et al. (1974) define organizational commitment
as “the strength of an individual identification with and involvement in a particular
organization” (p. 604). O’Reilly and Chatman (1986) conceptualize it as “the
degree to which an individual internalizes or adopts characteristics or perspectives
of the organization” (p.493). Allen and Meyer (2000) consider it a psychological
state that reduces an employee’s likelihood of leaving his/her organization, whereas

24
Haim (2007) sees commitment as “a rational behavior of employees, designed to
protect their occupational and employment assets in terms of salary and benefits,
and as a function of tenure”.

According to Carol and Perry (1996), organizational commitment has been

perceived to be significant due to it positive correlation with organizational
performance. When studying the Malaysian public care system, Omar et al.
(2010) affirmed its negative association with employee absenteeism, intentions
to leave, and turnover. Li et al. (2012) examined the Taiwanese private sector
and highlighted the role organizational commitment plays in enhancing trust
between employees and their employers. In their research of faculty members in
Pakistan, Malik and Naeem (2011) uncovered a significant statistical relationship
between organizational commitment and members’ job satisfaction. Rego
and Cunha (2008) investigated the association between workplace spirituality
and organizational commitment approaches and emphasized the positive
relationship between workplace spirituality dimensions (meaningful work, sense
of community and alignment with organizational values) and organizational
commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative) in Portugal’s
private sector. Kuruuzum, Cetin and Irmak (2008) analyzed the effect of
organizational commitment on both job involvement and job satisfaction in
the Turkish hospitality industry, and they discovered the significant effect of
commitment on both of these constructs. In a Mexican setting, the situation
was not different. Clercq and Rius (2007) conveyed the role for organizational
commitment in enriching the entrepreneurial climate and orientation of Mexican
small and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, Abidin et al. (2010) confirmed,
after studying a Malaysian public sector, that organizational commitment is able
to provide an explanation for civil servants’ misuse of authority, irresponsibility,
inefficiency, and low levels of performance.

2.3 Factors affecting organizational commitment

Since its existence in 1960, the concept ‘organizational commitment’ has gained
a momentum in both organizational and behavioral academic theories (Cohen,
2013). The author of the present doctorate has observed that many of the previous
researches have been conducted to measure the level of employee commitment in
diverse organizational settings (e.g. public sector, private sector and non- for- profit
organizations). For example, Abidin, Muda, Hasan and Salleh (2010) and entitled
“organizational commitment in Malaysian Public Sector”. This study aimed
to determine the level of Malaysian civil servants’ affective, continuance, and
normative commitment. Moreover, it aimed discovering the main human resource
factors affecting public employee commitment. The significance of this study
emanates from its timing as it came after launching a Malaysian governmental
program to change the attitudes of civil servants and urge them to perform better.
The program was launched in 2005 and named “clean, efficient and trustworthy”.

25
The sample of this study was taken from three states in East Malaysia and upon
calculating the mean scores for the approaches of commitment the researchers
found that the level of civil servants’ affective commitment is much higher than
their level of continuance and normative commitment.

In fact, the majority of scholars elaborated on the relationship between a specific

human resource variable and/or phenomenon (e.g. involvement, empowerment,
communication, career development, meaningful work and so on) and organizational
commitment. Consequently, the concept of organizational commitment was
used as a dependent variable, whereas the human resource variable was used as
an independent variable. The following table includes a summary of the studies
mentioned above.

26
 Table 1. Existing research on factors affecting organizational commitment

Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations

Method or research
technique
Addae, H.M, Parbo- St Lucia, a Investigating Quantitative Hierarchical The results showed a 1. More studies on orga-
teeah, K.P & Velinor, N. Caribbean the relationship regression negative correlation be- nizational commitment in
(2008). Role stressors country and among role con- 226 usable tween both role conflict various public settings
and organizational ex British flict, role ambigu- questionnaire and role ambiguity on
commitment: public colony ity and the three forms the one hand, and both 2. Reduce role stressors
sector employment in approaches to or- affective and normative to enhance employee
St Lucia. International ganizational com- commitment on the other. organizational commit-
journal of Manpower 29 mitment (affective, There is also no signifi- ment
(6). Pp. 567-582. continuance and cant association between
normative) both role conflict and
role ambiguity on one
side and continuance

27
commitment on the other
Fisher, R., Boyle, M.V. Australia Investigating the Qualitative Interviews The results showed that 1. Create modified mea-
& Fulop, L. (2010). gendered nature only organizational com- sures of organizational
How gendered is orga- of organizational Many mitment is in correlation commitment which pay
nizational commitment? commitment in the interviews with workers’ intentions attention to the feminine
The case of academic academic context – no exact side of commitment
faculty. International to leave
numbers
journal of organiza- 2. Qualitatively address
tional analysis 18 (3). organizational commit-
Pp.280- 294. ment in order to re-con-
ceptualize this important
concept as a way to
create a conceptualiza-
tion that fits all cultures
and values
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
Filstad, C. (2011). Orga- Norway Investigating how Quantitative Not stated The author focused only No recommendations
nizational commitment organizational so- on affective commitment provided
through organizational cialization tactics 179 question- and after analyzing the
socialization tactics. affect newcomers’ naire forms. collected data affirmed
organizational that institutional social
Journal of workplace commitment in tactics have no signifi-
learning 23 (6). Pp both university of cant relationship with the
376-390. Oslo and the min- staff’s affective commit-
istry of children, ment
youth and family
affairs in Norway
Sowmya, K.R. & Pan- India Using the model Quantitative Not stated After analysing the No recommendations
chanatham, N. (2011). by Mowday et al. 100 usable data, they highlighted provided
Factors influencing (1979) to discover question- what item mostly affects
organizational commit- which item of the naires affective commitment,

28
ment of banking sector 18 items in this what item mostly affects
employees. Journal of model strongly received from continuance commitment
Economics and Behav- affects each one of bankers in and what item mostly
ioural Studies 2(1). Pp. the 3 approaches Indian bank- affects normative com-
19-25. of organizational ing sector mitment
commitment
Khanifar, H., Hajlou, Iran Discovering the Quantitative The authors did The results showed that No recommendations
M.H., Abdolhosseini, main demographic 40 usable not clarify what age, gender, education provided
B., Ataei, F. & Soltani, factors affecting question- type of correla- and marriage have sig-
H. (2012). Factors employees organi- naires in tion they utilized nificant correlations with
zational commit-
affecting the organiza- ment. agricultural employee organizational
tional commitment of organizations, commitment
employees and custom- Qom, Iran
er satisfaction. Journal
of Basic and Applied
Scientific Research.2
(11). Pp. 11180-11185.
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
Koslowsky, M., Weis- Israel Investigating the Quantitative Not stated The results showed that No recommendations
berg, J., Yanif, E. & relationship be- only organizational com- provided
Speiser, Z. (2012). Ease tween career com- 340 usable mitment is in correlation
of movement and sector mitment, organiza-questionnaire with workers’ intentions
affiliation as moderators tional commitment forms col- to leave
of the organizational and intentions to lected from
and career commitment- leave knowledge
turnover intentions link. workers in
International journal of high- tech
manpower 33 (7). Pp. and low- tech
822-839. firms in cen-
ter of Israel
Ahmed, M.A. (2013). Bangladesh Discovering the Quantitative Pearson correla- The results showed that No recommendations
Effects of interpersonal relationship be- tion interpersonal problems at provided

29
problems at work on tween interperson- 250 usable work negatively correlate
organizational com- al work problems questionnaire with affective, continu-
and organizational forms col-
mitment. Journal of commitment ap- ance and normative com-
lected from
organizational and hu- proaches bankers in 33 mitment
man behavior 2 (2).Pp. private banks
40- 47. in Bangla-
desh
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
Raziq, A., Ahmed, M. & India Discovering Quantitative Pearson correla- The results showed a 1. Need to redefine orga-
Tahir, M.A. (2014). An whether the level tion very high level of organi- nizational commitment in
assessment of organiza- of the research 81 usable zational commitment. the majority of devel-
tional commitment: A community orga- questionnaire oping nations because
case study of BUIEMS, nizational commit- forms col- of the fact that most of
Quetta. Journal of Busi- ment is high or not lected from the previous studies are
ness strategies 8 (1). Pp. professor, conducted in advanced
89-99. associate , as- countries and there is a
sistant profes- need to meet the culture
sor, lecturers and values of developing
and admin- countries
istrative staff
in 4 faculties,
BUITEMS,

30
Albdour, A.A. & Jordan
Altarawneh, I.I. (2014).
Employee engagement
and organizational com-
mitment: Evidence from
Jordan. International
journal of business
19(2), Pp. 192- 212.
Quetta.
Finding out the re- Quantitative Pearson correla- The results showed a 1.Suggested testing the
lationship between tion positive relationship same hypotheses with
job engagement 336 usable between job engagement multiple respondents in
and organizational questionnaire and both affective and the same organization or
commitment, and forms from normative commitment, in a different organiza-
organizational a negative relationship tional setting
bankers in
commitment ap- all Jordanian between job engagement
proaches (affec- banks and continuance com-
tive, continuance mitment, while organiza-
and normative) tional engagement has a
in the Jordanian positive relationship with
banking sector the 3 approaches of orga-
nizational commitment
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
Nguyen, T.N., Mai, Vietnam The authors sup- Quantitative Multi- variate The authors discovered 1. More attention should
K.N. & Nguyen, P.V. posed that there regression that both career develop- be paid to psychological
(2014). Factors affecting are 5 human Questionnaire ment and compensations aspects when managing
employees’ organiza- resources practices forms col- are not predictors of people and designing
(relationships with organizational commit-
tional commitment – A management, lected from ment, while relationships their jobs
study of banking staff working envi- employees in with managers, team-
in Ho Chi Minh City, ronment, career 42 commer- work spirit and working
Vietnam. Journal of development, cial banks in environment are
Advanced Management teamwork spirit Vietnam
Science, 2(11).Pp. 7-11. and compensa-
tions) and wanted
to identify their
effect on employee
organizational

31
commitment
Khan, F. & Zafar, S. Pakistan Exploring the as- Quantitative Pearson correla- The results showed that No recommendations
(2014). The influence of sociation between 200 usable tion the 4 previously men- provided.
organizational factors 4 organizational question- tioned organizational
on employees’ commit- factors (teamwork, naires were factors are in correlation
reward, training with the 3 approaches
ment levels: A study of and communica- collected of organizational com-
the banking sector of tion) and the 3 from em- mitment. However, the
Pakistan. Pakistan Busi- factors of organi- ployees in results also assured
ness Review N/A. Pp. zational commit- 21 banks in that the best associa-
570- 591. ment (affective, Pakistan. tion was between the 4
continuance and organizational factors
normative) in the and affective commit-
Pakistani banking ment, whereas the lowest
sector. association was between
the 4 organizational
factors and continuance
commitment
 Publication Country
Yousaf, A., Sanders, K. Netherlands Exploring the re- Quantitative A structural
& Abbas, Q. (2015).
Organizational/ occupa-
tional commitment and
organizational/ occupa-
tional turnover inten-
tions – a happy mar-
riage. Personnel Review
44(4). Pp. 470-491.
Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
The authors did not find No recommendations
lationship between model was any relationship between provided
affective commit- 153 question- constructed to both affective commit-
ment and organi- naire forms analyze the data ment and organizational
zational turnover collected turnover intentions
intentions

Njenga, G., Kamau, C. Kenya Upon assuming Quantitative Not stated The authors found No recommendations
& Njenga, S. (2015). that there are 3 47 usable a strong correlation provided
Factors affecting em- factors affecting questionnaire between the 3 factors

32
ployees’ commitment to employee commit- forms were (working environment,
an organization: a case ment, the authors
study of Jodan college simply examined received motivation and training)
of technology (JCT), the relationship and employee organiza-
Thika. International between their 3 tional commitment
Journal of Scientific and suggested factors
Research Publications and organizational
5(10). Pp. 1-7. commitment.
Their 3 factors are:
working environ-
ment, motivation
and training
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
Mory, L, Wirtz, B.W. & Germany Addressing wheth- Quantitative Not stated The authors found that No recommendations
Gottel, V. (2015).Corpo- er corporate social the company’s CSR provided
rate social responsibil- responsibility 386 question- activities only affect
ity strategies and their affects employee naire forms employee affective com-
impact on employee affective and nor- collected mitment
commitment. Journal of mative commit- online from
strategy and manage- ment or not employees
ment 9 (2). Pp. 172-201. in specific
company for
renewable
energy in
Germany
Jena, R.K. (2015). An India Addressing Quantitative Spearman’s rank The author explored how No recommendations
assessment of demo- the correlation 240 usable correlation age affects only affective provided

33
graphic factors affecting
organizational commit-
ment among shift work-
ers in India. Manage-
ment 20(1). Pp. 59-77.
between some de- question- and continuance com-
mographic factors naires were mitment, and men have
(gender, job level, higher levels of affective,
age, marital status collected continuance and norma-
and duration of from Odisha tive commitment than
service) and the 3 province in women. Moreover, job
approaches of or- India tenure affects only em-
ganizational com- ployee affective commit-
mitment (affective, ment and has no effect
continuance and on both continuance and
normative) normative commitment.
Finally, job level only
impacts affective and
continuance commitment
while marital status af-
fects all three approaches
of organizational com-
mitment
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
Sze, C., Woon, V.S., Malaysia Investigating the Quantitative The authors The authors found a No recommendations
Chong, Fern, S., Wei, K. relationship be- 300 usable constructed and significant statistical provided
& Pee. (2015). An em- tween five human question- utilized a struc- relationship between the
pirical study on factors resource practices naires were tural equation five previously men-
affecting organizational (compensation, model to analyze
commitment among knowledge shar- collected the data tioned HR practices and
generation X. Procedia ing, task orienta- from senior employee organizational
Social and Behavioural tion, training and managers commitment
Sciences. 3rd Global development, and in different
conference on business organizational jus- Malaysian
and social science. tice) and organiza- industries
tional commitment
Jain, T. & Duggal, T. India Investigating the Quantitative Pearson correla- The results confirmed No recommendations
(2016).Transformational relationship be- tion that transformational provided

34
leadership and organi- tween transforma- 180 question- leadership is positively
zational commitment: tional leadership naire forms correlated with manag-
testing the moderat- and organizational were received ers’ organizational com-
ing role of emotional commitment from middle mitment and this positive
intelligence in Indian managers in correlation is enhanced
IT sector. Journal of IT companies by employing emotional
management research 8 in India intelligence as a modera-
(2). Pp. 163-172. tor
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
Khaliq, I.H., Naeem, B. Pakistan Examining the Quantitative The authors did The authors explored a 1. Providing a friendly
& Khalid, S. (2016). A relationship be- A total of not elaborate strong correlation be- humble career path
study of factors affect- tween five human 60 question- what type of tween the five practices (including training,
ing organizational com- resource practices naires were correlation they of human resources and monetary support and
mitment among bank (organizational used
officers in Pakistan. reward, supervisor collected organizational commit- work-life balance) should
Journal of Business and support, career de- from officers ment strengthen employee
Financial Affairs, 6(11). velopment, work- in the city organizational commit-
Pp. 1-5. family support and of Lahore, ment
job conditions) Pakistan
and organizational
commitment
Nazir, S., Shafi, A., China Exploring the re- Quantitative Structural equa- The results showed that 1. Recommended grant-
Qun, w., Nazir, N. & lationship between tion modeling extrinsic, intrinsic and ing employees much

35
Tran, Q.D. (2016).Influ- extrinsic, intrinsic 202 question- was constructed social rewards are signifi- more autonomy, train-
ence of organizational and social rewards naires col- and utilized cantly related to affective ing, participation and
rewards on organiza- on one side and af- lected from and normative commit- cooperation to boost their
tional commitment and fective and norma- employees in ment. organizational commit-
turnover intentions. tive commitment many public ment
Employee Relations on the other. and private
38(4). Pp. 596-619. sector compa-
nies, Jiangs,
China
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
Jernigan, E., Beggs, USA Investigating Quantitative Pearson correla- The results showed a 1. Conduct a qualitative
J.M. & Kohut, G.F. the relationship tion positive correlation study to comprehensively
(2016).An examination between nurses’ 418 usable between immediate work address the phenomenon
of nurses’ work environ- work environment, question- setting and organizational of organizational com-
ment and organizational involving em- naire forms commitment approaches mitment
commitment. Journal of ployee’s percep- received via (affective, continuance
organizational culture, tion and experi- email from and normative)
communication and ence in the current nurses in
conflict 20 (1). Pp. 112- work setting, and North Caro-
131. organizational lina, USA
commitment ap-
proaches (affec-
tive, continuance
and normative)

36
Sabella, A.R., El-Far, Palestine Investigating Quantitative A structural The results showed that No recommendations
M.T. & Eid, N.L. the nature of equation model- employee job charac- provided
(2016).The effects of the relationship 92 usable ing analysis teristics are the main
organizational and between employee questionnaire constructed and determinants of their or-
job characteristics on job characteristics utilized ganizational commitment
employee organizational and organizational forms especially for affective
commitment in art- and- commitment in commitment
culture organizations. art and culture
International journal of organizations
organizational analysis
24 (5). Pp. 1002-1024.
 Publication Country Aim Research Statistics and/ Results Recommendations
Method or research
technique
C. M.J., Buela, S. & Ra- India Discovering if a Quantitative Pearson correla- The findings showed No recommendations
jalakshmi. V.R. (2017). correlation existed tion a positive correlation provided
Work motivation and between teachers’ 52 usable between teachers’ work
organizational commit- work motivation questionnaire motivation and their or-
ganizational commitment
ment of college teach- and their organiza- forms were
ers. Splint international tional commitment collected and
journal of professionals or not analyzed
IV (1). Pp. 67-73.

Source: created by the author

37
Admittedly, there are more studies about organizational commitment among college/university teachers (e.g. Raziq et al., 2017, Njen-
ga et al., 2015) than about school teachers, some of which are already included in the Table 1 above. However, Table 2 below indicates
the studies of organizational commitment among school teachers in different countries.
 Table 2. Existing studies about the organizational commitment of school teachers in different countries
Publication Country
Khan, H., Shah, B., Pakistan
Hassan, F.S., Khan,
S., Khan, N. (2013).
Impact of personal
attributes over the
commitment level of
teachers: A context of
higher education in-
stitutions of Pakistan.
Journal of business
studies quarterly 5 (2).
38
Pp. 1-15.
Cohen, A. & Abedal- Israel
lah, A. (2013). Work
and non- work deter-
minants of organiza-
tional commitment: A
study of Arab teachers
in Israel. International
journal of managemt
30(4). Pp. 224-234.
Aim Research method Statistics Results Recommendations
and research
technique
Examining the rela- Quantitative Not stated The results showed No recommendations
tionship between some 312 usable question- that only age does provided
demographic variables naire forms were col- not have a significant
(gender, age, marital lected and analyzed. statistical relationship
status, domicile) and with the 3 approaches
organizational com- of organizational
mitment approaches commitment while the
(affective, continuance other 3 demographic
and normative) among variables do have.
university teachers in
Pakistan.
Examining the Quantitative Hierarchical The results showed No recommendations
relationship between 209 usable question- linear model- that work hours have provided
work and non-work naire forms were col- ling no significant effect on
variables among lected and analysed teachers’ organization-
female teachers from al commitment while
13 schools in the north organizational support
of Israel for non- work life
strongly affects female
teachers’ organization-
al commitment.
 Publication Country
Bashir, N. & Long, Malaysia Addressing the
C.S. (2015). The
relationship between
training and organi-
zational commitment
among academicians
in Malaysia. Journal of
management devel-
opment 34(10). Pp.
1227-1245.
39
Source: created by the author
Aim Research method Statistics Results Recommendations
and research
technique
Quantitative Not stated The results showed The authors recom-
relationship between 63 usable question- a positive significant mend more in-house
employee training naire forms were col- relationship between training to enhance
variables (perceived lected and analyzed the 5 variables of train- academic staff re-
availability of training, ing and both affective search and teaching
motivation to learn and normative com- skills.
in training, perceived mitment whereas, no
co-worker support for significant relationship
training, perceived is addressed between
supervisor support for training variables and
training and perceived staff continuance com-
benefits of training) mitment.
and the 3 approaches
of organizational
commitment (affec-
tive, continuance and
normative) among aca-
demic staff of a faculty
of a public university
in Malaysia.
Based on research into existing empirical evidence on factors affecting
organizational commitment, it appeared that nearly all the studies utilize a
quantitative study (Sowmya & Natarajan, 2011, Khanifar et al., 2012, Raziq et al.
2014, Mory et al., 2015, Jena, 2015, Jain & Duggal, 2016 and Jernigan et al., 2016).
The author of this thesis believes that using existing instruments and pre-supposed
dispositions on respondents in different communities and/or contexts may not
necessarily provide a relevant insight into the topic in the particular community/
context. It is for this reason that the author of this thesis opted for both qualitative
and quantitative research methods. The former aimed at probing the topic in depth
to identify potential, context-specific factors, while the latter aimed at targeting a
large group of respondents, thus enabling breadth and generalizability to at least
some extent. The author of this thesis was also inspired by Fisher et al. (2010)
and Nazir et al. (2016), according to whom a qualitative study of organizational
commitment would generate a much more comprehensive description of this
phenomenon.

Additionally, as Koslowsky et al. (2012), Ahmed (2013) and Raziq et al. (2014)
indicate, the majority of the studies on organizational commitment were conducted
in advanced western countries and focused on private and for-profit organizations.
The authors assert that studies should also further this topic among developing
nations and different cultures. The author of this thesis hopes that this research is
legitimized not only by placing the topic in a different culture, but also in a different
institutional context (Egyptian public primary schools), where organizational
cultures and ways of working are different and where modern organizational theories
are rarely employed. “The decline of the status of teachers and their many strikes
from time to time has had a negative impact on the rank and quality of Egyptian
schools. In a report published in El Fagr, one of the independent weekly newspapers
in Egypt, many teachers have expressed that besides their low salaries, they do not
feel any appreciation from either the society or the managers of their schools.
Some have expressed that lack of training hinders their abilities to direct students.
Moreover, a number of them elaborated that they don’t know the real mission of
their schools especially since they teach according to outdated syllabi and resort
to worn- out methods of teaching (http://www.elfagr.org/1816427#), (http://www.
shbabmisr.com/mt~116331).” The author of this thesis utilized Pearson correlation
in investigating the relationship between the 5 explored factors and organizational
commitment. It is worth mentioning here that using Pearson correlation assists in
deciding the strength and direction of the association that exists between the two
variables (Sekran, 2003). Pearson correlation is known as the best measure for the
association between variables as it is based on the method of covariance. Clearly,
this falls in line with the studies by Ahmed (2013), Jernigan, et al. (2016) and Jain
and Duggal (2016), who utilized Pearson correlation in addressing the topic of
organizational commitment.

40
3. RESEARCH PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 The research process

The research process started in 2015 by gathering relevant literature about

organizational commitment, its consequences, and the factors affecting it. What
has been noted is the absence of research into the factors affecting organizational
commitment in Middle Eastern countries. The search for previous studies on
organizational commitment extended for more than twelve months, and the search
process occurred in both English and Arabic, the languages the author can manage.
Based on theoretical and empirical findings of literature relevant to the topic of this
thesis, the author designed his research process to include the following tasks (as
illustrated in Figure 1).

Figure 1. The thesis research process

Source: Created by the author

41
The first research question was: Why do teachers in Menoufia public primary
schools have a low level of commitment? Accordingly, the first research task was
to qualitatively determine the main factors causing the low level of commitment
among teachers in public primary schools in Menoufia (publication 1). The author
designed and conducted an exploratory case study including 50 face-to-face semi-
structured interviews with teachers who were selected by both the administration
of the Menoufia directory (organization) of primary education (30 teachers) and
the researcher himself (20 teachers). The author of this thesis decided to conduct an
exploratory case study to comprehensively yield as much information as possible,
since not much is known about organizational commitment in various Egyptian
work settings.

It is needless to say that case studies in general represent a form of qualitative

research that is often used to explore/describe/explain a particular phenomenon
using a variety of data sources (Baxter & Jack, 2008). Yin (2003) affirms that case
studies are often used to create a model, develop a theory or suggest propositions.
Accordingly, the answer to the research question should entail one of these of end
results: a model, a theory or propositions.

Using a case study approach to answer the first question occurred only after
considering the four main conditions necessary for using case studies in research,
which are: (a) the focus of a case study is to answer why and/or how questions;
(b) the author of the thesis cannot change and/or manipulate the behavior of his
participants/research community; (c) the author believes that the phenomenon
he studies is relevant and reasonable to be explored, and (d) the association
between the phenomenon and its context is not clear. Consequently, the author
started by determining his unit of analysis (teachers) and then limited this unit
(teachers) by time (the focus is on the period after 2011), place (public primary
schools in Menoufia, Egypt) and activity (teachers escape from their schools, low
performance levels and other expressions of a low level of commitment). Another
important point that should be mentioned is that the author focused solely on
understanding a single unique setting/environment and avoided analyzing within
and across settings. That is why the author employed a holistic single case study,
and not multiple case studies in answering his first research question.

Despite the growth of methods such as direct observation, focus groups,

documentary analysis, participant observation and archival records used to
collect data in this kind of research, the author relied primarily on face-to-face
semi-structured interviews as the primary source of data as well as some public
records, newspapers and social media as a secondary source of data. Needless to
say, employing semi-structured interviews allowed a more thorough investigation
of the respondents’ answers. The interviews were held from October to December
2015 and lasted on average 45 minutes each. In all interviews, as mentioned earlier,
the respondents were teachers at public primary schools in Menoufia, Egypt.
Although the author had planned to obtain supplementary information from school

42
documents, unfortunately, the administrative officials in all the schools refused to
provide any documents to the author. Moreover, the author did not find websites
for any of the schools to obtain further information (more information about the
interviews is included in Appendix 2, interview guide).

After conducting the interviews, detailed transcripts of the recordings were created.
The most interesting findings and information as well as recurring keywords derived
from the transcripts were coded. Owing to the specific focus of this research, the
questions posed and answers sought were related to one of the following concepts:
organizational commitment, absenteeism, turnover, performance, and school
leave. Based on an analysis of the interviews, the main factors affecting teacher
commitment were found to be dimensions of workplace spirituality, cultural
diversity challenges, types of uncertainty, traits of organizational culture and
dimensions of organizational cynicism.

Two criteria of trustworthiness were used to investigate the quality of the research:
reliability or internal validity and external validity. According to Lillis (2006)
reliability is concerned with consistency or the extent to which the researcher
accurately defines and represents the problem of his research. In this thesis
reliability was enhanced by audio recording some of the conducted interviews.
Moreover, the author tried as much as possible to carefully select participants and
accurately formulated his interview questions which are: how would you define
organizational commitment? Do you think that teachers’ commitment is important
for the school you work in? And why? Do you like to continue your membership
in your school? Why yes, why not? What do you miss in your current position?
Why do many of your colleagues leave their jobs? What is the reaction of your
school administration? How does the administration of your school contribute to
the escape of its teachers? Do you feel that finding a solution is the responsibility
of the school administration itself or that higher political and social intervention
is required? How do you see your current job? How do you see it in five years’
time? What steps do you recommend for school administrations to enhance your
commitment and that of your colleagues?

External validity ensures that the results yielded may be generalized to other settings
and time periods (Ryan et al., 2002). To improve external validity, the author of this
thesis chose an adequate sample size and paid attention to transferability – which
means that the results yielded can be extended to a wider context. To maintain
internal validity or the “credibility of case study evidence and the conclusions
drawn” (Ryan et al., 2002, pp. 155), the author of this thesis did not start writing
before gathering sufficient knowledge about organizational commitment, the
topic of this thesis. Internal validity was enhanced by cyclical proceedings of data
collection and analysis. Upon the teachers’ desires, the interviews were conducted
in Arabic, the native language of the researcher and the respondents.

43
Given what has been articulated by Onwuegbuzie and Johnson (2006), who used
the term legitimation instead of “validity” to describe the interactive process
occurring at each stage in both quantitative and qualitative research, the author of
this thesis adopted both internal-external and commensurability legitimation when
conducting his study. In internal-external legitimation, respondents are encouraged
to express their internal feelings/views and the researcher did his best to accurately
observe the whole set of research components. To add more depth and credibility
to the results of the study, the author applied commensurability legitimation by
using both qualitative and quantitative methods in collecting and analyzing the
data (Onwuegbuzie & Johnson, 2011).

Based on the analysis of the resulting qualitative data, the main factors affecting
teachers’ organizational commitment were found to be: workplace spirituality,
cultural diversity, uncertainty, organizational culture, and organizational cynicism.
Accordingly, the following propositions (P1–5 below) were constructed to be
statistically tested.

P1: Dimensions of workplace spirituality are positively associated with approaches

to organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

P2: Not all cultural diversity challenges are positively associated with approaches
to organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

P3: Types of uncertainty are negatively related to approaches to organizational

commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

P4: Traits of organizational culture are positively associated with approaches to

organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

P5: Dimensions of organizational cynicism are negatively correlated with

approaches to organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative).

To answer the second research question (To what extent is there a relationship between
factors yielded in the first question and teachers’ approaches to organizational
commitment?), a quantitative study was needed to test the 5 propositions suggested
above. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Most questions included in
the questionnaire are based on established or existing models, with some modifications
made to the original questions to adapt to the cultural context of this study. Teachers
who are working in public schools in Menoufia province, Egypt, make up the sample
for this study. They were chosen as a sample because they represent the category
of Egyptian teachers who are working in public schools and who are likely to opt
for offers from private schools or to accept offers from other Gulf countries. It is
also worth mentioning that the researcher was able to reach many teachers in this
province because it is his hometown (more information about the surveys is included
in Appendix 2, survey forms).

44
By dividing the population into homogenous subgroups and then taking a simple
random sample from each subgroup, the researcher relies on stratified random
sampling in order to reduce any possible bias and at the same time ensure that the
chosen simple random sample represents the general population. Since teachers
working in Egyptian public schools are classified into five categories: junior
teachers, first class teachers, alpha first class teachers, expert teachers and senior
teachers, the use of stratified random sampling guarantees that each subgroup is
represented in the chosen sample. The researcher chose to distribute 200 sets of
questionnaires to the targeted respondents each time. The sets of questionnaires
were delivered in Arabic to match the abilities of all targeted respondents and to
motivate responses.

Publications 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 provide much more detail about the answer to the
second research question. In the previously mentioned publications, the proposed
independent variables are: dimensions of workplace spirituality, cultural diversity
challenges, types of uncertainty, traits of organizational culture and dimensions
of organizational cynicism. Approaches to organizational commitment (affective,
continuance and normative) function as dependent variables.

For the data analysis, SPSS (version 13) was used to obtain descriptive statistics
of frequency distributions, means, and standard deviations. The SPSS Pearson
correlation was adopted to enable hypotheses testing. According to Peat et al.
(2004), the Pearson correlation is often used to measure the strength of a linear
association between two continuous variables when the sample is randomly
selected, so it was employed to analyze the collected data. To predict the value
of a dependent variable and independent variable, the researcher relied on Simple
Linear Regression. Peat et al. (2004) indicate that the main purpose of linear
regression is to evaluate the relative impact of a predictor variable on a particular
outcome.

In publication 2, the author tested the statistical relationships between workplace

spirituality dimensions (meaningful work, sense of community, and alignment
with organizational values) and organizational commitment approaches (affective,
continuance and normative). A total of 150 teachers filled questionnaire forms
which were designed according to Gupta et al. (2014) model of workplace
spirituality and Allen and Meyer (1990) model of organizational commitment.

Publication 3 tested the statistical relation between cultural diversity challenges

(communication, discrimination and training) and organizational commitment
approaches (affective, continuance and normative). The number of respondents
was 150. Moreover, using the three dimensions of cultural diversity suggested
by Devine et al. (2007) and the author designed the model of cultural diversity
challenges and used the Allen and Meyer (1990) model to evaluate organizational
commitment.

45
Publication 4 addressed the statistical relationship between uncertainty types
(strategic, structural and job- related) and organizational commitment approaches
(affective, continuance and normative) using the Bordia et al. (2004) survey of
uncertainty and the Allen and Meyer (1990) model of organizational commitment.
Publication 5 tested the statistical relationship between organizational culture
traits (involvement, consistency, adaptability, mission and knowledge sharing) and
organizational commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative)
based on the Sherfati et al. (2015) survey of cultural traits and the Allen and Meyer
(1990) model of organizational commitment. It is important to note that Sherfati
et al. (2015) survey of cultural traits consists of four cultural traits: involvement,
consistency, adaptability and mission. However, the author of the present thesis
has considered knowledge sharing as a fifth cultural trait owing to the climate
of anxiety, diversity and change the world is witnessing. Thus, the section of
knowledge sharing included in the questionnaire form distributed for Publication
5 was prepared by the author of the present doctorate.

Publication 6 tested the statistical relationship between organizational cynicism

dimensions (cognitive, affective and behavioral) and organizational commitment
approaches (affective, continuance and normative) using the Dean et al. (1998)
three dimensional model of organizational cynicism and the Allen and Meyer
(1990) model of organizational commitment.

The author started his thesis by doing an exploratory qualitative study (publication
1), and based on the results of this the author has drawn up a map for the sequence
of the other 5 papers (publications 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) included within the thesis.
Clearly, it was not the choice of the author himself to write 6 papers for his thesis
but the results of the exploratory study necessitated this. Notably, the main question
in his qualitative exploratory study was about why teachers in Egyptian public
primary schools have low levels of organizational commitment, and consequently
leave their jobs or tend to perform at their lowest level. Answering this question
highlighted 5 contributing factors: workplace spirituality, cultural diversity
challenges, uncertainty types, organizational culture traits and organizational
cynicism dimensions. The author found it relevant to devote a separate paper to
address the relationship between each of the five factors yielded and approaches to
organizational commitment due to the different major fields of management that
the factors he yielded belong to. For example, workplace spirituality dimensions
and organizational cynicism dimensions belong to organizational behavior;
cultural diversity management belongs entirely to human resources management,
uncertainty belongs to strategic management, whereas organizational culture is
related to general management.

It is worth mentioning that all of the author’s publications were subject to a

plagiarism scan, including a search for self-plagiarism, in the various journals he
submitted to and he received no comments concerning this issue. However, if there

46
is any kind of unintended repetition, this is due to the fact that the same author
wrote 6 papers on the same topic with the same methodology and using the same
organizational setting, same sample and even the same statistical software. This
may have led to repetition in some parts. However, these are limited in size and
content.

Finally, the author hereby certifies that he was responsible for writing all
the publications included in his thesis entitled “Factors affecting Teachers’
Organizational commitment in Egyptian public primary schools”, which was
submitted by him as a thesis for his PhD at the Estonian Business School, Estonia.
Furthermore, the responsibility of his supervisor (Professor Ruth Alas) was to
review the theoretical part he wrote, the responses he collected, the method he
employed, the approach he followed, and the results he obtained.

3.2 Sample

As mentioned earlier, the researcher conducted 50 face to face semi-structured

interviews with teachers sampled by both the administration of Menoufia directory
(30 teachers) and the researcher himself (20 teachers) given his personal networks.
Concerning the set of distributed questionnaire, the administration of Menoufia
Educational directory, which consists of 10 sub-regional educational directories,
directed the researcher to distribute his survey in five sub- regional educational
directories named: Sadat educational directory, Menouf educational directory,
Serse-el-layan educational directory, Quesna educational directory and Tala
educational directory. Thus, the five sub-regional educational directories were
chosen by the administration of Menoufia educational directory (organization).

Following the advice of the administration of Menoufia directory, the researcher

distributed 200 sets of questionnaires every time as sometimes the number of
teachers appointed to attend the video conference exceeded 150. Table 1 classifies
data from the distributed and collected surveys.

47
 Table 3. Survey Data

No Time Name of the edu- Number of the Number of Mean of data

cational regional / school repre- respondents collection
sub-regional direc- sented
tory
Publication 1 October 2015 Menoufia educa- 15 50 interviews + Interviews and
tional directory 150 survey questionnaire

Sadat sub-regional
Publication 2 December 2015 educational direc- 15 150 questionnaire
tory
Menouf sub-re-
gional educational

48
Publication 3 February 2016 directory 15 150 questionnaire
Serse-el-layan re-
gional educational
directory
Publication 4 April 2016 Quesna sub-re- 15 150 questionnaire
gional educational
directory
Tala regional edu-
Publication 5 June 2016 cational directory 15 150 questionnaire

Publication 6 June 2016 15 150 questionnaire

3.3 Models used in the research process

The present thesis uses the following models to prepare the 5 sets of distributed
questionnaire.
• Organizational Commitment: Allen and Mayer’s (1990) the three
dimensional model of organizational commitment (affective, continuance
and normative) was adopted. The model involves three subscales and each
subscale involves eight items.
• Workplace Spirituality: Gupta, Kumar and Singh’s (2014) survey of
workplace spirituality was used. The survey covers three dimensions
of workplace spirituality: meaningful work, sense of community and
organizational values. It includes three subscales. The first subscale involves
seven questions about meaningful work, the second has seven questions
about sense of community, and the third contains five questions about
organizational values.
• Uncertainty: Bordia et al.’s (2004) survey of uncertainty was used. The
survey covers three types of uncertainty: strategic uncertainty, structural
uncertainty, and job-related uncertainty. It includes three subscales: The
first subscale involves four questions about strategic uncertainty, the second
has four questions about structural uncertainty, and the third contains four
questions about job-related uncertainty.
• Cultural diversity: The researcher used the 3 challenges suggested by Devine
et al. (2007) and then designed the model by himself. The model covers
the three challenges of cultural diversity: communication, discrimination
and training and includes three subscales. The first subscale involves
five questions about communication, the second has six questions about
discrimination, and the third contains four questions about training.
• Organizational Culture: Sherfati et al.’s (2015) Danish model, including
four cultural traits: involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission, was
used. The researcher added knowledge sharing as a fifth cultural trait due
to the high level of uncertainty and competitiveness the world economy is
currently witnessing (Sorakraikitikul and Siengthai, 2014).
• Organizational cynicism: Dean et al. (1998) three dimensional model of
organizational cynicism was used. It examines the cognitive, affective and
behavioral dimensions and has three subscales.

49
4. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

4.1 Summary of the research questions

4.1.1 Why do teachers in Menoufia public primary schools have a low level
of organizational commitment?

The researcher started interviews by asking about the meaning of organizational

commitment and unfortunately found a lack of understanding with regards to
its meaning. The majority of interviewees referred only to leaving their school.
However, Abidin et al. (2010) indicate that organizational commitment is not
only about absenteeism, intentions to leave, and turnover, but also about poor
performance, misuse of power, irresponsibility, and inefficiency.

Veugelers et al. (2006) affirm that education is required not only to prepare students
for society but also to ensure that the society is present in the form of teachers.
However, based on interviews with the sampled teachers, it was observed that the
recruitment of school teachers depends on nepotism and close relations with key
personnel rather than any other mechanism. This is assumed to be the reason behind
the much uncertainty evident in the interviews on how cultural diversity is managed
within this educational directory. Two of the interviewed teachers mentioned that
there exists a difference in the way Muslims and Christians are regarded and
treated in their schools. They explained that only Muslims are currently occupying
the leading positions in this educational sector. This phenomenon has increased
particularly after the revolution of 2011 and the success of the Muslim brotherhood
in the elections for Egyptian parliament. And it was further manifested with the
appointment of President Morsi who belonged to the Muslim brotherhood party
which won the presidential elections. They also added that their schools don’t
provide any training for them to effectively manage cultural conflicts. This last
issue is an unwelcomed fact because these schools are working in a country which
has witnessed subsequent revolutions and social movement towards democracy,
and at the same time it is suffering from a lack of tolerance among some classes
of the society (Alas & Mousa, 2016). This climate would be ideal to foster
initiatives (coaching, workshops and mentoring) that would develop a kind of
awareness towards accepting cultural difference and supporting commitment in
any organization or institution (Roberson et al., 2001). Unfortunately, this is not
the case in Menoufia educational primary public school directory. The matter that
has a negative impact on teachers’ level of organizational commitment as reported
in the conducted interviews.

Another important point that deserves to be mentioned is that teachers feel that
working in this climate does not allow them to do a meaningful job. Seven of the
interviewed teachers asserted that they do not see any connection between their
work and the social good of the community. One of the respondent said” I don’t

51
experience any joy in my work, and I don’t feel that others like my work. I just come
to work regularly in order to secure a salary at the end of the month”. Three other
interviewees highlighted that after the January 2011 revolution, personal growth of
teachers no longer became a priority for their schools, and that their schools no longer
cared about the welfare of their teachers. These responses confirm, to a great part,
that workplace spirituality dimensions (meaningful work, sense of community and
alignment with organizational values) have become absent in the context of Menoufia
directory. This seems to be in line with what Cunha et al. (2008) maintained when
they proved the significant correlation between workplace spirituality dimensions
and organizational commitment. Accordingly, the dimensions of spirituality in
Menoufia’s directory schools may represent a significant factor affecting teachers’
organizational commitment after 2011’s revolution.

Furthermore, a study made by Alas and Mousa (2016) confirmed that for a
consistent organization to exist, personnel should constantly agree on its set
organizational goals. One of the participants illustrated that he has no idea about
his school’s objectives in order to agree with them or not. Another one clarified
that he cannot agree on his school/department goals if there is no dialogue between
administration and teachers on such goals. However, he mentioned that he has
started his position as a teacher more than five years ago and has never heard
about an initiative for dialogue, meeting or conference in his school to discuss
such a point although some of these aspects would have been available before
2011 as he clarified. Furthermore, two of the interviewed teachers expressed
their desire to find a clear mission for their school but with a kind of involvement
from the teachers’ side. However, the strangest answer the researchers received
was when one of the interviewees said: “I don’t know the name of the director
of Menoufia Public Primary School directory where I work”. This last comment
by the interviewed teacher raises questions about the role organizational culture
traits (involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission) play in the Menoufia
educational primary public schools directory after the January 2011 revolution
and whether they still exist. It can be concluded that organizational culture traits
come as a factor affecting teachers’ organizational commitment in this educational
directory. However, it is also questionable whether the directors of this educational
directory take into account these organizational culture traits.

Finally, two of the interviewees confirmed that what urges them to think about
leaving is not only their school but also the country climate of uncertainty. They
feel worried about their country’s security level and economic soundness and
sustainability. They also feel concerned about their job roles, responsibilities, and
the functions of their work units, too. This falls in line with what was concurred by
Song (2015) noting that uncertainty is the major challenge any public sector faces
this era.

So after analyzing the interviews and coding them, the author sees the following as
the main findings of the qualitative study:

52
Although organizational commitment is a main part of the survival and continuity
of any school, the researcher, having carefully, qualitatively, examined teachers of
Public Primary Schools in Menoufia (Egypt), can confirm that there is no teacher
centric approach in order to retain its teachers and/or enhance their level of
organizational commitment.

The interviews revealed a lack of understanding with regards to the concept

of organizational commitment. The majority of interviewees referred only to
leaving their school. However, Abidin et al. (2010) indicate that organizational
commitment is not only about absenteeism, intentions to leave and turnover, but
also about poor performance, misuse of power, irresponsibility, and inefficiency.
This may reflect, to some degree, on the complete absence of any organized effort to
solve this problem as it is really difficult, if not impossible, to find a clear dynamic
to solve a problem without conceptualizing the detailed meaning of the problem.

One of the main important results discovered in this research is the disregard, in
Menoufia schools, to the philosophy of spirituality, which counts on disseminating
the universal values of ethics, norms, rules and guidance. This is a disturbing fact
because spirituality that includes the dimensions of meaningful work, sense of
community, and alignment with organizational values has become a main part of
any human resources development initiative nowadays as it decreases employees’
anxiety and hyper stress when doing their work (Tredget, 2001 & Fry, 2003). This
may provide interpretation for why aspects of organizational values (e.g. caring
about the poor, differentiating between right and wrong, connecting with the
mission of the schools and etc.) were absent from teachers’ mind as reflected in the
conducted interviews.

Another well-founded and unwelcomed fact was the absence of any kind of
training required to manage cultural conflicts and diversity challenges. What
is surprising concerning this aspect is that schools are working in a country which
has witnessed subsequent revolutions and social movement towards democracy
and at the same time is suffering from a lack of tolerance among some classes of
the society (Alas & Mousa, 2016). This climate would be ideal to foster initiatives
(coaching, workshops, and mentoring) that would raise awareness about accepting
cultural differences and supporting commitment in any organization or institution
(Roberson et al., 2001). Unfortunately, this is not the case in Egyptian public
primary schools.

Furthermore, schools lack any updated workplace culture which ensures that
teachers understand, accept, and absorb the internal shared system of beliefs.
The matter that entails a disagreement from teachers’ side with their current
level of influence over organizational decisions especially those that are directly
related to vision and goals of their schools. Ensuring teachers’ commitment to
their school, particularly during the current state of instability in Egypt, requires a
comprehensive approach to reform. This approach should start by addressing the

53
psychological, cultural, economic and social sides of teachers as a step towards
designing a mechanism of organizational learning, communication, and coaching
to enhance teachers’ loyalty to their workplace which, in turn, guarantees their
highest possible performance level and lowest possible absenteeism rate.

4.1.2 Quantitatively, to what extent is there a relationship between

factors yielded in the first question (workplace spirituality
dimensions, cultural diversity challenges, uncertainty types,
organizational culture traits and organizational cynicism
dimensions) and teachers’ organizational commitment approaches?

A more detailed answer to this question can be found in publications 2, 3, 4, 5

and 6. The following is an overview of the discussion of the research propositions
included in the publications mentioned above:

P1: workplace spirituality dimensions are positively associated with organizational

commitment approaches.

Rego and Cunha (2008) affirm the strong statistical association between workplace
spirituality dimensions (meaningful work, sense of community, and alignment
with organizational values) and organizational commitment approaches (affective,
continuance, and normative). The results of this thesis (publication 2) show a strong
positive relationship between both meaningful work and sense of community
with affective, continuance, and normative commitment. However and in contrast
to Jurkiewicz and Giacalone (2004) and Rego and Cunha (2008), publication
2, included in the present thesis, uncovers a very weak relationship between
alignment with organizational values and the three approaches of commitment.
Accordingly, the first proposition of the present thesis is partly supported.

P2: Not all cultural diversity challenges are positively associated with organizational
commitment approaches.

As illustrated by publication 3 , cultural diversity is viewed as a main challenge

in today’s schools. The results of the current thesis (publication 3) show a
strong positive relationship between communications and approaches of
organizational commitment (affective, continuance, and normative). Moreover,
the results confirmed the role training plays in enhancing teachers’ affective,
continuance and normative commitment. The statistical results of publication 3
included in this thesis convey a negative correlation between discrimination
and organizational commitment approaches. Given this, the second proposition
is fully supported.

P3: Uncertainty types are negatively related to organizational commitment

approaches.

54
After investigating the relationship between uncertainty types (strategic, structural,
and job-related) and organizational commitment approaches (affective, continuance
and normative), the results of publication 4, included in this thesis, show a
negative correlation between the three types of uncertainty and affective and
continuance commitment. The three types of uncertainty have an insignificant
correlation with normative commitment. Consequently, the fourth proposition is
not fully supported.

Bearing into consideration what was stated in the literature (Meyer & Allen,
1997; Chang, 2002; Haar & Spell, 2004 and Bryant et al. 2007) concerning how
organizational culture, rewards, punishments, and employee autonomy play a vital
role in deciding the level of normative commitment, it seems logical to discover an
insignificant relationship between uncertainty types (strategic, structural and job-
related) and normative commitment. Owing to an instable environment, employees
neglect all and look only for safety and security, as the author of the present thesis
believes.

P4: Organizational culture traits are positively associated with organizational

commitment.

The fourth proposition is fully supported. The results of the present thesis affirm the
significance of organizational culture traits in urging employees to continue
their membership in their organizations (publication 5).

An important point that may enrich the full understanding of the results of
Proposition 4 is that even though the concept ‘organizational culture’ is a macro
level variable that has its effect on the whole organization, employee’s perception
of each one of organizational culture traits is a micro level variable that has its
effect on every individual employee.

P5: Organizational cynicism dimensions are negatively correlated with

organizational commitment.

The findings have demonstrated a negative correlation between the three

dimensions of organizational cynicism (cognitive, affective and behavioral) and
the three approaches of organizational commitment (affective, continuance
and normative). So, the fifth proposition is fully accepted (publication 6). For
investigating the statistical evidence, please check publication 6.

4.2 Conclusion

This thesis firstly aims to qualitatively identify the main factors affecting teachers’
organizational commitment, and after conducting 50 semi-structured interviews,
the author discovered that the main factors affecting teachers’ organizational
commitment are: workplace spirituality, cultural diversity, uncertainty,

55
organizational culture and organizational cynicism. However, and upon examining
the statistical relationship between the five factors discovered and organizational
commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative), the author
has reached to the conclusion that only cultural diversity, schools’ culture and
organizational cynicism are the main factors that fully affect teachers’ organizational
commitment approaches while not all dimensions of workplace spirituality affect
teachers’ commitment. Moreover, uncertainty types (strategic, structural and job-
related) only affect affective and continuance commitment. Therefore, and given
the statistical results obtained, both workplace spirituality and uncertainty types
have a partial effect on teachers’ organizational commitment.

In the Egyptian context, the author has succeeded in redefining the concept of
organizational commitment by indicating that this concept entails teachers’ tendency
to stay in their schools, accept schools’ goals, and do their best in order for their
schools’ continuity only if they experience a kind of spiritual tolerant climate in
which they feel a kind of inclusion, equality, transparency, stability and many other
factors existing under the umbrella of cultural diversity management and uncertainty
management. Accordingly, teachers will have a positive feeling towards their school
and subsequently perceive the values, roles, and traditions of their school as a real
operating system for managing the in-school and out-school behavior.

4.3 Contributions to theory

Given that in developing nations the majority of public employees, and particularly
teachers in this research, have official fixed permanent contracts with their
workplaces, and the outcomes of the present research with regard to the main
factors affecting organizational commitment; namely, workplace spirituality,
cultural diversity, uncertainty, organizational culture and organizational cynicism,
it is necessary to redefine the concept “organizational commitment” in the Egyptian
context. In the Egyptian public education setting, the concept is no longer limited
to employee acceptance of organizational goals and their willingness to stay in
their organizations. It rather indicates a mutual exchange or contract underlying
the rules and responsibilities, whether announced or unannounced, by which
organizations utilize the full capacities of their employees and guarantee their
membership. Consequently, employees prefer a spiritual environment in which
cultural differences are well-managed, job-related uncertainties are decreased and
a clear formulated approach to communication and knowledge sharing is adopted.

Based on the abovementioned analysis, the author could claim that this thesis has
come to be considered one of the first to discuss factors affecting organizational
commitment among teachers in both Egypt and the Arab region. Moreover, to the
best of the author’s knowledge, the publications relevant to this doctoral thesis
are considered few in examining the relationship between cultural diversity
challenges and organizational commitment (publication 3), uncertainty types
and organizational commitment (publication 4), traits of organizational culture

56
and organizational commitment (publication 5) and cynicism dimensions and
organizational commitment (publication 6). Therefore, the main theoretical
contribution made by this thesis lies in creating a model for the factors affecting
organizational commitment among teachers in the Egyptian context. This model
suggests that having a spiritually inclusive and diverse workplace, in which the
organizational culture is shared by every employee, task-related communication
is well-utilized, training is well adopted, and uncertainty is managed in an agile
responsive manner, urges employees to not only minimize their cynicism but also
fuel their level of organizational commitment. This would help alleviate unwanted
employee behavior such as absenteeism, turnover, and intentions to leave, on the
one hand, as well as enhance employee performance and feelings of citizenship
one the other. Figure 2 outlines the factors affecting teachers´ organizational
commitment, thus revealing the main results of the thesis.

Figure 2. Model of factors affecting organizational commitment

Source: created by the author

57
Many countries are likely to experience a similar situation of uncertainty and
division among teachers. However, the present results cannot be generalized to
any similar context whether in a developed or developing country without testing
the same propositions there. The main reasons for that are substantial cultural,
societal, economic and political differences between countries.

4.4 Implications for managers

Based on the abovementioned research findings, the following implications can

be made for the administrations of public primary schools in Egypt. The author
suggests that each school administration rethink the psychological and cultural
mechanism to be adopted when dealing with their teachers. Despite that fact that
teachers’ salaries witnessed an increase after the revolution of 2011 in Egypt,
results of the present study indicate that monetary factors alone do not sufficiently
satisfy teachers’ inner and outer lives. Thus, administrations of Egyptian public
schools should pay attention to other dimensions.

Teachers, like many other public employees in Egypt, suffer primarily from
anxiety and heavy workloads. Moreover, because of the long working hours they
experience, the role of families, neighborhoods and other societal main players
have declined. This fosters the existence of spirituality in workplace as it assures
bringing teachers’ body, heart, mind and soul to their schools - something that
positively affects their performance and subsequently their long-term membership
inside their schools (Publication 2). Accordingly, deploying spiritual lecturing
lessons, meditation and yoga classes will not only decrease teachers’ hyper stress
but also create care, love and peace between teachers and their schools.

Noticeably, there is a need to understand that cultural diversity management is

no longer limited to management intervention. Accordingly, Egyptian school
administrations should employ a clear policy for disseminating cultural diversity
practices (e.g. inclusion, solidarity, tolerance and equality) in each school. Any
discourse about nepotism and preferential selection in recruiting, hiring, evaluation
and upgrading teachers should be met with a school mechanism of affirmative
action against discrimination and in support of a realistic equal employment
opportunity approach (publication 3). Hence, asking teachers to write a monthly
anonymous report about what their likes, dislikes, hopes and concerns are will,
to some degree, diminish the view of their schools’ biased decisions. Moreover,
utilizing open communication policies and monthly training in managing cultural
differences should play a role in the state of division between Egyptian Muslim
and Christian teachers (Publication 3).

Additionally, Egyptian school administrations should constitute and maintain a

detailed approach for managing uncertainty. The administration should cooperate
in this regard with various stakeholders (Egyptian ministry of education,

58
business consulting companies, Egyptian ministry of planning, etc.) to respond
to psychological and social needs of teachers. Needless to say, that a teacher who
works in a transitional country has the right to worry about their nation, school,
family, job positions, etc. Accordingly, organizing workshops from time to time
about post trauma conditioning would help a lot in the case of Egyptian teachers.
Teachers would feel more secure and capable of adapting themselves to keep in
pace with any intended or unintended organizational change - a matter that would
help in building strong commitment (publication 4).

Given the fact that organizational culture may work as an operational system
for schools and may subsequently direct behaviors and stabilize organizational
orientations, the administrations of Egyptian schools should rely on a strategy of
knowledge sharing by which senior teachers transfer their work experience to junior
ones. All questions about school mission and objectives can be simply answered,
any feedback or complaint can be dealt with, any rumor can be corrected, and
any doubts about future can be removed. This would create a harmony between
in-and-out of school environment. Furthermore, schools should encourage open
communication and organizational learning to assist their teachers in absorbing
current culture and its updates – the aspect that positively reflects on teachers’ level
of commitment (publication 5).

Referring to the articles published by the author in the context of this doctorate
thesis, it is mostly recommended that school administration rely continuously on
open, persuasive, interactive, well-planned formal and informal communication to
assist teachers in understanding their schools’ direction. Communication is vital
not only to help staff in absorbing their roles but also in perceiving the feedback
on their responsibilities (Abidin et al, 2010). Accordingly, keeping teachers well-
informed fosters their sense of community and urges them to feel that they work
in well-coordinated institutions. In his published articles the author of this thesis
has often recommended training to be instituted in Egyptian schools. Employing
training ensures teachers’ access to needed resources and information to get their
jobs accomplished (Sherfati et al., 2015). Training also enhances teachers’ self-
efficacy, motivation and positive attitudes towards their schools.

To sum up, this doctoral thesis has aimed to introduce a new perspective of
organizational commitment by exploring the main factors affecting teachers’
organizational commitment. This may assist in improving the educational
performance among Egyptian teachers and may subsequently benefit the whole
educational process in Egypt.

4.5 Limitations and directions for future research

The limitations of this study are related to its general framework. With regards
the qualitative study, the researcher was unable to choose all the participants on

59
a one to one basis in order to stratify the sample. In fact, the administration of
each school was left to choose thirty teachers. Accordingly, it appears that the
respondents answered some of the interviews’ questions in a rather normative and
socially desirable way. The researcher depended on his personal relationships to
contact an additional number of participants because some of these teachers were
not willing to take part in this research. This may have been because they were not
invited by the Menoufia directory to participate.

Concerning the statistical part, it is needless to say that both dependent and
independent variables were collected from the same source – a matter that may lead
to inflation of statistical relationships. Moreover, overlooking some moderating
variables such as teachers’ engagement, teachers’ satisfaction, teachers’ motivation,
and teachers’ inclusion may represent another limitation of the present study.

The topic of organizational commitment could be studied in more detail by using

the factors (workplace spirituality dimensions, cultural diversity challenges,
uncertainty types, organizational culture traits and organizational cynicism
dimensions) discovered by the author of this doctorate. The same propositions
could be tested in other public organizations outside the education arena, or they
could be tested in private organizations. Another suggested investigation may
cover why organizational commitment is not a major part of any of the government
programs for developing teacher skills in these schools. In reality, learning more
about organizational commitment is a primary behavioral issue regardless of the
learning paradigm in which it is offered (a discussion woven throughout training
programs, or a stand-alone training). Consequently, there should be further research
studies to explore the phenomena of organizational commitment in more details.

60
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6. PUBLICATIONS
 6.1 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT:
A CASE STUDY OF EGYPTIAN TEACHERS POST
REVOLUTION

Mohamed Mousa
Estonian Business School
Mohamed.mousa@ebs.ee

Ruth Alas
Estonian Business School
Ruth.alas@ebs.ee
International Journal of Business Administration Vol. 7, No. 4; 2016
doi:10.5430/ijba.v7n4p33
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/ijba.v7n4p33
ISSN 1923-4007 E-ISSN 1923-4015
Published by Sciedu Press
Abstract: Owing to its effect on teacher performance, absenteeism, retention,
and turnover, organizational commitment has received great attention over the
past three decades. The concept offers an explanation for employees’ anxiety,
inefficiency, and carelessness during work. This study has focused on Sadat
educational primary public school directory, in Menoufia, Egypt to determine the
main factors affecting the level of teachers’ affective, continuance, and normative
commitment by conducting semi-structured interviews and a set questionnaire. It
was found that teachers’ normative commitment is higher than both their affective
and continuance commitment. Furthermore, the analysis of the interviews showed
that workplace spirituality dimensions, cultural diversity aspects, uncertainty
issues, and organizational culture traits are the main determinants of teachers’
organizational commitment.

Keywords: organizational commitment; workplace spirituality; cultural diversity;

organizational culture; uncertainty.

Introduction

Education is often considered vital to attaining progress and prosperity in any

developing country (Malik & Naeem, 2011). Erdogan (2004) indicates that due to
the fact that the age we live in witnesses a continuous, diverse, and rapid change,
schools should employ strategies that address the needs of our age. Moreover,
and given the fact that schools are composed of people, they have to realize
that teachers are a main component of their educational processes and that their
continuity relies, to a great part, on the capability and quality of teachers (Alas &
Mousa, 2016).

Egypt is one of the developing nations that have tried to use education as a paradigm
for achieving growth and reform (Mahrous & Kortam, 2012). Currently, the country
is facing an immense struggle that may hinder the whole educational process. A
high percentage of its teachers are leaving governmental schools in search for
better opportunities in the private sector or gulf countries. Furthermore, without
even leaving their school, they don’t deliver a rational satisfactory performance in
their schools. The matter that calls into question teachers’ level of organizational
commitment and the factors contributing to that level.

Since its existence, organizational commitment has become one of the premier
management and behavior aspects because of its effect on the levels of absenteeism,

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turnover, and intentions to leave (Rajendran & Raduan, 2005). Moreover, Chang
(1999) highlights that an understanding of organizational commitment provides
an explanation for employees’ misuse of power, irresponsibility, inefficiency
and the case of being careless in doing work. Organizational commitment often
addresses the link between employees and their organization (Clercq & Rius,
2007). Furthermore, it often interprets employees’ modes of behavior in face
of organizational crisis (Chang, 2002). Mayer and Allen (1990) have classified
organizational commitment into three approaches: affective, continuance, and
normative, and this research will later illustrate them in detail.

Given the importance of organizational commitment for Egyptian governmental

schools, this research seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the levels of teachers’ affective commitment, continuance

commitment, and normative commitment in Sadat educational primary
public schools directory?
2. What are the main factors affecting teachers’ organizational commitment in
Sadat educational primary public schools directory?

Significance of the study

Although there have been a few researches conducted in Egypt using Meyer and
Allen (1991) model of organizational commitment, not much attention was given
to measure the level of organizational commitment among Egyptian teachers after
the 2011 January revolution. Hence, this study seeks to explore the main factors
affecting organizational commitment by conducting interviews with teachers.
Outcomes of this research contribute to broadening the existing literature on
commitment and enabling school executives in understanding the factors affecting
teacher commitment. It is needless to say that the findings of this research may
also help in improving the educational performance of Egyptian teachers and
subsequently benefit the whole educational process in Egypt.

Theoretical background

1. Organizational commitment

Over the past 30 years, the concept organizational commitment has gained a
prevalence in both academic and management arenas. It has appeared in the early
1970s to asses employees’ level of affective attachment to their employer (Kaur &
Sharma, 2015). As a result, it has gained a rapid popularity in the business world.
Moreover, it has focused on individuals’ behavior within their organization (Clercq
& Rius, 2007).

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One of the first trials to conceptualize organizational commitment was made by
Porter et al. (1974) by considering it as “an acceptance of the organizational goals,
willingness to put the maximum effort on the part of organization, and a desire to
maintain membership in the organization”. In their seminal research article, Meyer
and Allen (1990) have classified organizational commitment into three approaches:
affective, continuance and normative.
• Affective commitment
This refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to, integration with,
and involvement with his organization (Bryant et al., 2007). Enriquez et al.
(2001) elaborate that organizational objectives, vision, and level of freedom
employees enjoy are three determinants for the level of employees’ affective
commitment. Perry (2004) points out that promoting healthy, friendly and
supportive discussions with supervisors may positively affect the level of
employees’ affective commitment.
• Continuance commitment
This refers to an employee’s perceived costs of leaving his organization
(Bryant et al, 2007). Becker (1960) indicates that employees invest time,
effort, health, money, and so on in their organizations. Such investments
strongly affect their decisions and/or intentions to leave or remain in their
organizations. Accordingly, Sharma & Sinha (2015) maintain that an increase
in employees’ age and tenure within organizations raises their perceived cost
of leaving it. Employees may also think about their pension, knowledge, job
security, and unused vacations upon considering the decision to leave their
jobs (Sharma & Sinha, 2015).
• Normative Commitment
Reflects an employee’s obligation to stay in his organization (Bryant et al,
2007). Organizational culture, rewards, punishments, and employee autonomy
play a vital role in deciding the level of normative commitment (Meyer &
Allen, 1997; Chang, 2002; Haar & Spell, 2004, and Sharma & Sinha, 2015).

Given what has preceded, Buchanan (1974) defines organizational commitment

as “a Partisan or affective attachment to the aims and values of an organization
for its own sake”. It can also be defined as a psychological state that promotes
an employee’s continuity with his organization and reduces the likelihood of his
departure (Allen & Mayer, 2000). Haim (2007) sees organizational commitment
as “a rational behavior of employees, designed to protect their occupational and
employment assets in terms of salary and benefits, and as a function of tenure”.

Li, Ahlstrom, and Ashkanasy (2010) highlight that the importance of organizational
commitment is derived from its strong impact on organizational performance and
subsequently, organizational success. Abidin et al. (2010) indicate that only fully
committed employees give their best efforts and fulfill their obligations and job
responsibilities towards their organization. Accordingly, organizations that have
committed employees don’t face the struggles of absenteeism, turnover, intentions
to leave and low performance levels (Kuruuzum et al, 2009).

75
In a different perspective, Haim (2007) raises the argument of whether or not
the organizations should keep their long-term commitment/ contracts to their
workplace despite the on-going technologization and globalization. He indicates
that there is an growing trend towards downsizing and outsourcing of labor
activities which may yield a need to restructure the meaning and measurement of
the concept organizational commitment.

Using Albert Hirschman’s (1970) model of voice and loyalty, employees can use a
range of five behavioral modes of commitment in facing organizational crisis: Exit,
voice, loyalty, neglect, and silence (Haim, 2007). Whereas, Atak (2009) maintains
that the following elements are the main indicators of organizational commitment:
accepting the organizational mission, adopting the organizational culture (values
and behaviors), feeling and showing a desire to continue membership in the
organization, and exerting maximum effort to achieve organizational goods.

2. Egypt before and after January 2011

From 1981 to January 2011, Egypt had Hosni Mubarak as a president. During his
period of presidency, Mubarak was both the commander-in-chief of the armed
forces and the commander-in-chief of the police force. He had the right to appoint
the prime minister, security leaders, religious figures, and other high rank officials.
Clearly, authoritarianism was the main feature of Mubarak’s era (Bauer, 2011)
simply because he had the right to veto legislature. Furthermore, parliament
had little influence over the government. Indeed, the National Democratic Party
(NDP), which was headed by Mubarak, controlled all aspects of the legislative
processes. There were few opposition parties that exerted hardly any influence
over the political processes in Egypt.

During the first ten years of Mubarak’s rule (1981-1991), the Egyptian economy
was based mainly on the public sector. The privatization process started in 1991
as a result of foreign aids and loans from the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund. It is needless to say that the expansion of the privatization process
resulted in a high level of unemployment and high prices. That’s why the Egyptian
government signed trade agreements with many regional, international, and supra-
international organizations such as Mediterranean North African trade agreement
(MENA) to upscale its economic performance, motivate foreign investors, and
promote tourism in Egypt. The authoritarian rule, bureaucracy, civil corruption,
and mismanagement of public funds and resources all contributed to an unhealthy
environment for foreign investment or economic development of any sort.

Despite several trials to boost Egypt’s economic performance, a study made by the
International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution in 2009 highlights that
approximately 17% of Egypt’s population lives below the poverty line. Increasing
unemployment further adds to this dilemma. Zoubir (2000) elaborates that the
bad Egyptian economic situation during Mubarak’s era acted as an antecedent to

76
social and cultural tensions and subsequently as a breeding ground for religious
extremism.

Further affected by this dismal state, the social, cultural, and educational circles in
Egypt also deteriorated. Bauer (2011) indicates that Mubarak was surrounded by an
elite group of businessmen, military leaders, policemen, and high level executives
of the National Democratic Party, who received various forms of privileges such as
land, monopolies, and credits. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens suffered from different
forms of ethnic, religious, political, economic, and social discrimination.

The first few weeks of 2011 witnessed a fundamental change in leadership

and government in Egypt. Millions of Egyptian people hit the streets for three
consecutive weeks calling for political freedom, social justice, and other rights.
This historical break has remained open-ended and calls forth many questions,
suggestions, and expectations for the rapidly changing Egyptian political scene.
What is disturbing in this status quo is that street conflicts, torture, and the rising
and diminishing of Islamic conservative parties have tended to become phenomenal
of the daily life of the country.

Moreover, the complete withdrawal of the Egyptian police after January 2011
contributed to the spread of insecurity (Tabaar, 2013). Egyptian citizens formed
vigilant committees all over big cities in Egypt. The situation of insecurity
extended for more than two years and negatively affected the ability of the country
to fight terrorism, organized crime, and regular strikes (Bauer, 2011). Accordingly,
the Egyptian streets face from time to time what looks like civil wars.

A factor that contributed to the state of public unrest was the incompetent
performance of the former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, who was sworn
in on 30 June 2012 to be the first democratically elected president of Egypt (http://
edition.cnn.com/2012/06/30/world/africa/egypt-morsi/). Contrary to expectations,
President Morsi was unable to foster an environment of equality, freedom, or true
democracy as he had promised. During his era, the country was deeply divided into
liberals and radical Islamic groups, women’s rights were slowly disintegrating, and
the peaceful state of coexistence among various Egyptian classes was threatened.
These events fueled a second revolution in June 2013 in which protestors aided by
the military subsequently succeeded in ousting their leader again in order to draw a
new roadmap towards true democracy as they claim (http://www.dailynewsegypt.
com/2013/08/12/attitudes-in-the-post-tamarod-post-morsi-erapoll/ ). It is needless
to say that Egyptian citizens subsequently elected AbdelFattah Al-Sisi, their former
minister of defense, to be their president on the third of June 2014. They considered
their choice as an integral step towards adopting the roadmap announced after
taking Morsi down. Despite this roadmap and the new presidential elections, Egypt
is still witnessing some violent street conflicts, strikes, and criminal terrorism
attacks from time to time.

77
With this background in mind, it is clear that educational institutions suffered in
silence in an atmosphere of political, social, and economic instability. With many
teachers being under-paid in the public education system and with the dire condition
of public schools all over the country, teachers’ commitment and performance are
challenged. In addition to the limited career prospects of public school teachers and
the over-crowded classrooms, more and more of the highly talented and qualified
teachers are opting to leave the public school sector in search for better prospects
in the private sector or abroad.

Research design

Conceptual framework

This conceptual framework of the present study is based on a review of previous

studies conducted to demonstrate the meaning of organizational commitment. The
measurement of commitment with its three approaches (affective, continuance and
normative) is used to determine the level of commitment of teachers in the Sadat
primary public school directory, Menoufia, Egypt. The school was selected based
on the ability of one of the researchers to reach and examine the teachers there.

Survey Instruments

To answer the first question: a quantitative study was employed. A questionnaire

was used for collecting the primary data. Most of questions included in the
questionnaire are based on established existing models with some modifications
made to the original questions with regards to the cultural aspect of this study
sample. The questionnaire prepared for this study contains two main sections:
Demographic variables and organizational commitment. A five-point Likert scale
is used for all items under organizational commitment.
• Section A: Demographic Variables: This involves questions about the
personal information of the targeted respondents such as gender, age, marital
status, level of income and organizational tenure.
• Section B: Organizational Commitment: It is based on Allen and Mayer’s
(1990) three dimensional model of organizational commitment. This section
covers the three approaches of organizational commitment: affective,
continuance and normative. And each of the three subscales involves eight
items.

By dividing the population into homogenous subgroups and then taking a simple
random sample from each subgroup, the researcher counts on stratified random
sampling. Such adoption of stratified random sampling reduces any possible bias
and at the same time ensures that the chosen simple random sample represents the
general population.

78
Since teachers who are working in Egyptian public schools are classified into
five categories: junior teachers, first class teachers, alpha first class teachers,
expert teachers and finally senior teachers, the use of stratified random sampling
guarantees that each subgroup is represented in the chosen sample.

Since it is difficult to determine the size of population in this case, the researcher
has chosen to distribute 200 sets of questionnaires to the targeted respondents.
Needless to say, the sets of questionnaire will be delivered in Arabic to match the
abilities of all targeted respondents and to motivate them to respond.

As for the second question: the vice director of the Sadat directory sampled 30
teachers, whereas the researchers themselves used their personal relationship to
find an additional twenty teachers. It was discovered during the interviews that the
participants were totally unaware of the concept of organizational commitment and
its repercussions on their school scene. It was observed that during the interviews
the participants were reluctant to uncover critical details with regards to the school
out of fear of giving a negative impression that may compromise their standing
with their schools. Some even went to the extent of refusing to have their interviews
recorded when they were informed that the researcher would record them.

Scope of the study

Teachers who are working at the Sadat primary public school, Menoufia Province,
Egypt, represent the main population sample for this study. Their selection for this
study owes to the fact that they represent the category of Egyptian teachers who
are working in public schools and who are likely to opt for offers from private
schools or to accept job offers from schools in the Gulf countries. In addition, it is
worthy to be mentioned that the researchers was able to reach many teachers in this
province on a one to one basis.

Data Analysis

In response to the first question, the SPSS Pearson correlation was adopted to
get the results of hypotheses testing. The SPSS was used to show the normal
descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation.

In response to the second question, detailed transcripts were made in which the
contents of the interviews were typed out after conducting the interviews. It is
needless to say that the most interesting findings and information derived from
the transcripts were coded. Owing to the specific focus of this research, questions
and answers of the research were related to one of the following concepts; namely,
organizational commitment and Egyptian revolution. Moreover, the participants’
answers were correlated to detect a pattern in the gathered data.

79
Research Findings

As previous stated, the researcher distributed 200 sets of questionnaires, and

he received responses from 150 teachers. With the help of stratified random
sampling, the researcher formed the following profiles to classify the respondents
demographically (see table 1).

Table 1: Respondents’ profile

Demographic Variables Items Count

Gender Male 123
Female 27
Age below 25 years 15
26-30 years 30
31-35 years 30
36-40 years 25
41-45 years 20
46-50 years 20
More than 50 years 10
Marital Status Single 40
Married 74
Other 36
Level of Education Bachelor 100
Bachelor + Diploma 48
Master 2
Level of Income EGP 1200 15
EGP 1300-2500 60
EGP 2500-4000 65
EGP 4000-5500 10
Above 5500 0
Organizational tenure Less than 1 year 0
1-3 years 45
4-6 years 55
7-9 years 40
10-12 years 10
Above 15 years 0
Religion Muslim 145
Christian 5
Work Bases Full time 150
Part time 0

80
Reliability Analysis

The Cronbach Alpha is used to assess the internal consistency of each of the
variables used in the study. As depicted in Table 1, all variables have adequate
levels of internal consistency, and they meet the acceptable standard of 0.60
(Sekaran, 2003). In this study, the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient is 0.870 (as shown
in Table 2).

Table 2 Reliability Analysis

Coefficient alpha
Scale name Number of items
values
Organizational Commitment 24 0.870
Affective commitment 8 0.771
Continuance commitment 8 0.760
Normative commitment 8 0.801

Although the present study was aimed to determine the level of organizational
commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative) demonstrated
by the teachers in Sadat city primary public school directory, Menoufia, Egypt
and the factors affecting organizational commitment in this educational directory
after the Egyptian revolution (2011), the researcher unintentionally found himself
responsible for evaluating the whole educational process practiced by the school.
Consequently, the following are the answers to the questions of the research.

What are the levels of teachers’ affective, continuance and normative com-
mitment in Sadat educational primary public school directory?

To answer this question, the mean scores were computed. As seen in Table
3 below, the mean for teachers’ affective commitment is 3.733, the mean for
teachers’ continuance commitment is 3.3550, and the mean for teachers’ normative
commitment is 3.7908. This means that the majority of teachers appeared to have
higher levels of normative commitment in comparison to both affective and
continuance commitment. Accordingly, teachers in this study seem to be committed
because they feel an obligation to stay in their schools. This happens when people
feel that their organizational values are the same as their personal values. As said
before, aspects such as organizational culture, rewards, punishments, and employee
autonomy play a vital role in deciding the level of normative commitment.

81
Table 3 Summary of the Mean Score Analysis

Perception Mean Standard Deviation

Organizational Commitment
Affective commitment 3.7333 0.5083
Continuance commitment 3.3550 0.5436
Normative commitment 3.7908 0.5875

What are the main factors affecting teachers’ organizational commitment in

Sadat educational primary public schools directory?

The researchers started their interviews by asking about the meaning of

organizational commitment, and unfortunately they found a lack of understanding
with regards to its meaning. The majority of interviewees refereed only to leaving
their school. However, Abidin et al. (2010) indicate that organizational commitment
is not only about absenteeism, intentions to leave and turnover but also about poor
performance, misuse of power, irresponsibility, and inefficiency.

Veugelers et al. (2006) affirm that education is required not only to prepare students
for society but also to ensure that the society is present in the form of teachers.
However, based on interviews with the sampled teachers, the researchers have
observed that the recruitment of school teachers depends on nepotism and close
relations with key personnel rather than any other mechanism. This is assumed to
be the reason behind the much uncertainty evident in the interviews on how cultural
diversity is managed within this educational directory. Two of the interviewed
teachers mentioned that there is still a difference in the way Muslims and Christians
are seen and treated in their schools; they explained that only Muslims are currently
occupying the leading positions in this educational sector. This phenomenon has
increased particularly after the revolution of 2011 and the success of the Muslim
brotherhood in the elections for Egyptian parliament and later on after President
Morsi who belongs to the Muslim brotherhood party won in the presidential
elections. They also added that their schools don’t provide any training for them to
effectively manage cultural conflicts. This last issue is an unwelcomed fact because
these schools are working in a country which has witnessed subsequent revolutions
and social movement towards democracy, and at the same time it is suffering from
a lack of tolerance among some classes of the society (Alas & Mousa, 2016). This
climate would be ideal to foster initiatives (coaching, workshops and mentoring)
that would develop a kind of awareness towards accepting cultural difference and
supporting commitment in any organization or institution (Roberson et al., 2001).
Unfortunately, this is not the case in Sadat educational primary public school
directory. The matter that has a negative impact on teachers’ level of organizational
commitment as reported in the conducted interviews.

82
Another important point that deserves to be mentioned is that teachers feel working
in this climate do not do a meaningful job. Seven of the interviewed teachers
asserted that they do not see any connection between their work and the social
good of the community. One of the respondent said” I don’t experience any joy in
my work and I don’t feel that others like my work, I just come to work regularly
in order to secure a salary at the end of the month”. Three other interviewees
highlighted that after the January 2011 revolution, personal growth of teachers
no longer became a priority for their schools, and that their schools no longer
care about the welfare of their teachers. These responses confirm, to a great part,
that workplace spirituality dimensions (meaningful work, sense of community and
alignment with organizational values) have become absent in the context of Sadat
directory. This seems to be in line with what Cunha et al. (2008) maintained when
they proved the significant correlation between workplace spirituality dimensions
and organizational commitment. Accordingly, the dimensions of spirituality in
Sadat’s directory schools may represent a significant factor affecting teachers’
organizational commitment after 2011’s revolution.

Furthermore, a study made by Alas and Mousa (2016) confirmed that for a consistent
organization to exist, personnel should constantly agree on its set organizational
goals. One of the participants illustrated that he has no idea about his school’s
objectives in order to agree with them or not. Another one clarified that he cannot
agree on his school/department goals without a kind of dialogue with his colleagues.
However, he mentioned that he has started his position as a teacher from more than
five years, and he never heard about an initiative for dialogue, meeting or conference
in his school to discuss such a point although some of these aspects would have
been available before 2011 as he clarified. Furthermore, two of the interviewed
teachers expressed their desire to find a clear mission for their school but with a
kind of involvement from the teachers’ side. However, the strangest answer the
researchers received was when one of the interviewees said: “I don’t know who the
director of Sadat City Primary Public School directory where I work is”. This last
comment by the interviewed teacher raises questions about the role organizational
culture traits (involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission) play in the Sadat
educational primary public schools directory after the January 2011 revolution and
whether they still exist. It can be concluded that organizational culture traits come as
a factor affecting teachers’ organizational commitment in this educational directory.
However, it is also questionable whether the directors of this educational directory
take into account these organizational culture traits.

Finally two of the interviewees confirmed that what urges them to think about
leaving not only their school but also the country is the climate of uncertainty
that Egypt lives in. They feel worried about their country’s security and economic
soundness and sustainability on the one hand, and they feel the same worries
towards their job roles, responsibilities, and the functions of their work units on
the other hand. This falls in line with what was concurred by Song (2015) upon
elaborating that uncertainty is the major challenge any public sector faces this era.

83
Conclusion

Although organizational commitment is a main part of the survival and continuity

of any school, the researchers having careful interviewed teachers of Sadat
educational Primary Public School directory, can confirm that they were not able
to find a teacher centric approach by this educational directory in order to retain its
teachers and/or enhance their level of organizational commitment.

It is also statically evident that teachers’ level of normative commitment is much

more than their levels of both affective and continuance commitment. Accordingly,
teachers are committed because they feel an obligation to stay in their schools.
This only happens when people feel that their organizational values are the same
as their personal values.

Given the conducted interviews, it seems that the aspects of workplace spirituality,
cultural diversity, organizational culture and uncertainty also play a major role in
shaping teachers’ organizational commitment in the chosen educational directory.
It is needless to say that a full awareness of the institutional role school executives
take on indicates a kind of integration with the political, economic, societal, and
cultural changes existing in the surrounding environment. Accordingly, issues such
as women empowerment, youth empowerment, religious equality, and tolerance
should be listed in the agenda of any Egyptian school because of their impact on
organizational commitment of teachers as evident from the conducted interviews.
Additionally, feeling worried and uncertain about both job related characteristics
(job roles, responsibilities and promotion opportunities) and strategic aspects
(country sustainability, security, and economic performance) are main determinants
for a teacher’s level of organizational commitment.

Finally, both organizational culture traits and workplace spirituality dimensions

have appeared to be two key variables in not only deciding teachers’ level of
organizational commitment but also in the way their attitudes towards their job
roles, career achievements and inner self-actualization are shaped.

Limitations and future research opportunities

Some limitations of this study need to be brought to attention. First, owing to

time constraints, it was not possible to conduct more than fifty interviews. From a
methodological point of view, the answer to the second question is based mainly
on the interviews. It appears that the participants mostly answered the interview
questions in a rather normative and socially desirable manner. Accordingly, it
is difficult for the researcher to verify the data even when relying on personal
observations alone. However, future research could include a second data gathering
instrument to evade this matter.

84
As a second methodological aspect, a remark regarding the participants has to
be made. Unfortunately, it was not possible for the researchers to choose all the
participants on a one to one basis. In this respect, Sadat educational primary public
school directory was left to choose fifteen of its teachers. The researchers depended
on their personal relationships to contact an additional number of participants
because teachers themselves were not willing to take part in this research. This
may be because they were not invited by the Sadat directory to participate.

It would also have added to the validity of results had the researcher avoided the
Hawthorne effect during interviews by appointing an external interviewer. As
such, interaction with participants may not be affected by the researcher’s views or
orientations and all biases would be avoided.

Another issue to consider is avoiding culturally biased and offensive questions

that spur controversy or offense. This was done successfully in the selection and
wording of the interview questions, and it is recommended that in future research
all questions be screened for any biases or negative implications especially given
the sensitive situation the country is in at the time of the research.

Finally, not everything said could be used as data. Sometimes, the interviewees
emphasized that recording would be awkward and thus refrained from it. However,
sufficient data is analyzed to give insights into the teachers’ commitment level.

In sum, this study focuses on determining the level of affective, continuance and
normative commitment in Sadat Educational Primary Public School Directory. It
also extends to determine the factors affecting level of teachers’ organizational
commitment within this directory. Accordingly, it seems of great importance
that further research studies are needed to clarify how the level of teachers’
organizational commitment can be enhanced.

Coping with the fact that organizational commitment strongly affects the whole
organizational performance and subsequently success, empirically examination of
the effects of workplace spirituality, cultural diversity, organizational culture, and
uncertainty on organizational commitment may help in building a human-centric
approach for cultivating the current and future level of employees’ organizational
commitment; the matter that is so beneficial for an organization’s continuity.

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88
 6.2 WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY AND
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT:
A STUDY ON THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS TEACHERS
IN MENOUFIA (EGYPT)

Mohamed Mousa
Estonian Business School
Mohamed.mousa@ebs.ee

Ruth Alas
Estonian Business School
Ruth.alas@ebs.ee
DOI: 10.5897/AJBM2016.8031
Article Number: 62D9E5758470
ISSN 1993-8233
African Journal of Business Management
Vol. 10(10), pp. 247-255, 28 May, 2016
Abstract

Due to its significant impact on organizations’ survival and success, workplace

spirituality has gained a popularity in both academic and work environments over
the last decade. This popularity has been created and maintained because of em-
ployees’ feeling of hyper stress and anxiety stemming from the very high demands
and expectations imposed by their organizations. In reaction to such high targets,
employees tend to increase their levels of absenteeism, leave their jobs with less
provocation, raising rates of turnover, and yield very poor results in terms of work
performance. This study has tried to investigate the relationship between work-
place spirituality dimensions and organizational commitment approaches in the
Egyptian public primary schools where teachers show low level of organizational
commitment.

The authors have distributed 200 questionnaires to collect their data and found a
75% response rate of their respondents. By analyzing their data using the SPSS
(version 13), they have discovered that only meaningful work and sense of com-
munity have a significant correlation relationship with organizational commitment
approaches (affective, continuance and normative), whereas organizational values
have a very weak effect on the three approaches of commitment.

Keywords: workplace Spirituality; Organizational Commitment

Introduction

Educational system is always seen as a paradigm for attaining economic soundness

and organizational effectiveness. That’s why; many developing nations put a great
emphasis on its educational process as a step towards their prospective development
(Alzaroo & Hunt, 2003). Egypt is one of the developing countries that have tried
to use education as a mechanism for accelerating its potential to reach the level of
developed country (Mahrous & kortam, 2012).However, Egypt is currently facing
a serious problem that affects the whole educational process; the majority of its
teachers are leaving governmental schools in search for better work opportunities
in the private sector and gulf countries.

Many teachers claim that besides their low salaries, their schools do not show a
sense of community. Others claim that they don’t their work to be meaningful,
while the rest of them admit that they exhibit the same lack of professionalism as

91
other governmental employees do when they mistrust their organizational values,
including work slowdowns, high level of absenteeism, low productivity and high
rates of turnover.
Since governmental schools are the main destination for children of Egyptian low
and middle income families, this lack of commitment may harm not only the whole
educational process but also the whole trials for economic reform. The researcher
has considered what has been said by the teachers themselves and found that sense
of community, meaningful works and organizational values are three dimensions
of workplace spirituality. Accordingly, this study attempts to investigate the
relationship between workplace spirituality and organizational commitment in an
attempt to find a solution for this problem.

Over the last decade, workplace spirituality has gained a currency in both academia
and work arenas. This intangible asset has a considerable effect on the long term
survival and maintenance of any organization (Usman &Danish, 2010). According
to Altaf and Awan (2011) tough competition takes place in our current global and
local markets has fostered companies to set very high targets for their employees.
Accordingly, employees feel a hyper stress and anxiety (Gupta, Kumar & Singh,
2014). This issue causes employees’ poor health and social interactions (Ahiauzu
& Asawo, 2012).

In such climate of suffering, building a spiritual presence of Gods’ values at the

workplace i.e. care, affection, love and peace is a vital for satisfying employees’
inner lives (Daniel & Jardon, 2015). That’s why, many companies i.e. IBM,
Google and Microsoft are currently deploying spiritual lecture sessions, not only
for nourishing their employees’ moral and spiritual lives, but also overcoming
their employees’ anxiety and hyper stress (Tredget, 2001). Such companies have
recently realized that only monetary rewards are not sufficient for upgrading
employees’ self-actualization.

From another perspective, it has been noted that there is a rarity in empirical
research with respect to the relationship between workplace spirituality and
organizational commitment. Organizational commitment has been to seen to be
essential element in any workplace due to its effect on outcomes such as rates of
turnover, absenteeism and then effectiveness (Daniel& Jardon, 2015).

Rego and Cunha (2008, P.4) state that “in the management discourse, commitment
is a central variable, given that more committed people tend to devote higher efforts
to work, thus contributing to organizational performance”. Accordingly, the topic
of organizational commitment has been discussed theoretically and empirically
in many managerial fields such as organizational behavior and human resources
management (Ahiauzu & Asawo, 2012). However, there is a need to find out the
factors that influence employees’ commitment in order to enhance both individual
and organizational effectiveness (Fry, 2003).

92
Considering the limited research conducted to investigate the association between
workplace spirituality and organizational commitment, this study seeks to fill
in this gap and attempts to introduce an approach for enhancing organizational
commitment.

Literature Review

1. Spirituality and Workplace Spirituality

Because spirituality has gained popularity only during the two last decades,
there is a limited amount of empirical research with respect to its impact in work
place. Daniel (2014) considers that changes in both demographic and religious
aspects, besides the improvement in the standard of living as the main drivers for
the popularity of the term spirituality in workplace. Gupta et al (2014) see that
both stress and anxiety, derived from high targets and heavy workloads required
from employees, shape the main motives for the emergence and maintenance
of this term in both the academic and working environments. Moreover, Roof
(2015) highlights that the growing tendency of employees to satisfy their higher
order needs especially those with high cultural and ethical concerns, necessitates
increasing discourse about spirituality.

While it might be thought that workplace spirituality is the same as religion, the
study of (Rego & Conha, 2008) clarifies that spirituality relates to values; whereas
religiosity relates to behaviors. Also, spirituality is much more personal, but
religiosity is much more communal. Malik and Naeem (2010) add that workplace
spirituality is characterized as open-minded, whereas religiosity is viewed as close-
minded and it excludes those who don’t follow the same religion and don’t share
the same beliefs. According to Gupta et al (2014) spirituality can be discussed but
religiosity is inappropriate subject for discussion at the workplace.

Workplace spirituality differs from the usual concept of spirituality. On one hand,
spirituality may be defined as a consistent trial to find an ultimate being (Heschel,
1955). Roof (2015) defines it as “the personal relationship or experience with god
or the divine that informs an individual’s existence and shapes their meaning,
purpose, and mission in daily life. It does not need to encompass religion nor does
it by nature exclude religion”. On the other hand, Ashmos and Duchon (2000)
define workplace spirituality as “the recognition that employees have an inner life
that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context
of community”. It could be also defined as” a framework of organizational values
evidenced in the culture that promote employees’ experience of transcendence
through the work process, facilitating their sense of being connected to others in
a way that provides feelings of completeness and joy “(Jurkiewicz & Giacalone,
2004).

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So, workplace spirituality is about connectedness (Daniel, 2014). Harrington
(2004) sees that spirituality in workplace is about employees who have a same
sense of purpose and meaning in their work. The concept also indicates that
employees can fulfill their spirits through work (Gupta et al, 2014). That’s why
spiritual transformation is vital, not only because of its collaboration to employees’
personal growth, but also because of its ability to build a psychological contract
between employer and employee by which the employee feels valued, either on or
off his job (Dniel & Jardon, 2015; Ahiauzu & Asawo, 2012).

Usman and Danish (2010) indicate that empowering the philosophy of spirituality,
which counts on disseminating the universal values of ethics, norms, rules and
guidance, in workplace aligns employees with their organizations for achieving
success. Also, Quatro (2004) sees that prompting spirituality promotes harmony and
cooperation instead of fear at workplace. Accordingly, the concept of spirituality
has become a buzzword in modern successful businesses. Moreover, companies
such as Boing, AT&T, Pizza Hut and Deloitte have launched programs to motivate
their employees’ spiritual identities (Fry, 2003). Tredget (2001) declares that
workplace spirituality has become a main part of any training and human resources
development program. Although workplace spirituality includes many dimensions,
the researcher has chosen to discuss only three of them (meaningful work, sense of
community, organizational values) in this study.

2. Organizational commitment

Because of the importance of organizational commitment, many studies (Allen &

Meyer (1990), Allen & Meyer (2000), Manion (2004), Steijn & Leisink (2006),
Zainal Abidin, Muda, Hasan and Salleh (2010) and Omer, Anuar, Majid and
Johari (2012)) discussed its context (definition, approaches and consequences).
The organizational commitment definition varies from one researcher to another.
Mowday, Porter and Stears (1982) see commitment as “The willingness to
expend personal, temporal and psychological resources on behalf of a particular
domain”. They explain organizational commitment as “The extent to which
an individual identifies and involved with his or her organization and/or is
unwilling to leave it”. Allen and Meyer (2000) define it as “a psychological state
that characterizes an employee’s relationship with the organization and reduces
the likelihood that he/she will leave it “. Gbadamosi (2003) considers it as
“identification, involvement and loyalty as well as a feeling of obligation to stay
with one’s organization”.

The study of (Sreejesh & Tavleen, 2011) considers commitment towards an

organization as a matter of personal choice, but based on rational judgment.
According to the study of (Meyer & Allen, 1991) organizational commitment
encompasses three approaches: affective, normative and continuance. Allen and
Meyer(2000) mention that affective refers to the emotional attachment to the
organization, while normative commitment describes the psychological contract of

94
values and obligations towards an organization ,whereas continuance commitment
points out the costs associated with leaving the organization.

Sreejesh and Tavleen (2011) state that “affective commitment develops when the
employees become involved in and/or derive their identity from an association with
the organization. Normative commitment develops when employees internalize the
organizational norms through socialization; receive benefits that induce them to
feel the need to reciprocate and/or to accept the terms of a psychological contract.
Continuance commitment develops when the employee perceive that there are no
alternatives other than to remain in the current organization”.

Zainal Abidin, Muda, Hasan and Salleh (2010) claim that employees who identify
with their organization tend to focus much more on their organizational survival
and competiveness. That’s why they do their best to attain better quality work
performance and to fulfill their responsibilities in achieving higher productivity
rates. Moreover, Omar, Anuar, Majid and Johari (2012) highlight that committed
employees are the most valuable assets for any organization. Thus, having
committed employees enhances organizational competitiveness by reducing rates
of turnover and intentions to quit (Omar et al, 2012).

3. Education in Egypt

As said before, education is the backbone for any trial towards economic
development (Alzaroo & Hunt, 2003). Accordingly, Egypt often tries to use
education as a mechanism to foster its prospective advancements as explained by
Mahrous and Kortam (2012). Accordingly to Hargreaves (2001) the education in
Egypt has passed through three stages: the first was 1950-1970, the second was
1970-1981, and the third is 1981 till present. In the first stage (1950-1970), the
educational programs were controlled by the principles of socialism, Arabism
and national consciousness due to the 1952 revolution (Hargreaves, 2001). In the
second stage (1970-1981), the educational system reflected a mixed economy and
divided culture because of the concentrated shift towards establishing an open
economy during this stage (Hargreaves, 2001). In the third stage, despite the fact
that in 1995 the Egyptian ministry of education and higher education described
educational reform as a matter of national survival (Hargreaves, 2001), there was
and still are some negative educational social phenomena such as drug addiction,
slum living conditions and children living in the streets (Soliman & Abd Elmegied,
2010) Also, there was an initiative to train Egyptian teachers in western countries,
but this kind of educational dialogue did not continue for a long period. The halt
of this educational training initiative shows a missing ability to create a real liaison
with any outside resources with the capabilities of assisting Egyptian educational
system reform (Soliman & Abd Elmegied, 2010).

95
Research Methodology

Conceptual framework

This conceptual framework is designed based on a review of previous studies

that had been conducted to demonstrate the relationship between workplace
spirituality and organizational commitment. In this study the proposed independent
variables are: meaningful work, sense of community and organizational values.
Organizational commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative)
function as dependent variables.

Hypotheses

Based on the previous literature review, the researcher will test the following
hypotheses:
• H1: There is a positive connection between workplace spirituality
(meaningful work, sense of community and organizational values) and
affective commitment.
• H2: There is a positive relationship between workplace spirituality
(meaningful work, sense of community and organizational values) and
normative commitment.
• H3: There is a positive relationship between workplace spirituality
(meaningful work, sense of community and organizational values) and
continuance commitment.

Survey Instruments

This quantitative research uses a questionnaire in collecting the primary data.

Most of questions included in the questionnaire are based on established, existing
models, with some modifications made to the original questions with regards to
the cultural aspect of this study sample. The questionnaire prepared for this study
contains three main sections: Demographic variables, organizational commitment
and workplace spirituality. A five –point Likert scale is used for all items under
organizational commitment and workplace spirituality.
• Section A: Demographic Variables: Involves questions about the personal
information of the targeted respondents such as gender, age, marital status,
level of income and organizational tenure.
• Section B: Organizational Commitment: Based on Allen and Mayer’s (1990)
three dimensional model of organizational commitment, this section covers
the three approaches of organizational commitment: affective, continuance
and normative. This section involves three subscales and each subscale
involves eight items.
• Section C: Workplace Spirituality: Based on Gupta, Kumar and Singh’s
(2014) designed survey of workplace spirituality, this section is prepared to
cover three selected dimensions of workplace spirituality: meaningful work,

96
 sense of community and organizational values. This section includes three
subscales, the first subscale involves seven questions about meaningful work,
and the second has seven questions about sense of community, whereas the
third contains five questions about organizational values.

Scope of the study

Teachers who are working in public schools in Menoufia Province, Egypt are the
main population sample of this study .They are chosen as a sample for this study
because they represent the category of Egyptian teachers who are working in
public schools and who are likely to opt for offers from private school or to accept
others from Gulf countries. Also, it deserves to be mentioned that the researcher
can reach to many teachers in this province.

By dividing the population into homogenous subgroups and then taking a simple
random sample from each subgroup, the researcher counts on stratified random
sampling. Such adoption of stratified random sampling reduces any possible bias
and at the same time ensures that the chosen simple random sample represents the
general population.

Since teachers who are working in Egyptian public schools are classified into
five categories: junior teachers, first class teachers, alpha first class teachers,
expert teachers and finally senior teachers, the use of stratified random sampling
guarantees that each subgroup is represented in the chosen sample.

Since it is difficult to determine the size of population in this case, the researcher
has chosen to distribute 200 sets of questionnaires to the targeted respondents.
Needless to say, the sets of questionnaire will be delivered in both Arabic and
English to match the abilities of all targeted respondents and to motivate them to
respond.

Data Analysis

For data analysis, the SPSS will be used to show the normal descriptive statistics
such as frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation. The SPSS Pearson
correlation will be adopted to get the results of hypotheses testing.

Research Findings

As previous stated the researcher distributed 200 sets of questionnaires and he re-
ceived responses from 150 teachers. With the help of stratified random sampling,
the researcher formed the following respondents’ profiles.

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Demographic Variables Items
a) Gender • Male 123
• Female 27
b) Age • below 25 years 15
• 26-30 years 30
• 31-35 years 30
• 36-40 years 25
• 41-45 years 20
• 46-50 years 20
• More than 50 years 10
c) Marital States • Single 40
• Married 74
• Other 36
d) Level of Education • Bachelor 100
• Bachelor + Diploma 48
• Master 2
e) Level of Income • EGP 1200 15
• EGP 1300-2500 60
• EGP 2500-4000 65
• EGP 4000-5500 10
• Above 5500
f) Organizational tenure • Less than 1 year 0
• 1-3 years 45
• 4-6 years 55
• 7-9 years 40
• 10-12 years 10
• Above 15 years
g) Religion • Muslim 145
• Christian 5
h) Work Bases • Full time 150
• Part time 0

Reliability Analysis

The cronbach alpha is used to assess the internal consistency of each of the variables
used in the study. As depicted in Table 1, all variables have adequate levels of
internal consistency and they meet the acceptable standard of 0.60 (Sekaran, 2003).
In this study, the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient is 0.9777 (see Table 1).

98
Table 1. Reliability Analysis

Number of Coefficient
Scale name
items alpha values
Organizational Commitment
Affective commitment 8 0.771
Continuance commitment 8 0.760
Normative commitment 8 0.801
Workplace spirituality – Affective commitment
Meaningful work 7 0.981
Sense of community 7 0.941
Organizational Values 8 0.707
Workplace spirituality – Continuance commitment
Meaningful work 7 0.967
Sense of community 7 0.940
Organizational Values 8 0.840
Workplace spirituality – Normative commitment
Meaningful work 7 0.964
Sense of community 7 0.915
Organizational Values 8 0.705
Total 90 0.977

Hypothesis 1
a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.796 and the value is
highly significant (P= 0.0). This highly significant positive correction
coefficient proves that meaningful work positively affects teachers’
affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.0634, P= 0.0) suggests that when
meaningful work is assigned, there is a 63.4% increase in teachers’ affective
commitment (see Table 2).

Table 2 Correlation and Regression between Affective Commitment and

Meaningful work

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .796 .634 .632 .58654

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.760 and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This highly significant positive correlation coefficient
proves that sense of community positively affects teachers’ affective
commitment. The result (R2= 0.577, P= 0.0) suggests that if employees
work in groups with common purposes, the result is a 57.7 % increase in
affective commitment (see Table 3).

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Table 3 Correlation and Regression, between Affective Commitment and Sense of
community

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .760 .577 .574 .42126

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.142 and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.083) that showing that there is no significant statistical
relationship between organizational values and affective commitment.
The result (R2= 0.020, P= 0.083) shows that even if there is an alignment
with organizational values, there is not any increase in the level affective
commitment (See table 4).

Table 4 Correlation and Regression, between Affective Commitment and

Organizational Values

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .142 .020 .013 .43496

Findings 1: Since only meaningful work and sense of community can affect affective
commitment, and that organizational values have no effect, the first hypothesis is
partly supported. The results show that meaningful work (0.0634) has much more
effect than sense of community (0.577) on the level of affective commitment.

Hypothesis 2
a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.761 and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0).This result indicates that meaningful work positively
affects continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.579, P= 0.0) suggests
that when meaningful work is assigned, there is a 57.9 % increase in
teachers’ continuance commitment (see table 5).

Table 5 Correlation and Regression, between Continuance Commitment and

Meaningful Work

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .761 .579 .576 .51306

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.755 and the value is

highly significant (P= 0.0).This result proves that sense of community can
positively affects continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.570, P= 0.0)
suggests that when teachers work in groups with common purposes, the
result is a 57% increase in the level of teachers’ continuance commitment
(See table 6).

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Table 6 Correlation and Regression, between Continuance Commitment and Sense
of Community

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .755 .570 .567 .38955

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.184 and the values

is moderately significant (P= 0.072), showing no significant effect for
organizational values on the level of continuous commitment. The
result(R2= 0.034, P= 0.072) shows that even if there is teachers’ alignment
with organizational values, there is only a moderate chance that they will
perceive a loss by leaving their school (see table 7).

Table 7 Correlation and Regression, between Continuance Commitment and

Organizational Values

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .184 .034 .027 .72248

Findings 2: Both meaningful work and sense of community affect teachers’ level
of continuance commitment positively, whereas organizational values have no
significant effect. Accordingly, hypothesis 2 is not fully accepted .The results also
show that meaningful work (0.579) has much more effect than sense of community
(0.570) on the level of continuance commitment.

Hypothesis 3
a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.811 and the value is
highly significant (P= 0.0).This highly significant and positive correlation
coefficient implies that meaningful work can positively affect teachers’
normative commitment. Specifically, the result (R2= 0.658, P= 0.0) suggests
when meaningful work is assigned, there is a 65.8% increase in teachers’
feeling that they are in the right organization (See table 8).

Table 8 Correlation and Regression, between Normative Commitment and

Meaningful Work

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .811 .658 .656 .50979

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.813 and the value is highly
significant (P=0.0). This highly significant and positive value of correlation
coefficient implies that sense of community positively affect the teachers’
normative commitment. The result (R2= 0.661, P= 0.0) suggests that if
teachers work in group, their feeling of obligation towards their school
increases by 66.1% (see table 9).

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Table 9 Correlation and Regression, between Normative Commitment and Sense
of Community

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .813 .661 .659 .31920

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.192 and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.018).This result shows a very weak correlation between
organizational values and teachers’ normative commitment .The result (R2=
0.037, P= 0.018) shows that even if there is an alignment with organizational
values, there is a moderate chance of increasing teachers’ level of normative
commitment (See table 10).

Table 10 Correlation and regression, between Normative commitment and

Organizational values

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .192 .037 .031 .30253

Findings 3: Both meaningful work and sense of community affect teachers’

normative commitment, whereas organizational values have a very weak effect.
Thus, hypothesis 3 is partly accepted. The results show that sense of community
(0.661) has much more effect than meaningful work (0.685) on the level of
normative commitment.

Discussion and Conclusion

This study has investigated the relationship between workplace spirituality

dimensions (meaningful work, sense of community and organizational values) and
organizational commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative). In
concordance with the study of (Rego & Cunha, 2008), the results of the current
study shows a strong positive relationship between both meaningful work and
sense of community with affective, continues and normative commitment.

In contrast to Jurkiewicz and Giacalone (2004), and Rego and Cunha (2008),
this study discovers a very week relationship between organizational values
and the three approaches of commitment. The researcher thinks that aspects of
organizational values (e.g. caring about the poor, differentiating between right
and wrong, connecting with the mission of the schools and etc.) are considered
unattainable luxuries for teachers and other public employees in Egypt who
witness an increasing rate of corruption with minimum monthly wages of 1200
EGP (Corruption in Egipt, Minimum monthly wages).

Meaningful work has emerged to be the most dominant variable in predicting

teachers’ affective and continuance commitment to their school, whereas, sense

102
of community tends to be the most influential dimension in term of normative
commitment.

Guided by the results of this study and the result of the studies of Ashmos and
Duchon (2000), Jurkiewicz and Giacalone (2004), Daniel (2010), Malik and Naeem
(2011) and Roof (2015), a work climate in which teachers perform meaningful
work and work in a group enhances their likelihood of reaching full capacity and
realizing full potential at work. That’s why ,the study of (Ahiauzu & Asawo, 2012)
states that exercising spirituality in workplace leads to higher performance and
better quality of work by decreasing employees’ levels of absenteeism and rates
of turnover.

Given the history of public schools in Egypt, the ministry of education and each
school’s administration need to rethink the psychological and cultural mechanism
they adopt when dealing with their teachers. Schools need to understand that
monetary aspects alone are not sufficient for satisfying teachers’ inner and outer
lives. Thus, promoting and maintaining spiritual practices such as yoga classes,
meditation and training sessions on spirituality are important for creating a healthy
and happy work environment where teachers feel valued and their full capacities
are utilized for the betterment of their schools.

In conclusion, the present study has tried to fill in a gap in management literature
by examining the relationship between workplace spirituality dimensions and
organizational commitment variable. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge,
this study appears to be the first to discuss workplace spirituality and organizational
commitment in Egypt and the whole Arab region. That’s why the results may seem
to be different, to some degree, from those results yielded by studies done in Europe.

This study may be subject to criticism because it excluded moderating variables

such as turnover values, organizational satisfaction and organizational citizenship
behaviors. However, such moderating variable may be considered in future research
done by the researcher and/or other scholars in the management academic field.

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 6.3 CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND TEACHER
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT:
A STUDY OF TEACHERS OF PUBLIC PRIMARY
SCHOOLS IN MENOUFIA (EGYPT)

Mohamed Mousa
Estonian Business School
Mohamed.mousa@ebs.ee

Ruth Alas
Estonian Business School
Ruth.alas@ebs.ee
International Business Research; Vol. 9, No. 7; 2016
ISSN 1913-9004 E-ISSN 1913-9012
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education
Abstract

With globalization and mounting global uncertainties, cultural diversity has

become one of the main factors affecting both in–and–out life of any organization.
Hence, responding to cultural diversity is a challenging organizational priority in
order to achieve organizational goals. It entails absorbing differences and creating
a healthy environment in which all employees feel valued, and their talents are
fully utilized. During the last three decades, organizational commitment has gained
popularity by examining employees’ link to their organization. It has a tremendous
role in shaping the future of organizational orientation. This study explores the link
between cultural diversity challenges and organizational commitment approaches
by conducting a quantitative study of teachers in a public primary school in
Menoufia province (Egypt). Both correlation and regression analysis of collected
data indicate that it is true to assume that not all challenges of cultural diversity
have a positive effect on organizational commitment approaches.

Keywords: cultural diversity; communication; discrimination; training;

organizational commitment; Egypt

Introduction

The concern for cultural diversity has been widely accepted as an effective business
issue, and it sets a new framework for people management practices in the 21st
century (Subeliani & Tsogas, 2005). Reportedly, initial efforts to address cultural
diversity focused mainly on gender and race (Morrison, Lumby & Sood, 2006).

In addition to political, social, educational, and economic challenges, globalization

has led to a development in cultural competences and to a world that is increasingly
diverse (Pitts & Wise, 2010). Consequently, cultural diversity has broadly
expanded to include gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical
ability, income, work experience, marital status, educational background and other
differences that may affect the workplace (Heuberger, Gerber & Anderson, 2010).

Responding to cultural diversity is one of the main challenges facing any

organization. It entails absorbing differences and creating a productive environment
in which employees feel valued while their talents are utilized for the attainment
of organizational goals (Findler, Wind & Berak, 2007). Moreover, Kormanik and
Rajan (2010) explain that managing diversity means becoming aware of behaviors,

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acknowledging biases, and focusing on job codes of conduct. Indeed, cultural
diversity is no longer limited to management intervention or affirmative action,
but it can be employed as a strength to accomplish organizational missions (Pitts
and Wise, 2010). Accordingly, developing human resources knowledge about
the potential benefits that differences can bring to the workplace is an emergent
organizational practice (Vuuren, Westhuizen& Walt, 2012). Therefore, many
universities have started to pursue well thought-out strategies of developing their
human resources to accept, respect, tolerate and appreciate others as a kind of
alignment with global trends (Heuberger et al, 2010).

In a different perspective, organizational commitment has become a keystone

in both management and behavioral science over the last 30 years (Rajendran
& Raduan, 2005). Many studies (Chang, 1999; Clercq & Rius, 2007; Kaur &
Sharma, 2015 and Mousa & Alas, 2016) affirm its importance in examining the
state of employees’ organizational membership and subsequently in forecasting the
future of this membership. Additionally, Chang (1999); Haim (2007); Sharma &
Sinha (2015); and Alas & Mousa (2016) maintain that organizational commitment
provides an explanation for employees’ misuse of power, irresponsibility,
inefficiency and carelessness in work. Moreover, it often interprets employees’
modes of behavior in face of organizational crisis (Chang, 2002). Allen and Meyer
(1990) have classified organizational commitment into three approaches: affective,
continuance, and normative, which will be illustrated later in detail.

Education is often seen as a paradigm on which developing nations rely to accelerate

their potential growth (Alzaroo & Hunt, 2003). Egypt is one of the developing
nations that have tried to use education as a mechanism for attaining economic
soundness and organizational effectiveness (Mahrous & Kortam, 2012). Egypt is
currently facing a serious problem that affects the whole educational process; the
majority of its teachers are leaving their jobs in governmental schools in search for
better work opportunities in the private sector and gulf countries.

Many teachers claim that besides their low salaries, they are afraid of the changes
of their job roles, responsibilities and promotion opportunities. Others claim that
they suffer from the continuous changes in their leadership and subsequently
functions within their work units. Since governmental schools are the main
destination for Egyptian children of low and middle income families, this lack of
teachers’ commitment may harm not only the whole educational process but also
the intended economic reform.

Considering the above and the limited research conducted to investigate the
association between cultural diversity and organizational commitment of Egyptian
teachers, this study seeks to fill in this gap by examining such association in public
primary schools in Menoufia, Egypt.

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Literature review

1. Cultural diversity

Research about cultural diversity started in the USA in 1970 by investigating

positions of socio-demographic groups and the inequality derived from racio-ethnic
lines and gender (Zanoni et al., 2009). The first studies about cultural diversity
aimed at understanding how gender and race constitute the main factors of conflict
inside each organization (Dogra, 2001) and subsequently what constraints faced
ethnic minorities and women in the workplace.

Before examining the meaning of cultural diversity, it is important to identify

in more specific terms the meaning of culture and diversity. Culture means “the
collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group
or category of people from another” (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005, p.28). The
concept ‘diversity’ refers to “the state of being different or varied. The term is
derived from the root “divers” or “diverse” which in turn is derived from the Latin
diversus, meaning: turned in different directions” (Sinclair, 1999 according to
Vuuren et al., 2012).

According to Vuuren et al. (2012, p. 156) cultural diversity is “the differences

in ethnicity, background, historical origins, religion, socio-economic status,
personality, disposition, nature and many more”. Moreover, Heuberger, Gerber
and Andersson (2010, p.107) defined it as “many types of differences, such as
racial, ethnic, religious, gender, sexual orientation, and physical ability, among
others”. The concept of cultural diversity has been referred to as “a source of
sustained competitive advantage derived from a large pool of resources, ideas,
opinions, values, resulting in a broader range of task-related knowledge, abilities
and skills than homogeneous ones” (Zanoni et al, 2009, p. 11).

Although the discourse on cultural diversity started in the USA by focusing on

differences in ethnicity and gender, it now goes beyond this narrow range to include
differences among individuals (tall, short, thin, bald, blonde, intelligent, physically
or mentally disabled, and so on) and differences among subgroups in terms of age,
sexual preferences, socio-economic status, religious affiliation, language, and so
on (Vuuren et al, 2012). That’s why Humphrey, Bartolo, Alc, Calleja, Hofsaess,
Janikofa, Lous, Vilkeine & Westo (2006) consider any society as constituting a
diverse range of groups that have diverse needs.

Concerning the benefits of cultural diversity, Ogbonna and Harris (2006)

indicate that with a positive appraisal of cultural diversity, firms may decide to
recruit diverse international workforces in order to have better access to and
understanding of different markets. It is a case of broadening business range by
consciously selecting a wider variety of diverse personal qualities in order to
attain competitive success. Roberson and Park (2007) consider that a multicultural

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workforce results in productivity and competitive benefit. In addition, working
in/with a multicultural workforce helps in attracting and retaining talents. This
helps in reducing absenteeism and turnover. Moreover, Humphrey et al. (2006)
stress that educating people to appreciate cultural diversity entails a support for the
values of inclusion and solidarity. Countries can’t mirror any democratic norms
without promoting respect for diversity and its corresponding values of freedom,
equality, and tolerance.

In order to demonstrate commitment to cultural diversity, organizations adequately

address both tacit and explicit knowledge (e.g. making a business case for
diversity, providing opportunities for intergroup contact, and adopting culturally
relevant concepts through experimental learning) in their practices (King, Gulick
& Avery, 2010). That is why academic scholars advocate that meeting personal,
organizational, and social needs for cultural diversity requires tailoring initiatives
(training, coaching, workshops, mentoring, and special courses) to develop a kind
of awareness of cultural diversity (Roberson, Kulik, & Pepper, 2001). Accordingly,
many educational and business organizations have changed their orientation from
seeing cultural diversity training as a one-time seminar experience to a continuous
training program taken at regular intervals (e.g. monthly) (Misra and McMahon,
2006). Additionally, many organizations have started to integrate cultural diversity
aspects into other training fields, including sales training, communication training,
and leadership training. This would foster employee engagement into multiple
cultural diversity training programs during their careers (Roberson et al, 2001).
According to Devine, Baum, Hearns and Devine (2007), for effective management
of cultural diversity, organizations should overcome the following three main
challenges: First, communication challenges which reflect the lack of knowledge
and uncertainty of how people who are different receive and interpret behaviors of
others. Abidin et al (2010) indicate that the importance of communication derives
from employees’ need to know what is expected from them, how to implement what
is expected from them, and how to respond to the expected feedback. Second, the
discrimination challenge reflects unjustified intentional negative actions towards
members of a group simply because of their membership in this group (Ogbonna &
Harris, 2006). Third, the training challenge means responding to legal and social
pressure, remaining competitive in a marketplace, and adapting with tolerant
moral standards by designing programs for enhancing employees’ awareness and
acceptance of others (Wentling & Rivas, 1999 and King, Gulick & Avery, 2010).

2. Organizational commitment

Even though the concept “organizational commitment” has appeared in the early
1970s to assess employees’ affective attachment towards their employer, the
concept has evolved to discuss employees’ behaviors within their organizations
and subsequently to occupy a noticeable space in management academic discourse
(Clercq & Rius, 2007; Kaur & Sharma, 2015).

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Organizational commitment has been defined by Porter et al. (1974) as “an
acceptance of the organizational goals, willingness to put the maximum
effort on part of the organization, and a desire to maintain membership in the
organization”. Mowday, Porter and Stears (1982) consider it as “The extent to
which an individual identifies and involved with his or her organization and/or is
unwilling to leave it”. It also represents “a psychological state that characterizes an
employee’s relationship with the organization and reduces the likelihood that he/
she will leave it” (Allen & Meyer, 2000). Moreover, Gbadamosi (2003) considers
it as “identification, involvement and loyalty as well as a feeling of obligation
to stay with one’s organization”, whereas, Haim (2007) states that organizational
commitment is “a rational behavior of employees, designed to protect their
occupational and employment assets in terms of salary and benefits, and as a
function of tenure”. In their seminal research article, Allen and Meyer (1990) have
classified organizational commitment into three approaches: affective, continuance
and normative.
• Affective commitment
This refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to, integration with,
and involvement with his organization (Bryant et al., 2007). Enriquez et al.
(2001) elaborate that organizational objectives, vision, and level of freedom
employees enjoy are three determinants for the level of employees’ affective
commitment. Perry (2004) points out that promoting healthy, friendly and
supportive discussions with supervisors may positively affect the level of
employees’ affective commitment.
• Continuance commitment
This refers to an employee’s perceived costs of leaving his organization
(Bryant et al, 2007). Becker (1960) indicates that employees invest time,
effort, health, money, and so on in their organizations. Such investments
strongly affect their decisions and/or intentions to leave or remain in their
organizations. Accordingly, Sharma & Sinha (2015) maintain that an increase
in employees’ age and tenure within organizations raises their perceived cost
of leaving it. Employees may also think about their pension, knowledge, job
security, and unused vacations upon considering the decision to leave their
jobs (Sharma & Sinha, 2015).
• Normative Commitment
This reflects an employee’s obligation to stay in his or her organization
(Bryant et al, 2007). Organizational culture, rewards, punishments, and
employee autonomy play a vital role in deciding the level of normative
commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1997; Chang, 2002; Haar & Spell, 2004, and
Sharma & Sinha, 2015).

Due to the importance of organizational commitment, many studies (Mowday et

al., 1982; Meyer & Allen, 1997; Chang, 1999; Allen & Meyer, 2000; Chang, 2002;
Abidin et al., 2010 and Mousa & Alas, 2016) have focused on discussing and
investigating its context (definition, approaches and consequences). Furthermore,
Li, Ahlstrom, and Ashkanasy (2010) highlight that the importance of organizational

113
commitment is derived from its strong impact on organizational performance and
subsequently, organizational success. Abidin, Muda, Hasan and Salleh (2010) claim
that employees who identify with their organization tend to focus much more on
their organizational survival and competiveness. That explains why they do their
best to attain better quality work performance and to fulfill their responsibilities
in achieving higher productivity rates. Moreover, Omar, Anuar, Majid and Johari
(2012) highlight that committed employees are the most valuable assets for
any organization. Thus, having committed employees enhances organizational
competitiveness by reducing rates of turnover and intentions to quit (Omar et al,
2012).

From a different perspective, Haim (2007) raises the argument of whether or

not organizations should keep their long-term commitment to their workplace
despite the on-going technologization and globalization. He indicates that there
is a growing trend towards downsizing and outsourcing of labor activities which
may yield a need to restructure the meaning and measurement of the concept of
‘organizational commitment’.

3. Egypt and cultural diversity

The Arab Republic of Egypt, also known as “Misr” or “Egypt”, is the country
that has the largest population in the Middle East and the Arab region. Egypt is
situated in the eastern part of North Africa. It occupies a strategic location owing to
the Suez Canal, a vital waterway for the world’s commodities especially oil. This
country stretches from the border with Libya in the west to the Gaza strip in the
east. Due to its history, location, population, culture, and military power, Egypt is
perceived by the world as a leader in the Arab region.

Based on the OECD 2008 report, Egypt experienced a significant economic growth
from the year 2000 to the year 2008. As the economic performance of the country
was ambitious in financial and industrial fronts, the country attracted many European
and multinational companies to invest and run businesses such as Vodafone, City
Bank, HSBC bank, and others. Furthermore, it attracted many hundreds of foreign
industrial investors to invest in small and medium-sized enterprises there. The
caliber and performance of the foreign employees in these companies surpassed
that of Egyptian employees, and this created more competition in the labor market.
Given the previous, a change in mentalities of the Egyptian workforce has
occurred. Local citizens are now more eager to improve their skills to be able to
join the workforce in private and foreign companies and banks. These companies,
especially the European ones, have started to recruit Egyptian graduates with some
professional and foreign educational certificates; such as a Masters of Business
Administration, Masters of Science, or International certificates in finance.
Moreover, English has become the main language of communication inside private
companies. Proficiency in English is perceived as a basic requirement in any job
description.

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There is no doubt that political stability was the main factor in this notable economic
development during the years 2000 to 2008. However, the existing political stability
at that time does not mean that there were no challenges. Absence of freedom, low
quality education, unequal distribution of wealth, inadequate infrastructure, poor
services, and violations of human rights were the phenomena distinguishing this
country all through the first decade of the 21st century (Bauer, 2013). All these
factors instigated the need to revolt against the deteriorating state of the country.

In 2011, Egypt witnessed a revolution with the aim of overthrowing its dictator
president to attain political, cultural and social freedom; however, there have not
been any significant changes in the political, economic and social justices up till
now. Since this time, strikes and protests have constituted undisputed facets of
Egyptians’ daily lives; many religious and cultural groups such as Christians,
Muslim Shia, and Baha’is have been calling for their religious rights (Stel, 2013).
Local workers have been demanding a discernable increase in their wages.
Women and youth are seeking empowerment. Consequently, some have recorded
an escalating rate of violent events in most major cities in Egypt. And religious
scholars have started to instruct Egyptian citizens to accept each other and to respect
their differences. This harsh environment is an ideal climate for disseminating the
values “cultural diversity” and commitment.

Research Methodology

Conceptual framework

The conceptual framework of this study is designed based on a review of previous

studies that have been conducted to demonstrate the relationship between cultural
diversity and organizational commitment. In this study, the proposed independent
variables are: communication, discrimination and training. Organizational
commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative) function as
dependent variables.

Hypotheses

Based on the previous literature review, the researcher will test the following
hypotheses:
• H1: not all cultural diversity challenges (communication, discrimination
and training) have a positive relationship with affective commitment.
• H2: not all cultural diversity challenges (communication, discrimination
and training) have a positive relationship with normative commitment.
• H3: not all cultural diversity challenges (communication, discrimination
and training) have a positive relationship with continuance commitment.

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Survey Instruments

This quantitative research uses a questionnaire to collect primary data. Most

questions included in the questionnaire are based on established, existing models,
with some modifications made to the original questions with regards to the cultural
aspect of this study sample. The questionnaire prepared for this study contains three
main sections: Demographic variables, organizational commitment and cultural
diversity. A five–point Likert scale is used for all items under organizational
commitment and cultural diversity.
• Section A: Demographic Variables: Involve questions about the personal
information of the targeted respondents such as gender, age, marital status,
level of income and organizational tenure.
• Section B: Organizational Commitment: is based on Allen and Mayer’s
(1990) three dimensional model of organizational commitment. This covers
the three approaches of organizational commitment: affective, continuance
and normative. This section also includes three subscales, and each subscale
has eight items.
• Section C:cultural diversity: Given the three components of cultural
diversity suggested by Devine et al. (2007), the researchers of this study have
prepared this section to cover three selected challenges of cultural diversity:
communication, discrimination and training. This section includes three
subscales, the first subscale involves five questions about communication,
and the second has six questions about discrimination, and the third contains
four questions about training.

Scope of the study

Teachers who are working in public schools in Menoufia Province, Egypt are the
main population sample of this study. They are chosen as a sample for this study
because they represent the category of Egyptian teachers who are working in
public schools and who are likely to opt for offers from private schools or to accept
others from Gulf countries. Also, it deserves to be mentioned that the researcher
was able to reach many teachers in this province.

By dividing the population into homogenous subgroups and then taking a simple
random sample from each subgroup, the researcher relies on stratified random
sampling in order to reduce any possible bias and at the same time ensure that the
chosen simple random sample represents the general population.

Since teachers who are working in Egyptian public schools are classified into five
categories: junior teachers, first class teachers, alpha first class teachers, expert
teachers and senior teachers, the use of stratified random sampling guarantees that
each subgroup is represented in the chosen sample. And because it is difficult to
determine the size of population in this case, the researcher has chosen to distribute
200 sets of questionnaires to the targeted respondents. Needless to say, the sets of

116
questionnaire will be delivered in both Arabic and English to match the abilities of
all targeted respondents and to motivate them to respond.

Data Analysis

For data analysis, the SPSS was used to obtain descriptive statistics of frequency
distributions, means, and standard deviations. The SPSS Pearson correlation was
adopted to enable hypotheses testing.

Research Findings

As previously stated, the researchers distributed 200 sets of questionnaires and

received responses from 150 teachers. With the help of stratified random sampling,
the researchers formed the following profiles for respondents (see Table 1)

Table 1. Demographics

Demographic Variables Items Count

Gender Male 123
Female 27
Age below 25 years 15
26-30 years 30
31-35 years 30
36-40 years 25
41-45 years 20
46-50 years 20
More than 50 years 10
Marital Status Single 40
Married 74
Other 36
Level of Education Bachelor 100
Bachelor + Diploma 48
Master 2
Level of Income EGP 1200 15
EGP 1300-2500 60
EGP 2500-4000 65
EGP 4000-5500 10
Above 5500 0

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Organizational tenure Less than 1 year 0
1-3 years 45
4-6 years 55
7-9 years 40
10-12 years 10
Above 15 years 0
Religion Muslim 145
Christian 5
Work Bases Full time 150
Part time 0

Reliability Analysis

The Cronbach alpha is used to assess the internal consistency of each of the
variables used in the study. As depicted in Table 1, all variables have adequate
levels of internal consistency, and they meet the acceptable standard of 0.60
(Sekaran, 2003). In this study, the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient is 0.907 (see Table
2).

Table 2: Reliability Analysis

Scale name Number of items Coefficient alpha values

Organizational Commitment 24 0.904
Affective commitment 8 0.771
Continuance commitment 8 0.760
Normative commitment 8 0.801
Cultural diversity 15 0.707
Communication 5 0.804
Discrimination 6 0.745
Training 4 0.715
Total 39 0.907

Hypothesis 1

a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.695, and this value is

highly significant (P= 0.0). This positive correction coefficient proves that
communication positively affects teachers’ affective commitment. The result
(R2= 0.483, P= 0.0) suggests that when communication is assigned, there is
a 48.3 % increase in teachers’ affective commitment (see Table 3).

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Table 3. Correlation and Regression between Communication and Affective
Commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .695 .483 .479 .367

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -0.398, and the value is

highly significant (P= 0.0). This negative correlation coefficient proves that
discrimination negatively affects teachers’ affective commitment. The result
(R2= 0.159, P= 0.0) suggests that if teachers feel discrimination, the result
is a 15.9 % decrease in affective commitment (see Table 4).

Table 4. Correlation and Regression between Discrimination and Affective

Commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.398 .159 .153 .468

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.745, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.00).This positive correction coefficient proves that training
positively affects teachers’ affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.555,
P= 0.0) suggests that when training exists, there is a 55.5 % increase in
teachers’ affective commitment (see Table 5).

Table 5. Correlation and Regression between Affective Commitment and

Organizational Values

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .745 .555 .552 .340

Findings 1: Since both communication and training positively affect affective

commitment whereas discrimination negatively affects it, the first hypothesis is
fully supported. The results show that training (.555) has much more effect than
communication (0.483) on the level of affective commitment.

Hypothesis 2

a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.634, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This result indicates that communication positively
affects continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.402, P= 0.0) suggests
that when communication is well-utilized, there is a 40.2 % increase in
teachers’ continuance commitment (see table 6).

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Table 6. Correlation and Regression between Continuance Commitment and
Meaningful Work

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .634 .402 .398 .422

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of – 0.369, and the value is

highly significant (P= 0.0). This result proves that discrimination negatively
affects continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.136, P= 0.0) suggests
that when teachers experience any kind of discrimination, the result is a
13.6% decrease in the level of teachers’ continuance commitment (See table
7).

Table 7. Correlation and Regression between Discrimination and Continuance

Commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.369 .136 .130 .507

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.631, and the value is

significant (P= 0.00), showing a significant effect for training on the level
of continuous commitment. The result (R2= 0.399, P= 0.000) shows that if
teachers are trained well, their level of continuance commitment increases
by 39.9 % (see table 8).

Table 8. Correlation and Regression between Training and Continuance

Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .631 .399 .395 .423

Findings 2: Both communication and training positively affect teachers’ level

of continuance commitment positively, whereas discrimination has a negative
effect on it. Accordingly, hypothesis two is fully accepted. The results also show
that communication (0.402) has much more effect than training (0.399) and
discrimination (0.136) on the level of continuance commitment.

Hypothesis 3

a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.620, and the value is

highly significant (P= 0.0). This positive correlation coefficient implies
that communication can positively affect teachers’ normative commitment.
Specifically, the result (R2= 0.384, P= 0.0) suggests when communication is
well-employed, there is a 38.4% increase in teachers’ feeling that they are in
the right organization (See table 9).

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Table 9. Correlation and Regression between Communication and Normative
Commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .620 .384 .380 .463

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of - 0.295, and the value is highly
significant (P=0.0). This negative value of correlation coefficient implies
that discrimination negatively affects the teachers’ normative commitment.
The result (R2= 0.087, P= 0.0) suggests that if teachers experience a kind of
discrimination, their feeling of obligation towards their school decreases by
8.7% (see table 10).

Table 10. Correlation and Regression between Discrimination and Normative

Commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.295 .087 .081 .564

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.530, and the value is

highly significant (P= 0.0). This result shows a positive correlation between
training and teachers’ normative commitment. The result (R2= 0.281, P=
0.00) shows that even if training is well-created and managed, there is a
chance of increasing teachers’ level of normative commitment by 28.1%
(See table 11).

Table 11. Correlation and Regression, between Training and Normative

Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .530 .281 .277 .500

Findings 3: Both communication and training positively affect teachers’

normative commitment, whereas discrimination has a negative effect. Thus, the
third hypothesis is accepted. The results show that communication (.384) has
much more effect than training (0.281) and discrimination (0.087) on the level of
normative commitment.

Discussion and conclusion

This study has attempted to examine the relationship between culture diversity
challenges (communication, discrimination and training) and organizational
commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative). In concordance
with the study of Abidin et al. (2010), the results of the current study show a strong

121
positive relationship between communication and organizational commitment
approaches (affective, continuance and normative). In line with the study of (Alas
& Mousa, 2016) the results of this study affirm the importance of diversity training
for enhancing organizational effectiveness. Moreover, the statistical results
explore a positive relationship between training and organizational commitment
approaches. Additionally, the statistical results of this study indicate a negative
correlation between discrimination and organizational commitment approaches
(affective, continuance and normative).

Training has emerged to be the most dominant variable in predicting teachers’

affective commitment to their schools, whereas, communication tends to be the
most influential factors in terms of both continuance and normative commitment.
As illustrated by Alas & Mousa (2016), cultural diversity is viewed as a main
challenge in today’s schools. Along with other factors such as racial differences,
gender, language and religion, absorbing cultural diversity needs to be included
as part of the school’s organizational strategy and/ or culture (Hite & McDonald,
2006 and Alas & Mousa, 2016). Managing teachers’ cultural diversity allows
schools to adjust to the socio-cultural shifts in the societies where they work in
and then constitute policies, courses, initiatives, and practices that disseminate the
soul of equality and tolerance. Accordingly, any poor planning and/ or execution
for cultural diversity aspects may yield to many struggles that subsequently hinder
teachers’ level of organizational commitment.

Given the history of public schools in Egypt, the ministry of education and school
administrations need to understand that cultural diversity management is no longer
limited to management intervention, but it should be employed as a considerable,
recognizable, and adoptable policy. Thus, promoting and maintaining cultural
diversity practices such as inclusion, integration, solidarity, tolerance and equality
are important for creating a productive work environment where teachers feel
appreciated and often have a desire to continue their memberships in their schools.
This study may be subject to criticism for excluding moderating variables such
as turnover values, organizational satisfaction, and organizational citizenship
behaviors. However, such moderating variables may be considered in future
research by the researcher and/or other scholars in the academic management field.
Given the importance of cultural diversity for future teacher organizational
commitment, an investigation should be conducted to determine whether or
not cultural diversity is involved in teachers’ development initiatives (training,
coaching, mentoring and etc.) and under which learning paradigm (a discrete
course, a discussion woven throughout teachers’ courses, or a stand-alone training).
This may assist in identifying the extent to which school administrations may
employ cultural diversity practices (tolerance, equality, solidarity and inclusion) in
enhancing teachers’ emotional feelings towards their schools and hence decreasing
their intentions to leave. Moreover, applying the same research approach in another
organizational setting (private sector and/ or non-profitable organizations) may
assist in affirming or adding to the results of current research.

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 6.4 UNCERTAINTY AND TEACHERS’
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN EGYPTIAN
PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Mohamed Mousa,
Estonian Business School
Mohamed.mousa@ebs.ee

Ruth Alas
Estonian Business School
Ruth.alas@ebs.ee
European Journal of Business and Management
ISSN 2222-1905 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2839 (Online)
Vol.8, No.20, 2016
Abstract: Ranging from daily to strategic decisions, uncertainty is an integral
part of the decision making process in all schools. Regardless of their experience,
teachers are suffering from the lack of information and unpredictable future events
that their schools face. The present study explores the effect of the different types
of uncertainty (strategic, structural, and job-related) on teachers’ organizational
commitment approaches (affective, continuance, and normative).

Upon collecting 150 out of 200 distributed questionnaire sets, the researchers used
correlation and regression to test the hypotheses. The analysis of the collected
data showed a negative correlation between uncertainty types (strategic, structural,
and job-related) and two approaches of organizational commitment (affective and
continuance). No relationship was found between uncertainty types and teachers’
normative commitment.

Keywords: uncertainty; strategic uncertainty; structural uncertainty; job- related

uncertainty; organizational commitment; Egypt

Introduction

The first attempt to describe uncertainty was made in 1921 by Knight who referred
to it as instability in the business environment managers face (Samsami, Hosseini,
Kordnaeij and Azar, 2015). The concept “uncertainty” has received most attention
after the development of e-business and knowledge-driven enterprises in the last
three decades (Koh & Simpson, 2005). Moreover, it has been noted that the concept
uncertainty was originally presented by economists and psychologists. After a
short period of its emergence, it came to be considered a main factor in explaining
strategic management (Porter, 1980), organizational behavior (Pfeffer & Salanick,
1978), organizational learning (Ellis & Shpielberg, 2003), project management
(Karlsen, 2011) and other management concepts.

Song (2015) highlights that uncertainty has come into existence to describe the
lack of information about future events organizations face. Furthermore, Samsami
et al. (2015) indicate that uncertainty has appeared not only to illustrate inability
to take decisions concerning the future but also the implications of these decisions.

Additionally, the studies of (Hall & Saias, 1989; Weick, 1996, and Song, 2013)
elaborate that competing in our current turbulent environment depends mainly on
becoming aware of the rapid, continuous, and uncertain changes organizations face

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on the one hand, and knowing how to manage such uncertainty on the other. This
has fostered the development and application of what is classified as uncertainty
management tools (Raz & Hillson, 2005). Moreover, Koh and Simpson (2005)
mention that agility, which entails a quick reaction to market changes, and
responsiveness, which entails a balanced response to predictable and unpredictable
changes, are the key drivers for facing the challenges of uncertainty.

From another perspective, organizational commitment has been seen as a key

factor in organization and behavior sciences due to its effect on outcomes such
as absenteeism, intentions to leave, turnover and performance (Daniel & Jardon,
2015). Since its appearance in 1970, this concept is used to describe employees’
emotional attachment to their organization, then it has expanded to describe the
relationship between employees and employer, and finally it has been expanded to
encompass both a belief in organizational goals, culture and structure on the one
hand, and a desire to continue organizational membership on the other (Becker,
1960; Buchanan, 1974; Mowday, Porter & Stears, 1982; Gbadamosi, 2003; Omar,
Anuar, Majid & Johari, 2012).

Rego and Cunha (2008, p.4) state that “in the management discourse, commitment
is a central variable, given that more committed people tend to devote higher
efforts to work, thus contributing to organizational performance”. Accordingly
and given its impact on organizational performance, many managerial fields such
as organizational behavior, leadership and human resources management have
handled the topic of organizational commitment theoretically and empirically
(Ahiauzu & Asawo, 2012). However, Fry (2003) affirms the need to explore the
factors influencing employee commitment in order to enhance both individual and
organizational effectiveness.

Education is often seen as a paradigm on which developing nations rely to accelerate

their potential growth (Alzaroo & Hunt, 2003). Egypt is one of the developing
nations that has tried to use education as a mechanism for attaining economic
soundness and organizational effectiveness (Mahrous & Kortam, 2012). Egypt is
currently facing a serious problem that affects the whole educational process; the
majority of its teachers are leaving their jobs in governmental schools in search for
better work opportunities in the private sector and gulf countries.

Many teachers claim that besides their low salaries, they are afraid of the changes
of their job roles, responsibilities and promotion opportunities. Others claim that
they suffer from the continuous changes in their leadership and subsequently
functions within their work units. Since governmental schools are the main
destination for Egyptian children of low and middle income families, this lack of
teachers’ commitment may harm not only the whole educational process but also
the intended economic reform.

Considering the above and the limited research conducted to investigate the
association between uncertainty and organizational commitment of Egyptian

130
teachers, this study seeks to fill in this gap by examining such association in public
primary schools in Menoufia, Egypt.

Literature Review

1. Uncertainty

Uncertainty is one of the most dominant concepts in business literature nowadays.

It has become rare to find a study in the field of management that does not mention
this concept (Samsami, et al., 2015). This stems from the fact that uncertainty
affects not only organizational members but also organizational choices (Song,
2013).

The first trial to conceptualize uncertainty was made by Knight (1921) who defines
it as instability in the business environment organizations face. Garner (1962)
defines it as a characteristic of all future possible implications that are related to
organizational decisions. Milliken (1981) considers it as “an individual’s perceived
inability to predict something accurately”.

Ellis and Shpielberg (2003) classify uncertainty into three categories. The first
category reflects managers’ lack of understanding of how their environment is
changing. The second category reflects the limited ability of mangers to predict the
future of their organizations. The third category reflects the absence of knowledge
and the inability of managers to predict the future of their organizations.

Although the studies of (Deft et al., 1998; Tymon et al., 1998, and Harrison &
Kelly, 2010) affirm that external environment of an organization is considered the
only source of uncertainty, Sinding et al. (1998) indicate that both the external
environment (the nature, rules and measures) and the internal environment
(financial capability, organizational values and information processing) can cause
ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty.

In some literature in the field of economics, economists use uncertainty and risk
interchangeably. However, Mack (1971) states that “the risk exists when two or
more states are possible and the probability of each of them can be determined
with certainty. Uncertainty is used in cases where information is insufficient and
observations are irregular. Deep uncertainty exists when the inferential (logical
reasons) and experimental (observations) foundations of knowledge are weak”.
Accordingly, he believes that uncertainty is wider than risk.

It is worth mentioning that according to Alas and Mousa (2016), managing

uncertainty is considered part of organizational culture and can be dealt with by
knowledge sharing. Hillson (1997) develops a formal maturity model to assess
organizations’ current uncertainty capabilities. This maturity model consists of the
following four levels:

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 • Naïve: at this level, the organization doesn’t fully understand the significance
and the need for uncertainty management.
• Novice: at this level, the organization has started to adopt uncertainty
management. However, an organized formalized approach for managing
this uncertainty is still missing.
• Normalized: at this level, the organization has designed and adopted a
formal integrated approach to manage uncertainty.
• Natural: at this level, the organization has considered uncertainty management
as a main part of its organizational culture. Moreover, it becomes fully aware
of the importance of adopting a continuous integrated approach to manage
such uncertainty.

In their study, Bordia et al. (2004) illustrate three types of uncertainty:

• Strategic uncertainty: uncertainty regarding organization level aspects such
as sustainability, future direction, and nature of business environment that
an organization faces.
• Structural uncertainty: uncertainty derives from internal changes within the
organization. This may include changes in reporting structure, policies, and
functions of work units.
• Job-related uncertainty: uncertainty regarding job responsibilities, job roles,
promotion opportunities, and so forth.

Bordia et al. (2004) considers that uncertainty is of great importance in the

organizational context because it has a positive correlation with work stress
(Pollard, 2001). Also it has a negative correlation with both job satisfaction (Ashford
et al., 1989) and trust (Schweiger & Denisi, 1991). Song (2015) considers that
the public sector organizations have become uncertain because of three factors:
negative image that results from the illegal acts of their members, organization-
specific change that derives from leadership turnover, and finally an uncontrollable
environment that results from changes in legislative support.

From what has preceded above, it appears that uncertainty has its considerable
effect on organizations’ future choices. Needless to say that exploring uncertainty
and knowing how to manage it assists organizations in not only making good
decisions but also expecting good outcomes from these decisions.

2. Organizational commitment

The concept organizational commitment has come into existence in the first few
years of 1970s. Moreover, the concept has gained a rapid popularity between
organization scholars, psychology specialists, and business professional due to
its significance in addressing the relationship between employees and employer
(Becker, 1960; Mowday et al. , 1979; Rajendran & Raduan, 2005 and Omar et al.
2012).

132
The year 1974 witnessed the first contributions to illustrate clear characteristics of
organizational commitment. The contribution was made by Porter et al. and they
specify that the characteristics of organizational commitment as:
• An acceptance of organizational goals.
• A willingness to put the maximum effort on behalf of the organization.
• A desire to maintain membership in the organization.

Buchanan (1974) sees that organizational commitment can be defined as “a

partisan or affective attachment to the aims and values of an organization for its
own sake”. Mowday et al. (1979) see commitment as “The willingness to expend
personal, temporal, and psychological resources on behalf of a particular domain”.
They explain organizational commitment as “The extent to which an individual
identifies and involved with his or her organization and/or is unwilling to leave
it”. Furthermore, Allen and Meyer (2000) consider it as psychological state that
reduces employee’s likelihood of leaving his/ her organization. Meyer and Allen
(1991) have classified organizational commitment into three approaches: affective,
continuance and normative.
• Affective commitment: reflects an employee’s emotional attachment to,
identification with and involvement in his organization (Bryant et al. ,
2007). Perry (2004) points out that a healthy and transparent communication
between managers and employees besides a clear context of organizational
objectives, responsibilities, and justice can support an employee’s affective
commitment.
• Continuance commitment: reflects an employee’s perceived cost of leaving
his/ her organization (Bryant et al. 2007 and Rego & Cunha, 2008). The
studies of (Meyer & Allen, 1997; Haim, 2007 and Abidin et al. 2010) affirm
that an employee’s investments (efforts, job expertise, unused vacation
and so forth in his job affect his decision and/ or intention to leave and/or
continue with his organization.
• Normative commitment: reflects an employee’s obligation to stay in
his organization (Bryant et at. 2007) .Meyer and Allen (1997); Kaur &
Sharma (2015) and Alas & Mousa (2016) show that organizational culture
(knowledge sharing, level of autonomy, open communication, adaptability,
motivation, coaching, learning, rewards and etc.) can be seen as determinants
of an employee’s normative commitment.

Abidin, et al., (2010) claim that employees who identify with their organization
tend to focus much more on their organizational survival and competiveness.
That’s why they do their best to attain better quality work performance and to
fulfill their responsibilities in achieving higher productivity rates. Moreover, Omar,
Anuar, Majid and Johari (2012) highlight that committed employees are the most
valuable assets for any organization. Thus, having committed employees enhances
organizational competitiveness by reducing rates of turnover and intentions to quit
(Omar et al., 2012).

133
In a different perspective, Haim (2007) raises the argument of whether or not
the organizations should keep their long-term commitment/contracts to their
workplace despite the emerging technologization and globalization. He notices
that there is an increasing trend towards downsizing and outsourcing of labor
activities which may yield a need to restructure the meaning and measurement
of the concept organizational commitment. Using Albert Hirschman’s (1970)
model of voice and loyalty, employees can use a range of five behavioral modes
of commitment in facing organizational crisis: Exit, voice, loyalty, neglect and
silence (Haim, 2007).

3. Education in Egypt

Education is the keystone of any step towards economic development (Alzaroo &
Hunt, 2003). Accordingly, Egypt often tries to use education as a mechanism to
foster its prospective advancements as explained by Mahrous and Kortam (2012).
Accordingly to Hargreaves (2001) education in Egypt has passed by three stages:
1950-1970, 1970-1981, and 1981 to the present. In the first stage (1950-1970),
educational programs were controlled by the principles of socialism, Arabism,
and national consciousness due to the 1952 revolution (Hargreaves, 2001). In the
second stage (1970-1981), the educational system reflected a mixed economy-
driven and divided culture because of the concentrated shift towards establishing
an open economy during this stage (Hargreaves, 2001). In the third stage, despite
the fact that in 1995 the Egyptian ministry of education and higher education
described educational reform as a matter of national survival (Hargreaves, 2001),
there was and still are some negative educational social phenomena such as drug
addiction, slum living conditions, and children living in the streets (Soliman &
Abd Elmegied, 2010) Moreover, there was an initiative to train Egyptian teachers
in western countries, but this kind of educational dialogue did not continue for a
long period. The halt of this educational training initiative shows a missing ability
to create a real liaison with any outside resources with the capabilities of assisting
Egyptian educational system reform (Soliman & Abd Elmegied, 2010).

Research Methodology

Conceptual framework

This conceptual framework is designed based on a review of previous studies

conducted to demonstrate the relationship between uncertainty and organizational
commitment. In this study the proposed independent variables are: strategic
uncertainty, structural uncertainty, and job-related uncertainty. Organizational
commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative) function as
dependent variables.

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Hypotheses

Based on the previous literature review, the researcher will test the following
hypotheses:
• H1: There is a negative connection between uncertainty types (strategic
uncertainty, structural uncertainty and job-related uncertainty) and affective
commitment.
• H2: There is a negative relationship between uncertainty types (strategic
uncertainty, structural uncertainty and job-related uncertainty) and normative
commitment.
• H3: There is a negative relationship between uncertainty types (strategic
uncertainty, structural uncertainty and job-related uncertainty) and
continuance commitment.

Survey Instruments

This quantitative research uses a questionnaire to collect the primary data. Most of
questions included in the questionnaire are based on established, existing models,
with some modifications made to the original questions with regards to the cultural
aspect of this study sample. The questionnaire prepared for this study contains
three main sections: Demographic variables, organizational commitment, and
uncertainty. A five-point Likert scale is used for all items under organizational
commitment and uncertainty.
• Section A: Demographic Variables: This involves questions about the
personal information of the targeted respondents such as gender, age, marital
status, level of income, and organizational tenure.
• Section B: Organizational Commitment: Based on Allen and Mayer’s (1990)
three dimensional model of organizational commitment, this section covers
the three approaches of organizational commitment: affective, continuance
and normative. In other words, this section involves three subscales and
each subscale has eight items.
• Section C: Uncertainty: Based on Bordia et al. (2004) designed survey of
uncertainty, this section is prepared to cover three types of uncertainty:
strategic uncertainty, structural uncertainty, and job-related uncertainty.
This section includes three subscales: The first subscale involves four
questions about strategic uncertainty, and the second has four questions
about structural uncertainty, and the third contains four questions about job-
related uncertainty.

Scope of the study

Teachers who are working in public schools in Menoufia province in Egypt are
the main population sample of this study. They are chosen as a sample for this
study because they represent the category of Egyptian teachers who are working
in public schools and who are likely to opt for offers from private schools in Egypt

135
or to others in Gulf countries. Also, it deserves to be mentioned that the researcher
can reach many teachers in this province.

By dividing the population into homogenous subgroups and then taking a simple
random sample from each subgroup, the researchers count on stratified random
sampling. Such adoption of stratified random sampling reduces any possible bias
and at the same time ensures that the chosen simple random sample represents the
general population.

Since teachers who are working in Egyptian public schools are classified into
five categories (junior teachers, first class teachers, alpha first class teachers,
expert teachers and finally senior teachers), the use of stratified random
sampling guarantees that each subgroup is represented in the chosen sample.
And since it is difficult to pre-determine the size of population in this case, the
researchers have chosen to distribute 200 sets of questionnaires to the targeted
respondents. Needless to say, the sets of questionnaire will be delivered in Arabic
for ease of communication all targeted respondents and in order to motivate them
to respond.

Data Analysis

For data analysis, the SPSS will be used to show the normal descriptive statistics
such as frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation. The SPSS Pearson
correlation will be adopted to get the results of hypotheses testing.

Research Findings

As previous stated, the researcher distributed 200 sets of questionnaires and

received responses from 150 teachers. With the help of stratified random sampling,
the researcher formed the following profiles of respondents (see table 1).

136
Table 1: Respondents’ Profile

Demographic Variables Items Count

a) Gender Male 123
Female 27
b) Age below 25 years 15
26-30 years 30
31-35 years 30
36-40 years 25
41-45 years 20
46-50 years 20
More than 50 years 10
c) Marital States Single 40
Married 74
Other 36
d) Level of Education Bachelor 100
Bachelor + Diploma 48
Master 2
e) Level of Income EGP 1200 15
EGP 1300-2500 30
EGP 2500-4000 53
EGP 4000-5500 40
Above 5500 12
f) Organizational tenure Less than 1 year 3
1-3 years 12
4-6 years 60
7-9 years 45
10-12 years 20
Above 15 years 10
g) Religion Muslim 145
Christian 5
h) Work Bases Full time 150
Part time 0

Reliability Analysis

The Cronbach alpha is used to assess the internal consistency of each of the
variables used in the study. As depicted in Table 2, all variables have adequate
levels of internal consistency and meet the acceptable standard of 0.60 (Sekaran,
2003). In this study, the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient is 0.716 (see Table 2).

137
Table 2: Reliability Analysis

Scale name Number of items Coefficient alpha values

Organizational Commitment 24 0.904
Affective commitment 8 0.771
Continuance commitment 8 0.760
Normative commitment 8 0.801
Uncertainty 12 0.757
Strategic uncertainty 4 .760
Structural uncertainty 4 .933
Job related uncertainty 4 .762
Total 36 .716

Hypothesis 1

a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -0.397, and the value is

highly significant (P= 0.0). This correction coefficient proves that strategic
uncertainty negatively teachers’ affective commitment. The result (R2=
0.152, P= 0.0) suggests that when strategic uncertainty is existed, there is a
15.2% decrease in teachers’ affective commitment (see Table 3).

Table 3: Correlation and Regression between Strategic Uncertainty and Affective

Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.397 .158 .152 .46796

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of - .255 and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.002). This correlation coefficient proves that structural
uncertainty negatively affects teachers’ affective commitment. The result
(R2= 0.065, P= 0.002) suggests that if teachers face a structural uncertainty,
the result is a 6.5 % decrease in their level of affective commitment (see
Table 4).

Table 4: Correlation and Regression, between Structural Uncertainty and Affective

Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.255 .065 .059 .49309

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -.539, and this value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This negative correlation coefficient proves that job-
related uncertainty negatively affects teachers’ affective commitment. The
result (R2= 0.290, P= 0.0) suggests that if job-related uncertainty is felt, the
result is a 29% decrease in teachers’ affective commitment (see Table 5).

138
Table 5 Correlation and Regression, between Job- related Uncertainty and Affective
Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.539 .290 .286 .42961

Findings 1: Since all types of uncertainty negatively affect teachers’ affective

commitment, the first hypothesis is fully accepted. The results show that job-
related uncertainty (.290) has much more effect than strategic uncertainty (.158)
and structural uncertainty (.065).

Hypothesis 2

a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -0.250, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.002). This correction coefficient proves that strategic
uncertainty negatively affects teachers’ continuance commitment. The result
(R2= 0.062, P= 0.002) suggests that when strategic uncertainty exists, there
is a 6.2% decrease in teachers’ continuance commitment (see Table 6).

Table 6: Correlation and Regression between Strategic Uncertainty and Continuance

Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.250 .062 .056 .52819

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -.227, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.005). This correlation coefficient proves that structural
uncertainty negatively affects teachers’ continuance commitment. The result
(R2= 0.051, P= 0.005) suggests that if teachers face structural uncertainty,
the result is a 5 % decrease in their level of continuance commitment (see
Table 7).

Table 7: Correlation and Regression, between Structural Uncertainty and

Continuance Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .227 .051 .045 .53126

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -.255, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.002). This negative correlation coefficient proves that job-
related uncertainty negatively affects teachers’ continuance commitment.
The result (R2= 0.065, P= 0.002) suggests that if job-related uncertainty is
felt, the result is a 6.5 % decrease in teachers’ continuance commitment (see
Table 8).
139
Table 8: Correlation and Regression, between Job- related Uncertainty and
Affective Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.255 .065 .059 .52747

Findings 2: Since all types of uncertainty negatively affect teachers’ continuance

commitment, the second hypothesis is fully accepted. The results show that job-
related uncertainty (0.065) has much more effect than strategic uncertainty (.062)
and structural uncertainty (.051).

Hypothesis 3

a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -.136, and the value is not
significant (P= 0.098). This correlation coefficient implies that strategic
uncertainty does not positively or negatively affect teachers’ normative
commitment. Specifically, the result (R2= 0.018, P= 0.098) suggests that
even if there were a level of strategic uncertainty, there is a limited chance
of it affecting teachers’ level of normative commitment (See table 9).

Table 9: Correlation and Regression, between Strategic Uncertainty and Normative

Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.136 .018 .012 .58399

b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -.144, and the value is highly
significant (P=0.078). This value of correlation coefficient implies that
structural uncertainty has a very limited affect on the teachers’ normative
commitment. The result (R2= 0.021, P= 0.078) suggests that even if teachers
face structural uncertainty, it has no effect on their feelings of obligation
towards their school (see table10).

Table 10: Correlation and Regression, between Structural Uncertainty and

Normative Commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.144 .021 .014 .58327

c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -.211, and the value is

highly significant (P= 0.010). This result shows a very weak correlation
between job-related uncertainty and teachers’ normative commitment. The
result (R2= 0.044, P= 0.010) shows that even if there were feelings of job-
related uncertainty, there is a limited chance of it affecting teachers’ level of
normative commitment (See table 11).
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Table 11: Correlation and regression, between Job-related Uncertainty and
Normative Commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 -.211 .044 .038 .57622

Findings 3: There is no registered correlation between uncertainty types and

teachers’ normative commitment. Thus, hypothesis 3 is not accepted.

Conclusion and discussion

This study has investigated the relationship between types of uncertainty (strategic,
structural and job-related) and three approaches of organizational commitment
(affective, continuance and normative). The results show a negative correlation
between the three types of uncertainty and affective and continuance commitment.
Moreover, the three types of uncertainty (strategic, structural and job-related) show
an insignificant correlation with normative commitment. Job-related uncertainty
emerged to be the most dominant variable in predicting teachers’ continuance and
affective commitment to their school.

To survive in an uncertain, instable, and turbulent environment, schools should

start by sense of the surrounding political, economic, social, cultural, and
technical changes in their environment. In addition, it is crucial to identify the
present amount of uncertainty. These two steps would foster more successful
organizational decision making with regards to internal procedures (e.g. changes
in school’s organizational hierarchy, organizational personnel policies and even
school’s mission) (Ellis & Shpielberg, 2003).

In a climate of uncertainty, enhancing teachers’ organizational commitment

requires an advocated strategy of knowledge sharing and communication. Sharing
of knowledge enables teachers to gain and sustain all information related to change
and its implications inside and outside their school. Accordingly, teachers would
feel more secure and capable of adapting themselves to keep in pace with any
intended organizational change (Bordia et al., 2004). This comes in agreement
with Karlsen (2011) who mentions that knowledge, experience, and skills are key
components to manage uncertainty and build commitment.

Given the history of public schools in Egypt, the Ministry of Education and school
administrations need to rethink the psychological and cultural mechanisms adopted
to deal with their teachers. Schools need to address teachers’ psychological and
material needs. As such, holding training sessions and seminars together with
research activities on uncertainty and its consequences on teachers’ commitment
are imperative to create a healthy and stable work environment where teachers feel
valued and their full capacities are utilized for the betterment of their schools.

141
In conclusion, the present study has tried to fill in a gap in management literature
by examining the relationship between three types of uncertainty and the three of
approaches organizational commitment. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge,
this study appears to be one of the first to discuss uncertainty and organizational
commitment in Egypt and the whole Arab region. Accordingly, the results seem to be
different, to some extent, from those yielded by other studies conducted in Europe.

This study may be subject to criticism because it excluded moderating variables

such as organizational satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior.
However, such moderating variables may be considered in future research by the
researcher and/or other scholars in the field.

It is worth mentioning that the present study opens up new directions for future
research. The researchers suggest that the research question be tested in other
settings such as private schools or any other public sectors (e.g. public companies,
universities, ministries and so on) to determine whether it would lead to similar
results or not. The researchers see that it would be interesting to indicate the means
to support employees’ level of commitment in an era of uncertainty.

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 6.5 CLOUDS OVER EGYPT: CULTURE TRAITS
AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN PUBLIC
EDUCATION

Mohamed Mousa
Mohamed.mousa@ebs.ee
International Journal of Education & Management Studies, 2017, 7{2), 251-258
http://www.iahrw.eom/index.php/home/joumal_detail/21#list© 2017
Indian Association of Health, Research and Welfare
ISSN-p-2231-5632-e-2321-3671
Abstract:
Over the last two decades, organizational culture has become a buzzword in
today’s business life. The concept reflects the main norms, customs, traditions
and tactics that both senior and junior employees share. Hence, it has become a
main determinant for organizational current objectives and future orientation. As
organizational commitment determines all employees-employer ties, this concept
has attracted much attention in both academic and practical management arenas.
Accordingly, and by using quantitative analysis, this study explores the relationship
between organizational culture traits and organizational commitment approaches
in the context of public primary schools in Menoufia, Egypt. Correlation and
regression results show a strong positive association between the culture traits and
approaches of organizational commitment.

Keywords – organizational culture; involvement; consistency; adaptability;

mission; knowledge sharing; organizational commitment.

1. Introduction

Organizational culture is a reflection of social norms, customs, organizational

heroes, mission, objectives, tactics, tasks, communication method and many
other organizational components that exist inside every organization, and it draws
a map of both the internal and external network of actions and relationships
(Sulkowski, 2012). Lewis (2002) and Koutroumanis & Alexakis (2009) elaborate
that organizational culture is a main determinant for the success of a business and
its employees’ responsiveness, loyalty, participation, engagement and satisfaction.
Moreover, Hosseini (2014) clarifies that organizational culture is identity to an
organization the same way personality is so to a human being. Actually, Morris
(1992) considers it a vital asset in determining organizational prosperity only if it
is well- articulated and utilized and a big hurdle for organizational continuity if it
lacks careful planning and rational execution.

Due to its impact on employees’ level of absenteeism, rate of turnover, intention to

leave, and many other unwanted occupational behavioral phenomena, organizational
commitment has gained a currency in management academic literature since 1970
(Chang, 1999 and Rajendran & Raduan, 2005). Mousa & Alas (2016) maintain
that a full understanding of the concept of “organizational commitment” and its
consequences can explain employees’ irrationality, irresponsibility, inefficiency
and misuse of power. Haim (2007) and Sharma & Sinha (2015) affirm that the

149
significance of organizational commitment emanates from its ability clarify
employees’ both current and future organizational membership.

Daniel & Jardon (2015) and Alas & Mousa (2016) point out that the earliest study
on organizational commitment focused on addressing employees’ emotional
ties to his/ her organization. Moreover, the concept has expanded to include all
employees-employer relationships (Abidin, Muda, Hasan & Salleh, 2010). That’s
why many managerial fields such as organization behavior, leadership and human
resources management devote significant space to examining this concept and its
consequences (Fry, 2003 and Ahiauzu & Asawo, 2012).

Education is often seen as a paradigm on which many developing nations depend

to accelerate their potential growth (Alzaroo & Hunt, 2003). Egypt is one of
developing nations that has employed education as a mechanism for attaining
both social and economic development (Mahrous & Kortam, 2012). However, it
is currently facing a major challenge that may negatively affect its educational
system. A growing percentage of teachers are leaving their jobs in public schools
in search for better job opportunities whether in private sector or in Arab gulf
countries (Mousa & Alas, 2016).

In a qualitative study conducted by Mousa and Alas in 2016, teachers complained

that besides their low salaries, they don’t have any sense of involvement,
adaptability, inclusion, or security. Moreover, they noted that don’t have any
influence on their schools’ decision making process.

Considering the above, and given the fact that public schools are the main
destination for children from low and middle- income Egyptian families, this
study seeks to investigate the correlation between organizational cultural traits
(involvement, consistency, adaptability, mission and knowledge sharing) and
organizational commitment approaches (affective, continuance and normative) in
the context of public primary schools in Menoufia, Egypt.

2. Literature review

2.1 Organizational culture

Despite the fact that organizational culture has found a space in academic literature
over the last two decades, there is a noticeable difficulty in finding a universally
accepted definition for it (Naqshabandi, Kaur, Sehgal & Subramaniam, 2015).
Accordingly, the researcher sees a need to define both organization and culture
separately before defining the collective term “organizational culture”. Muscalu
(2014) considers organization as objectives oriented social entity. Accordingly,
organizations form norms, create integration between their internal and external
components and continuously adapt themselves to fit any current or future

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change. Culture can be defined as “The collective programming of the mind that
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another”
(Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005, p.28) or “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that
was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal
integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to
be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation
to those problems” (Schein, 2004, p. 17). Cameron and Quinn (1999, p.134)
define organizational culture as “The taken-for-granted values, the underlying
assumptions, expectations, collective memories, and definitions present in the
organization.it represents how things are around here. It reflects the prevailing
ideology that people carry inside their heads”.

Morris (1992) and Sulkowski (2012) indicate that any organization’s history of
symbols, narrative, metaphor, myths and taboo represents a cultural pattern that
senior employees transfer to new members. Moreover, Lewis (2002) affirms that
organizational culture often works as a determinant of how organization perceives,
acts and responds to new situations.

Denison model of organizational culture:

This model was developed by Daniel R. Dension and William S. Neale in 1996
after twenty years of research of thousands of companies (Kraljevic et al., 2011).
The model is based on four cultural traits of organization identified by Dawson
(2010).
• Involvement: The degree to which employees at all levels have influence
over organizational decisions and are directly connected to organizational
goals.
• Consistency: The degree to which employees understand the shared system
of beliefs in their organization and accordingly are able to act in a predictable
way even when facing unfamiliar situations.
• Adaptability: The degree to which organization responds to both internal
customers and external environment. Adaptability often promotes
organizational learning.
• Mission: The degree to which employees know and share the purpose, the
goals and the vision of their organization.

Given the fact that the economies of countries around the world have increasingly
become global and companies are facing uncertainty, the researchers have chosen
to add knowledge sharing as a fifth trait of culture. Sorakraikitikul and Siengthai
(2014) consider knowledge sharing as the degree to which employees exchange
experience and work-related knowledge with their colleagues. The importance of
such exchange of knowledge is not only encouraging employees to work together
but also creating a shared organizational knowledge that becomes a competitive
value hence forth (Marsick and Watkins, 2003). Therefore, the present research
considers that organization culture is composed of five traits: Involvement,
consistency, adaptability, mission, and knowledge sharing.

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2.2 Organizational commitment

In 1960, the USA witnesses a large debate about why corporate managers share
emotional bonds with their workplaces while university professors do not (Staw,
2007 included in Smith & Hitt, 2007). This debate was the real starting point for
all following discourse about organizational commitment. Gouldner (1958) has
made a distinction between cosmopolitans whose level of organizational loyalty
is low while their level of commitment to their role skills is high, and local
organizational members whose level of organizational loyalty is high while their
level of commitment to role skills is low. Etzioni (1961) introduces three types of
organizational member’s involvement:
• Moral: reflects members’ positive attitudes towards their organization
because of the belief of its values and objectives.
• Calculative: reflects members’ mutual exchangeable relationship with their
organization. They give something in return for some rewards such as salary.
• Alignative: reflects members’ negative attitudes towards their organization
because of the constraints (e.g. stress, work overloads, inequality and etc.)
they face.

Since this time, employees’ commitment to their organization has been devoted a
great attention not only in the field of organizational behavior but also in human
resources management, leadership and strategic management (Meyer & Allen, 1991).

Early studies on organizational commitment have focused on assessing employees’

level of emotional attachment to their employer (Becker, 1960). This assessment
is known as “the attitudinal perspective on commitment” and was conceptualized
by Porter, Steers and Boulian (1974, p. 604) as “an attachment to the organization,
characterized by an intention to remain in it, an identification with the values and
goals; and a willingness to exert an extra effort on its behalf”. In 1982, Mowday,
Porter and Steers made the calculative perspective on commitment which indicates
that employee’s continuance of his membership within his organization depends
mostly on the costs and benefits of leaving it. The tri- dimensional perspective on
commitment was introduced by both Allen and Meyer (1990) divide the concept
of organizational commitment is into three approaches:
• Affective commitment
This refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to, integration with, and
involvement with his or her organization (Bryant et al., 2007). Enriquez
et al. (2001) elaborates that organizational objectives, vision, and the level
of freedom that employees enjoy are three determinants for the level of
employee affective commitment. Perry (2004) points out that promoting
healthy, friendly and supportive discussions with supervisors may positively
affect the level of an employee’s affective commitment.
• Continuance commitment
This refers to an employee’s perceived costs of leaving his or her organization
(Bryant et al, 2007). Becker (1960) indicates that employees invest time,

152
 effort, health, money, and so on in their organizations. Such investments
strongly affect their decisions and/or intentions to leave or remain in their
organizations. Accordingly, Sharma & Sinha (2015) maintain that an
increase in an employee’s age and tenure within organizations raises his
or her perceived cost of leaving it. Employees may also think about their
pension, knowledge, job security, and unused vacations upon considering
the decision to leave their jobs (Sharma & Sinha, 2015).
• Normative Commitment
This reflects an employee’s obligation to stay in his organization (Bryant
et al, 2007). Organizational culture, rewards, punishments, and employee
autonomy play a vital role in deciding the level of normative commitment
(Meyer & Allen, 1997; Chang, 2002; Haar & Spell, 2004, and Sharma &
Sinha, 2015).

Given what has preceded, Porter et al. (1974, p. 604)) define organizational
commitment as “the strength of an individual identification with and involvement
in a particular organization”. Allen and Meyer (2000) consider it a psychological
state that reduces an employee’s likelihood of leaving his/ her organization,
whereas Haim (2007) sees commitment as employees’ rational behavior to protect
their occupations and benefits. Li, Ahlstrom, and Ashkanasy (2010) highlight
that only organizations that have highly committed employees can compete and
prosper because they clearly do their best efforts to fulfill their obligations towards
their organization. Accordingly, the struggles of absenteeism, turnover, intentions
to leave, being careless when doing duties, and so on, are, to a big degree, absent if
the level of employees’ commitment is high (Kuruuzum et al, 2009). Finally, Atak
(2009) points out that the main indicators of organizational commitment are not
only to believe in organizational mission but also to walk the extra mile to achieve
organizational success.

2.3 Education in Egypt

Education has always been seen as a mechanism for attaining both economic
development and political stability (Alzaroo and Hunt, 2003). As a developing
nation, Egypt puts a great emphasis on education as a dynamic force cutting the
path to prosperity. Hargreaves (2001) notes that education in Egypt has passed
through three stages: the first was Arabism (1950 to 1970) which was based on
principles of social equality and community organization perspectives. The second
was openness (1970 to 1981), in which Egypt witnessed a shift from a socialist
to free market economy. This shift fostered the emergence of foreign schools and
accelerated the tendency to learn foreign languages. The third stage started in
1981 and has continued into the present. In this current phase, various Egyptian
governments have affirmed the importance of education in Egypt. However, this
stage has witnessed a surge in negative social phenomena such as drug addiction
and street children.

153
The decline of the status of teachers and their many strikes from time to time has had
a negative impact on the rank and quality of Egyptian schools. In a report published
in El Fagr, one of the independent weekly newspapers in Egypt, many teachers
have expressed that besides their low salaries, they don’t feel any appreciation
from both the society and the managers of their schools. Some have expressed the
lack of training hinders their abilities in directing students. Moreover, a number of
them elaborated that they don’t know the real mission of their schools especially
since they teach such outdated syllabuses and have old methods in teaching (http://
www.elfagr.org/1816427#), (http://www.shbabmisr.com/mt~116331).

Menoufia province is one of the 27 provinces in Egypt. It includes about 80

primary public schools in its 10 zones. Teachers in these schools are suffering from
the same problems as other teachers of Egypt. Low continuance commitment,
inadequate training, low self-esteem, a missing sense of meaningfulness at work,
and immorality are only some of the problems teachers suffer from in this province.
Accordingly, in this study, researchers have decided to explore the link between
organizational culture traits and organizational commitment approaches in public
primary schools in Menoufia.

3. Research Design

Conceptual Framework: The conceptual framework of this study is based on a

review of previous research studies that have been conducted to demonstrate the
link between organizational culture and workplace spirituality. In this article,
the proposed independent variables are: Involvement, Consistency, Adaptability,
Mission and Knowledge Sharing. Organizational commitment approaches -
affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment -
function as the dependent variables.

Survey Instruments: A set questionnaire is used to collect the primary data of

this research. Its questions are based on well-established existing models with
some modification made to match this study. The questionnaire used in this study
contains three main sections:
• Demographic Variables: This includes questions about the personal
information of the targeted respondents such as gender, age, marital status,
level of income, and religion.
• Organizational Culture: This is based on Sherfati et al. (2015) Danish model
which includes four cultural traits: involvement, consistency, adaptability,
and mission. The researchers have considered knowledge sharing as a fifth
cultural trait due to the high level of uncertainty and competitiveness the
world economy is currently witnessing (Sorakraikitikul and Siengthai,
2014).
• Organizational Commitment: is based on Allen and Mayer’s (1990) three
dimensional model of organizational commitment. This covers the three

154
 approaches of organizational commitment: affective, continuance and
normative. This section also includes three subscales, each of which has
eight items.

Hypotheses: Following are the main hypotheses of this study:

• There is a strong statistical relationship between the organizational culture
traits (involvement, consistency, adaptability, mission, and knowledge
sharing) and affective commitment.
• There is a strong statistical relationship between the organizational culture
traits (involvement, consistency, adaptability, mission, and knowledge
sharing) and continuance commitment.
• There is a strong statistical relationship between the organizational culture
traits (involvement, consistency, adaptability, mission, and knowledge
sharing) and normative commitment.

Scope of the study: The population pool of this study is teachers who are working
in public schools in Menoufia province in Egypt. Teachers in this province were
chosen as a sample for this study for ease of access by the researcher. The researcher
used stratified random sampling by dividing the population into homogenous
subgroups and then taking a random sample from each subgroup. This ensures that
each subgroup is represented in the chosen samples. Teachers in Egyptian public
schools are classified into five categories: junior teachers, first class teachers, alpha
first class teachers, expert teachers, and senior teachers. Since, it is difficult to
determine the size of population, 200 sets of questionnaires were distributed to the
targeted respondents. It is needless to say that the questionnaires were delivered
in Arabic - the native language of all targeted respondents - in order to motivate
them to respond.

Data Analysis: SPSS Pearson correlation was used to test hypotheses testing and
provide normal descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, mean and
standard deviation

4. Research Findings

As previous stated, the researcher distributed 200 sets of questionnaires and

received responses from 150 teachers. Using stratified random sampling, the
researcher formed the following profiles of respondents (see table 1).

Table 1: Respondents’ Profile

Demographic Variables Items Count

a) Gender Male 123
Female 27

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b) Age below 25 years 15
26-30 years 30
31-35 years 30
36-40 years 25
41-45 years 20
46-50 years 20
More than 50 years 10
c) Marital States Single 40
Married 74
Other 36
d) Level of Education Bachelor 100
Bachelor + Diploma 48
Master 2
e) Level of Income EGP 1200 15
EGP 1300-2500 30
EGP 2500-4000 53
EGP 4000-5500 40
Above 5500 12
f) Organizational tenure Less than 1 year 3
1-3 years 12
4-6 years 60
7-9 years 45
10-12 years 20
Above 15 years 10
g) Religion Muslim 145
Christian 5
h) Work Bases Full time 150
Part time 0

Reliability Analysis

The Cronbach alpha is used to assess the internal consistency of each of the vari-
ables used in the study. As depicted in Table 2, all variables have adequate levels
of internal consistency and meet the acceptable standard of 0.60 (Sekaran, 2003).
In this study, the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient is 0.963 (see Table 2).

Table 2 Reliability Analysis

Number of Coefficient alpha

Scale name
items values
Organizational Commitment 24 0.904
Affective commitment 8 0.771
Continuance commitment 8 0.760

156
Normative commitment 8 0.801
Organizational Culture 22 0.954
Commitment to participation(involvement) 4 0.738
Consistency 4 0.735
Adaptability 4 0.902
Mission 3 0.806
Knowledge Sharing 7 0.885
Total 46 0.963

Hypothesis 1

1.a) The analysis results in the Pearson coefficient of 0.690 and the value are high-
ly significant (P= 0.0). There is a significant positive correction that proves that
involvement affects teachers’ affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.477, P=
0.0) suggests that when involvement exists, there is a 47.7% increase in teachers’
sense of affective commitment (see Table 3).

Table 3 Correlation and Regression between Involvement and Affective

commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .690 .477 .473 .39656
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 21.193 1 21.193 134.762 .000
Residual 23.274 148 .157
Total 44.467 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) -.059 .241 -.243 .808
Affective
.742 .064 .690 11.609 .000
Commitment

1.b) The analysis results in the Pearson coefficient of 0.743, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This correlation coefficient proves that consistency strongly
affects teachers’ affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.552, P= 0.0) shows the
very moderate effect for consistency over affective commitment (see Table 4).

157
Table 4 Correlation and Regression between Consistency and Affective commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .743 .552 .549 .32362
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 19.134 1 19.134 182.693 .000
Residual 15.500 148 .105
Total 34.634 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .323 .197 1.642 .103
Affective
.705 .052 .743 13.516 .000
Commitment

1.c) The analysis results in the Pearson coefficient of 0.743, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0), and this shows that there is a highly significant statistical re-
lationship between adaptability and affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.552,
P= 0.00) shows that when adaptability is employed, a 55.2% increase in teachers’
sense of affective commitment is attained (See table 5).

Table 5 Correlation and Regression between Adaptability and Affective commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .743 .552 .549 .32362
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 19.134 1 19.134 182.693 .000
Residual 15.500 148 .105
Total 34.634 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .323 .197 1.642 .103
Affective
.705 .052 .743 13.516 .000
Commitment

1.d) The analysis results in a Pearson Coefficient of 0.716, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0) showing that there is a strong statistical relationship between

158
mission and affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.513, P=0.0) shows that when
mission is adopted, there is an increase of 51.3% in teachers’ sense of affective
commitment.

Table 6 Correlation and Regression between Mission and Affective Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .716 .513 .510 .39372
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 24.169 1 24.169 155.913 .000
Residual 22.942 148 .155
Total 47.111 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) -.958 .239 -4.008 .000
Affective
.792 .063 .716 12.487 .000
Commitment

1.e) The analysis results in a Pearson Coefficient of 0.871, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0) showing that there is a strong correlation between knowledge
sharing and affective commitment. The result (R2= .759, P= 0.0) shows that when
knowledge sharing exists, there is a 75.9 % increase in teachers’ sense of affective
commitment.

Table 7 Correlation and Regression between knowledge sharing and Affective

commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .871 .759 .758 .35114
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 57.575 1 57.575 466.959 .000
Residual 18.248 148 .123
Total 75.824 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

159
1 (Constant) -1.458 .213 -6.835 .000
Affective
1.223 .057 .871 21.609 .000
Commitment

Findings 1: Since all organizational culture traits have a positive correlation with
affective commitment, the first hypothesis is fully supported. The results show that
knowledge sharing (0.759) has the strongest cultural effect on affective commit-
ment.

Hypothesis 2

2.a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.716, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This result indicates that involvement positively affects con-
tinuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.513, P= 0.0) suggests that when involve-
ment exists, there is a 51.3 % increase in teachers’ continuance commitment (see
table 8).

Table 8 Correlation and Regression between Involvement and Continuance

commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .716 .513 .510 .38247
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 22.817 1 22.817 155.981 .000
Residual 21.650 148 .146
Total 44.467 149
Coefficients(a)
Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients
Model Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .297 .196 1.514 .132
Continue
.720 .058 .716 12.489 .000
Commitment

2.b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.724 and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This result proves that consistency can clearly affect continu-
ance commitment. The result (R2= 0.524, P= 0.0) suggests that when teachers find
consistency, the result is a 52.4% increase in the level of teachers’ continuance
commitment (See table 9).

160
Table 9 Correlation and Regression between Consistency and Continuance
commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .724 .524 .521 .33372
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 18.151 1 18.151 162.982 .000
Residual 16.483 148 .111
Total 34.634 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .801 .171 4.686 .000
Continue
.642 .050 .724 12.766 .000
Commitment

2.c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.736, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0), thus showing a highly significant effect for adaptability on the
level of continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.542, P= 0.0) shows that when
teachers align with adaptability, there is a 54.2% increase in their continuance
commitment (see table 10).

Table 10 Correlation and Regression between Adaptability and Continuance

commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .736 .542 .539 .42408
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 31.475 1 31.475 175.016 .000
Residual 26.617 148 .180
Total 58.092 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) -.708 .217 -3.261 .001
Continue
.845 .064 .736 13.229 .000
Commitment

161
2.d) The analysis results in a Pearson Coefficient of 0.712, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0) showing that there is a highly positive statistical relationship
between mission and continuance commitment. The result (R2=0.507, P=0.0) sug-
gests that when teachers believe in their school’s mission, there is a 50.7% increase
in their continuance commitment.

Table 11 Correlation and Regression between mission and Continuance commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .712 .507 .503 .39632
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 23.864 1 23.864 151.933 .000
Residual 23.247 148 .157
Total 47.111 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) -.470 .203 -2.315 .022
Continue
.736 .060 .712 12.326 .000
Commitment

2.e) The analysis results in a Pearson Coefficient of 0.748, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0) meaning that there is a positive correlation between knowledge
sharing and continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.559, P= 0.0) suggests
that when knowledge sharing is adopted, there is a 55.9 % increase in teachers’
continuance commitment.

Table 12 Correlation and Regression between knowledge sharing and continuance

commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .748 .559 .556 .47509
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 42.418 1 42.418 187.933 .000
Residual 33.405 148 .226
Total 75.824 149
Coefficients(a)

162
 Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) -.184 .243 -.758 .450
Continue
.981 .072 .748 13.709 .000
Commitment

Findings 2: all organizational culture traits have a positive correlation with

continuance commitment. Accordingly, hypothesis 2 is fully accepted.The results
also show that knowledge sharing (0.559) has the strongest effect on continuance
commitment.

Hypothesis 3

3.a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.743, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This correlation coefficient implies that involvement posi-
tively affect teachers’ normative commitment. Specifically, the result (R2= 0.551,
P= 0.0) suggests that when involvement is assigned; there is a 55.1% increase in
teachers’ normative commitment (See table 13).

Table 13 Correlation and Regression between Involvement and Normative

commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .743 .551 .548 .36709
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 24.524 1 24.524 181.989 .000
Residual 19.943 148 .135
Total 44.467 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .104 .196 .532 .595
Normative
.690 .051 .743 13.490 .000
commitment

3.b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.765, and the value is highly
significant (P=0.0). This correlation coefficient implies that consistency strongly
affects teachers’ normative commitment. The result (R2= 0.586, P= 0.0) suggests
that when consistency exists, there is a 58.6% increase in teachers’ normative com-
mitment (see table 14).

163
Table 14 Correlation and Regression between consistency and normative
commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .765 .586 .583 .31142
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 20.280 1 20.280 209.114 .000
Residual 14.353 148 .097
Total 34.634 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .584 .166 3.518 .001
Normative
.627 .043 .765 14.461 .000
commitment

3.c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of 0.665, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This result shows a positive correlation between adaptability
and teachers’ normative commitment. The result (R2= 0.442, P= 0.0) suggests that
when adaptability is employed, there is a 44.2 % increase in teachers’ normative
commitment (See table 15).

Table 15 Correlation and regression between Adaptability and Normative

commitment

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .665 .442 .438 .46792
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 25.687 1 25.687 117.318 .000
Residual 32.405 148 .219
Total 58.092 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta T Sig.
1 (Constant) -.540 .249 -2.167 .032
Normative
.706 .065 .665 10.831 .000
commitment

164
3.d) The analysis results in a Pearson Coefficient of .680, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0) indicating that there is a positive statistical relationship be-
tween mission and normative commitment. The result (R2= o.462, P=0.0) shows
that if schools use a clear mission, there is a 46.2% increase in teachers’ normative
commitment.

Table 16 Correlation and Regression between Mission and Normative Commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .680 .462 .459 .41366
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 21.786 1 21.786 127.315 .000
Residual 25.325 148 .171
Total 47.111 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) -.458 .220 -2.076 .040
Normative
.650 .058 .680 11.283 .000
commitment

3.e) The analysis results in a Pearson Coefficient of 0.711, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0) showing that there is a positive correlation between knowledge
sharing and teachers’ normative commitment. The result (R2= .506, P= 0.0) shows
that if knowledge sharing is adopted, a 50.6 % increase in teachers’ normative
commitment is attained.

Table 17 Correlation and Regression between Knowledge Sharing and Normative

commitment

Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate

1 .711 .506 .502 .50332
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 38.331 1 38.331 151.307 .000
Residual 37.493 148 .253
Total 75.824 149
Coefficients(a)

165
 Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) -.151 .268 -.564 .573
Normative
.863 .070 .711 12.301 .000
commitment

Findings 3: All organizational culture traits have a positive correlation with

teachers’ normative commitment, so hypothesis 3 is accepted. The results show that
consistency (0.586) has the strongest effect on teachers’ normative commitment.

5. Discussion and Conclusion

This study has attempted to examine the relationship between organizational

culture traits (involvement, consistency, adaptability, mission, and knowledge
sharing; which the researcher considers to be a fifth cultural trait due to the features
of rapidness, creativity and continuous change that distinguish our current modern
economy) and organizational commitment approaches (affective commitment,
continuance commitment, and normative commitment). This study has found that
involvement, consistency, adaptability, mission, and knowledge sharing have a
strong effect on organizational commitment approaches (affective commitment,
continuance commitment, and normative commitment). Knowledge sharing has
emerged to be the most dominant variable in predicting both teachers’ affective
and continuance commitment, whereas consistency tends to be the most influential
trait in terms of normative commitment.

Given the results of this study, school administrations should update their workplace
culture to ensure that teachers understand, accept, and absorb the internal shared
system of beliefs. The matter that entails an agreement from teachers’ side with their
current level of influence over organizational decisions especially those that are
directly related to vision and goals of their schools. Ensuring teachers’ commitment
to their school, particularly during the current state of division Egypt is witnessing
lately, requires a comprehensive approach of reform. This approach should start by
addressing the psychological, cultural, economic and social sides of teachers as a
step towards designing a mechanism of organizational learning, communication and
training to enhance teachers’ loyalty to their workplace which, by turn, guarantees
their highest possible performance level and lowest possible absenteeism rate.

In conclusion, the present study has tried to fill in a gap in management literature
by examining the relationship between five traits of organizational culture and the
three approaches of organizational commitment. To the best of the researchers’
knowledge, this study appears to be one of the first to discuss organizational culture
and commitment in Egypt and the whole Arab region. This research may be subject
to criticism because of its inability to provide enough variability as the researcher
166
focused mainly on a single province, despite the fact that it is the one of the biggest
in his country, Egypt. Moreover, the researcher overlooked some moderating
variables such as engagement, satisfaction, and/or inclusion of teachers.

For future studies, the researcher suggests that the same hypothesis be tested with
school administrators and other employees in public schools, a matter that may
yield different results. It is also recommended that the same research question
be tested in other settings such as private schools, universities, and businesses to
determine whether or not it would lead to similar results.

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171
 6.6 WHEN SPRING YIELDS BLACK FLOWERS:
CYNICISM AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
IN EGYPTIAN PUBLIC PRIMARY EDUCATION

Mohamed Mousa
Estonian Business School
Estonia
Mohamed.mousa@ebs.ee
0037253588302
Management Research And Practice Volume 9, Issue 3, September 2017
ISSN: 2067 – 2462
Abstract:
Over the last two decades, organizational cynicism has become a buzzword in
today’s managerial academic life. The concept reflects the negative feelings
employees have toward their workplaces, and it provides interpretations for many
unwanted employee behaviors. Many managerial disciplines like leadership,
human resources management and organizational behavior have devoted a
considerable space for it within their curricula. As organizational commitment
determines all employee-employer ties, this concept has attracted much attention
in both academic and practical management arenas. Accordingly, and by using
quantitative analysis, this study explores the relationship between organizational
culture traits and organizational commitment approaches in the context of public
primary schools in Menoufia, Egypt. Correlation and regression results show a
negative association between the culture traits and approaches of organizational
commitment.

Keywords – organizational cynicism; cognitive cynicism; affective cynicism;

behavioral cynicism; organizational commitment.

1. Introduction

Owing to the fact that human resources are the most valuable assets an organization
relies on to survive (Qian & Daniels, 2008), employee- organization relationship
has found a place in business literature over the last thirty years (Aydin & Akdag,
2016). Accordingly, many studies have focused on organizational behavior aspects
such as organizational cynicism, organizational citizenship behavior, employee
inclusion, involvement and so on (Johnson & O’Leary- Kelly, 2003; Naus, Ad Van
Iterson & Roe, 2007; Mousa & Alas, 2016).

Organizational cynicism is a premier organizational issue that has recently gained

a popularity in business literature as a result of the cut-throat competition and
subsequently the excessive amounts of stress an employee may face (Yasin &
Khalid, 2015; Nazir, Ahmad, Nawab & Shah, 2016 and Khan, Naseem & Masood,
2016). Organizational cynicism describes the negative attitudes employees have
towards their colleagues, occupations and organizations (Delken, 2005; Kocoglu,
2014 and Simha, Elloy & Huang, 2014). Admittedly, cynical employees believe
that the organizations they work in lack principles of equality, sincerity, honesty,
integrity, and transparency (Ozler & Atalay, 2011). Accordingly, cynics have
feelings of distrust, hopelessness, insecurity, and disturbance (Khan, 2014).

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Kaifi (2013) affirms that cynicism provides interpretation for many organizational
phenomena like organizational psychological withdrawals, employee mental
departure from work duties by day dreaming or cyber-loafing, organizational
physical withdrawal, and employee’s physical departure from his workplace by
absenteeism or late arrival to work. This may help explain why many studies have
devoted considerable interest in examining the relationship between cynicism
and other organizational behavior aspects such as job stress (Kocoglu, 2014),
job burnout (Simha, Elloy & Huang, 2014), organizational cynicism (Tukelturk,
2012), work related quality of life (Yasin & Khalid, 2015) and turnover intention
(Nazir, Ahmad, Nawab & Shah, 2016).

Apparently, the topic of organizational cynicism has become of great importance

for many scientific disciplines like sociology, psychology, philosophy, political
science and management in many if not all Western countries. However, this topic
has not been paid its due attention in Egypt and other Arabian countries, which is
why the author of this paper has chosen to focus on it.

Due to its impact on employees’ level of absenteeism, rate of turnover, intention to

leave and many other unwanted occupational behavior, organizational commitment
has gained a currency in management academic literature since 1970 (Chang,
1999 and Rajendran & Raduan, 2005). Mousa & Alas (2016) maintain that a full
understanding for the concept “organizational commitment” and its consequences
can interpret employees’ irrationality, irresponsibility, inefficiency and misuse of
power. Haim (2007) and Sharma & Sinha (2015) affirm that the significance of
organizational commitment emanates from its ability to investigate the degree of
employees’ current and future organizational membership.

Daniel & Jardon (2015) and Alas & Mousa (2016) point out that the earliest study
on organizational commitment focused on addressing employees’ emotional ties to
their organization. Moreover, the concept has expanded to include all employee-
employer relationships (Abidin, Muda, Hasan & Salleh, 2010). That’s why many
managerial fields such as organization behavior, leadership and human resources
management devote a tremendous space for examining this concept and its
consequences (Fry, 2003 and Ahiauzu & Asawo, 2012).

Education is often seen as a paradigm on which many developing nations depend to

accelerate their potential growth (Alzaroo & Hunt, 2003). Egypt, one of developing
nations that has employed education as a mechanism for attaining both social and
economic development (Mahrous & Kortam, 2012), is currently facing a major
challenge that may negatively affect its educational system. A rising percentage of
teachers are leaving their jobs in public schools in search for better job opportunities
whether in private centers or in Arab gulf countries (Mousa & Alas, 2016).

In a qualitative study made by Mousa and Alas in 2016, teachers claim that besides
their low salaries, they don’t have any sense of involvement, adaptability, inclusion,

176
and security. Moreover, they don’t have any influence on decision making process
at their schools. Accordingly, they have a feeling of distrust and anger towards
their schools.

Considering the above and given the fact that the public schools are the main
destination for children from low and middle-income Egyptian families, this study
seeks to investigate the association between organizational cynicism dimensions
(cognitive, affective and behavioral) and organizational commitment approaches
(affective, continuance and normative) in the context of public primary schools in
Menoufia, Egypt.

2. Literature review

2.1 Organizational cynicism

Despite the fact that Dean et al. (1998) see that the term “Cynicism” is originally
derived from the ancient Greek word “kyon” which mean “dog”, a study made by
Nazir, Ahmad, Nawab and Shah (2016) indicates that cynicism probably comes
from “cynosarges” which was an institute of cynics outside Athens, the capital of
Greece.

The term cynicism was often used by ancient Greeks to describe the beliefs of
skepticism, disbelief, pessimism, disappointment and scorn (Andersson, 1996).
The same is elaborated by Delken (2005) when stating that the earliest Greek
cynics were used to criticizing their institutions and state. By the same token,
Guastello and Rieke (1992) pointed out that cynicism worked as a philosophy for
some ancient Greeks.

In defining cynicism, both Andersson & Bateman (1997) and Leung et al. (2010)
differentiate between social cynicism which represents a disbelief or negative
feelings toward a person, group, ideology or even a state and organizational
cynicism. The specific researchable aspect of the present study is based on the
definition offered by Dean et al. (1998) of cynicism as “a negative attitude toward
one’s organization” (p. 345). It is also “a pessimistic approach shaped by an
individual to his or her company” (Yasin & Khalid, 2015, p. 569). Accordingly,
cynical employees believe that their co-workers are selfish, and the organizations
they work in lack values of honesty, justice, morality and integrity (Ince & Turan,
2011). Consequently, cynics often have feelings of mistrust, anger, insecurity,
disappointment and hopelessness when dealing with their colleagues and
subsequently organization (Abraham, 2000).

One of the most important definitions for organizational cynicism is what was
written by Delken (2005) who considered it as “an attitude of rejection of the
employing organization, or part of it, as a viable psychological contract partner”

177
(p. 10). This definition confirms both the psychological contract theory, according
to which employees rely on their previous experience with their organization to
create their prospective expectations, and the affective events theory based on
which work events can create employees’ positive or negative attitude toward their
work and provide a comprehensive basis for the interpretation of organizational
cynicism (Kocoglu, 2014 and Khan, Naseem & Masood, 2016).

Reichers, Wanous & Austin (1997) and Tukelturk et al. (2012) articulate that the
main factors influencing organizational cynicism are lack of recognition, rising
organizational complexity, low work autonomy, poor communication, big gaps of
salaries, conflict roles, feeling of nepotism, existence of bias, feeling of ostracism,
disagreement with organizational values, unachievable organizational goals, too
much work loads, absence of adequate leadership skills and inadequate social
support.

Delken (2005) identifies the following five main forms of organizational cynicism:
• Cynicism about organizational change: refers to the reaction perceived due
to change in policies, procedures and / or executive personnel.
• Employee cynicism: describes the attitudes caused by psychological contract
violation.
• Occupational cynicism: describes the attitudes mainly generated from role
conflict and/ or role ambiguity.
• Personality cynicism: describes negative feelings toward all human behavior.
• Societal cynicism: describes citizens’ distrust of their government and
subsequently institutions.

Needless to say organizational cynicism has received pronounced attention

nowadays. The rationale behind this is the significant negative outcomes caused by
the existence of cynicism. Barefoot et al. (1989) mentions that cynical employees
are the barriers that prevent an organization from achieving its goals. Moreover,
many studies assure the relationship between cynicism and some critical key
organizational problems such as job burnout, turnover intentions, absenteeism,
low cynicism level, less citizenship behavior and so on (Aydin & Akdag, 2016).

Clearly, the studies of Stanley, Meyer & Topolnytsky (2005) and Kaifi (2013) point
that the concept “organizational cynicism” includes three dimensions:
• The cognitive dimension: reflects employees’ belief that their organization
lacks integrity, justice, honesty and transparency. Accordingly, employees
feel that their personal values are not consistent with those of the organization.
• The affective dimension: reflects employees’ negative affective reaction
(anger and disgust) towards their organization.
• The behavioral dimension: reflects employees’ negative behavioral
tendencies (such as powerful negative criticism) toward their organization.

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2.2 Organizational commitment

In 1960, the USA witnesses a large debate about why corporate managers share
emotional bonds with their workplaces while university professors do not (Staw,
2007 included in Smith & Hitt, 2007). This debate was the real starting point for
all the followed discourse about organizational commitment. Gouldner (1958)
distinguishes between cosmopolitans whose level of organizational loyalty
is low while their level of commitment to their role skills is high, and local
organizational members whose level of organizational loyalty is high while their
level of commitment to role skills is low. Etzioni (1961) introduces three types of
organizational member’s involvement:
• Moral: reflects members’ positive attitudes towards their organization
because of the belief of its values and objectives.
• Calculative: reflects members’ mutual exchangeable relationship with their
organization. They give something in return for some rewards such as salary.
• Alignative: reflects members’ negative attitudes towards their organization
because of the constraints (e.g. stress, work overloads, inequality and etc.)
they face.

Since this time, employees’ commitment to their organization has been devoted a
great attention not only in the field of organizational behavior but also in human
resources management, leadership and strategic management (Meyer & Allen, 1991).

Early studies on organizational commitment have focused on assessing employees’

level of emotional attachment to their employer (Becker, 1960). This assessment
known as “the attitudinal perspective on commitment” and conceptualized by Porter,
Steers and Boulian (1974, p. 604) as “an attachment to the organization, characterized
by an intention to remain in it, an identification with the values and goals; and a
willingness to exert an extra effort on its behalf”. In 1982, Mowday, Porter and Steers
made the calculative perspective on commitment which indicates that employee’s
continuance of his membership within his organization depends mostly on the costs
and benefits of leaving it. The tri-dimensional perspective on commitment was
introduced by both Allen and Meyer (1990) and according to this perspective, the
concept of organizational commitment is divided into three approaches:
• Affective commitment
This refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to, integration with, and
involvement with his or her organization (Bryant et al., 2007). Enriquez
et al. (2001) elaborate that organizational objectives, vision, and the level
of freedom that employees enjoy are three determinants for the level of
employee affective commitment. Perry (2004) points out that promoting
healthy, friendly and supportive discussions with supervisors may positively
affect the level of an employee’s affective commitment.
• Continuance commitment
This refers to an employee’s perceived costs of leaving his or her organization
(Bryant et al, 2007). Becker (1960) indicates that employees invest time,

179
 effort, health, money, and so on in their organizations. Such investments
strongly affect their decisions and/or intentions to leave or remain in their
organizations. Accordingly, Sharma & Sinha (2015) maintain that an
increase in an employee’s age and tenure within organizations raises his
or her perceived cost of leaving it. Employees may also think about their
pension, knowledge, job security, and unused vacations upon considering
the decision to leave their jobs (Sharma & Sinha, 2015).
• Normative Commitment
This reflects an employee’s obligation to stay in his organization (Bryant
et al, 2007). Organizational culture, rewards, punishments, and employee
autonomy play a vital role in deciding the level of normative commitment
(Meyer & Allen, 1997; Chang, 2002; Haar & Spell, 2004, and Sharma &
Sinha, 2015).

Given what has preceded, Porter et al. (1974, p. 604) define organizational
commitment as “the strength of an individual identification with and involvement
in a particular organization”. Allen and Meyer (2000) consider it a psychological
state that reduces an employee’s likelihood to leave his/her organization, whereas
Haim (2007) sees commitment as employees’ rational behavior to protect their
occupations and benefits. Li, Ahlstrom, and Ashkanasy (2010) highlight that only
organizations that have highly committed employees can compete and prosper
because they clearly do their best efforts to fulfill their obligations towards their
organization. Accordingly, the struggles of absenteeism, turnover, intentions to
leave, being careless when doing duties and so on are, to a large degree absent if
the level of employees’ commitment is high (Kuruuzum et al, 2009). Accordingly,
Atak (2009) determines that the main indicators of organizational commitment
are not only to believe in organizational mission but also to exert an extra effort in
order for organizational success.

2.3 Before and after 2011, Egypt and its spring

Owing to its history, strategic location, number of population, military power

and its ownership of the Suez Canal, the main waterway for oil and other world’s
commodities, Egypt is often perceived as one of the leading countries in the Arab
region, Middle East, Africa, and the Mediterranean region as well. This country
stretches from border with Sudan to the south to the Mediterranean Sea to the
north, Libya to the west to Gaza strip to the east.

2.3.1 Egypt before Arab spring

Because of his right to veto legislature, his ability to appoint the prime minister, as
well as his position not only as a president but also as a commander-in-chief of both
armed forces and police, Hosni Mubarak ruled in a presidency era characterized
by authoritarianism. Worthy to mention that the bad economic performance and

180
the failure of all trials implemented to boost the Egyptian economy were the
main features of this era (Alas & Mousa, 2016). Zoubir (2000) indicates that
the unemployment and the low growth rate were the main reasons for the rise of
religious extremism and socio-cultural tensions.

2.3.2 Egypt after Arab spring

The Egyptian scene in 2011 witnessed so many changes, starting from a revolution
made by millions of Egyptians who called for their political, social and economic
rights, passing through a fundamental jump in national leadership for more than
three times, and ending by an open ended situation ready for any new scenario.
Currently, the rising and diminishing role of Islamic parties, slowdown economic
performance, weekly if not daily violent attacks against Christians, absence of
socio-political freedom, gender discrimination, high unemployment rate, and
removal of young people from the political life are considered phenomena of
daily Egyptian life nowadays (Mousa & Alas, 2016). Indeed, the world expects
something to happen in this country but no one can accurately expect the type,
range, time, and consequences of the expected event.

3. Research Design

3.1 Conceptual Framework: The conceptual framework of this study is based on

a review of previous research studies that have been conducted to demonstrate
the link between organizational culture and workplace spirituality. In this article,
the proposed independent variables are: Involvement, Consistency, Adaptability,
Mission and Knowledge Sharing. Organizational commitment approaches -
affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment -
function as the dependent variables.

3.2 Survey Instruments: A set questionnaire is used to collect the primary data
of this research. Its questions are based on well-established existing models with
some modifications made to match this study. The questionnaire used in this study
contains three main sections:
• Demographic Variables: This includes questions about the personal
information of the targeted respondents such as gender, age, marital status,
level of income, and religion.
• Organizational Cynicism: Based on Dean et al. (1998) three dimensional
model of organizational cynicism, this study will examine the cognitive,
affective and behavioral factors with three subscales to cover each of these
researchable points.
• Organizational Commitment: is based on Allen and Mayer’s (1990) three
dimensional model of organizational commitment. This covers the three
approaches of organizational commitment: affective, continuance and
normative. This section also includes three subscales, each of which has
eight items.

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3.3 Hypotheses: Following are the main hypotheses of this study:
• There is a negative statistical relationship between the organizational
cynicism dimensions (cognitive, affective and behavioral) and affective
commitment.
• There is a negative statistical relationship between the organizational
cynicism dimensions (cognitive, affective and behavioral) and continuance
commitment.
• There is a negative statistical relationship between the organizational
cynicism dimensions (cognitive, affective and behavioral) and normative
commitment.

3.4 Scope of the study: The population pool of this study is teachers who are
working in public primary schools in Menoufia province in Egypt. Teachers in this
province were chosen as a sample for this study for ease of access by the researcher.
The researcher used stratified random sampling by dividing the population into
homogenous subgroups and then taking a random sample from each subgroup.
This ensures that each subgroup is represented in the chosen samples. Teachers in
Egyptian public schools are classified into five categories: junior teachers, first class
teachers, alpha first class teachers, expert teachers, and senior teachers. Since, it
is difficult to determine the size of the population, 200 sets of questionnaires were
distributed to the targeted respondents. It is needless to say that the questionnaires
were delivered in Arabic - the native language of all targeted respondents - in order
to motivate them to respond.

3.5 Data Analysis: SPSS Pearson correlation was used to test hypotheses testing
and provide normal descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, mean, and
standard deviation.

4. Research Findings

As previous stated, the researcher distributed 200 sets of questionnaires and

received responses from 150 teachers. Using stratified random sampling, the
researcher formed the following profiles of respondents (see table 1).

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Table 1: Respondents’ Profile

Demographic Variables Items Count

a) Gender Male 123
Female 27
b) Age below 25 years 15
26-30 years 30
31-35 years 30
36-40 years 25
41-45 years 20
46-50 years 20
More than 50 years 10
c) Marital States Single 40
Married 74
Other 36
d) Level of Education Bachelor 100
Bachelor + Diploma 48
Master 2
e) Level of Income EGP 1200 15
EGP 1300-2500 30
EGP 2500-4000 53
EGP 4000-5500 40
Above 5500 12
f) Organizational tenure Less than 1 year 3
1-3 years 12
4-6 years 60
7-9 years 45
10-12 years 20
Above 15 years 10
g) Religion Muslim 145
Christian 5
h) Work Bases Full time 150
Part time 0

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Table 2: Summary of the mean score analysis

Standard
Scale name Mean
deviation
Organizational Commitment 3.62250 0.49197
Affective Commitment 3.73333 0.50825
Continuance Commitment 3.35500 0.54363
Normative Commitment 3.79083 0.58746
Organizational Cynicism 3.6633 0.6946
Cognitive cynicism 3.5150 1.0064
Emotional cynicism 3.8867 0.6135
Behavioral cynicism 3.5883 0.8121

Reliability Analysis

The Cronbach alpha is used to assess the internal consistency of each of the
variables used in the study. As depicted in Table 2, all variables have adequate
levels of internal consistency and meet the acceptable standard of 0.60 (Sekaran,
2003). In this study, the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient is 0.701 (see Table 3).

Table 3 Reliability Analysis

Number of Coefficient
Scale name
items alpha values
Organizational Commitment 24 0.904
Affective commitment 8 0.771
Continuance commitment 8 0.760
Normative commitment 8 0.801
Organizational Cynicism 12 0.869
Cognitive cynicism 4 0.779
Emotional cynicism 4 0.732
Behavioral cynicism 4 0.743
Total 36 0.701

Hypothesis 1

1.a) The analysis results in the Pearson coefficient of - 0.556, and the value are
highly significant (P= 0.0). There is a negative correlation between cognitive cyni-
cism and teachers’ affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.309, P= 0.0) suggests
that when a belief of integrity absence exists, there is a 30.9 % decrease in teach-
ers’ sense of affective commitment (see Table 4).

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Table 4 Correlation and Regression between cognitive cynicism and Affective
commitment

Correlations
Affective Cognitive
commitment cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.556
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Affective commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.556 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Cognitive cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .556 .309 .304 .83962
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 46.570 1 46.570 66.061 .000
Residual 104.334 148 .705
Total 150.904 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 7.622 .510 14.948 .000
Affective -1.100 .135 -.556 -8.128 .000
Commitment

1.b) The analysis results in the Pearson coefficient of – 0.607, and the value is
highly significant (P= 0.0). This correlation coefficient proves that affective cyni-
cism strongly affects teachers’ affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.368, P=
0.0) shows when affective cynicism demonstrates, a 36.8% decrease teachers’ af-
fective commitment is yielded (see Table 5).

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Table 5: Correlation and Regression between affective cynicism and Affective
commitment

Correlations
Affective Emotional
commitment Cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.607
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Affective commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.607 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Emotional cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .607 .368 .364 .48926
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 20.646 1 20.646 86.249 .000
Residual 35.427 148 .239
Total 56.073 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 6.621 .297 22.284 .000
Affective -.732 .079 -.607 -9.287 .000
Commitment

1.c) The analysis results in the Pearson coefficient of -0.468, and the value is high-
ly significant (P= 0.0), and this shows that there is negative statistical relationship
between behavioral cynicism and affective commitment. The result (R2= 0.219,
P= 0.00) shows that when criticizing is employed, a 21.9 % decrease in teachers’
level of affective commitment is attained (See table 6).

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Table 6: Correlation and Regression between behavioral cynicism and Affective
commitment

Correlations
Affective Behavioral
commitment cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.468
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Affective commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.468 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Behavioral cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .468 .219 .214 .71990
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 21.565 1 21.565 41.611 .000
Residual 76.702 148 .518
Total 98.267 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 6.383 .437 14.600 .000
Affective -.749 .116 -.468 -6.451 .000
Commitment

Findings 1: Since all organizational cynicism dimensions have a negative

correlation with affective commitment, the first hypothesis is fully supported. The
results show that affective cynicism (0.368) has the strongest cultural effect on
teachers’ affective commitment.

Hypothesis 2

2.a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -0.479, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This result indicates that cognitive cynicism negatively af-
fects continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.229, P= 0.0) suggests that when
a belief of dishonesty exists, there is a 22.9 % decrease in teachers’ continuance
commitment (see table 7).

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Table 7: Correlation and Regression between cognitive cynicism and Continuance
commitment

Correlations
Continuance Cognitive
commitment cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.479
Continuance Sig. (2-tailed) .000
commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.479 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Cognitive cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .479 .229 .224 .88637
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 34.628 1 34.628 44.076 .000
Residual 116.276 148 .786
Total 150.904 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 6.490 .454 14.297 .000
Continue -.887 .134 -.479 -6.639 .000
Commitment

2.b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -0.450, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This result proves that affective cynicism can negatively af-
fect continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.202, P= 0.0) suggests that when
teachers dislike his school, the result is a 20.2% decrease in the level of teachers’
continuance commitment (See table 8).

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Table 8: Correlation and Regression between affective cynicism and Continuance
commitment

Correlations
Continuance Emotional
commitment Cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.450
Continuance Sig. (2-tailed) .000
commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.450 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Emotional Cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .450 .202 .197 .54981
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 11.334 1 11.334 37.493 .000
Residual 44.739 148 .302
Total 56.073 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 5.589 .282 19.848 .000
Continue -.507 .083 -.450 -6.123 .000
Commitment

2.c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -0.425, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0), thus showing a significant effect for behavioral cynicism on
the level of continuance commitment. The result (R2= 0.181, P= 0.0) shows that
when teachers align with behavioral cynicism, there is a 18.1% decrease in their
continuance commitment (see table 9).

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Table 9: Correlation and Regression between behavioral cynicism and Continuance
commitment

Correlations
Continuance Behavioral
commitment Cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.425
Continuance Sig. (2-tailed) .000
commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.425 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Behavioral Cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .425 .181 .175 .73761
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 17.746 1 17.746 32.617 .000
Residual 80.521 148 .544
Total 98.267 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 5.718 .378 15.137 .000
Continue -.635 .111 -.425 -5.711 .000
Commitment

Findings 2: all organizational cynicism dimensions have a negative correlation with

continuance commitment. Accordingly, hypothesis 2 is fully accepted. The results
also show that cognitive cynicism (0.229) has the strongest effect on continuance
commitment.

Hypothesis 3

3.a) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of -0.176, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This correlation coefficient implies that cognitive cynicism
negatively affects teachers’ normative commitment. Specifically, the result (R2=
0.031, P= 0.0) suggests that when cognitive cynicism is felt; there is a 3.1% de-
crease in teachers’ normative commitment (See table 10).

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Table 10: Correlation and Regression between cognitive cynicism and Normative
commitment

Correlations
Normative Cognitive
commitment Cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.176
Normative Sig. (2-tailed) .031
commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.176 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .031
Cognitive Cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .176 .031 .025 .99395
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 4.690 1 4.690 4.747 .031
Residual 146.214 148 .988
Total 150.904 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 4.660 .532 8.764 .000
Normative -.302 .139 -.176 -2.179 .031
commitment

3.b) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of - 0.425, and the value is high-
ly significant (P=0.0). This correlation coefficient implies that affective cynicism
negatively affects teachers’ normative commitment. The result (R2= 0.181, P= 0.0)
suggests that when affective cynicism exists, there is a 18.1% decrease in teachers’
normative commitment (see table 11).

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Table 11: Correlation and Regression between affective cynicism and normative
commitment

Correlations
Normative Emotional
commitment Cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.425
Normative Sig. (2-tailed) .000
commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.425 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Emotional Cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .425 .181 .175 .55709
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 5.570 .298 18.693 .000
Residual -.444 .078 -.425 -5.717 .000
Total 5.570 .298 18.693 .000
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 4.050 .154 26.377 .000
Normative
-.077 .044 -.144 -1.775 .078
commitment

3.c) The analysis results in a Pearson coefficient of - 0.223, and the value is highly
significant (P= 0.0). This result shows a negative correlation between behavioral
cynicism and teachers’ normative commitment. The result (R2= 0.050, P= 0.0)
suggests that when behavioral cynicism is employed, there is a 5 % decrease in
teachers’ normative commitment (See table 12).

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Table 12: Correlation and regression between behavioral cynicism and Normative
commitment

Correlations
Normative Behavioral
commitment Cynicism
Pearson Correlation 1 -.223
Normative Sig. (2-tailed) .006
commitment N 150 150
Pearson Correlation -.223 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .006
Behavioral Cynicism N 150 150
Linear Regression
Model r R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate
1 .223 .050 .044 .79424
ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 4.907 1 4.907 7.779 .006
Residual 93.360 148 .631
Total 98.267 149
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 4.759 .425 11.203 .000
Normative -.309 .111 -.223 -2.789 .006
commitment

Findings 3: All organizational cynicism dimensions have a negative correlation

with teachers’ normative commitment, so hypothesis 3 is accepted. The results
show that affective cynicism (0.181) has the strongest effect on teachers’ normative
commitment.

5. Discussion and conclusion

To conclude, the present study reports on the investigation of the relationship

between cognitive, affective and behavioral cynicism on the one hand and the three
approaches of organizational commitment (affective, affective and normative)
on the other. The findings assist in creating a much better understanding of
both cynicism dimensions and commitment approaches in the context of public
primary school education in Egypt. Moreover, the study has added information

193
to management literature considering the rareness of studies investigating the
relationship between cynicism and commitment not only in Egypt but also in the
Middle East. The findings have demonstrated a negative correlation between the
three dimensions of organizational cynicism (cognitive, affective and behavioral)
and the three approaches of organizational commitment (affective, continuance and
normative). Affective cynicism has emerged to be the most dominant variable in
predicting both teachers’ affective and normative commitment, whereas cognitive
cynicism has appeared to be the most dominant variable in predicting teachers’
continuance commitment.

Given the main factors influencing cynicism (e.g. lack of recognition, rising
organizational complexity, low work autonomy, poor communication, big gaps of
salaries, conflict roles, feeling of nepotism, existence of bias, feeling of ostracism,
disagreement with organizational values, unachievable organizational goals, work
overloads, absence of adequate leadership skills and inadequate social support),
school administrations have to rethink their current style of management and
leadership as it is illogical to expect teachers’ level of devotion and loyalty to be
high in a climate of distrust, hopelessness and insecurity (Reichers et al, 1997 &
Tukelturk et al., 2012). School administrations also have to work side by side with
the Egyptian ministry of education because the cynicism teachers struggle with
may be social in that it may reflect a disbelief or negative feelings toward a person,
group, ideology or even a state, or organizational in that it reflects a negative
attitude toward one’s organization (Andersson & Bateman, 1997 & Leung et al.,
2010). Even though the current study focuses on the organizational dimension, the
author cannot deny the significance of the second one here.

Referring to the results of Alas & Mousa (2016) and Mousa & Alas (2016), relying
on open, persuasive, interactive, well-planned, formal and informal communication
is highly recommended as a step for school administrations to disseminate a
schools’ vision, direction and objectives. It is a dynamic to keep teachers feel
that they are a part of their schools, the matter that motivates them to have good
emotions towards their workplace. Training can also be utilized to ensure teachers’
full access to resources and information needed to get their jobs accomplished.
These two mechanisms play a role in lowering teachers’ cynicism.

Finally, this research may be subject to criticism because of its inability to provide
enough variability as the researcher focused mainly on a single province, despite the
fact that it is the one of the biggest in his country, Egypt. Moreover, the researcher
overlooked some moderating variables such as engagement, satisfaction, and/or
inclusion of teachers. For future studies, the researcher suggests that the same
hypothesis be tested with school administrators and other employees in public
schools, a matter that may yield different results. It is also recommended that
the same research question be tested in other settings such as private schools,
universities, and businesses to determine whether or not it would lead to similar
results.

194
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7. APPENDICES

7.1 Interview guide

Assignment Duration Procedures

Research 5–10 min- The author introduced himself, his school, department, major
introduction utes and the school of thought he belongs to. Moreover, the author
gave a brief introduction about his topic, purpose of study,
aims of the interviews and the potential results he expects to
Familiariza- 5 minutes find.
tion
The author asked the respondent’s name, age, background,
nature of work, experience and so on. The main objective of
this stage is to build trust, establish rapport and break the ice
30 minutes between the author and his respondents. Needless to say that
Interview at this stage, the author asked the respondent for permission
questions to record the interview and affirm that the interview will only
be used for academic purposes and accordingly the respon-
dent should feel free to speak his or her mind.

The author asked his respondent to answer the following

questions:
• How do you evaluate your commitment to your school?
• How do you evaluate your colleagues’ commitment to
their school?
• From your point of view, why did your colleagues leave
their school?
• How do you evaluate the performance of your colleagues?
Is it satisfactory or not?
• How about your performance level? Satisfactory? If not,
what are the main reasons for such poor performance?
• How does the recruiting process occur at the school you
work in? Is it fair? How do you evaluate it?
• Do you feel any kind of discrimination because of your
age, gender, religion and so on within the school? If yes,
could you please elaborate more?
• How do you evaluate the evaluation process within the
school you work in?
• To what extent do you feel secure in your position/school?
• How do you perceive current and recent events in Egypt
during your work journey?
• Do you perceive any training within your school?

201
Assignment Duration Procedures
• How does the school you work in prepare you for every
new academic year?
• Is there any kind of knowledge sharing between you and
Closing your managers? If yes, how do you perceive it? If no, why
is there such an absence of sharing?
• Does the mission of your school devote attention to your
social desires and personal growth? Why or why not?
• Do you consider yourself an active participator in any
2 minutes decision-making process within your school? Why or
why not?
• How do you perceive the values of your school?
• Do you think your work has meaning/esteem in your
society? Why or why not?
• How do you evaluate the inclusion process within your
school?
• How you define commitment in your school?
• Why do you think public education in Egypt is not highly
ranked across the world?
• How do you perceive such low ranked quality/reputation
of the school you work in?
• How do you evaluate the financial remuneration for your
work? Why sufficient? Why insufficient?
• How do you evaluate the whole period of work in your
position? Are you satisfied? Why or why not?
• Do you think that teachers’ commitment is important for
the school you work in? Why?
• Would you like to continue your membership of your
school? Why or why not?
• What do you miss in your current position? Why do many
of your colleagues leave their jobs?
• What is the reaction of your school administration? How
does the administration of your school contribute to its
teachers leaving?
• Do you feel that finding a solution is the responsibility of
the school administration itself or that higher political and
social intervention is required?
• How do you see your current job? How do you see it in
five years time? What steps do you recommend for school
administrations to enhance your commitment and that of
your colleagues?

Do you have any comments? Any suggestions?

Thanks for your attention and participation.

202
CURRICULUM VITAE

Mohamed Samy Saad Mousa

Date of birth 15/09/1985
Phone 0037256962201
Email Mohamed.mousa@ebs.ee

Academic education

From 08/2014 to 08/2016: Doctoral of Philosophy (PhD) in management

science, Estonian Business School, Estonia.

From 09/2011 to 09/2012: Master of Science (MSc) in Executive Leadership,

University of Ulster, United Kingdom.

From 02/2011 to 02/2012: professional financial accounting certificate,

Institute of professional accountants, Egypt.

From 09/2002 to 06/2006: Bachelor of Commerce (English), Menoufia Uni-

versity, Egypt (ranked first between 500 students)

Academic and professional careers

From 02/2007 to 08/2011: Teaching assistant of faculty of commerce, Menou-

fia University, Egypt (Full time).
From 09/2011 to current job: Business development manager, Sahara group
(Egypt, KSA, Kuwait and Netherlands).

Awards and scholarships

2009 Maastricht School of Management Fellowship (Netherlands).

2013 Tilburg University Scholarship for Academic Excellence (Netherlands).

List of publications

• Alas, R. & Mousa, M. (2016). Cultural diversity and business schools’ curricula:
a case from Egypt. Problems and perspectives in management 14 (2 (cont. -1)):
130- 137.
• Alas, R. & Mousa, M. (2016). Organizational culture and workplace spirituality.
International journal of emerging research in management and technology 5 (3).

203
• Mousa, M. & Alas, R. (2016). Workplace spirituality and organizational
commitment: a study on primary public schools’ teachers in Menoufia (Egypt).
African journal of business management 10 (10).
• Mousa, M. & Alas, R. (2016). Cultural diversity and organizational commitment:
A study on teachers of primary public schools in Menoufia (Egypt). International
Business Research 9 (7).
• Mousa, M. & Alas, R. (2016). Uncertainty and organizational commitment:
a study on primary public schools’ teachers in Menoufia (Egypt). European
Journal of Business and Management 8 (20), 38- 47.
• Mousa, M. & Alas, R. (2016). Organizational commitment: a case study
of Egyptian Teachers Post Revolution. International Journal of Business
Administration 7 (4), 33- 42.
• Mousa, M. (2017). Clouds over Egypt: Culture Traits and Organizational
Commitment in Public Education. International journal of education and
management studies 7 (2).Pp 251-258.
• Mousa, M. (2017). Organizational cynicism and organizational commitment
in Egyptian primary public education: when spring yields black flowers.
Management research and practice 9 (3). Pp 13-29.
• Mousa, M. (2017). How do nurses perceive their cultural diversity? An
exploratory case study. African journal of business management 11 (17). Pp
446-455.
• Mousa, M. & Abdel ghafar, H. (2017). A float over uncertainty and cynicism:
an experience from Egypt. Journal of commerce and management thought 8
(3). Pp 508- 530.
• Mousa, M. (2017). Can cultural diversity affect organizational cynicism? An
empirical insight. Still under review.
• Mousa, M. (2017). Can responsible leadership affect organizational commitment?
The role of inclusive diversity climate in mediating the relationship. Still under
review.
• Mousa, M. (2017). Responsible leadership and work- life balance among
pharmacists. Evidence from Egypt. Still under review.

204
Factors Affecting Organizational Factors Affecting
Commitment Among Teachers in Egyptian
Public Primary Schools Organizational Commitment
Since its emergence in 1960, the concept of “organizational commitment”
Among Teachers in Egyptian
has gained momentum in behavioural and organizational sciences. The
importance of this concept pertains to its ability to provide explanations for Public Primary Schools
employee absenteeism, turnover, misuse of authority, low performance
levels and employee discontinuity with their organizations. This thesis
focused on the public education system in a leading Middle Eastern country Mohamed Mousa
(Egypt) and employed both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore
“the main factors affecting teacher organizational commitment”. Fifty
semi-structured interviews were conducted and 750 usable questionnaire
forms were collected. From the analysis of the interviews, it appeared that
workplace spirituality, cultural diversity, organizational culture, uncertainty,
and organizational cynicism were found to play a major role in shaping
teacher organizational commitment. Furthermore, and based on statistical
analysis, it appeared that only cultural diversity challenges, traits of
organizational culture, and dimensions of organizational cynicism fully affect
the approaches of organizational commitment, whereas uncertainty types
and workplace spirituality dimensions partly affect them.

Estonian Business School, Lauteri 3, Tallinn

Copyright: Mohamed Mousa 2017
ISBN: 978-9949-9872-6-9

Doctoral Thesis in Management

No. 27 Tallinn 2017