Teachers’ Organizational Commitment: The Role of Demographic Characteristics and Their Psychological Empowerment in Turkey

Abstract

This research was aimed at examining the influence of teachers’ psychological empowerment on their commitment to the school in the case of private schools in Antalya province, Turkey. Data were collected twice, first 297 teachers for scale development; second, we collected data from separate 297 teachers for the main analysis. A correlational type of research design was utilized. As a result, teachers were psychologically empowered and strongly committed to school at a high level. Teachers have statistically no or very weak differences regarding their education level, gender, and length of service in their perception of both psychological empowerment and organizational commitment. Moreover, psychological empowerment and teachers’ organizational commitment were significantly correlated. Finally, it was seen that the influence dimension was an important predictor of organizational commitment. Attitude, length of service, and age had no significant effect. Therefore it is recommended that principals should actively build the social, intellectual, and professional capital of teachers, which results in teachers themselves being empowered psychologically and finally committed to the school.