Organizational learning and climate as predictors of self-efficacy

This study broadens organizational contextual considerations by examining organizational learning, participation in organizational learning activities and organizational climate as possible predictors of self-efficacy. As schools have been studied as organizations (Handy, 1986, Understanding schools as organizations, Harmondsworth: Penguin; Ostroff, 1993, Organization Behavior and Human Decision Process, 56, 56–90; Ostroff & Schmitt, 1993, Acadamy of Management Journal, 36(6), 1345–1361), this study provides regression results from n = 679 teachers and indicated that organizational climate and organizational learning were significant predictors of teacher self efficacy, controlling for several individual level variables (i.e., participation in organizational learning, personal self-efficacy, and teaching efficacy). Differences between results from the sample of teachers and n = 734 non-teachers (e.g., principals, assistant principals, administrators, counselors, paraprofessional, custodial, food service, and transportation staff) were examined with regard to predictor variables for teaching efficacy. For teachers, both organizational learning and personal self-efficacy were significant predictors of teaching efficacy, whereas for the group of non-teachers, they were not. In both groups, however, participation in organizational learning was a significant predictor, while organizational climate was not (contrary to Taylor & Tashakkori, 1995, Journal of Experimental Education, 63(3), 217–230). Overall, findings provide evidence for extending the research beyond schools and including organizational learning as a potentially important variable in further studying individual outcomes and organizational effectiveness. Dr. Timothy J. Tobin is Director of Training and Development at Beers & Cutler PLLC. He is responsible for designing, implementing, and evaluating the firm’s organizational climate and learning organization initiatives. He is also an adjunct professor at Trinity University and The George Washington University where he teaches organizational behavior, human resource management, and training courses among others. He is the recipient of Human Capital Magazine’s Future Human Capital Leader Award. His current research interests include the interplay between organizational culture, identity, and learning. Dr. Ralph O. Mueller is professor of educational research and of public policy and public administration at The George Washington University, Washington, DC, and former Chair of its Department of Educational Leadership. His scholarly interests include proper applications of and reliability assessment in structural equation modeling (SEM). He is the author/co-editor of two SEM textbooks, among other writings. Ralph is past chair of the American Educational Research Association’s special interest group on SEM, serves on the editorial boards of several methodological and applied research journals, and conducts regular SEM training sessions for national and international audiences. Dr. Lauren M. Turner is senior lecturer at Northeastern University in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. Current teaching focuses on leadership studies. Lauren also facilitates in the Vogt Leadership Program with The Boston Consortium for Higher Education. Work-based learning, including action learning and facilitation, is at the core of her efforts to combine classroom and workplace learning. Research interests include self-directed learning and meaningful work, specifically the intersection of these two disciplines as they relate to a construct for meaningful work.