Optimizing the role of organizational commitment: A qualitative study in the school education sector

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to find out the factors that affect organizational commitment in the school education sector and second, how these factors might be modified to judge organizational commitment of the school teachers.

This study was conducted using qualitative interviews with two sets of school teachers – government and government-affiliated schools and private schools in and around Kolkata city. The sample size was 40. The data triangulation method was applied for optimal verification of the result. Then the pattern of concordance author– coder pair was tested using Cohen’s kappa.

This study investigated eight factors expected to influence organizational commitment. Out of these eight factors, five factors were found – “on employees’ perception and need achievement,” “cognitive abilities of the employees,” “assessment of the employees,” “factors related to personality” and “organizational factors which influence organizational commitment” – which qualitatively exert more influence on organizational commitment.

The authors proposed that the concept of organizational commitment and its application in the academic sector might be modified to optimize the role of organizational commitment and to enhance the credibility of the teachers. A comprehensive organizational commitment model that has been proposed is expected to gain future direction of organizational commitment research. The parameters of the study can be used in the school sector, as well as in the corporate sector through proper improvisation, and it is expected that the corporate sector will be benefited. It is because the factors that were selected for the study are also relevant to the corporate sector.

This is a conceptual-type paper. The factors that were selected had an effect on the organizational commitment of the school teachers and these factors can also be applied in corporate sector to improve their level of commitment.