Dimensions of employee satisfaction: A state university example

The main purpose of this research is to explore the satisfaction level of the academic staff of state universities. In this research, a state university in Istanbul, one of the oldest and most institutionalised among state universities of Turkey, was selected as an example. 191 academic staff members answered an original questionnaire. According to the results of the research, although satisfaction levels in different dimensions are not high, Professional Satisfaction and Institutional Job Satisfaction are the dimensions that most participants are satisfied with, followed by Colleague Competition Level Satisfaction and Colleague Relations Satisfaction. Since these factors have positive effects on the general satisfaction levels of employees, the improvements therein will cause an increase on the general satisfaction levels of employees. This research discloses findings on employee satisfaction –an essential aspect in realising quality management understanding in state universities.Publisher's Versio

Affective components of organizational commitment: A comprehensive structural equations model in a public sector organization

Örgütsel bağlılık, yazında bugüne dek çok araştırılmasına rağmen hem bağlam duyarlılığı hem de belirleyicileri ve sonuçları açısından karmaşıklığı nedeniyle hala ilgi toplayan bir araştırma başlığıdır. Çalışmamızın amacı, örgütsel bağlılığın duygusal bileşenlerinin belirleyicilerinden sayılan “iş tatmini” ve “genel yaşam tatmini” gibi faktörler ve sonucu sayılabilecek “örgütsel performans algısı” ve “ayrılma niyeti” gibi diğer faktörlerle eş anlı etkileşimini bir model çerçevesinde sınamaktır. Öncelikle yazın incelemesinden duygu tabanlı örgütsel bağlılığın belirleyicileri ve sonuçları sentezlenerek bir kuramsal model geliştirilmiş, geliştirilen bu modeldeki nedensellik ilişkileri önsavlara dönüştürülmüştür. Bu kuramsal modelin tamamını ve faktörler arası etkileşimleri eş anlı olarak test edebilmek için yapısal denklem modelleme yönteminden faydalanılmış ve AMOS 4.0 yazılım programı kullanılarak test modelleri geliştirilmiştir. Geliştirilen modeller bir kamu kuruluşunda çalışan 752 memur personelden soru formu yoluyla toplanan veriler üzerinde sınanmıştır. Kuramsal modelde duygusal tabanlı örgütsel bağlılık için öngörülen kompozit faktör yapısı veri setine tam uymayınca iki faktörlü çözüme geçilmiş, elde edilen iki faktör “duygusal aidiyet” ve “sadakat” olarak adlandırılmıştır. Çift faktörlü yapı belirleyicilik ve sonuçlar açısından test amaçlı yapısal denklem modellerine dahil edildiğinde bulgular bazı önsavları tamamen, bazılarını kısmen desteklemiş, bazılarını ise hiç desteklememiştir. “İş tatmini”, “duygusal aidiyet” ve “sadakat” arasındaki ilişkilerin yön ve şiddeti konusunda bu kavramlar arasındaki yoğun çoklu bağlantılar nedeniyle berrak bir değerlendirme yapmak zorlaşmıştır. Buna rağmen denilebilir ki “iş tatmini” genel olarak “duygusal aidiyet” ve “sadakat”i, bu ikisinin iş tatminini belirleme düzeyinden çok daha fazla belirliyor görünümdedir. İşinden tatmin olan bir kamu çalışanı özellikle örgüte karşı duygusal aidiyet geliştirmekte ve bu duygusal aidiyet sadakate yol açmaktadır. Ayrıca, yazındaki bulgulara benzer şekilde sadakatin ayrılma niyetini azalttığı, iş tatmininin ise örgütsel performans algısını arttırdığı gözlemlenmiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Örgütsel bağlılık, iş tatmini, ayrılma niyeti, yapısal denklem modelleri.Organizational commitment construct has attained widespread attention from the organizational scholars during the last three decades. Yet, its close relations to other organizational attitudes and behaviors have rendered its causal identification quite complicated. Besides, many recent studies have indicated that the concept might reveal different characteristics in different contexts. Thus, this study attempts to identify and explain the affective component of organizational commitment with regard to a set of correlated organizational attitudes in a Turkish public sector organization. In order to achieve a reliable and causally robust analysis only the affective component of organizational commitment was analyzed. A thorough literature survey was performed to synthesize a theoretical model about the causal linkages of the construct. According to this survey, one of the most important correlates of organizational commitment is job satisfaction and organizational performance. Therefore, job satisfaction and perceived organizational performance was included in the model with two-way causal paths. Life satisfaction was found to be strongly correlated to job satisfaction and thus integrated to the theoretical model. The last construct included in the model was intent-to-leave. Five testable hypotheses were constituted to test the causal paths between the main constructs of the model. As method, we designed self-administrative questionnaires to measure these organizational attitudes. Questionnaire items were developed based on reliable scales for each construct but adapted to the Turkish and public sector domain. We ran a pilot sample and rechecked validity and reliability of our measures. Then we proceeded to apply our questionnaire to the whole civil servant population of a public sector organization. The total of returned questionnaires were 752 (approx. 90% of population), and due to missing values we ended up with 704 usable observations. Before testing our hypothesis, we started to examine the reliability and validity of our constructs. We used Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) method and Cronbach's Alpha for testing construct reliability. EFA did not load on a composite factor for affective organizational commitment scale but supported a two-factor solution. Since this was not expected, a confirmatory factor analysis was run to verify this solution. We found considerable support for a two-factor solution of affective organizational commitment construct, which we named "affective belongingness" and "loyalty" respectively. Having confirmed our measures, as a next step, the theoretical model was moved to AMOS 4.0 program to test the whole model simultaneously. Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) technique enables testing of multiple latent (unobserved) constructs and their interactions, using simultaneous structural equations derived from observed variables. Using SEM, we tested our theoretical model but due to the complex two-way interactions between key constructs, two test models were needed to account for all hypothesized relations. The first test model's overall fit, determined by  2 and GFI, was deemed acceptable, but some of the causal paths were observed as insignificant. The second test model fitted poorly to the data and again some paths were found to have insignificant scores. An optimum model with all paths significant and a good overall fit was produced and designated. Test models using SEM revealed that job satisfaction determined affective belongingness and by being emotionally attached to their organizations, public sector civil servants became more loyal. On the other hand, as predicted, loyal civil servants became less inclined to leave their organization. Yet, there were no statistically significant causal relations between affective based commitment and perceived organizational performance. However, test models indicated that the more satisfied the employees became the more inclined they were to rate their organization as performing well. Also, job satisfaction was found to determine life satisfaction more, even though the reverse is also statistically true. Thus, we conclude that job satisfaction has become even more critical a factor for public organizations to create loyal and emotionally charged employees. To increase satisfaction not just tangible categories such as pay system count but also good administrative capabilities matter. Keywords: Organizational commitment, job satisfaction structural equations model, intent-to-leave

Çalışan Memnuniyetinin Boyutları: Bir Devlet Üniversitesi Örneği

The main purpose of this research is to explore the satisfaction level of the academic staff of state universities. In this research, a state university in Istanbul, one of the oldest and most institutionalised among state universities of Turkey, was selected as an example. 191 academic staff members answered an original questionnaire. According to the results of the research, although satisfaction levels in different dimensions are not high, Professional Satisfaction and Institutional Job Satisfaction are the dimensions that most participants are satisfied with, followed by Colleague Competition Level Satisfaction and Colleague Relations Satisfaction. Since these factors have positive effects on the general satisfaction levels of employees, the improvements therein will cause an increase on the general satisfaction levels of employees. This research discloses findings on employee satisfaction –an essential aspect in realising quality management understanding in state universities.Bu araştırmanın temel amacı, devlet üniversitelerinde çalışan akademik personelin memnuniyet düzeyini açıklamaktır. Bu araştırmada Türkiye’deki devlet üniversitelerinin en eskilerinden ve en kurumsallaşmışlarından biri örnek olarak incelendi. Özgün bir soru formunun yanıtlanması yöntemi ile gerçekleştirilen araştırmaya 191 akademik personel katıldı. Araştırmanın bulgularına göre, çeşitli boyutlardaki memnuniyet düzeyleri pek yüksek bulunmamakla beraber, katılımcılar en çok “Mesleklerinden” ve “Kurumda Yaptıkları İşten” memnuniyet duymakta; bunları “Meslektaşların Rekabet Seviyesinden Memnuniyet” ve “Meslektaşla İlişkilerden Memnuniyet” izlemektedir. Bu boyutlar genel memnuniyet düzeyi üzerinde olumlu etkilere sahip olduğundan, bu memnuniyet boyutlarındaki iyileştirmeler çalışanların genel memnuniyetlerinin artmasına yol açacaktır. Bu araştırma ile, toplam kalite yönetiminin sağlanmasının önemli bir boyutu olan çalışanların memnuniyeti konusunda önemli bulgular elde edilmiş olup, böylece devlet üniversitelerinde kalite yönetimi anlayışının benimsenmesine yönelik hazırlıklar açısından önemli bir adım atılmış bulunmaktadır.Publisher's Versio

An Empirical Investigation of Corporate Citizenship in Australia and Turkey

This paper describes a study of corporate citizenship practices and its relationship to dimensions of internal and external corporate culture, customer loyalty and organizational commitment. Empirical data was collected from a cross-industry sample in Turkey and Australia using a questionnaire form developed and validated for other cultures. It was shown that Australian and Turkish firms' practices differed significantly on a number of important variables, but also that it is possible to compare corporate citizenship practices in a way that is not culture-specific

Explaining influences on career ‘choice’: the case of MBA students in comparative perspective

This study explores the micro-individual, meso-institutional and relational and macro-structural level influences on career choices of MBA students from three countries, questioning the apparent dominance of ‘free choice’ in the context of persistent forms of structural constraints in career markets. The paper takes a critical perspective on career ‘choice’, acknowledging the contested nature of ‘choice’ and identifying career as a socially and historically situated phenomenon. The central hypothesis of the study is that ‘it is more likely for the MBA students to report micro-agentic or meso-instutional and relational rather than macro-structural conditions as key influences on their career choices’. The study draws on the findings of a cross-national survey on careers involving Britain, Israel and Turkey. Findings show that MBA students consider the impact of structural conditions as less significant on their career choices than their own human capital and capacity to make free choices. The study provides an understanding of the main cross-national similarities and differences in reporting of influences on career ‘choice’, and brings to bare interesting theoretical and methodological insights

What happens to diversity at work in the context of a toxic triangle? Accounting for the gap between discourses and practices of diversity management

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.With liberalization, the responsibility for the management of diversity has shifted internationally from the state to organizations. Countries that are prepared for this transition have developed legal measures and supportive discourses to hold organizations responsible for diversity. We provide evidence from a country that has not undertaken such a transition and has neither protective laws nor supportive arguments for diversity. Drawing on a survey with 792 employees from Turkey, our field study examines the awareness and embeddedness of diversity, by considering the gap between discourses and diversity practices in organizations. In this study, we introduce the concept of the toxic triangle, which includes (a) hyper-deregulation of diversity, where the legal measures of equality are absent, (b) voluntarism without responsibilization of organizations, and (c) lack of supportive discourses for diversity. Our study shows that diversity is left unattended in the context of a toxic triangle

Can corporate citizenship measures be culturally transferable ?

Regulatory pressures are increasingly being placed on the behaviour of corporations worldwide. In the new millennium, a major challenge will be to achieve a lawful profit whilst maintaining the moral standards and contributing to the welfare of the communities. The question that arises is how can corporate citizenship be measured and applied in a way that is culturally sensitive as well as transferable. This paper tests an existing scale (validated in the US and France) in two culturally distinct environments in different stages of economic and political development – Australia and Turkey. It demonstrates that it is possible to measure corporate citizenship through the degree to which corporations maintain common ethical standards, respect the law whilst being profitable and assume discretionary activities for the welfare of their members and their communities. A fifth dimension is proposed to accommodate cultural variations without compromising the universal applicability of the construct