Original Article (Quantified)
leila jalali; Mahtab jafari
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to investigate the mediating role of human resource improvement in the relationship between knowledge management and the job performance of secondary school teachers in Karaj city. The current research is an applicable research in terms of its purpose, and a survey-correlation ...
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The purpose of this research is to investigate the mediating role of human resource improvement in the relationship between knowledge management and the job performance of secondary school teachers in Karaj city. The current research is an applicable research in terms of its purpose, and a survey-correlation research in terms of research method. The statistical population of the research is 7690 secondary school teachers in Karaj city. Using the Tabaking formula, 200 people were selected as a sample from among the teachers by multi-stage cluster sampling method. To collect data, Velba & Jansen's human source training and improvement (2010), Lawson's knowledge management (2003), and Patterson's job performance (1990) questionnaires, which had acceptable validity and reliability, were used. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods including correlation coefficient, path analysis, and structural equation model. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between knowledge management and job performance (p≥0.05). There was a significant relationship between improving human resources and job performance (p≥0.05). There was a significant relationship between knowledge management and improving human resources (p≥0.05). Also, the results of the structural equation model showed that the human resource improvement variable had a mediating role in the impact of knowledge management on job performance (p≥0.05). In general, it can be concluded that the improvement and development of knowledge management and training and the improvement of human resources can directly lead to an increase in the professional performance of teachers.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Job performance means knowledge and ability to perform specific tasks, which requires proficiency in the use of special techniques and tools, and practical competence in behavior and activity. Such functions are obtained through education, internship and experience. The distinctive feature of job performance is that it is possible to achieve the highest level of competence and expertise, because this performance is accurate, specific and has objective and measurable criteria (Saatchi, 2007; Savari et al, 2017). Kampbell (1999) considers job performance to be behavior or actions that include the organization's goals and determine its efficiency, which can be determined by the level of skills determinable by providing a specific action or a set of actions (Nam & Park, 2019). Job performance is influenced by various factors, including knowledge management and improvement of human resources. Knowledge management is as a life cycle that includes four elements (Salami & Mohseni, 2019). On the other hand, the most important feature of today's organizations is change. Koper (2004) in the definition of human resource improvement writes: Human resource improvement is related to preparation for learning, development and training opportunities in order to improve individual and group performance and organizational improvement (Koper, 2004; Bigdali et al, 2018). ).
According to the mentioned materials, the main problem of the research is: what is the relationship between knowledge management and teachers' job performance with the mediating role of improving human resources?
Theoretical foundations
Knowledge management is a systematic and coherent process that uses a suitable combination of information technologies and human interaction to identify, manage and share the organization's information assets.
Job performance includes an area of organizational behavior that is related to people's jobs, and is in line with the achievement of the organization's goals. Job performance definitions mainly emphasize behavior compared to results (Jalal Zadeh & Nasiriyan, 2020).
Improvement refers to activities through which employees keep pace with the changes and growth of the organization. In organizational literature, there is a small difference between training and improvement.
Hoseini (2021) investigated the impact of flexibility of human resources on organizational innovation and job performance of the employees of Birjand Education Department. The results of the research showed that the flexibility of human resources has an effect on the organizational innovation of employees. Employees' skills and behavioral flexibility do not affect the organizational innovation of employees. The flexibility of human resource activities has an effect on the organizational innovation of employees. The flexibility of human resources affects the job performance of employees. Employees' skills, behavioral flexibility and flexibility of human resource activities do not affect the job performance of employees.
Por Rashidi (2021) investigated the mediating role of knowledge management and organizational learning in the impact of human resources development activities on employee innovation (case study of employees of Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman). The results showed that human resource development activities have a positive and significant effect on knowledge management. Human resources development activities have a positive and significant effect on the organizational learning of employees. Organizational learning of employees has a positive and significant effect on their innovation. Organizational learning of employees has a positive and significant effect on their innovation. Human resource development activities have a positive and meaningful effect on employee development. Finally, knowledge management and organizational learning play a mediating role in influencing human resource development activities on employee innovation.
Research Methodology
The current research is applicable in terms of its purpose, and is a descriptive research in terms of the research method of the correlative-survey type and based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the research is 7,690 secondary school teachers in Karaj city, among which 200 people were selected as a sample by using the smoking formula with a multi-stage cluster sampling method. The questionnaire of Patreson (1990) was used in order to collect data related to the job performance variable, and the questionnaire of Lavson (2003) for the knowledge management variable, and the questionnaire of Velba & Jansen (2010) for the human resources improvement variable were used.
Research Findings
In order to investigate the hypothesis of the research, the structural equation modeling method of structural equation modeling with the help of spss software was used, and then statistical liserel software was used to measure the effects of the independent and mediator variables with the dependent variable, and the results were as follows: the results of the first sub-hypothesis showed that based on the findings of inferential statistics, the coefficient of knowledge management impact on job performance is estimated at 0.46. Considering that the value of the significant number (t-value) is equal to 6.09 and more than 1.96; it means that knowledge management has a positive and significant effect on performance. The results of the second sub-hypothesis showed that based on the findings of descriptive statistics, the mean of the variable of job performance is equal to 3.48 out of 5, and its standard deviation is 0.94, which indicates that the teachers' job performance level is higher than the average. Based on the findings of inferential statistics, the impact factor of improving human resources on job performance is estimated at 0.31. Considering that the value of the significant number (t-value) equal to 4.16 is greater than the absolute value of 1.96; it means that improving human resources has a positive and significant effect on job performance. The results of the third sub-hypothesis showed that based on the findings of descriptive statistics, the mean of human resource improvement variable is equal to 3.69 out of 5 and its standard deviation is 0.69, which can be said that the teachers are average to high in terms of human resource improvement. Based on the findings of inferential statistics, the impact coefficient of knowledge management and improvement of human resources is estimated at 0.51. Considering that the value of the significant number (t-value) equal to 6.07 is greater than the absolute value of 1.96; that is, knowledge management has a positive and significant effect on the improvement of human resources. The results of the main hypothesis showed that the effect of the knowledge management variable on the improvement of human resources was accepted with a path coefficient of 0.51 and a t-statistic value of 6.07. Also, the effect of improving human resources on job performance was confirmed with a path coefficient of 0.31 and a t-statistic value of 4.16. On the other hand, considering that the absolute value of the Sobel statistic is equal to 4.208 and is greater than 1.96, and the significance level of the test (0.00) is lower than the error level of 0.05, it can be found at the confidence level of 95 percentage of mediating effect of human resource improvement in the relationship between knowledge management and job performance confirmed once again. Also, the value of the direct effect of knowledge management on job performance is equal to 0.46, the indirect effect of knowledge management on job performance is 0.158, and the total effect of knowledge management on job performance is estimated to be 0.618.
Conclusion and Discussion
The current research was conducted with the aim of mediating role of improving human resources in the relationship between knowledge management and teachers' job performance. The results of this research are consistent with the results of Morshedi Tonekaboni (2020); Yousefli & Efrai (2020); Salami & Mohseni (2019); Ghasemi-nejad Raini & Azari (2018); the application of knowledge management and training and improvement of human resources by providing creating conditions for more productivity of human capital, creating job feedback, more efficient and effective learning, satisfaction of applicants, stimulating motivation as well as creativity and innovation, creates the field of desire and motivation to work and career advancement, and ultimately leads to improvement.
According to the current research, it is suggested to pay special attention to training and improving the knowledge of employees and in this regard, design and implement training courses based on needs assessment by experts and establish the balance between the personal needs of teachers and the needs of the organization, the redesign of assessment and learning mechanisms, and the institutionalization of evaluation culture, reuse of workshop equipment and tools, and training and internship while doing work should be considered.
Original Article (Mixed)
rahimali nasiri; hosein abbasian; bizhan abdollahi; hasanreza zeinabadi
Abstract
Abstract
The current research was conducted with the aim of designing and validating a model for creating an entrepreneur school. In terms of the nature of the data, the method of this research is mixed with an exploratory design, and practical in terms of purpose. In the qualitative part, the qualitative ...
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Abstract
The current research was conducted with the aim of designing and validating a model for creating an entrepreneur school. In terms of the nature of the data, the method of this research is mixed with an exploratory design, and practical in terms of purpose. In the qualitative part, the qualitative content analysis method was used to design the model, and in the quantitative part, the survey method was used to validate the model. In the qualitative part, the data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 experts who were selected by the purposeful snowball sampling method, and the inductive coding method was used to analyze the data. In the quantitative part; confirmatory factor analysis, mean descriptive indices, and standard deviation were used. After obtaining the proposed model,, 43 experts were selected through a researcher-made questionnaire, and by purposeful sampling method to validate the model. The findings of the qualitative part of the research were 95 core codes related to the characteristics of the entrepreneur school, which in the quantitative stage, after the confirmatory factor analysis of the questionnaire by PLS software, two items were removed from the initial model due to having a factor load of less than 0.4, and the modified model with 93 features and with good fit, validated and presented.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Examining the economic and social trend of the developed countries in recent decades shows that in most of them them, entrepreneurship is one of the strategic topics that is considered in the policy field. They found that the economy is influenced by entrepreneurship (Mohd Noor et al, 2021), and entrepreneurs play a significant role in economic and social development (Artakhov Anton, 2022; Rajput, 2015). On the other hand, entrepreneurship is a process that requires planning in the educational system, and the implementation of its programs carries out at the level of the family, school, university, and organizations (Dutta & Crossan, 2005). Therefore, providing conditions for teaching entrepreneurship to people and the consequences of earning entrepreneurial capabilities for them, in addition to improving individual development, promoting creativity, self-confidence, innovation and social skills (Lackeus, 2013), is a response to a complex, uncertain and changing world (Gibb, 2002). Due to such an important role, fundamental steps have been taken in the developed countries of the world to support entrepreneurial activities for the education and training of entrepreneurial competencies (Bridge & O'Neill, 2012), and much attention has been paid to competency-based training in entrepreneurship education programs in the educational environment. (Izquierdo, 2008).
Also in Iran, considering the importance of the issue and in order to lay the groundwork for the training of specialized and committed, knowledge oriented, creative and entrepreneurial human resources in accordance with the needs of the software movement, in the fifth development program, the creation and strengthening of the entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial efficiency through the evolution of educational programs and methods has been emphasized (The fifth development program, 2010). In the document of the fundamental transformation of education, entrepreneurship is one of the basic approaches and creative and entrepreneurial human education is mentioned as a major goal (Document of the fundamental transformation of education, The 4th chapter, paragraph 1, 2015). Nevertheless, the results of the investigations show that the operational strategies adopted have not been very successful in practice. The serious ineffectiveness of the current methods of education, for training creative and problem-oriented students (Mehrabi, 2018), on the one hand, and the inevitable needs of the labor market and the need for future jobs for more skilled and efficient people, on the other hand, are among the evidence and reasons that show that these environments need fundamental changes and should have features that those have not used so far. But what characteristics and how they should be put together in order for a school to become an entrepreneur school, is a topic that this research has addressed.
Therefore, the question which the research is serching an answer for is: what are the components and features of an entrepreneur school?
Theoretical Framework
Since the emergence of the concept of entrepreneurship, several definitions have been proposed for it. For example, Stevenson et al (1985) consider it the process of value creation through taking advantage of an opportunity. Others consider it the same skill as realizing an opportunity (Ahmadi et al, 2018). Entrepreneurship is creation from nothing and a combination of risk taking, creativity, personal success and innovation. In addition, entrepreneurship requires planning through which the raw ideas be managed in such a way that they lead to economic consequences. Accordingly Schumpeter considers the entrepreneur as an economic actor who breaks the stagnation to move the economy towards development (Vaz-Curado & Mueller, 2019). The studies of many thinkers (Frank et al, 2005; Hartshorn & Hannon, 2005) also indicate that entrepreneurship can be taught, and through education, the concepts and skills necessary for entrepreneurship can be transferred and brought it to a conclusion in society (Zali et al, 2007).
Until the early 1970s, researches in the field of entrepreneurship were focused on the characteristics of individuals. But the researchers in this field later realized that the organizations themselves also engage in entrepreneurial activities (Miller & Friesen, 1982; Jennings, 1994; Burglemann, 1983). Therefore, schools can also become entrepreneurs. The movement of schools to become entrepreneurs has been an effort in this direction and it is an issue that the upper documents have assigned to the governments and have emphasized.
Entrepreneur schools are the main centers for training students with new ideas (Ghorbani, 2017; Faghiri & Salehi, 2017), centers to help students create jobs and create businesses and prepare them to enter the business environment (Sattari et al, 2018), and science and technology production centers and the place of making applicable the knowledge, and can play a significant role in the progress and development of the country in the world arena (Abbasi, 2014). Despite the importance of the subject of the entrepreneur school, there are few studies about it that have examined the issue from different perspectives. Some researches, such as Nepal (2021), Hashemi et al (2021), Baharvand & Gouran (2019), and Ghorbani (2017), have identified the dimensions and characteristics of the entrepreneur school. Others, such as Nasre-Sfahani et al (2017), Juvova et al (2017), and Maktabi & Babakhanian (2015), have investigated the role of various factors in the entrepreneur school. Some have also investigated the factors affecting students' entrepreneurial interest or intention, including the researches of Shahin et al (2021), Senarath & Perera(2018), Indrawati & Caska (2018); Cited by Hashemi et al (2021), King (2018)), Rosique-Blasco et al (2016), and Bakherad (2016). Some have also investigated the development of entrepreneurship in schools in different countries of the world, including the experience of Spain (Barba-Sánchez & Atienza-Sahuquillo, 2016), Indonesia (Hadi et al, 2015), Malaysia (Rahman et al, 2015), Hong Kong (Cheung, 2012), Korea (Park, 2012), South Africa (Steenekamp et al, 2011), Portugal (Do Paco et al, 2011) and Austria (Frank et al, 2005; McFadzean et al, 2005).
Nepal (2021) considers the educational methods as the foundation of the teacher's performance progress and the results of the students' learning; and in the shape of the school's features, mentions paying attention to the intraction between the teachers and the students, environment and the learning tasks, educational contents and understanding the various needs of the learners, the physical conditions of the classroom and its soroundings as the effective tools of education.
Hashemi et al (2021) also consider the flexible structure, cohesive entrepreneur culture, constant interaction with the environment, paying attention to the human source, common viewpoint and promising strategy, comprehensiveness and harmony of the trainings, decentralization, autonomous and independence of the schools, self-believing reinforcement, self-identifying, skill learning, training, creativity and innovation in students as the characteristics of these schools
Despite the above researches, there is no research that can provide a clear picture of an entrepreneur school in the form of a model to those involved. In this research, the model of Sporn (2001) has been used to guide the design of the entrepreneur school model. In 2001, he proposed a model for greater adaptability of universities to entrepreneur universities and six factors: "Goal and mission", "Structure", "Culture", "Management", "Governance", "Leadership" and an intermediary namely " environment" (sporn, 2001). Therefore, the same dimensions have been considered here to identify the characteristics of the entrepreneur school and design a model for it.
Research Methodology
The current research is of mixed type (qualitative and quantitative) and exploratory design and includes two main parts of model design and model validation. In the model design part, in order to achieve the desired facts and information, the qualitative method and qualitative content analysis have been used, and in the model validation part, the survey metod was used to meseure the level of importance and the fitness of identified components, and data analysis has been done based on confirmatory factor analysis and descriptive statistics indicators.
Qualitative part: In this section, to examine the theoretical foundations and background of the research, the research field includes all thematic contents related to the concept of the entrepreneur school in books, articles and publications and authoritative scientific sites, as well as all upstream documents, including Iran's vision document 2025, the document of the fundamental transformation of education and training, the comprehensive scientific map of the country, which, for sample, uses search results to the point of saturation in various domestic (such as SID, Magiran, Civilica, Irandoc) and foreign (such as Science Direct, ProQuest, Springer, Eric, Sage) scientific sites. The statistical community for the interview section also includes all experts including professors, managers and teachers who have knowledge, research and experience in the two fields of education and entrepreneurship. Theoretical and purposeful snowball sampling method was used to select the interviewees and the number of interviewees reached 17 until the saturation level was reached. In this section, the method of documentary research and surveying was used to collect data, and in the interview section with experts, the survey method using semi-structured interview was used.
To check the validity and reliability of the tool in the qualitative part, the three criteria of "Credibility", "Portability" and "Verification" were used (Lincoln & Guba, 1994; Quoted by Abbaszadeh, 2012: 23). To analyze the data collected in semi-structured interviews, the three-step coding method of Strauss and Corbin was used, under the title of open coding, axial coding and selective coding, and the unit of analysis is the "subject".
Quantitative part: In the model validation part, the statistical community included professors, managers and experts with knowledge, research or experience in the two fields of education and entrepreneurship, and the statistical sample included 7 professors of entrepreneurship course, 6 teachers or trainers of entrepreneurship course, 22 directors of technical and vocational colleges and 8 entrepreneurial researchers.There were 43 people in total who were selected by targeted and available sampling method. Also, in this section, a researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data for model validation. This questionnaire, which is derived from the results of qualitative analysis and developed based on the initial template, has 95 items and is designed on a five-point Likert scale and has been approved by supervisors, consultants and experts. In this research, a researcher-made questionnaire was used to validate the proposed model of the entrepreneur school, and it was used to determine the validity of the questionnaire from the experts' point of view. For this purpose, its formal and content validity has been confirmed by mentors and advisors and an entrepreneurial manager. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was also used to ensure the reliability of the designed questionnaire, and the value of α was equal to 0.986. To analyze the quantitative data from the questionnaire, descriptive-analytical method and descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and SPSS 22 and PLS 3 software were used.
Research Findings
In this research, according to the model of Sporn (2001), first 7 components of "environment, goals, structure, culture, governance, management and leadership" were examined for the entrepreneur school, and then using semi-structured interviews with experts and coding, a total of 95 features were determined for them. In the quantitative part, after the confirmatory factor analysis of the Researcher-made questionnaire by PLS software, two variables were removed from the initial model due to having a factor load of less than 0.4, and the modified model of the entrepreneur school with 93 variables and with a good fit by R2 and Q2 indicators. and GOF, validated and presented.
Conclusion and Discussion
According to the results of this research, schools need changes in seven components including "environment, goal, structure, culture, governance, management and leadership", which we will discuss further.
The environment of the entrepreneur school should have specialized, standard and equipped physical and virtual spaces, the curriculum content should be up-to-date and creativity-oriented and comprehensive for all kinds of entrepreneurial skills. It is necessary for the training to be individualized and activity-oriented with a flexible schedule as much as possible so that students learn to develop their own ideas. Of course, the necessity of providing such an environment is the presence of experienced and entrepreneurially qualified teachers who can make the classroom environment dynamic, questioning and collaborative and raise informed, motivated and active students. The entrepreneur school should be a base for the needs, threats and opportunities of its environment in order to use them to become a place of income generation. The policies, rules and regulations of the education system and the preparation and companionship of all people, protection of entrepreneurial models and funds, support of ideas and their owners, and active communication with other organizations. Empowering government policies and, of course, facilitating and supporting laws and regulations are the features that the entrepreneur school needs to succeed.
Another part of the entrepreneur school is having a specific mission. According to the experts, the goal of the entrepreneur school should be education, research, promotion and development of entrepreneurship. The governing culture of the entrepreneur school should be a culture of creativity and entrepreneurship, which means that transformation, dynamism and innovativeness, free communication and effective interactions, spontaneity and automation, and perfectionism, while paying attention to teamwork and responsibility, are valuable features. According to experts, in order for the structure of the school to facilitate entrepreneurship, it is necessary for this structure to be dynamic and flexible, and for horizontal communication to be sufficiently established along with vertical communication. Behaviors are less formal and more informal, the scope of supervision is limited and possibly diverse with a tendency to be more complex.
In addition to the characteristics required for all managers, the manager of the entrepreneur school, including talent and skills management, knowledge and information management, must have a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. To have the necessary knowledge, expertise and skills for entrepreneurial management. Have entrepreneurial experience. Be innovative and support innovations. Be pragmatic and active and always seek the growth and development of yourself and the group under your management. The principal of this school should be like a leader accepted by his subordinates so that he can benefit from their support to make the necessary changes.
Governance in the entrepreneur school has its own characteristics. According to experts, deciding on the type and method of carrying out school activities and programs is not only the right of the educational organization, but school officials, teachers, trainers, parents and even the students themselves also consider themselves to share in this right, and this multiplicity of the main actors of the situation It makes it complicated. In any case, in order to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem, facilitate the business environment, respect freedom of speech and democracy, and transparency and accountability during the rule of law, it is necessary for the school to move towards playing a greater role of the non-governmental sector by reducing the role of the government. It is in this case that the school, with its relative independence and maintaining the position of the manager, can bring about the necessary changes in accordance with its environment to realize the entrepreneur school.
Original Article (Quantified)
Esmaeil Kazempour; omolbanin Ramaji; Zahra Salimzadeh Kakarodi
Abstract
Abstract
The present study was conducted with the aim of the relationship between study approaches and academic identity with the self-concept in second year high school students in Kalachai city. The research method was descriptive, and a correlative type. The statistical population of the research ...
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Abstract
The present study was conducted with the aim of the relationship between study approaches and academic identity with the self-concept in second year high school students in Kalachai city. The research method was descriptive, and a correlative type. The statistical population of the research included 981 secondary school students of Kalachai city, of which 274 were selected as a statistical sample by cluster random method. Library and field methods were used to collect data. The data collection tools were the standard questionnaires of Tate et al.'s study approaches (1998), Rogers' self-concept (1938), and Vaz and Isaacson's academic identity (2008). The validity of the questionnaires was investigated based on the experts' ideas, according to the viewpoint of some of the statistical population and structure, and confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis method. The reliability of the questionnaires was estimated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient method for study approaches 0.88, self-concept 0.80 and academic identity 0.78 respectively. Analysis and Data analysis was done at two levels of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Thus, in order to test the research hypotheses, first of all, the Kolmogorov Smirnov test to check the normality of the data distribution and the structural equation technique to check the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable using Lisrel statistical software was used. The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between study approaches and students' self-concept with an impact factor of 0.67 and between academic identity and students' self-concept with an impact factor of 0.73.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Today, new approaches have been created in determining educational goals and the education process, which move the goal of education from reading and writing to more important goals such as creative thinking, problem solving, lifelong learning, information literacy, and familiarity with information and communication technology. In this regard, paying attention to the way of receiving and processing information requires deep thinking of the processes, study approaches and fields of receiving and processing information, which ultimately manifests in the form of learning, educational progress (Soleymani et al, 2019). One of the basic topics about people's lives is their self-concept. The main axis of self-concept is a person's name, his feelings towards his body, the idea of the whole body, gender and age. The central core of self-concept includes other characteristics that are more indirect, such as socio-economic class, religion, individual advancements or any other factor that separates him from others (Clayton et al, 2021). The image that a person has of himself is vital for him. This self-concept is learnable and everything a person knows about himself originates from his past experiences, among which social experiences are more important. This self-concept changes due to the person's relationship with the environment. Environmental failures cause negative self-concept and positive environmental facilities cause positive self-concept in a person (Shirani Bidabadi, 2016).
Another presupposition that can affect students' self-concept is their academic identity. Findlow (2012) considers academic identity to be the most important factor in academic performance and motivation to progress. Academic identity can be considered one of the effective individual factors in the future of academic procrastination (Schnitzler et al, 2021). Academic identity is the process of each person's conscious response to their academic situation, whether they should study or not.
The main question of the research is whether there is a significant relationship between the study approaches and academic identity with the self-concept of second year high school students in Kalachai city?
Theoretical foundations
Based on their understanding of the concept of learning, people choose different strategies to study and learn course materials. The studies that are conducted on how students deal with course materials have their roots in the studies of Martin (1988) and Saljo (1978). They called the way students deal with course materials "study approaches" (Traner et al, 2021).
Self-concept is a cognitive framework through which we organize what we know about ourselves. Adolescence begins with the starting of sexual maturity and ends with his permanent commitment to an adult role. Therefore, adolescence should be both a determinant of social psychology and a determinant of well-being (Faraji & et al, 2021).
Academic identity is a reflection of all kinds of competences, autonomy, purposefulness, efficiency beliefs, and the experience of common emotions that teenagers have in classrooms with their peers and teachers, and its characteristic is how to act in academic fields. Negative academic identity is associated with poor achievement, misbehavior and class dropouts, withdrawal, and disrespectful relationships with the teacher (Abbasi & Shehni Yailagh, 2017).
Richter et al, (2022) investigated the multiple relationships between self-concept and students' learning strategies in their research. The target sample was 395 students of public schools in Nigeria who were analyzed by means of the cluster sampling method and analytical-applied research method. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between the personality and academic self-concept of the students and their adopted learning strategies.
Thaba & Baharuddin (2022) also investigated the effect of parents' attention, self-concept and independent learning strategies on the learning progress of secondary school students in Yemen, and 211 people were selected as a statistical sample using a relative cluster random sampling method. The results of the research showed that parents' attention to the way students study and their interest in guiding them along with correct learning strategies can have a significant impact on students' academic progress.
Research Methodology
The current research is applicable in terms of purpose, and descriptive in terms of data analysis of correlation type (structural equation modeling). The statistical population of the present research was made up of 981 students of the second year secondary school in Kalachai city. 274 people were selected as a statistical sample by cluster random sampling. In order to collect data related to the variable of study approaches, the questionnaire of Tate et al. (1998), and the questionnaire of Carl Rogers from 1938 to 1957for the variable of self-concept, and the questionnaire of Vaz and Isaacson (2008) for the variable of academic identity were used.
Research Findings
In order to investigate the hypothesis of the research, the modeling of structural equations, the method of structural equation modeling with the help of spss software was used to test the hypotheses from inferential statistics. Then, the 8th edition of Lisrel statistical software was used to measure the effects of independent and mediating variables with the dependent variable; and the results related to the first hypothesis showed that the strength of the relationship between study approaches and self-concept was calculated to be equal to (0.67), which shows that the correlation is favorable. The significance statistic of the test has also been obtained (7.65), which is more than the critical value of t at the 5% error level, i.e. (1.96) and shows that the observed correlation is significant. Therefore, it can be said that the study approaches have a positive and meaningful relationship with self-concept. The results related to the second hypothesis showed that the strength of the relationship between academic identity and self-concept was calculated equal to (0.73), which shows that the correlation is favorable. The significance statistic of the test was also obtained (8.71), which is more than the critical value of t at the 5% error level, i.e. (1.96) and shows that the observed correlation is significant.
Conclusion and Discussion
The present study was conducted with the aim of the relationship between study approaches and academic identity with the self-concept of second year high school students. The results of this research are consistent with the results of Richter et al, (2022), Thaba & Baharuddin (2022), Moosavi Bideleh (2021), Jung (2021), and Rezakhani, Khodadadian Someeh (2019); School teachers should try to guide the students from one learning activity to the next and also continuously monitor the students' work during the learning activity (Sayadi & et al, 2015). This makes students motivated and they will do their homework more willingly. On the other hand, when the students themselves determine the daily activities of the class and have continuous practice with them in learning the classroom lessons, it is possible to motivate the students better. (Purohit et al., 2022). In such a situation, when the students know themselves in their academic tasks with sufficient and autonomous knowledge, they understand themselves better and engage themselves with the goals and assignments, and as a result, they succeed in education. In addition, in this case, they get the necessary satisfaction about their learning. In fact, when students consider themselves efficient and put their homework under their control, their internal motivation for academic homework increases.
According to the results of the present research, it is suggested that the school administrators and teachers determine the students' study approach with appropriate evaluation, in order to incline the students to a deep approach and improve them, with appropriate educational interventions and correct planning, such as holding workshops for students. On the other hand, useful steps can be taken by activating the student counseling center and carrying out comprehensive planning in order to provide academic counseling services and to implement regular and continuous academic counseling programs in order to improve students' study approaches.
Original Article (Quantified)
Mahsa Savadkoohi Qudjanki; Mohammadreza Zarbakhsh Bahri
Abstract
Abstract
The present study was conducted with the aim of testing the causal model of the feeling of Twitter users' loneliness based on the lifestyle and stress coping styles with the mediation of social network dependence. The research method was descriptive- correlative. The statistical society was ...
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Abstract
The present study was conducted with the aim of testing the causal model of the feeling of Twitter users' loneliness based on the lifestyle and stress coping styles with the mediation of social network dependence. The research method was descriptive- correlative. The statistical society was the Twitter users of Teheran city with at least 2 years membership in virtual space. 200 people were selected as a statistical sample based on the purposeful sampling method. Subjects responded to the questionnaires of addiction to social networks by Ahmadi et al. (2015), loneliness by Russell et al. (1980), lifestyle by Miller and Smith (1988), and coping styles by Lazarus and Folkman (1984). The validity of the questionnaires was examined and confirmed based on the content validity using the opinion of experts, the validity based on the opinion of a number of the statistical community, and the structure using the factor analysis method. The reliability of the questionnaire by crunbach α was estimated for lifestyle as 0.88, coping styles with stress as 0.80, feelings of loneliness as 0.79, and dependence on social networks as 0.78, respectively. Data analysis was performed at two levels of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, including the modeling of structural equations by Lisrel software. The results showed that all the hypotheses of the research had a favorable fit. Lifestyle with an impact factor of 0.52 and stress coping styles with an impact factor of 0.56 are indirectly related to loneliness.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Today, the Internet and virtual space have become an important part of people's life, work, education, entertainment, and social activities, and have affected people's lifestyles (Mansoorian et al, 2015). Regardless of the many uses of the Internet in today's daily life, this technology has special and unique features that increase its appeal to users. The possibility of remaining anonymous, easy access, variety of content and providing the possibility to get away from the unpleasant realities of life are among these attractions (Mirkazemi et al, 2020) and social networks have strongly taken their place among family members, especially young people, in the last decade (Mesch, 2019). On the other hand, addiction to the Internet and virtual space can cause various types of disorders. Even in severe cases, Internet addicts may be destructive to themselves, their families, and their workplaces (Chebbi et al, 2020).
On the one hand, lifestyle is rooted in the individual and personal identity, and on the other hand, it is related to cultural factors and social contexts such as mass media and virtual space (Forghani & Gholizadeh Gozlo, 2021). Dependence on virtual space can have a significant impact on people's lifestyles and lead people away from collectivism and the tendency to spend time with real people, and lead more people to the direction of not loving themselves as they are and trying to show an image of oneself that is not real, and this causes a person's feeling of loneliness (Masui, 2019).
Based on this, the main question of the current research is whether there is a relationship between lifestyle and stress coping styles with the feeling of loneliness of Twitter users and the mediating role of social network dependence.
Theoretical foundations
The feeling of loneliness is an uncomfortable emotional experience, but it also emphasizes the cognitive element in that the feeling of loneliness is caused by the perception that a person's social connections do not meet some of his expectations (Motamedi et al., 2018).
In the conceptual definition of lifestyle, the British sociologist Giddens (1983) believes that lifestyle can be interpreted as a more or less comprehensive set of functions that a person uses (Mohammadi Mehr et al, 2019).
Experiencing emotions caused by stressful events is usually so uncomfortable for a person that coping with stress will follow (Alzoubi et al, 2019). People try to deal with that style by adopting unique methods. Stress coping styles are behavioral and cognitive efforts that people make in order to adapt more to the environment (Ebrahimi Tazekand, 2018).
When people spend a lot of time on the Internet and virtual social networks, the motivation to interact with others is reduced (Aytac, 2018), they have less ability to maintain real friendships, spend less time talking with family, and the feeling of loneliness and isolation is spreading in them day by day (Farhadinia et al, 2015).
Hong et al, (2021) conducted a study entitled "The influence of self-identity on social support, loneliness and Internet addiction among Chinese students". The results showed that the amount of social support and individual identity of students plays an important role in reducing their loneliness and internet addiction.
AlSumait et al, (2021) conducted a research titled "The role of addiction to virtual networks in psychological well-being and feeling of loneliness". The statistical community is users of the Instagram network. The results showed that addiction to the Internet and virtual networks reduces people's mental well-being levels and doubles the feeling of loneliness and stress in them.
Research Methodology
The research method is descriptive-correlative in nature and practical in terms of purpose. The statistical population of the research was made up of Twitter users of Tehran, who have been members of this virtual network for at least 2 years (in 2022). The number of 200 people was selected as the sample size and by the purposeful sampling method. The questionnaire of Khaja Ahmadi et al. (2015) was used to collect data related to the variable of addiction to mobile based social networks, and the questionnaire of Russell et al. (1996) was used for the variable of feeling lonely, the questionnaire of Miller and Smith for the variable of lifestyle, and the questionnaire of Lazarus and Folkman (1980) for variable of coping with stress.
Research Findings
In order to investigate the hypothesis of the research, the modeling of structural equations, the method of structural equation modeling with the help of spss software was used to test the hypotheses from inferential statistics. Then, Lisrel statistical software was used to measure the effects of independent and mediator variables with the dependent variable, and the results showed that the direct effect of lifestyle with dependence on social networks is (-0.67). Based on this, there is a negative and significant relationship between lifestyle and dependence on social networks. The results showed that the direct effect of lifestyle with feeling of loneliness is (-0.71). Accordingly, there is a negative and significant relationship between lifestyle and feeling of loneliness. The results showed that the direct effect of stress coping style with dependence on social networks is (-0.37). Accordingly, there is a negative and significant relationship between stress coping style and dependence on social networks. The results showed that the direct effect of stress coping style is with loneliness (-0.41). Based on this, there is a negative and significant relationship between the style of dealing with stress and the feeling of loneliness. The results showed that the direct effect of dependence on social networks is with the feeling of loneliness (-0.78). Based on this, there is a positive and significant relationship between dependence on social networks and feelings of loneliness. The results showed that the direct effect of lifestyle-dependence on social networks-feeling lonely (0.52) and the direct effect of stress coping style-dependence on social networks-feeling lonely (0.55). Based on this, there is a significant relationship between the lifestyle and stress coping styles with the feeling of loneliness of Twitter users with the mediating role of dependence on social networks.
Conclusion and Discussion
The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relationship between lifestyle and stress coping styles with the feeling of loneliness of Twitter users with the mediating role of social network dependence. The results of this research are consistent with the results of Xu (2017), Anari & Taklvi (2017), Guo et al (2020), Zoghi et al, (2020), Hong et al, (2021) and Arabi et al, (2021); research has shown that there are communication, emotional, functional and health-related problems in people who are dependent on social networks (Hong et al., 2014). The appearance of these networks is collective, but it may also make people lonely. Today, cultural changes have made people want to establish wide connections with the world around them, while being alone. Social networks provide this demand. With the various services they provide to their users, these networks have a greater impact on their lives and society as well as social behaviors; they have different political, economic, social, cultural and communication functions and according to communication experts, they reduce face-to-face relationships more than before. According to the results of the research, correct cultural policies are suggested to guide users towards the correct use of the Internet and benefit from its positive aspects in educational and learning environments. From the findings of the present research, it can be concluded that considering the widespread use of smart phones and teenagers' membership in mobile-based social networks, it is necessary to make teenagers aware of the effective and appropriate uses of smart phones by controlling the antecedents of addiction to its use.
Original Article (Quantified)
Ali Poursafar; Naghi Raadi afsuran; Hamid Abdi
Abstract
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric features (Factor structure, validity and reliability) of the Course Experience Questionnaire(CEQ) that have 43 items and developed by Wilson and et al(1997). This research is the sort of normative research carried out in the first ...
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric features (Factor structure, validity and reliability) of the Course Experience Questionnaire(CEQ) that have 43 items and developed by Wilson and et al(1997). This research is the sort of normative research carried out in the first semester of the academic year 2021-2022 at Gilan University. The statistical population of this research included all students accepted in the academic years of 2017 and 2018, which was conducted using a simple random sampling method on 332 third and fourth year undergraduate students of the Faculty of Humanities of Guilan University. Exploratory factor analysis elicited 7 factors which generally explained 71% of the total variance. Furthermore Confirmatory factor analysis results on the items showed that all the items have significant load factor on their own factors, and the seven-factor structure of the questionnaire was approved. Concurrent criterion validity coefficient between each of the items of Course Experience Scale With the criterion variables (the Course Satisfaction and Achievement) that were linked theoretically was also analyzed and approved. Altogether, findings of this study showed that scale of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) has adequate reliability.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
One of the most important concerns of all university systems is designing educational courses effective for students. Promoting the curriculum's quality and improving the educational program's quality is essential to attaining a high-quality education (Thien & Jamil, 2019). It is also crucial to student satisfaction (Griffioen, Doppenberg, & Oostdam, 2018). Nowadays there is a growing tendency to investigate students' satisfaction with the quality of educational courses (Yin, Gonzalez, & Huang, 2018). The significance of this issue has made the universities aware of the effectiveness of their programs and courses, and prioritizing the concept of evaluating their educational course has never been greater. The evaluation is exceedingly essential in that it measures the effectiveness of the curriculum elements and, at a greater level, the entire curriculum. (Wolstencroft & Main, 2021). Given these points, the present study tries to localize the experience scale of an educational course (Wilson et al., 1997) as an evaluation tool of the educational course done by its students.
Theoretical Framework
Evaluation or assessment refers to a neatly structured process for collecting and interpreting information that determines the intended goals and scale of the program (Seif, 2022). Evaluation can be used in countless ways, including determining the value, competency, importance, and esteem of an educational phenomenon for judging and making decisions in order to establish a system (program), continuity of activities, adjusting the system, validating the system, understanding the different dimensions of the system as well as supporting it (Bazargan, 2021). In this regard, institutes of higher education also know the value of evaluation and try to use it in the best way possible to improve the quality of their programs.
Evaluation in the university is done in different ways, such as evaluation by students, self-evaluation, and evaluation by the head of the department, colleagues, and school officials. One of the most common evaluation methods in most countries, including Iran, is an evaluation done by students. Students understand the curriculum through evaluation (Wolstencroft & Main, 2021). In other words, the assessment causes the higher education curriculum to be defined and reviewed from the student's point of view (Ramsden, 2003). It also significantly impacts their learning (Biggs, 2003). It leads to students' satisfaction with the educational course (Griffioen, Doppenberg, & Oostdam, 2018). Students are present in the teacher's classroom during one academic semester, so they get to know all of his capabilities and mannerisms. On the other hand, they can recognize better than any other person whether the professor has been able to directly or indirectly transfer the course material to them (Nasr et al., 2004). Therefore, student evaluation of the provided educational courses is the most influential factor in determining the effectiveness of these courses.
Most of the questionnaires used so far have focused more on evaluating students as a whole, rather than individual lecturers of courses. As mentioned by Marsh (1987), although these types of evaluations provide significant and helpful information such as feedback to faculty members and contrubuting the employee's decision-making, and are valuable for evaluating teaching, from the point of view of a higher education institute that tries to maintain and improve the quality of education, it is the far more appropriate to focus on the evaluation of the entire course (Richardson, 1994).
Achieving a standard for measuring the effectiveness of training courses has been accompanied by many efforts by those involved in higher education. The university managers are trying to improve their institution's performance based on the performance indicators. They consider these indicators as the guarantor of the quality of teaching in different fields and its achievement. Many efforts have been made in the field of compiling performance indicators. In this regard, the Educational Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) was developed as an authentic evaluation tool to meet students' needs for educational courses and implemented as a national test in universities in Australia about four decades ago. Because of the critical role of student's perception in evaluating the quality of the educational courses and the limitation of evaluating the country's most conducted research, which only focused on the professors' lesson presentation (Vakili et al., 2010), this current study tries to localize the Iranian student population's educational course experience scale (Wilson et al., 1997)
Methodology
The current research is the normative research field carried out in the first semester of the academic year 2021-2022 at Guilan University. The statistical population of this research included all students entering the academic years of 2017 and 2018, constituting a population of 3830 people. Based on Morgan's table, 350 people were identified as a sufficient sample size for this statistical population. With multiple follow-ups, 332 copies (94%) of the questionnaires were completed through sampling, which was randomly collected. The present research used the Educational Course Experience Questionnaire (Wilson et al., 1997). In this research, with the addition of the content appropriateness scale with four items, the educational course experience questionnaire had 43 items. Also, an additional item about overall satisfaction is included as a separate item along with the educational course experience questionnaire. The academic progress variable has also been measured using students' GPAs.
Discussion and results
In order to extract scale factors, the exploratory factor analysis method was used. The results of exploratory factor analysis with principal components method and final orthogonal rotation extracted seven factors that explain 71% of the total variance. The analyses performed on the fit indices have all been accepted for the model mentioned. All the values of the indicators are close to the suitability criteria and indicate the structural model's satisfactory and relatively acceptable adequacy. As a result, the 7-factor structure of the educational course experience questionnaire and the confirmatory factor analysis model have an acceptable fit and are approved. CFI (consistent fit index), NFI (normalized fit index), TLI (Tucker-Lewis's index), and IFI (incremental fit index) all indicate the acceptability of the model, and show the values greater than 0.90 which indicate the favorability of the model. The root means of the square error of estimation (RMSEA) index, which represents parsimonious fit, also shows a value of 0.050, indicating the fitting model's appropriateness. Finally, the GFI (Goodness of Fit Index), which represents the absolute fit, shows a value of 0.95 and indicates that the collected data is close to the acceptable range and that the developed model is confirmed.
The data shows that Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the educational course experience scale is 0.95 and satisfactory. In addition, the correlation of the mentioned scale items with the total score is significant (P=0.001), and the range of these coefficients varies from 0.51 to 0.83. In other words, all items of the experience scale of the educational course have the necessary homogeneity. Pearson's correlation coefficient results showed a high correlation between the seven subscales of appropriate teaching, clear goals, appropriate assessment, appropriate assignments, emphasis on independence, general skills, and appropriateness of content with the overall scale (training course experience) (P=0.001). In addition, the correlation coefficient between the educational course experience scale and all its components with the overall satisfaction scale of the course is significant (P=0.001). The correlation coefficient between the training course experience and its components with academic progress is also significant (p=0.001). These results indicate the concurrent criterion validity of the research results, in which the educational course experience scale and its components were correlated with the scales theoretically related to it (satisfaction with the course and academic progress.)
Conclusion
According to the findings of this research, the high validity and reliability of the educational course experience scale used in the current study can lead to the use of this scale as a valid and reliable tool to measure the quality of educational courses at the country's higher education level. This scale can also have many applications in teaching and learning research in higher education. The mentioned tool also reveals the appropriate performance indicators of university teaching quality so that it can be used to align the teaching quality evaluation of university professors with the global teaching quality evaluation standards. This tool can recruit and promote faculty members and their professional growth. In this regard, it is possible to improve their teaching competence by holding workshops and training courses for academic staff members.
Original Article (Mixed)
seyyedmohammad seyyedkalan; Adel Zahed babolan; Mahdi Moeinikia; Ali Rezaeisharif
Abstract
Abstract
Based on previous research, quality culture is considered as a dominant and specific organizational culture of the university defined by shared values and university representatives' commitment to quality. The purpose of the current study was to model and evaluate the factors that influence ...
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Abstract
Based on previous research, quality culture is considered as a dominant and specific organizational culture of the university defined by shared values and university representatives' commitment to quality. The purpose of the current study was to model and evaluate the factors that influence the establishment of a quality culture at Farhangian University. The research method was mixed-exploratory and two-stage (qualitative-quantitative). In the qualitative part, 23 academic and professional experts from education and research centers in 2017 were interviewed specifically using the semi-structured interview method. For the quantitative part, 462 faculty and non-academic members were selected by multistage cluster sampling and answered the questionnaires. The formal and content validity of the quality culture questionnaire was confirmed by experts. Also, in terms of reliability, the internal consistency method using Cronbach's alpha was used to calculate the internal consistency, which indicates the high reliability of the dimensions and components based on the number of factors. The values extracted from the factor analysis were confirmed. The results of the first and second confirmatory factor analysis showed that the quality culture consists of the following factors: "Structural / management elements", "Cultural / psychological elements", "Leadership", "communication", "Trust", "Commitment and accountability", "Partnership", "Empowerment", "infrastructure Correction", and "quality culture's consequences". The indigenous model for the establishment of Farhangiyan University has a well-founded structural validity. Therefore, it can be said that the structural model of the study is of good quality and the observed values are well recovered and the model has good predictive power.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Nearly two decades have passed since the first efforts were made to establish the quality assurance system and make it a dominant discourse in higher education in the country. Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted on the conceptualization of quality culture as a necessity for institutionalizing the quality assurance discourse in higher education in Iran (Salimi & Hosseini, 2016: 1143). Therefore, "quality culture" has always been among the important and significant issues in the higher education system in the country. Meanwhile, Farhangian (Teacher training) University, which is focused on the quality of teacher education, has faced many serious challenges related to quality assurance more than other universities, including quantity orientation in student admissions, academic resources, and facilities, etc.
Given the development of the higher education system in terms of student numbers, which indicates quantitative growth and insufficient attention to quality in universities (Ghoorchian & Shahrakipour, 2010: 2), there seems to be no consensus on the original meaning of quality in higher education, and the main source of disagreement is the difference in philosophical and structural foundations and customer orientation (Ghaffari, Jafari, & Amir Mohammadi, 2011). However, quality assessment in higher education and its culturalization according to the intellectual foundations can be considered as the main prerequisite for establishing a quality assurance system in higher education (Farasatkhah, 2006). Meanwhile, the dissemination of quality culture through the application of internal quality assessment and cultural infrastructures in universities can lead to continuous improvement and consistent assurance of quality culture in the long term. This is because, according to Hayrinen Alestalo & Peltola (2006), the main difficulties in achieving high quality in higher education are due to cultural issues.
Nevertheless, with the emergence of the Total Quality Management movement, the evaluation of the quality of higher education and its necessity; the main problem, according to most experts, is still the cultural background (Yazdkhasti & Rajaipour, 2009). Considering the above movement in the context of culture, it should be said that the concept of quality, like any other concept, can grow and develop rapidly in the shadow of the development of culture. Nevertheless, in recent years, the topic of quality culture has attracted the attention of specialists in academic quality assessment, which should be acknowledged because higher education institutions in Europe (d'Egmont, 2006) introduced quality culture years ago in order to apply a comprehensive and sustainable approach to quality in higher education institutions.
Thus, the study of the literature confirms that the continuum of stages in the establishment of the quality assurance system includes six stages: Contemplating about Quality, Gaining Initial Experience, Modelling and Localizing the Assessment Process, Disseminating the Quality Culture and Creating a Bond, Structuring and Establishing the Quality Assurance System. Considering the efforts in higher education, it is clear that the fourth stage of the above stages is not yet formed in the program of some universities (Bazargan, 2003: 155), but in recent years, regardless of the dissemination of the quality culture, structuring has been carried out in some universities in the country, including Farhangian University of Iran, and it must be said that the dissemination of the quality culture is in the shadow of the establishment of the quality assurance system, which indicates that Farhangian University always suffers from a serious problem in this regard (establishment of the quality assurance system). According to the requirements that apply to the above research area, and in order to understand this missing link in Farhangian University, namely the design and evaluation of the factors that affect the establishment of quality culture in the university, a combined research was conducted for the first time to provide a model for the country's Farhangian University system.
Theoretical foundations
To draw the culture of quality in academic systems, researchers such as Barbulescu (2015) and Adina-Petruţa (2014) talk about the internal quality of education that has led to the association of the culture of quality outside the university, and the categories of the
professorial role of faculty members and the role of students, as well as the environment that evokes the culture of quality in education in the form of university symbols, and researchers such as Vilcea (2014), Chong (2014), Veiga et al. (2014), Cardoso, Rosa & Santos (2013) also studied the categories that evoke a quality attitude towards the university in the shadow of the components; trust, collaborative environment, self-management of staff and professors, attention to continuous quality; not immediate and superficial, systematic planning of the quality process; new knowledge in academic quality assessment; graduality of quality as a criterion for action; responsiveness to students; transparency, comprehensive supportive care, self-leadership, cooperation and teamwork, open communication. It seems that each of them used the same framework for the theoretical development of quality culture.
However, despite the mentioned researches abroad according to the international studies on this topic, the topic and challenge of quality culture in our country is still mentioned as a theoretical assumption in the lectures and annual conferences on university quality assessment by the well-known experts.
The lack of access of researchers to relevant empirical research results is also an aspect of it; because this issue is doubly difficult in the field of research and previous researches (Doctoral dissertation Ameri Shahrabi & Kavoosi (2016) under the title designing a quality culture model in Islamic Azad University, study by Ebrahimi, Adli & Mehran (2015) under the title university culture review, Latifi & Zohurian Aboutorabi (2015) study of general culture indicators of universities, Khoshdaman and Ayati (2013) Comparison of teaching and learning culture in two generations of faculty members, Mohammadi et al, (2013) Prevalence of university culture with its evaluation of the elements and processes of knowledge management of faculty members, and finally Bazargan (2011) Culture quality and its role in achieving the desired performance of universities; Amiri, Zarei Matin & Zolfagharzadeh (2010) the complexities of culture and its typology in higher education) within the country have not still been able to provide a coherent response in this regard. And most importantly, the greatest intellectual concern of the administrators of the university system in this period also demanded indexing the culture of quality in the university system, and the researchers paid attention to the topic by a systematic mode designing and its evaluation in order to establish the quality culture in Farhangian University.
Methodology
The current research is applicable in terms of its purpose, and field type in terms of data collection method (sequential exploratory hybrid model (qualitative-quantitative)). This research collects and analyses data based on the research strategy of grounded theory or theory derived from data, which is based on the systematic design of Strauss and Corbin's data theory. With this in mind, exploratory and semi-structured interviews with key informants, note taking, and document review were used to gather information. In this method, experts were purposively selected based on the research objectives. Depending on the content of the exploratory interviews with the experts, additional informants had to be brought in using the snowballing method.
Sampling and interviewing continued until the process of analysis and discovery reached theoretical saturation. The validation and acceptance criteria of the categories and their relationships were performed and approved by experts in the field of quality assessment and three participants. In the quantitative part of the research, the initial structure of the questionnaire was randomized with multistage sampling of the clusters among the statistical sample, which included 462 people (173 289 were faculty members and 289 were non-academic members) distributed throughout the country, after the evaluation of five experts in monitoring and quality assessment at Farhangian University by removing similarities and overlaps with 120 items in the final questionnaire. The PLS3 Smart software was used to test the research hypotheses and the model extracted from the qualitative part.
Discussion and results
In the study of the primary data, 784 concepts were identified. On this basis, the data set was reduced to a specific and limited number of general categories. At this stage, 120 concepts and 44 main categories were identified. After identifying the main categories of the investigation, axial coding was performed. Finally, in the last stage, to determine the theory by merging the categories, 10 core categories were obtained from the 44 main categories, which were formed around an axis to form a strong network of relationships. All main categories and cores were classified in the form of conditional, interactive/process, and consequent categories, which were drawn into the final model of establishing a quality culture at Farhangian University in the country in Figure 1.
In the quantitative part of the study, the basic criterion for evaluating the endogenous variables in the paths of the model is the coefficient of determination. This index shows that the endogenous variable is among few (one or two) exogenous variables, the average values of the coefficient of determination are also acceptable and all paths (endogenous variables to exogenous variables) are evaluated as average except for the path of strategies from background factors and intervention factors, which is significant. To evaluate the extracted model (Figure 1), the Q2 Aston-Geisser rate for all endogenous variables was also evaluated. Therefore, it can be said that the studied structural model is of good quality and the observed values are well reconstructed, and that the studied model has good predictive ability and can predict the endogenous variable.
Conclusion and Discussion
In order to achieve the objectives of this research, quality culture as a main phenomenon is understandable in terms of a logical (systematic) model and considering its understanding with conditions (causal, mediating and contextual), interactions/actions and consequences and was confirmed in this research. That is, what factors influenced quality culture? And with what factors did they interact? And what variables were the consequences of these interactions?
In examining and explaining the details of the final (validated) model, it should be said that the final model of the research shows that among the causal factors (structural/management elements), university policies and procedures (0.885) play the greatest role, and organizational vitality (0.719) plays the least role as predictors of the establishment of quality culture at Farhangian University in the country.
Among causal factors (cultural/psychological elements), shared values and expectations (0.906) played the most important role and quality discourse played the least role (0.835). As for the influence of causal factors, among the strategies (mechanisms of quality culture), attention to meritocracy (0.991) had the greatest effect and curriculum reform (0.850) the least. For the implementation of establishing the quality culture in the university, which required basic strategies, among the contextual conditions for crystallizing the quality culture, commitment and responsibility (0.939) attracted the highest attention of the respondents and participation (0.902) played the least role.
In addition to the framework conditions, the intervention conditions were also found to be effective in the implementation of the strategies. Among the intervention factors, academic leadership played the greatest role (0.951) and communication the least (0.911). Finally, since quality culture leads to certain outcomes, based on the findings and the final model, among the extracted outcomes and consequences, university image (0.992) was ranked first and quality graduates (0.720) was ranked last by the respondents. Therefore, in accordance with the research results, the following suggestions are recommended: Academic leaders in the central organization and campus and affiliated academic centres should base their work on quality policies and procedures in the university (quality charter) with the existing strategic plan to create a quality culture in the university.
Furthermore, in line with the establishment, dissemination and consistency of the quality culture, university administrators can also establish the foundation and practical context of the quality culture by transforming the old structures of the university to pay attention to the inspiring elements in this research with collective agreement and belief in quality.
Original Article (Quantified)
Siroos ghanbari; Mohsen Ahmadi
Abstract
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of individual citizenship behavior in the organizational innovation of schools with the mediation of knowledge sharing in elementary school teachers. The current research is developmental and applicable in terms of its purpose, and descriptive-correlative ...
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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of individual citizenship behavior in the organizational innovation of schools with the mediation of knowledge sharing in elementary school teachers. The current research is developmental and applicable in terms of its purpose, and descriptive-correlative in terms of the nature and method of data collection. And it is specifically based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the present study is all primary school teachers in 2 districts of Kermanshah, which are 1150 people; And according to Morgan's table and stratified random sampling method, 291 people were selected as samples. In the present research, three questionnaires were used as collection tools, which include the standard questionnaire of individual citizenship behavior of Schwabsky (2014), knowledge sharing by Van den Hooff and Van Weenen (2004) and organizational innovation of schools by Amid et al. (2002). The findings of the research showed that individual citizenship behavior and knowledge sharing of teachers have a significant effect on the organizational innovation of schools at the level of 0.05. Individual citizenship behavior through knowledge sharing has a significant effect on schools' organizational innovation at the 0.05 level. Also individual citizenship behavior and knowledge sharing can explain 47% of the variance of schools' organizational innovation.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Innovation is a key category for improving performance because it plays a fundamental role in organizational competition at all levels, including different national and international levels. In the dynamic and complex situation in which organizations are competing, the need for innovative organizations is constantly felt more (Battistelli, at al, 2019). Many thinkers have introduced innovation along with making a difference as an undeniable indicator, and believe that innovation is a complementary part of the organization's strategy (Le and Lei, 2019). Among the factors influencing the organizational innovation of schools is "individual citizenship behavior". In relation to individual citizenship behavior, the most recent research has used organizational citizen behavior with a scale change of "individual citizen behavior". Individual citizenship behavior is the description of voluntary behaviors on behalf of individuals that exceed official expectations and express their duties (Ribeiro, Duarte, Filipe, 2018). Individual citizenship behavior is a part of extra-role behaviors; individual citizenship behavior is a kind of valuable and useful behavior that includes various behaviors of employees such as accepting and assuming additional responsibilities, obeying the rules and procedures of the organization, developing a positive attitude and tolerating problems at work (Sun and Yoon, 2020). On the other hand, research has shown us that one of the factors influencing the innovation of schools is "knowledge sharing" (Delio and Cullar, 2021). Knowledge sharing will be and is one of the main processes in different structures known for knowledge management, and the motivation of people to share knowledge in organizations is one of the most important priorities of knowledge management activists and agents in the world (Ghanbari and Ahmadi, 2019). Knowledge sharing reflects the culture of social interaction, which includes the transfer of knowledge, experiences and skills of employees in the whole or part of the organization (Afsar, Masood, Umrani, 2019). Sharing knowledge will improve the professional and working skills of employees and create a social context for them so that they have the ability to produce valuable knowledge content that can cause the growth and development of the organization's intellectual capital (Attar, 2020).
According to the mentioned points, the researchers are trying to answer the main question of whether there is a significant relationship between individual citizenship behavior and organizational innovation of schools through the sharing of knowledge among primary teachers.
Theoretical framework
Organizational innovation of schools refers to new techniques of management, organization and strategies at the levels of organizations (Woodland, Douglas, Matuszczak, 2021). Organizational innovation of schools creates positive output and usable and valuable services in the organization. On the other hand, school organizational innovation is defined as a school's willingness to develop positive outputs and advanced and new services and present them to the market for success. In other words, organizational innovation at the school level is the key to survival in today's competitive education environment (Khan, at al, 2018). Knowledge sharing is the voluntary and enthusiastic transfer of acquired skills and experiences to other people and departments of the organization (Gupta, Mejia, Kajikawa, 2019). Knowledge sharing is also defined as information behavior that requires effort and preparation to be accountable and understand information knowledge sharing (Kurniawan, at al, 2020). Individual citizenship behavior by creating suitable platforms for working human factors makes teachers teach with a sense of responsibility and full commitment to issues in their organization and profession (Tufan, Elma, Çinkir, 2019). Individual citizenship behavior causes the success, efficiency and effectiveness of teachers in any type of educational system and should depend more on teachers who are willing to do things beyond the formal job requirements (Choi, Hwang, Kwon, 2019).
Mesgarian, et al (2021) showed that there is a significant relationship between knowledge sharing and organizational innovation. Rajabi Farjad, Mirsepasi, Naderi Mehrbani (2021) showed that there is a significant relationship between knowledge management processes and organizational innovation. Mazari and Thabet (2019) showed that there is a significant relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and knowledge sharing.
Methodology
In terms of the objective, the current research is of the type of applicable and developmental research, and in terms of the method used, it is a descriptive-correlative research. The statistical population of the present study is all primary school teachers in two districts of Kermanshah, which are 1150 people; and according to Morgan's table, 291 people were selected as samples. Stratified random sampling method was used in this research. In order to collect data related to the variable of organizational innovation of schools, the questionnaire of standard organizational innovation of schools (Amid et al, 2002), individual citizenship behavior questionnaire (Shuibeski, 2014), and knowledge sharing questionnaire (Vanden Huff & Van Vinen, 2004) was used.
Research findings
In order to investigate the hypothesis of the research, the modeling of structural equations, the method of structural equation modeling with the help of spss software, and inferential statistics was used to test the hypotheses. Then, regression was used to test the hypotheses with LISREL software, confirmatory and content factor analysis, as well as the effect of factors; and the descriptive indices and correlation matrix of the research variables showed that the variables of individual citizenship behavior (0.698) and knowledge sharing (0.447) have a positive and significant relationship with the variable of organizational innovation of schools at the level of 0.05. The individual citizenship behavior variable has a positive and significant relationship with the knowledge sharing variable (0.645) at the 0.05 level. The results of the first hypothesis showed that the variable of individual citizenship behavior with the path coefficient (0.51) and the t value (7.15) has a positive and significant effect on the variable of organizational innovation of schools at the level of 0.05, and as a result, the null hypothesis is rejected while the opposite hypothesis is confirmed, so the first hypothesis is confirmed. The results of the second hypothesis showed that the knowledge sharing variable with path coefficient (0.41) and t value (5.36) has a positive and significant effect on the organizational innovation variable of schools at the level of 0.05, and as a result, the null hypothesis is rejected and the opposite hypothesis is confirmed, so the second hypothesis is confirmed. The results of the third hypothesis showed that the individual citizenship behavior variable with path coefficient (0.54) and t value (6.73) has a positive and significant effect on the knowledge sharing variable at the level of 0.05, and as a result, the null hypothesis is rejected and the opposite hypothesis is confirmed, so the third hypothesis is confirmed. And the results of the fourth hypothesis showed that the variable of individual citizenship behavior through knowledge sharing with the path coefficient (0.2214) and the t value (4.16) has a positive and significant effect on the variable of organizational innovation at the level of 0.05, and as a result, the null hypothesis is rejected and the opposite hypothesis is confirmed, so the fourth hypothesis is confirmed.
Conclusion
The present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of individual citizenship behavior in the organizational innovation of schools with the mediation of knowledge sharing among primary school teachers. These results are consistent with the findings of researchers such as Mesgarian, et al (2021), Akbari (2019), Azeem, et al (2021), Shujahat et al (2019) and Koch, et al (2015). In explaining this finding, it can be said that teachers who are constantly donating knowledge and gathering knowledge and developing their knowledge and skills through this sharing of knowledge; bring new information into the organization through this behaviour, which leads to organizational innovation. Also, teachers who have high citizenship behavior develop their curricular and non-curricular, knowledge and information, and share their information with other colleagues on their demand. This can be effective in improving organizational innovation. According to the results of the research, it is suggested that teachers' performance evaluation systems be aligned with the dimensions of supporting innovations, and teachers' satisfaction with innovation should be measured and evaluated, which is done through changing employee performance evaluation policies; education managers should use appropriate systems and methods and support creativity and innovation, which is done through teachers' job independence, providing an environment for the learning organization, and welcoming their new ideas; and also to raise the level of organizational innovation of teachers, it is suggested to the policy makers, planners, and administrators of education to hold face-to-face or virtual training workshops about factors affecting innovation, including individual citizenship behavior and knowledge sharing.
