The role of teachers’ self-efficacy between trust and organisational citizenship behaviour among secondary school teachers
| Pages | 864-886 |
| Date | 08 November 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-10-2018-0434 |
| Published date | 08 November 2019 |
| Author | Yuen Onn Choong,Lee Peng Ng,Seow Ai Na,Chun Eng Tan |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
The role of teachers’self-efficacy
between trust and organisational
citizenship behaviour among
secondary school teachers
Yuen Onn Choong, Lee Peng Ng and Seow Ai Na
Department of Business,
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Malaysia, and
Chun Eng Tan
Department of Economics and Corporate Administration,
Faculty of Accountancy, Finance and Business,
Universiti College Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of teachers’perception on trust over their
willingness to exercise organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB) using self-efficacy as a mediator.
Design/methodology/approach –Usable questionnaires were collected from 411 teachers in secondary
schools. A two-stage analytic approach was used to analyse the data.
Findings –The results indicated that trust and teachers’self-efficacy dimensions (general teaching and
personal teaching) are positively related to OCB. Additionally, trust in the principal, colleagues and clients are
predicted to have indirect influence on OCB through self-efficacy.
Practical implications –Teachers’personal sense of efficacy is largely dependent on the amount of efforts
devoted in their teaching, their decision-making ability and the degree of persistency in solving problematic
issues. School management and policy makers are urged to develop effective human resources initiatives and
programmes that can create a trusting relationship in the organisation and enhance teachers’self-efficacy.
These may include the socialisation programmes that can inculcate teachers’inner natures, confidence and
interpersonal skills when directed towards perceived abilities in given specific tasks and responsibilities to
make a significant impact on OCB. Apart from this, the school administrator is advised to offer relevant
training and workshops that able to enhance the efficacy level of teachers.
Originality/value –This study explored how teachers’self-efficacy was related to trust and OCB. Teachers’
positive behaviours enable them to have greater belief in their capability of handling pressures and crises.
The study contributes to the current body of literature and creates a comprehensive theoretical framework for
teachers to be involved in OCB. Besides, these unique findings served as a reference to management of any
school to better understand the importance of trust in the school and how it relates to teacher self-efficacy,
which, in turn nurture the citizenship behaviour in workplace.
Keywords Quantitative, Secondary school, Organizational citizenship behaviour, Trust,
Teacher self-efficacy, General teaching efficacy, Personal teaching efficacy
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The skills demanded in the labour market are moving contemporarily with technological
advancement and global competition in today’s dynamic yet ever-changing environment
(Patrinos, 2016). An educational system should be designed to cope with the fast-changing
and unpredictable globalised world when facing such challenges (Serdyukov, 2017). As the
learning fieldserves as an important avenue in producing competent manpower, efforts have
been made by educationalists to providea holistic learningsystem (Brende, 2015). There is no
doubt that teachers arecontinuously reminded to embrace enhancement in skills, knowledge
and personal qualities for competency in differentiated pedagogical practices (OECD, 2013).
With the education blueprints of some Asian countries (e.g. Malaysia, Thailand and
Singapore)in place, it is expected that an improvised learningsystem (e.g. innovative learning
Personnel Review
Vol. 49 No. 3, 2020
pp. 864-886
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-10-2018-0434
Received 31 October 2018
Revised 14 May 2019
18 August 2019
24 August 2019
Accepted 8 September 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
864
PR
49,3
technique, classroom learning outcome) will be dramatically distinct from the conventional
method through the implementation of education 4.0 (OECD, 2013, Shapira-Lishchinsky and
Tsemach, 2014). Intrinsically, this can be a challenging task for teachers if they are to work
independentlyduring these transformationperiods. The expectationsof their job commitment
and mounting workloads may have caused them to constantly struggle to meet their
responsibilities. As a result,it is of great concern to identify waysthat can encourage teachers
to extend their work as educators beyond the classroom entirely.
Researchers, academicians and business practitioners have emphasised the importance
of organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB) on management perspectives (Chang et al.,
2016; Cohen and Eyal, 2015; Oplatka, 2009; Shapira-Lishchinsky and Raftar-Ozery, 2018). It
has been confirmed that OCB could result in positive student achievement, higher teacher
satisfaction levels, a sense of self-fulfilment and school reputation and image (Oplatka,
2009). OCB can be defined as discretionary behaviour that goes beyond job description to
promote organisational effectiveness (Organ, 1988). Non-prescribed beneficial behaviour
among educators can increase the ability to deal with students’needs, innovative learnings
and classroom performances (Bogler and Somech, 2004). OCB could contribute to all
academic stakeholders, especially students, teachers and schools, in developing students’
achievements as well as to increase dedicated teachers’self-fulfilments (Oplatka, 2009).
Consequently, the adoption of OCB among the teachers in the school environment is
essential for the growth of education sector (Duyar et al., 2015).
Studies have evidenced that OCB provides significant measurement on individual’s
behaviour to improve organisational efficiency and effectiveness (Hoffman et al., 2007). The
prevalent research outcomes of OCB can be found in the field of education management
(Oplatka, 2009), human resource management (Chang et al., 2016), organisational behaviour
and industrial psychology (Podsakoff et al., 2009). In addition, there is evidence that
constructs such as transactional leadership, school ethical climate (Shapira-Lishchinsky and
Raftar-Ozery, 2018), psychological empowerment (Shapira-Lishchinsky and Tsemach, 2014),
leadership frames (Nguyen et al., 2016),teacher competences, empowerment(Kasekende et al.,
2016), psychological contract, perceived organisational support, procedural, distributive and
organisationaljustice (Cohen and Eyal,2015) as well as trust (Choong et al.,2018) significantly
contributeto OCB. In the school context, theexplicit demands of teachers’roles in a voluntary
capacity are oftenself-initiated, hence, the authorsbelieve that with the presence of trust and
self-efficacy among the teachers, their practice of OCB can be enhanced.
The element of trust is essential in school context, for instance, trust towards colleagues,
trust towards their principaland trust towards their students/parents (Tschannen-Moran,
2004). Trust can be defined as “a person is willing to be vulnerable to another based
on the confidence that the other is benevolent, honest, open, reliable and competent”
(Tschannen-Moran, 2004, p. 17). It introduces mutual understanding and acceptance
between two persons or parties to further enhance their interactions (Hoy and Tarter, 2004).
If teachers trust their principal, colleagues as well as students and parents, they will increase
the intention to exhibit citizenship-like kind of extra-role behaviours (McKenzie, 2011). This
is for the reason that it will lead to open communication and authentic form of collaboration
among the teachers and their encounters (Tschannen-Moran, 2004). Bottery (2004)
contended that when people have built trust, they have a stronger belief in self-efficacy to
further heighten their interpersonal altruism. However, efficacy components tend to be
neglected in the field of school context.
Evidence has shown that school teachers’encouragement in OCB exhibition depend on
teacher self-efficacy (TSE) (Dussault, 2006; Somech and Drach-Zahavy, 2000). Bandura
(1997) elucidated that if teacher believes in his/her capability, he/she will be more ambitious
in setting challenging goals to monitor students’learning progress, more willing to devote
extra efforts in their works, portray higher creativity in skill enhancement and higher
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self-efficacy
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