Abstract:
This study examined the relationship of the following constructs: 1) Faculty trust in the principal as defined by Hoy and Tschannen-Moran (1999), 2) organizational commitment as defined by Mowday, Porter & Steers (1979), and the Three-Component Model of organizational commitment as defined by Meyer & Allen (1991). This study sought to determine whether faculty trust in the principal was better predictor of Mowday, Porter, & Steers model as measured by the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) or the Meyer & Allen model as measured by the Three Component Model Scale (TCM), while controlling for socioeconomic status (SES). Sixty elementary schools were surveyed and 1,665 teachers voluntarily participated in the study. Instruments used in the study were the Omnibus T-Scale, the OCQ, and the TCM of organizational commitment. The independent variable in this study was faculty trust in the principal (x). The dependent variables were organizational commitment as measured by (y1) Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), and (y2) Three-Component Model (TCM) Employee Commitment Survey). Two hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis, which stated faculty trust in the principal, the OCQ, and the TCM will positively covary, was moderately supported. The research found faculty trust in the principal, the OCQ, and the TCM positively co-varied. There was a moderate and significant relationship between trust in the principal and the OCQ (r =.45**, p < .01), trust in the principal and the TCM (r =.43**, p < .01), and between the OCQ and TCM (r =.34**, p <.01). SES did not have a significant effect on any of the three variables. The second hypothesis stated faculty trust in the principal is a better predictor of the Three-Component Model (TCM) of organizational commitment than the OCQ, while controlling for SES. This hypothesis was not supported. The analysis showed trust in the principal explained 19% (β = .39, p < .01) of the variance in OCQ while explaining only 16% (β = .29, p < .01) of the variance in TCM. Thus, it would appear trust in the principal is a better predictor of OCQ than the TCM.
