Collective efficacy, organizational citizenship behavior, and school effectiveness in Alabama public high schools

Abstract

For several decades, researchers have searched for school-level properties that can overcome the negative consequences of student SES on school effectiveness. Two promising constructs that have been identified are collective teacher efficacy (CE) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). This study examined the relationship between these two constructs and their contributions toward school effectiveness. A total of 1,859 teachers were surveyed from a random sample of 45 public high schools in Alabama. Established instruments were used to survey teachers' perceptions of CE, OCB, and school effectiveness in their schools. Three measures of school-level effectiveness were used in this study: teachers' perceptions, math achievement, and reading achievement. Achievement data were obtained for each school from the Alabama State Department of Education. The findings for CE and school effectiveness supported past research findings. CE is significantly related to school effectiveness. This held for all measures of school effectiveness, even when controlling for SES and OCB. As CE levels rise in a school, so does school effectiveness. Findings for OCB and school effectiveness were mixed. Zero-order correlations found a significant relationship between OCB and all measures of school effectiveness. However, multiple regression analyses revealed the only significant relationship between OCB and school effectiveness, when controlling for SES and CE, to be with teachers' perceptions of effectiveness. OCB does not make unique contributions to school effectiveness as measured by student achievement. Findings did indicate a significant relationship between the constructs of CE and OCB.