Organisational climate as a predictor of workforce performance in the Malaysian higher education institutions
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-10-2014-0048 |
| Date | 04 July 2016 |
| Published date | 04 July 2016 |
| Pages | 416-438 |
| Author | Mohammed Borhandden Musah,Hairuddin Mohd Ali,Shafeeq Hussain Vazhathodi al-Hudawi,Lokman Mohd Tahir,Khadijah Binti Daud,Hamdan Bin Said,Naail Mohammed Kamil |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Organisational climate as a
predictor of workforce
performance in the Malaysian
higher education institutions
Mohammed Borhandden Musah
Department of Educational Foundation and Social Science,
Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Malaysia
Hairuddin Mohd Ali
Faculty of Education, International Islamic University Malaysia, Selangor,
Malaysia
Shafeeq Hussain Vazhathodi al-Hudawi, Lokman Mohd Tahir,
Khadijah Binti Daud and Hamdan Bin Said
Department of Educational Foundation and Social Science,
Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
Skudai, Malaysia, and
Naail Mohammed Kamil
School of Business, SEGI University, Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to investigate whether organisational climate (OC) predicts academic staff
performance at Malaysian higher education institutions (HEIs). The study equally aims at validating
the psychometric properties of OC and workforce performance (WFP) constructs.
Design/methodology/approach – Survey questionnaires were administered to 800 academic staff
of eight selected HEIs. Principal component analysis, conrmatory factor analysis, full-edged
structural equation modelling and multiple regression analysis were performed to explore the
underlying factors and test the factorial validity of the constructs.
Findings – The analysis yielded a ve-factor index for the OC construct, whereas the WFP construct
comprised two factors. The ndings reveal a strong predictive causal effect between OC and WFP.
These results suggest that establishing a positive OC enhances academic staff performance.
Furthermore, the hypothesised model adds new knowledge to the literature of OC, from the Malaysian
context, which could be used to predict WFP at the tertiary level.
Practical implications – The study concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical
implications of the ndings for HEIs.
Originality/value – This paper makes a signicant contribution to the understanding of how OC
could be used as an effective instrument in improving academic staff performance in the context of
Malaysian HEIs.
Keywords Malaysia, Higher education institutions, Organisational climate,
Psychometric properties, Workforce performance
Paper type Research paper
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0968-4883.htm
QAE
24,3
416
Received 26 October 2014
Revised 1 January 2015
25 October 2015
Accepted 27 April 2016
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.24 No. 3, 2016
pp.416-438
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-10-2014-0048
Introduction
The work environment of the modern era is vastly different from that of the past because
of the overwhelming challenges that organisations face at all levels. These challenges
include increased competition; high levels of technological innovation; changes in the
nature and structure of organisations; and challenges facing employees, such as
redening employment contracts, getting to grips with new business processes, exible
work patterns and work–life balance (Kangis and Williams, 2000;Nair, 2006). One
channel through which the foregoing issues could be addressed is organisational
climate (OC).
Organisations, including higher education institutions (HEIs), are structured by
three main elements: OC, supervisory leadership and peer relationships (Narasimhan,
1997). Success and failure occur in organisations with regard to all the three elements.
As such, understanding climate is imperative to educationists and others, for it provides
them with a link between the organisational procedures, practices, concerns, needs and
the welfare of individual workers (Litwin and Stringer, 1968). This study addresses only
OC with reference to workforce performance (WFP).
The concept of OC appeared in late 1930s, depicting the environment in which people
work (Hoy et al., 1991). OC is:
[…] a set of measurable properties of the work environment, perceived directly or indirectly by
the people who live and work in the environment, and assumed to inuence their motivation
and behaviour (Kopelman et al., 1990;Litwin and Stringer, 1968,p.1).
As climates are perceptual and abstract, they are subject to the same principles of
perceptions as other psychological concepts. Most OC researchers ask individuals to tell
the researchers what they see in their work environment rather than asking them to
label what they see as good or bad (Al-Shammari, 1992).
Addressing OC through labelling would assist managers to understand the
relationship between the processes and practices of the organisation and the needs of
employees (Litwin and Stringer, 1968). By understanding different practices and
initiatives, managers would be able to understand what motivates employees to behave
in a manner that leads to organisational success. In fact, the work environment is
assumed to be related to employees’ performance (Gray, 2007). However, the concept
lacks empirical studies with particular reference to HEIs (Pemberton, 2005).
Furthermore, evaluating universities’ and colleges’ staff effectiveness would hardly be
assured in the absence of OC (Brown and VanWagoner, 1999). Thus, in the context of
HEIs and the non-HEI sector, effective WFP would materialise only if healthy OC
variables are maintained. OC is regarded as a key element for an HEI’s success. “For
universities to retain elevated status, remain competitive and maintain a competent
workforce, university management needs to focus on organisational climate” (Altmann
as cited in McMurray and Scott, 2013, p. 2).
As such, this study aims to explore whether OC is a predictor of academic staff
performance at Malaysian HEIs. It equally aims to validate psychometric properties of
OC and WFP constructs in the Malaysian HEI context.
The development of organisational climate and its dimensions
OC has a long history in industrial and organisational psychology and organisational
behaviour. Its roots lie in the work of Kurt Lewin, in the late 1930s, in which the concept
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Organisational
climate
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