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How Teachers’ Professional Interactions Influence Affective Organizational Commitment in Higher Education Institutions: The Mediating Role of Trust

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College of Management

I-Shou University

Master Thesis

How Teachers’ Professional Interactions

Influence Affective Organizational

Commitment in Higher Education Institutions:

The Mediating Role of Trust

Advisors: Dr. Warangkana Lin

Prof. Dr. Tai-Kuang Peng

Graduate Student: Le Uyen Ngo (Hillary)

July 2017

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Acknowledgements

“It has been over a year since I started to conduct my master thesis. During that period of time, I had been struggling constantly with it and sometimes I thought that I could not finish it on time. Thanks to the guidance and support of my supervisors, my family, and my friends, I finally complete my thesis. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to people who always are by my side.

I owe my deepest appreciation to Dr. Anna Warangkana Lin, my supervisor. Firstly, I would like to thank her for introducing me Social Network Analysis, the core part of my thesis. It was an ambiguous but compelling field to me at that time; however, the more I looked into it, the more I felt involved in it, eventually, I could produce an interesting topic. Secondly, I gratefully acknowledge her conscientiousness on guiding me. She not only made critical suggestions for my thesis but also looked into preliminary drafts of it. She even helped me to correct grammar and vocabularies I used in my thesis, I sincerely appreciate that. Lastly, I treasure her encouragement and motivation during the whole process of completing my thesis. I will not forget her touch on my back for calming me down when I was so nervous in my defense day. I also will miss lunches and dinners with her in which she shared with me her experience and gave me valuable advice beyond my research matters.

I also would like to express my deep gratitude and respect to my co-supervisor, Dr. Tai Kuang Peng, the Dean of International College. He spent his precious time on guiding me and let me know what the most important thing in a research is. I greatly enjoyed the way he supervised me. He always posed challenging questions and put a great deal of pressure on me, which pushed me forwards. He also listened and valued my opinions. It is my honor to work under his supervision.

My special thanks goes to Dr. Jiin-Ling Lin, professor of my Leisure Management class. I sincerely thank her for listening to what I shared about my pressure and tension, and helping to overcome it. I am highly thankful to Dr. Joe Lee, Dr. Chin-Chun Su, and Dr. Yi-Jung Chen from National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, the committee members of my defense. They spent time on reading my thesis and gave me such valuable feedbacks.

Last but not least, I take this opportunity to thank my family, for their unconditional support throughout my studies, and my friends, especially Nam Ngo and Lien Nguyen, for sharing their knowledge and assisting me to complete my thesis.”

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine the relationship among teachers’ professional interactions, their trust in colleagues and their job attitudes. Outdegree centrality and strength of tie were used to examine teachers’ professional interactions, and affective organizational commitment was job attitude studied.

The teachers from two departments, which are Architecture and Economics, of Da Nang Architecture University in Vietnam is chosen to be respondents of this study. Data was collected through three-part questionnaire and interview method also was adopted to gather information for backing up the discussion.

The findings of this study are expected not only to provide an empirical evidence to demonstrate the relationship between teachers’ professional networks and their affective organizational commitment through their trust among faculty members but also illuminate further understanding to principals and teachers in this university about the importance of professional interaction among teachers and its impacts on organizational attitudes, then, leads to school improvement.

It is found that, teachers in two examined departments, Architecture and Economics, interacted to build up their professional networks. The major way of interactions among teachers is through discussions on teaching matters. These professional interactions contribute to positive work attitudes, particularly affective organizational commitment. More importantly, teachers can enhance their affective commitment towards organization through interacting with their colleagues and building up their trust.

Keywords: professional networks, outdegree centrality, strength of tie, trust, affective

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ... i

Abstract ... ii

Table of Contents ... iii

List of Tables... v List of Figures ... vi Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION... 1 1.1Research Background ... 1 1.2Research Questions ... 2 1.3Research Significance ... 3 1.4Research Process ... 3

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ... 5

2.1 Social Network ... 5

2.1.1 Definition of Social Network ... 5

2.1.2 Social Network Analysis ... 6

2.1.2.1 Fundamental Concepts in Network Analysis ... 6

2.1.2.2 Types of network ... 7

2.1.2.3 Network properties ... 8

2.1.3 Social Network and Professional Interaction in School ... 8

2.2 Trust ... 10

2.2.1 Definition of Trust ... 10

2.2.2 Forms of Trust ... 10

2.2.3 Trust in School ... 11

2.3 Affective Organizational Commitment ... 11

2.3.1 Definitions of Affective Organizational Commitment ... 12

2.3.2 Affective Organizational Commitment of Faculty ... 12

2.4 Hypotheses Development ... 13

2.4.1 Social Network and Affective Organizational Commitment ... 13

2.4.2 Social Network and Trust ... 14

2.4.3 Trust and Affective Organizational Commitment ... 15

2.5 Conceptual Framework ... 15

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY ... 17

3.1 Research Design ... 17

3.2 Site selection and Sampling design ... 17

3.3 Data Collection and Survey Design ... 18

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3.4.1 Measurement of Outdegree Centrality ... 19

3.4.2 Measurement of Strength of Tie ... 19

3.4.3 Measurement of Trust... 20

3.4.4 Measurement of Affective Organizational Commitment ... 20

3.4.5 Network Visual Map ... 21

3.4.6 Control Variables ... 21

3.5 Data Analysis ... 21

3.5.1 Mediation Testing ... 22

3.5.2 Data Input into Social Network Analysis ... 22

3.5.3 Characteristics of the Sample ... 23

Chapter 4 RESULTS AND FINDINGS ... 24

4.1 Descriptive Statistics ... 24

4.2 Hypothesis Testing ... 25

4.2.1 Relationship among social network properties and affective organizational commitment ... 25

4.2.2 Relationship among social network properties and trust ... 26

4.2.3 Relationship among trust and affective organizational commitment ... 28

4.2.4 Mediating role of trust for relationship between social network properties and affective organizational commitment ... 29

4.2.5 Summary of hypothesis testing results ... 30

4.3 Network Visual Map of Two Networks... 31

4.4 Findings ... 35

Chapter 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ... 38

5.1 Research Summary ... 38

5.2 Research Limitations ... 40

5.3 Implications and Directions for Future Research ... 41

5.5 Conclusion ... 43

Bibliography ... 45

Appendix A ... 55

Appendix B ... 60

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List of Tables

Table 3.1 Demographics of Survey Respondents ... 23 Table 4.1 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Matrix among Variables ... 24 Table 4.2 Results of regression analysis for social network properties and affective

organizational commitment ... 26 Table 4.3 Results of regression analysis for social network properties and trust ... 27 Table 4.4 Results of regression analysis for trust and affective organizational commitment .. 28 Table 4.5 Results of regression analysis for trust and affective organizational commitment .. 29 Table 4.6 Summary of hypothesis testing ... 30

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List of Figures

Figure 1.1 The research process ... 4

Figure 2.1 An example of social network map ... 6

Figure 2.2 An example of Outdegree centrality and Indegree centrality ... 9

Figure 2.3 Conceptual framework ... 9

Figure 4.1 Network Visual Map of Architecture Department ... 32

Figure 4.2 Network Visual Map of Economics Department ... 39

Figure 5.1 Network Visual Map of Architecture Department ... 39

Figure 5.2 Network Visual Map of Economics Department ... 39

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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

This study aims to examine how teacher’s professional interactions influence the level of affective organizational commitment when mediating through trust in higher education institution. This is the study which was conducted at Da Nang Architecture University (DAU), Vietnam. This introduction chapter consist of four main parts, which are research background, research questions, the significance of research, and research process. The chapter begins with research background, which provides basic background information about the research topic as well as the reasons for conducting this study. It then introduces research questions that explains what the study intends to accomplish as well as research significances which is proposed to attempt to explain why this work is worth performing. The last part is a brief introduction of how this research was conducted

1.1 Research Background

I had an opportunity to work as a teaching assistant at Da Nang Architecture

University, Vietnam, in three years. During this period of time, I could realize the dynamic transformation of this ten-year old school, especially in teaching staffs. From my

observation, teachers played crucial roles in the process improvement of this school. They always tend to approach actively their colleagues to discuss or seek for advice when they have troubles related to professional matters. Despite the fact that the low income of teachers in Vietnam, particularly in this university, they still commit to this organization. I had always been curious about this issue and tried to find the reasonable answer. Thanks to Organizational Behavior course which I attended in Master program, I had chance to know about Social Network Analysis and I think that it is a useful concept to help me find the answer for my question.

In organizational behavior field, there has been various studies on social networks, trust, and affective organizational commitment. In recent years, the topics on teacher relationships and the collaboration among them have been becoming more and more interested by educational researchers. In addition, the importance of teacher relationship and collaboration for school improvement and building individual teachers’ knowledge have been acknowledged (Moolenaar, 2012). In social science literature, trust and social interaction are often studied as interrelated elements. Trust is embedded in relationships,

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and often associated with group cohesion and collaboration. Moolenaar (2012) also stated that positive experiences from prior social interactions may foster trust by reducing uncertainty about the engagement and involvement of the other party and decreasing vulnerability between individuals. As such, social ties among educators may prompt a trust-rich environment by offering a blueprint for future interactions, shaping mutual expectations and conveying information about the norms and values of social interaction within the school community. Moreover, Blake & Mouton (1984) found, trust is a key to developing affective organizational commitment. In the context of a university, Lin (2007a) stated that the strength of the relationship between an academic and the organization is believed to affect knowledge sharing behavior. Once teachers are emotionally committed to the organization, their sense of engagement towards organizational objectives and goals is higher.

In summary, this research addresses teachers’ professional network and work attitude in the context of Da Nang Architecture University in Vietnam. This study examines not only the effect of social network on trust in school, but also how trust among teachers impact their affective organizational commitment. More crucially, this study leads to an exploration regard to the degree to which professional interactions among teachers foster or restrain the affective commitment towards their organization which mediates by their trust. Therefore, this study tries to apply a social analysis, trust and affective organizational commitment theories to explain “How teachers’ professional

interactions influence affective organizational commitment in higher education institutions: The mediating role of trust”.

1.2 Research Questions

In this study, there are two questions which were inspected as following:

1. Do professional interactions among teachers contribute to positive work attitudes? 2. If teachers’ professional interactions bring positive work attitudes, what is the

process?

For answering the first research question, two properties of network, which are outdegree centrality and strength of tie, were examined in the relationship with affective organizational commitment; and findings on network patterns were also used. About the

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second question, trust was proposed as mediator of examining relationship, and testing the mediating effect of this variable gave the answer for this question.

1.3 Research Significance

This study is expected to contribute to social network and organizational behavior literature in theoretical as well as in practical aspects. Firstly, based on the review of literature in terms of this topic, there is still little research concerning the relationship between professional networks and affective commitment, especially within educational settings. Therefore, this study is expected to fill this gap as well as provide an empirical evidence to demonstrate the relationship between teachers’ professional networks and their affective organizational commitment through their trust among faculty members. In addition, in Vietnam, social network is a brand new research area and studies in this field is so limited, so this study may play an initial role in the spread of social network field there. Secondly, this study may illuminate further understanding to principals and teachers in this university about the importance of professional interaction among teachers and its impacts on organizational attitudes, then, leads to school improvement.

1.4 Research Process

The figure 1.1 below shows a multi-stage process that I intend to go through in order to undertake and complete this study, which includes seven steps as shown in the diagram below. It is not really a straightforward process, each stage may be revisited more than once and be revised if necessary.

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Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides the review of literature for the topic on “How teachers’ professional interactions influence affective organizational commitment in higher education institutions: The mediating role of trust”. This review is organized into five main sections. In the first three sections, the systematic knowledge of social network, trust , and affective organizational commitment are introduced. In the next section, which is hypothesis development, the critical review on the relationships between social network and affective organizational commitment, social network and trust, and trust and affective organizational commitment are examined. The last part introduces the conceptual

framework and hypotheses of this study.

2.1 Social Network

In recent decades, the concept of a social network and social network analysis have attracted considerable attention and curiosity from the social science community (Wasserman & Faust, 1999, p.2). For introducing a theoretical construction on social network, in this section, the definition of social network, social network analysis, and social network in school are presented.

2.1.1 Definition of Social Network

“Network” in most social network literature is defined by the reason people go to one another (Deal, 2009). There are different definitions of social network which proposed by researchers in social network field. A social network is defined as “a structure composed of a set of actors, some of whose members are connected by a set of one or more relations” (Knoke, 2008, p. 8). Mitchell (1969, p. 2) explained social networks as “a specific set of linkages among a defined set of persons, with the additional property that the characteristics of these linkages as a whole may be used to interpret the social behavior of the persons involved”. Besides, Knoke (2008, p. 9) stated social network in a practical sense as “the structure of relations among actors and the location of individual actors in the network that have important behavioral, perceptual, and attitudinal consequences to the individual units and to the system as a whole”. In this study, social network refers to interconnected ties of relationship among a group of professionals.

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2.1.2 Social Network Analysis

According to Scott (2013), social network analysis (SNA) initially developed in a relatively non-technical form from the structural concerns of the great anthropologist Radcliffe-Brown. While the term social network is applied to Web sites and personal relationships, when researchers in social science mention about social network analysis, it refers to the exploration of the patterns of relationships within a group (Deal et al., 2009, p.8).

Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of network and graph theories. Social network analysis was defined as “the work that describes underlying patterns of social structure and explained the impact of such patterns on behavior and attitudes” (Wellman, 1999, p. 95). The figure 2.1 below shows an example of social network diagram.

Figure 2.1 An example of social network map

2.1.2.1 Fundamental Concepts in Network Analysis

In the discussion of social networks, there are several key concepts of network analysis, that are: actor, relational tie, dyad, triad, subgroup, relation, and network (Wasserman & Faust, 1999, p.17).

Actor. Actors or node are discrete individual, corporate, or collective social units. Examples of actors are people in group, teachers in school, department within a corporation, public service agencies in a city, or nation-states in the world system.

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Relational Tie. Actors are linked to one another by social ties. The defining feature of a tie is that it establishes a linkage between a pair of actors. Evaluation of one person by

another, transfers of material resources, formal relations, or professional relationship are common examples of ties employed in network analysis.

Dyad. A dyad consists of a pair of actors and the possible ties between them.

Triad. Triad is a subset of three actors and the possible ties among them.

Subgroup. Dyad are pairs of actors and associated ties, triads are triples of actors and associated ties. It follows that we can define a subgroup of actors as any subset of actors, and all ties among them.

Group. A group is the collection of all actors on which ties are to be measured.

2.1.2.2 Types of network

There are many different types of social networks that can be studied. If the focus of study is on the content of what is transmitted through networks rather than aggregating an individual’s overall pattern of ties, networks are divided into expressive network and

instrumental networks (Podolny and Baron, 1997; Cole & Weinbaum, 2010). Because this

study aims to examine the content of information transmitted among the educators in one university, this method of classification was used.

Expressive networks are defined as non-work-related relationships such as friendship

and kinship. Although this kind of relationship may not facilitate the dissemination of

expertise, it tends to generate social support and influence (Lin, 2015). Instrumental networks, on the other hand, refer to work-related relationships that are ultimately aimed to support specific professional purposes. Some researchers believe that, compared to expressive ties, the instrumental networks tend to be less durable and reliable (Cole & Weinbaum, 2010, p. 81), while others suggest that teachers discuss work-related issues more than they relate to personal relationships (Bolivar et al., 2010, Moolenaar & Sleegers, 2010). In this study, instrumental network is applied for exploring ties between educators with professional purposes.

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2.1.2.3 Network properties

Based on the research of Tichy, Tushman & Ombrun (1979), there are three ways to categorize the properties of networks with particular interests. They are transactional content, nature of the links and structural characteristics. Firstly, transactional content concerns on what is exchanged when two actors are linked. Four specific types of this category are exchange of affect (liking, friendship), exchange of influence or power, exchange of

information, and exchange of goods or services. Secondly, nature of the links focuses on the strength and qualitative nature of the relation between two actors. It can be described in terms of several characteristics such as intensity and reciprocity. Lastly, structural characteristics refer to the overall pattern of relationships between actors in a system. They consist of a set of indices, for instance, centrality, strength of tie and density. (These concepts were explained later on.)

2.1.3 Social Network and Professional Interaction in School

In recent years, there have been many educational studies building on social network theory for understanding “the complex role of teacher relationships in improving teaching and learning and in facilitating educational change” (Moolenaar, 2012). However, these studies can be divided into two main sections. The first category examines teachers’ interactions by analyzing networks across schools (e.g., Lieberman 2000; Veugelers & Zijlstra, 2002). The other aims to understand teacher relationships by analyzing social networks within schools, or intraschool networks (e.g., Penuel et al. 2007, Moolenaar 2010, and Daly et al. 2011). This study followed the second stream of social network research in education, which was intraschool networks.

This study focuses on a specific social network of teachers in school, which is their professional interactions. Teachers’ professional interactions are defined as interconnected ties of relationship among teachers about their teaching matters. For exploring how teachers’ professional interactions influence their job attitudes, the two network properties, which are

outdegree centrality and strength of tie, were examined. The definitions of these properties as

well as the reasons for choosing them will be explained as followings.

Degree Centrality. Centrality is a key concept in network studies, which refers to the identification of the most important actor in a network (Wasserman & Faust, 1994). There are

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four types of centrality, which are degree, closeness, betweenness and information. Degree

centrality measures “the extent to which nodes are directly connected to all other nodes in the

network” (Knoke, 2008, p. 63). When studies focus on the direction of centrality concept, the term outdegree and indegree are added in front of the term centrality (Lin, 2015)

Outdegree centrality indicates to the number of relations from the focal node to other

nodes (Wasserman & Faust, 1994).

Indegree centrality refers to the number of individuals who has connection to focal

actor. The figure 2.2 below illustrates an example of outdegree centrality and indegree centrality

Figure 2.2 An example of Outdegree centrality and Indegree centrality

In this study, outdegree centrality is used to explain how social network affects trust and affective organizational commitment, indegree is not in the boundary of interest. Because this study aims to examine how actively a teacher approach other teachers, using outdegree centrality is more suitable.

Strength of tie. Granovetter’s (1973) stated definition of the concept in terms of indicators, as “a (probably linear) combination of the amount of time, the emotional intensity, the intimacy (mutual confiding), and the reciprocal services which characterize the tie”. In addition, literatures on strength of tie are primarily concerned with the nature of the relationship between two or more social nodes and the impact of this link on information sharing activities (Granovetter, 1973; Frenzen & Nakamoto, 1993; Hansen et al., 1999; Uzzi, 1999; Ismail & Kwee, 2003). In this study, the strength of the tie is defined as the degree of professional interaction between the two teachers.

In conclusion, social network in this study is teachers’ professional interactions. The actors are teachers in Da Nang Architecture University, and relational tie is information

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transferred through teachers’ professional relationship. In this study, instrumental network is applied for exploring ties between educators with professional purposes was adopted. In addition, outdegree centrality and strength of tie are used for investigating on how teacher professional interactions influence the level of affective organizational commitment through trust.

2.2 Trust

The topic of trust is generating increased interest in organizational studies. The importance of trust has been cited in such areas as leadership (Atwater, 1988), management by objectives (Scott, D., 1980), performance appraisal (Cummings, 1983), labor-management relations (Taylor, 1989), and implementation of self-managed work teams (Lawler, 1992). In educational settings, the meaning of trust in schools has recently taken on added importance (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 1999). For example, trust is believed to be the crucial ingredient of all human learning (Moolenaar & Sleegers, 2010). For introducing a theoretical

construction on trust, in this section, the definition of trust, faucets of trust, forms of trust, and trust of faculty in school are presented.

2.2.1 Definition of Trust

Johnson-George and Swap (1982) asserted that "willingness to take risks may be one of the few characteristics common to all trust situations". In this study, the definition of trust is “the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to another party based on the confidence that the latter party is benevolent, reliable, competent, honest, and open” (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 1999; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 1998).

2.2.2 Forms of Trust

Louis (2007) suggested that there are two common forms of trust, which are

institutional trust and relational trust. Institutional trust is the expectation of appropriate behavior in organized settings based on the norms of that institution. Relational trust is the inevitable result of repeated interactions with others in modern organizations. This study focuses on trust between teachers in university, so relational trust is examined. Therefore, the term “trust” which is mentioned in the following parts is relational trust.

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2.2.3 Trust in School

In educational background, research has indicated that trust has significant impact on this field. First, it has positive effects on teacher motivation and learning (Moolenaar & Sleegers, 2010). Moreover, trust is important for both teachers’ individual and collective sense of efficacy, which is in turn associated with the improvement of classroom practice, and student achievement. Friedman (1991) found that low levels of trust lead to low levels of performance on outcomes such as teacher burnout. Even in schools with higher trust levels, relationships between teachers and administrators are less trusting than those among teachers (Bryk & Schneider, 2002).

In addition, the issues of relational and institutional trust in school are quite noticeable. In many schools, even though there are high level of relational trust in small groups of like-minded teachers, the overall levels of relational trust among adult employees is quite weak (Goddard et al., 2001). There are few recent studies of institutional trust in education, but there is evidence of “low trust in the frequent media reports of toxic contract negotiations and mutual recriminations between teacher associations and educational authorities” (Bottery, 2003).

2.3 Affective Organizational Commitment

Organizational commitment has been studied for years because of its contribution to the outcomes of organizations. For instance, studies on this discipline indicate that commitment has a positive impact on motivation (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990), organizational citizenship behaviors (Riketta, 2002) and job satisfaction (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005). In addition, some research studies have proved that organizational commitment correlated to job performance (e.g., Meyer, Paunonen, Gellatly, Goffin, & Jackson, 1989). Moreover, the high level of organizational commitment may reduce the level of absenteeism (Farrel & Stamm, 1988), turnover (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005), and counterproductive behavior (Dalal, 2005). However, low commitment has also been associated with low levels of morale (DeCotiis & Summers, 1987).

Organizational commitment is defined as “the employees’ state of being committed to assist in the achievement of the organization’s goals, and involves the employees’ levels of identification, involvement, and loyalty” (Caught, Shadur & Rodwell, 2000). Mowday, Steers

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& Porter (1982) defined it as the relative strength of an individual’s identification with, and involvement in, a particular organization. In this study, the definition of organizational commitment is adopted from Meyer & Allen (1997), who defined it as the desire of employees to remain employed with their organization.

According to Meyer & Allen (1997), there are three types of organizational commitment, which includes affective, continuance, and normative. In common sense, affective organizational commitment refers to the emotional attachment and involvement of employee with the organization. Next, continuance organizational commitment refers to an awareness of the costs related to leaving the organization. Finally, normative organizational commitment reflects a feeling of obligation to continue employment (Meyer and Allen, 1997).

Meyer & Allen (1991) also emphasized that affective commitment is considered a more effective measurement of organizational commitment. In addition, this research focuses particularly on interactions among teachers, as well as relational trust, affective organizational commitment seems to be the suitable dimension to examine; therefore, this study focuses only on it.

2.3.1 Definitions of Affective Organizational Commitment

Affective organizational commitment occurs when individuals fully embrace the goals and values of the organization. They become emotionally involved with the organization and feel personally responsible for the degree of organizational success. These individuals usually demonstrate high levels of performance, positive work attitudes, and a desire to stay with the organization. (Meyer & Allen, 1991)

Affective organizational commitment means “the identification and involvement of an individual based on emotional feeling towards the organization” (Allen & Meyer, 1990). In recent studies, several researchers have clarified the importance of affective commitment in influencing knowledge sharing behavior (Hislop, 2003, Van Den Hooff & De Ridder, 2004). Affective commitment is considered to have the greatest impact on workplace behavior, eliminating the barrier of resistance to share their knowledge (Meyer, et al., 2002).

2.3.2 Affective Organizational Commitment of Faculty

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between a scholar and the organization is believed to affect knowledge sharing behavior. When employees adopt a stronger affective commitment, they are more willing to share their knowledge. Similarly, Jarvenpaa & Staples (2001) argued that a higher level of commitment might “engender beliefs that the organization has rights to the information and knowledge one has created or acquired” (p.156).

2.4 Hypotheses Development

The following parts show how the hypotheses of this study were developed with the support of empirical and theoretical evidences. There are a total of four major hypotheses. The first hypothesis addresses the relation of teachers’ network properties and their

affective organizational commitment. Hypothesis 2 examined the relationship between the network properties of teachers and the level of their trust in colleagues. The association of teachers’ trust and the level of their affective commitment towards school were tested in Hypothesis 3. Last, Hypothesis 4 was about the mediating role of trust in the relationship between teachers’ network properties and their affective organizational commitment.

2.4.1 Social Network and Affective Organizational Commitment

In social science literature, some studies showed that there is an interrelation

between social network and affective organizational commitment. For example, Kilduff & Krackhardt (1994) and Mossholder, Settoon, & Henagan (2005) have found positive effect of social networks on organizational behavior. Both work attitude and network research suggest that a positive relationship may exist between these variables (Zagenczyk & Murrell, 2009). They also pointed out that social networks play as a crucial link between individuals and their relationship to the unit of work. This is a valuable contribution because it creates connections between social networks and key work outcomes.

Outdegree Centrality and Affective Organizational Commitment. In an organization, any

employee, who is in a position that he or she is interacted with fewer colleagues, may be less likely to feel a sense of social contact to others and a sense of association with the

organization (Morrison, 2002; Wellman, 1992). This situation happens because this employee may have a limited chance to reach out colleagues who are willing and able to support as well as fewer chances to take care of the coworkers when they are in need. Conversely, an

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others, and a sense of belonging to the organization (Morrison, 2000; Wellman, 1992). In addition, employees at the center of a network have many other ways to reach out to colleagues, allowing employees to be less emotional dependent and more socially autonomous (Ibarra & Andrews, 1993). The improved social autonomy leads them to strengthen control and manage healthy relationships with colleagues, which in turn has a positive effect on affective commitment. Therefore, this study proposes that network outdegree centrality of teachers is positively related to their affective organizational commitment. (Hypothesis 1a)

Tie Strength and Affective Organizational Commitment. In this study, the strength of tie

was defined as the degree of interaction between two actors. Employee who has strong tie may get different types of motivation for affective commitment (Granovetter, 1973). Strong ties—specifically more frequent contact — “are likely to foster affective commitment because they provide employees with better and more opportunities to share private information with coworkers, to better understand mutual awareness of needs, to mitigate feelings of loneliness, and to encourage reciprocal aid” (McPherson et al., 1992; Wellman, 1992). Also, strong ties provide employees with better and more opportunities to access others immediately to offer or receive social support. In sum, this research proposes that the tie strength of teachers is positively related to their affective organizational commitment. (Hypothesis 1b)

2.4.2 Social Network and Trust

In social capital literature, trust and social interaction are often mentioned as interrelated elements. Trust is embedded in relationships, based on interpersonal interdependence, and often associated with group cohesion and collaboration (Moolenaar & Sleegers, 2010). In this study, I propose outdegree centrality as the variable for examining how social network affects trust. Some studies reveal that there is relationship between outdegree centrality and trust.

Outdegree centrality and trust. To measure the extent to which trust existed between

different units in an organization, Tsai and Ghoshal (1998) calculated the degree centrality of the inter-unit trusting networks. Since the trusting relationships here were directional (that is, the fact that X trusted Y did not necessarily imply that Y also trusted X in return), both indegree and outdegree centrality could be calculated. In their research, they use only

indegree centrality as a measurement. In this research, because how teachers actively interact with or approach to their peers affects their trusts is examined, outdegree centrality is adopted.

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Therefore, the network outdegree centrality of educators may positively related to their relational trust. (Hypothesis 2a)

Strength of Tie and trust. Trust has been thought as produced mainly by strong ties,

especially those with greater intimacy and emotional support than from arm-length business relationships (Uzzi, 1997). Moreover, encouraging people to connect means allowing trust to develop (Prusak & Cohen, 2001). Discussions can help people build different approaches to relationships. In addition, researchers (Granovetter, 1975, Uzzi, 1996, Uzzi, 1997) believe that strong relationships, especially those with high intimacy and emotional support, mainly

produce trust. This leads to an assumption that trust cannot be found in weak relationships or arm-length relationships. Thus, it is proposed that the tie strength of teachers is positively related to the level of their relational trust in colleagues. (Hypothesis 2b)

2.4.3 Trust and Affective Organizational Commitment

There is not only significant theoretical evidence but also empirical support for the existence of a linkage between trust and affective organizational commitment. First, Kanter (1972) and Pascale & Athos (1981) stated that trust complements affective commitment. Next, Blake & Mouton (1984) view trust as "synonymous with mutual respect" and a key for promoting affective organizational commitment. Some researchers have also found that trust is a significant predictor of organizational commitment among employees in public

sectors(e.g., Albrecht & Travaglione, 2003; Connell et al., 2003; Nyhan, 2000), and in a wide variety of different industries and job levels (Podsakoff, Mackenzie, and Bommer, 1996). In addition, Louis (1995) reported positive relationships between supervisory trust and

organizational commitment. More specifically, perceived trust in the supervisor, an ability to be involved with the job, and feelings of job satisfaction were major determinants of

organizational commitment. Moreover, Diffie-Couch (1984) concludes that mistrust leads to decreased commitment. Being supervised by someone that one does not trust can be

psychologically distressing, and this distress will likely affect one's job attitudes (Dirks & Ferrin, 2002). Therefore, this study proposes that teachers’ relational trust is positively related to the level of their affective organizational commitment. (Hypothesis 3)

2.5 Conceptual Framework

Based on literature review, I propose the followings (1) teachers’ professional

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of trust may likely have high level of affective organizational commitment, and (3) teachers’ professional interactions influence the level of affective organizational commitment when mediating through trust. For capturing this idea, the conceptual framework of this study is generated as below.

Figure 2.3 Conceptual Framework

In the attempt of investigating this framework, twelve hypotheses were formulated as following:

H1: “The network properties of teachers are positively related to their affective organizational commitment.

H1a: The network outdegree centrality of teachers is positively related to their affective organizational commitment.

H1b: The tie strength of teachers is positively related to their affective organizational commitment.”

H2: “The network properties of teachers are positively related to the level of their trust in colleagues.

H2a: The network outdegree centrality of teachers is positively related to the level of their trust in colleagues.

H2b: The tie strength of teachers is positively related to the level of their trust in colleagues.”

H3: “Teachers’ trust is positively related to the level of their affective organizational commitment.”

H4: “Trust positively mediates the relationship between teachers’ network properties and their affective organizational commitment.

H4a: Trust positively mediates the relationship between teachers’ network outdegree centrality and their affective organizational commitment.

H4b: Trust positively mediates the relationship between teachers’ tie strength and their affective organizational commitment.”

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Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the methodological procedures used to examine the ten hypotheses developed earlier. It consists of five sections. In the first section, the research design which involves decisions about all operational aspects of this study are proposed. In the next sections, I also address the way selecting site and designing sampling, then, explain how data was collected via a designed survey. In addition, the measurements as well as data analysis used in this research are introduced.

3.1 Research Design

The research strategy applied in this study is a field survey study. Because this research involves an investigation of causal relationships between variables, which is teacher’s outdegree centrality and strength of tie, trust, and affective organizational commitment within its real life context at Da Nang Architecture University, survey study should be used as the research strategy (Robinson, 2002). In addition, the survey study strategy also has considerable ability to generate answers to the question “how?” questions (Yin, 2003). Besides, this study focus on using data to test hypotheses, quantitative approach will be adopted. The details of this research method will be explained in the following sections.

The data collection technique employed in this study is questionnaire because with standardized questions, all respondents can easily interpret the meaning of questions which researcher want to inquire (Robson, 2002). The types of questionnaire will be used is self-administered questionnaires which are delivered via work email which provided by Da Nang Architecture University (with the case-insensitive domain is @.dau.edu.vn)

(delivery and collection questionnaires). Data was collected via email because there are some sensitive questions in the survey (i.e. “I do not feel like ‘part of the family’ at my

organization”), it is better to answer it in the privacy.

3.2 Site selection and Sampling design

Da Nang Architecture University is chosen for examining how teacher’s professional interactions influence the level of affective organizational commitment when mediating through trust in higher education institution. I used to work at this university, that is why I

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had an opportunity to observe how teachers in this place interact to each other. I could realize there is a strong connection among them and this leads to a positive working climate in this university. The positive professional relations among these teachers make me curious to find out whether or not this affects their trust in other colleagues and it is possible to contribute to the involvement of teachers in their jobs.

Da Nang Architecture University locates in Da Nang, Vietnam. There are five departments in this university, which are Architecture, Construction, Economics, Urban Infrastructure, and Foreign Languages with the number of lecturer 71, 42, 49, 20, and 17, respectively. In this study, teachers from two departments, which are Architecture and Economics, are examined because the number of teachers in these departments is sufficient for social network analysis and from my observation as an insider, teachers in these departments tend to interact positively.

3.3 Data Collection and Survey Design

Data Collection. As mentioned earlier in this research, the types of questionnaire will be used is self-administered questionnaires. For collecting data, the survey was

delivered via work email to 120 teachers of two departments, Architecture and Economics, from February 10th to March 7th. They were told about the aim of this survey and they were assured that their responses would remain confidential. There were 109 teachers out of completed the survey, making the respondent rate to be 90.83%.

Survey Design. This questionnaire consists of three parts. In the first part, questions related to trust in colleagues and affective organizational commitment of faculty are included. The detail of scales used in this study will be described in following part of this chapter. In the next part, professional network details, respondents will be asked to list the full name(s) of up to seven person(s) in their department that they have conversation about their teaching with and the frequency of their conversations, which is adopted from

Marsden (2011). In the last part, information related to respondents such as name, gender, and the highest academic qualification is collected. In addition, because it is needed to separate teachers from two different networks, information about their department is included. (Appendix A)

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Back-translation of survey. Because the instruments used in this research is written in English and developed in foreign countries, not Vietnam, back-translation method was undertaken to make sure all the scales are appropriate. This procedure has become the most commonly reported method used in evaluating the appropriateness of a translation (See Appendix B).

3.4 Measurement

This section, which consists of two parts, provides a description of how the variables were measured as well as a survey were designed. The first part is measurement, which concludes the instruments for network outdegree centrality, strength of tie, trust, and affective organizational commitment. The second part introduce the construction of the questionnaire used in this research.

3.4.1 Measurement of Outdegree Centrality

Conceptually, the outdegree centrality in this study refers to the extent to which teachers are active in making an approach to his/her colleagues about their instructions. The method of Freeman is applied to measure the network centrality of actors as it is one of the simplest (Freeman, 1979). Specifically, the outdegree centrality is formulated as follows:

𝐶𝐶𝐷𝐷(𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑖) =𝑔𝑔 − 1𝑑𝑑(𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑖)

with 𝑑𝑑(𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑖) is the total number of direct ties that an actor has, (g − 1) is the maximum of possible direct ties that an actor has. This index ranges from 0 (when an actor has no direct connections to other actors) to 1 (when actors are connected to all other actors).

3.4.2 Measurement of Strength of Tie

Strength of tie, theoretically, is defined as the degree of professional interaction between two teachers. In this study, frequency of contact was applied to measure the strength of tie between teachers. This indicator has been used in many researches (Benassi et al., 1999; Blumstein & Kollock, 1988; Granovetter, 1974; Lin et al, 1981; Marsden & Campbell, 1984; Mathews et al, 1998; Mitchell, 1987, Perlman & Fehr, 1987).

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Frequency of contact refers to how often a teacher discuss with another one about

professional issues. To measure this frequency, first, respondents were asked to indicate the regularity in discussing with other teachers (up to seven) with the scale from “1-2 times per year” to “More than 4 times per week”. These data, then, was converted into numeric scales (i.e. “1-2 times per year” was converted into 1, and “More than 4 times per week” was 6). One teacher may have more than one relation, that means there is more than one strength of tie for each teacher. As such, correlation and regression of tie strength would not be applicable. In this research, the sum of each actor’s strength of ties was adopted to represent its value. For example, teacher A discuss with teacher B 1-2 times per week (4), and with teacher C 3-4 times per week (5), the strength of tie of teacher A is 9 (i.e. 4+5). Meanwhile, using sum method can illustrate that the more teachers interact with others, the stronger their ties are.

3.4.3 Measurement of Trust

Trust, which is defined in this study, is the willingness of a teacher to be exposed to another teacher because he/she believe that his/her colleague is benevolent, reliable, competent, honest, and open. Trust among educators was assessed by the scale developed by Hoy and Tschannen-Moran (2003). The scale included nine items, which scored on a four-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree).

In this study, I modify the scale of Hoy and Tschannen-Moran (2003) (Cronbach α = .717). to suit the context. Specifically, I adjusted the measurement from four-point scale (original scale) into five-point one for the cohesion of the questionnaire (The scale of affective organizational commitment is five-point scale). As this study measures one’s behavior in his/her professional network, I have changed the pronouns from plural third person (i.e. teachers in this school) to singular first person (i.e. I) Therefore, the scale includes nine items, with a sample item being “Even in difficult situations, I can depend on my colleagues”, and one negatively worded items were reverse (See Appendix A).

3.4.4 Measurement of Affective Organizational Commitment

In this study, Meyer and Allen’s (1991) scale (Cronbach α = .721) was adopted for measuring affective organizational commitment. This measurement consists of eight items, with a sample item being “I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career

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with this organization”, and three negatively worded items were reverse. The scale used in this research is a 5-point scale ranging from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5) (See Appendix A).

3.4.5 Network Visual Map

In this study, I will also reveal network visual maps that demonstrate teaching professional interaction in their departments. In the network visual map, the degree centrality as well as strength of tie between teachers will also be showed. From these maps, the density and centralization of each network also be revealed.

3.4.6 Control Variables

Information on gender, tenure, and education was used as control variables since they may affect an individual’s networks properties, and affective organizational commitment.

Gender. Gender is controlled because women often do not integrate well into the network as men in organizations (Brass 1985), and as a result they have to use different strategies to form social networks to become successful (Burt 1998). In addition, men tend to be somewhat less committed to organizations than women (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990).

Tenure. Tenure is also controlled because it is believed that greater-tenure members in organizations may have more important positions due to the increased time that they spend in the organization (Zagenczyk & Murrell, 2009).

Education. More highly-educated workers tend to be less committed. One

explanation is that they may have greater expectations of the organization which cannot always be met (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990). Besides, Glisson & Durick (1988) proved that commitment has been negatively related to the employee’s level of education.

3.5 Data Analysis

Statistical analyses will be conducted to explain the relationship among variables, which are teacher’s professional interactions, their trust in colleagues, and their affective organizational commitment. First, Cronbach's alpha will be used to measure the internal

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consistency (reliability) of the questionnaire. If the alpha coefficient for the items is .70 or higher, the items have relatively high internal consistency, or the items are considered acceptable. Next, UCINET 6, a Window software package which has been developed by Steve Borgatti, Martin Everett and Lin Freeman (2002), is used for understanding the pattern of teacher’s professional interactions. Then, for the analysis of the relationship between variables, Hierarchical Regression Analysis is used. The specific analyses are presented below.

3.5.1 Mediation Testing

For testing mediation, the method of Baron and Kenny (1986) was adopted in this research. According to this method, the first requirement is a significant relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable (direct effect). The second requirement for mediation is two significant relationships between independent variable and the mediating variable, and the mediating variable and the dependent variable. The third requirement specifies that when the mediator is held constant, a previously

significant relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable becomes insignificant.

3.5.2 Data Input into Social Network Analysis

After collecting data from google form, data related to teacher’s network was input into symmetric valued actor-by-actor squared matrices (i.e. 62×62 matrix for Architecture department, and 47×47 matrix for Economics department) through excel file. For each row, if a teacher interacts to another one, 1 will be recorded, otherwise, 0. The table below shown an example of this matrix. In this case, Baron reported that he interacted with only Kate, and Tim has connections with both Baron and Kate.

Baron Kate Tim Alex

Baron --- 1 0 0

Kate 0 --- 1 0

Tim 1 1 --- 1

Alex 0 0 1 ---

The data, then, was imported into UCINET software for analyze social network pattern.

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3.5.3 Characteristics of the Sample

The initial study frame consisted of 120 respondents. There were 109 teachers out of completed the survey, making the respondent rate to be 90.83%. The respondent

demographics are presented in Table 3.1. Of the 109 responders, the percentage of female is higher than male (60.6%). The majority of them has Master degree (73.4%) and the number of year working at this university is from two to ten.

Table 3.1 “Demographics of Survey Respondents”

Variables Characteristics Frequency Percentage

Gender Male 43 39.4% Female 66 60.6% Tenure 2 years 1 .9% 3 years 9 8.3% 4 years 16 14.7% 5 years 14 12.8% 6 years 8 7.3% 7 years 26 23.9% 8 years 15 13.8% 9 years 10 9.2% 10 years 10 9.2%

Education Bachelor Degree 27 24.8%

Master Degree 80 73.4%

Doctoral Degree 2 1.8%

Department Architecture 62 56.9%

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Chapter 4 RESULTS AND FINDINGS

This chapter presents the results and findings following the methodology outlined in chapter 3, for examining the relationship among network properties, trust and affective organizational commitment of teachers at DAU. The chapter begins with the outcome of descriptive statistical analysis and correlation analysis among all variables. Then, the main section which is about hypothesis testing are shown to support for answering research questions. In the last section, the network visual maps of two departments are introduced to illustrate the pattern of the teachers’ interactions in these departments. The last section introduces thorough findings corresponding with each research question were presented.

4.1 Descriptive Statistics

The means, standard deviations, and correlations among all variables are presented in Table 1 below. Generally, the correlational analysis revealed that some variables were correlated in the directions which were hypothesized. For example, two social network properties were positively and significantly associated with trust (r = .199, p ≤ .05 for outdegree centrality; and r = .215, p ≤ .05 for strength of tie). Trust was also positively and significantly correlated affective organizational commitment (r = .495, p ≤ .01). Surprisingly, only strength of tie positively correlated to affective organizational commitment, there is no correlation among outdegree affective organizational commitment.

Table 4.1 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Matrix among Variables

Variable Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. Gender 1.61 0.49 2. Tenure 6.45 2.13 -0.09 3. Education 1.75 0.43 0.15 .353** 4. Department 1.43 0.50 .513** -.202* .328** 5. Outdegree Centrality 0.08 0.04 -0.04 -0.06 -0.02 0.16 6. Strength of Tie 16.14 8.24 -.291** 0.05 -0.14 -.304** .698** 7. Trust 3.97 0.35 0.03 -0.08 0.17 0.17 .199* .215* (.717) 8. AOC 3.71 0.45 -0.07 0.04 0.10 -0.03 0.13 .196* .495** (.721) N = 109

Cronbach’s alphas are on the parenthesis for all scales

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4.2 Hypothesis Testing

Hierarchical regression analysis was adopted to test all hypotheses. Control variable (i.e. gender, tenure, education, and department) were entered in Step 1 of all regressions. Then, independent variables were entered to test Hypotheses 1–3 in step 2, and in step 3, trust was inputted to test hypotheses 4. The detailed methods and results are presented below.

4.2.1 Relationship among social network properties and affective

organizational commitment

For testing the hypothesis that the network properties of teachers have a significant effect on their affective organizational commitment, a two-stage hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed. This research looks into two properties of network, which are outdegree centrality and strength of tie, two separated hypotheses were formed. The first one is that the network outdegree centrality of teachers have a significant effect on their affective organizational commitment (Hypothesis 1a). The other is that the tie strength of teachers has a significant effect on their affective organizational commitment (Hypothesis 1b). The outputs of these analyses were combined into one table, which model 1 is for the first network property and model 2 illustrated the second one. In the first step, control variables (i.e. Gender, Tenure, Education, Department) were entered for both models. In the second step, outdegree centrality was inputted in model1, and strength of tie was entered in model 2. The specific results of these two models are presented in table 4.2 below.

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Table 4.2 Results of regression analysis for social network properties and affective organizational commitment

Independent variables Dependent variables (Affective Organizational Commitment)

Model 0 Model 1 Model 2

Step one Controls Gender Tenure Education Step two Outdegree Centrality Strength of Tie -.062 -.010 .182 -.042 -.009 .186 1.558 -.028 -.010 .184 .011* F ΔF R2 ΔR2 .852 .032 1.074 1.934 .050 .018 1.509* 4.036* .068 .037 * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

In model 1, it is apparent from the result table that outdegree centrality is not significantly related to affective organizational commitment (B = 1.558, p > 0.05). Thus, the hypothesis 1a was not supported. However, in model 2, there was a positive and significant relationship between strength of tie and affective organizational commitment (B = 0.011, p < .05); therefore, the hypothesis 1b was supported. Overall, only strength of tie was positively and significantly related to affective organizational commitment.

Accordingly, hypothesis 1 was partially supported.

4.2.2 Relationship among social network properties and trust

To test the hypothesis that the network properties of teachers positively influence the level of their relational trust in colleagues (Hypothesis 2), a two-stage hierarchical

multiple regression analysis was also performed. As mentioned above, this research looks into two properties of network, which are outdegree centrality and strength of tie, two separated hypotheses were formed. The first one is that the network outdegree centrality of teachers positively influence the level of their relational trust in colleagues (Hypothesis 2a). The other is that the tie strength of teachers positively influence the level of their

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relational trust in colleagues (Hypothesis 2b). The outputs of these analyses were combined into one table, which model 1 is for the first network property and model 2 illustrated the second one. In the first step, control variables (i.e. Gender, Tenure, Education, Department) were entered for both models. In the second step, outdegree centrality was inputted in model1, and strength of tie was entered in model 2. The specific results of these two models are presented in table 4.3 below.

Table 4.3 Results of regression analysis for social network properties and trust Independent variables Dependent variables (Trust)

Model 0 Model 1 Model 2

Step one Controls Gender Tenure Education Step two Outdegree Centrality Strength of Tie -.044 -.024 .168* -.024 -.023 .171* 1.527 -.006 -.024 .170* .012* F ΔF R2 ΔR2 2.055 .073 2.343 3.309 .102 .059 3.629* 9.270* .150 .109 * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

In both models, education had a positive and significant relationship with trust (B = .17, p < .05). In model 1, it is apparent that outdegree centrality is not significantly related to trust (B = 1.527, p > 0.05). Thus, the hypothesis 2a was not supported.

However, in model 2, there was a positive and significant relationship between strength of tie and trust (B = 0.012, p < .05); therefore, the hypothesis 2b was supported. Overall, only strength of tie was positively and significantly related to trust. Accordingly, hypothesis 2 was partially supported.

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4.2.3 Relationship among trust and affective organizational

commitment

A two-stage hierarchical multiple regression analysis was also used to test hypothesis 3, which is teachers’ relational trust positively influences the level of their affective organizational commitment. In the first step, affective organizational

commitment was entered as dependent variable and Gender, Tenure, Education, Department were inputted into independent variables box as control variables. In the second step, trust was entered. The specific results of these two models are presented in table 4.4 below.

Table 4.4 Results of regression analysis for trust and affective organizational commitment Independent

variables

Dependent variables (Affective organizational commitment)

Model 0 Model 1 Step one Controls Gender Tenure Education Step two Trust -.062 -.010 .182 -.033 .006 .072 .654*** F ΔF R2 ΔR2 .852 .032 7.500*** 33.044*** .267 .231 * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

It is clear that there was a positive and significant relationship between trust and affective organizational commitment (B = .654, p < .001) as reported in previous studies. The regression coefficient is .654, which means that with every change in trust for one unit, the change in affective organizational commitment increases .654 unit while holding other predictors in the model constant. The coefficient of determination, R2, is .267, which means trust explain 26.7% of affective organizational commitment. To conclude,

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4.2.4 Mediating role of trust for relationship between social

network properties and affective organizational commitment

The results of mediated regression analysis used to test Hypothesis 4 is shown in Table 4.5. Hypotheses 4 predicted that relational trust positively mediates the relationship between teachers’ network properties, which are outdegree centrality and strength of tie, and their affective organizational commitment. Because the first requirement for

mediation was not met in outdegree case (hypothesis 4a), the mediation analysis was only used to test hypothesis 4b. It is relational trust positively mediates the relationship

between teachers’ tie strength and their affective organizational commitment.

Table 4.5 Results of regression analysis for trust and affective organizational commitment Independent variables Dependent variables (Affective Organizational Commitment)

Model 1 (ID  DV) (Direct effect) Model 2 ( MV  DV) Model 3 (Mediating effect) Step one Controls Gender Tenure Education R2 Step two Strength of Tie Step three Trust -.028 -.010 -.016 .011* -.033 .006 .072 .032 .654*** -.024 .005 -.090 .032 .003 .632*** F ΔF R2 ΔR2 1.509* 4.036* .068 .037 7.500*** 33.044*** .267 .231 6.282*** 28.161*** .270 .227 * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

The first regression equation (Model 1) revealed that strength of tie was positively and significantly associated with affective organizational commitment (B = .011, p < .05), meeting the first requirement for mediation. In Model 2, trust was regressed on affective organizational commitment and a positive and significant relationship between them was

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found (B = .654, p < .001). Thus, the second requirement for mediation was met. In Model 3, strength of tie and trust was inputted in step 2 and step 3, respectively. It is found that strength of tie turned from significant (B = .011, p < .05) in model 1 into insignificant (B = .003, p > .05) in model 3 when trust was entered as mediator. Meanwhile, the significant relationship between the trust and affective organizational commitment was still

significant. Therefore, the third requirement was met. It is concluded that trust mediated the relationship between strength of tie and affective organizational commitment,

therefore, the hypothesis 4b was supported.

4.2.5 Summary of hypothesis testing results

Based on the results of hypothesis testing above, the table 4.6 provides a summary of the findings for each of the four hypotheses.

“Table 4.6 Summary of hypothesis testing”

Hypothesis Statement Result

H1 H1a H1b H2 H2a H2b H3 H4 H4a

“The network properties of teachers are positively related to their affective organizational commitment.”

“The network outdegree centrality of teachers is positively related to their affective organizational commitment.” “The tie strength of teachers is positively related to their

affective organizational commitment.”

“The network properties of teachers are positively related to the level of their trust in colleagues.”

“The network outdegree centrality of teachers is positively related to the level of their trust in colleagues.”

“The tie strength of teachers is positively related to the level of their trust in colleagues.”

“Teachers’ trust is positively related to the level of their affective organizational commitment.”

“Trust positively mediates the relationship between teachers’ network properties and their affective organizational commitment.”

“Trust positively mediates the relationship between

Partially supported Not supported Supported Partially supported Not supported Supported Supported Partially supported

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H4b

teachers’ network outdegree centrality and their affective organizational commitment.”

“Trust positively mediates the relationship between teachers’ tie strength and their affective organizational commitment.”

Not supported

Supported

4.3 Network Visual Map of Two Networks

From social network analysis, the valued directed network data was analyzed using UCINET 6. Network maps for Architecture and Economics department derived from UCINET Netdraw are as figure 4.1 and 4.2, respectively, below. Each node has specific color which represents the division where the actor belongs to. Actor's size shows levels of tenure of alter. The thickness of the line represents the magnitude of tie strength between ego (i.e. the key teacher) and alter, which was measured by frequency of contact between teachers.

Because these maps illustrate the whole networks of teachers’ interaction, for examining characteristics of them, density and centralization were used. The concepts of density and centralization refer to differing aspects of the overall 'compactness' of a graph, and they are important complementary measures.

Density (Connectedness). According to Atteberry & Bryk (2010, p. 57), density indicates “the level of interactions among members in the network; it reflects the ratio of the actual total number of ties that members report to the total number of possible ties”. Network with high density is the network that members interact greatly.

Centralization. Centralization is the degree to which the network revolves around single node (Lin, 2015). Prell et al. (2009) stated that a centralization score of 1 indicates that the maximum number of ties concentrated around one actor is present, and a score of 0 indicates a fully connected network, where all actors are directly connected to each other.

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Figure 4.1 Network Visual Map of Architecture Department

The figure 4.1 above is the network visual map of Architecture department. From this map, the color of nodes represents academic divisions in this department. Apparently, teachers in each division formed into sub-networks. There are six divisions in Architecture department, which are Interior Design (in navy), Planning (in light blue), Fundamental of Architecture (in yellow), Fundamental of Arts (in lime), Graphics (in pink), and

Construction Architecture (in red).

The network analysis suggests that whole school network density is 0.158 with total number of 299 ties. The centralization of this network is 0.2716. When taking apart the analysis into departments, the density values of Interior Design, Planning, Fundamental of Architecture, Fundamental of Arts, Graphics, and Construction Architecture are 0.04 (with 76 ties), 0.02 (with 37 ties), 0.017 (with 32 ties), 0.018 (with 34 ties), 0.017 (with 32 ties), and 0.047 (with 88 ties), respectively.

In Architecture network, teachers naturally became arranged in sub groups, their own divisions. This result is corresponding to the fact that teachers tend to discuss about teaching and professional matters with others within their divisions because of the nature of their work. Teachers not only teach their subjects individually, but also form into groups for giving advices and grading architecture students on their projects on specific

數據

Table 3.1 Demographics of Survey Respondents .................................................................
Figure 1.1 The research process
Figure 2.1 An example of social network map
Figure 2.2 An example of Outdegree centrality and Indegree centrality
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