Research on teachers' organizational and union commitments, non-governmental organization perceptions and union preferences

This research was conducted to examine the relationships between organizational commitment, union commitment, and civil society perceptions of teachers working in the Turkish education system. The study was carried out using an explanatory sequential mixed-method design with 304 teachers for quantitative data and 15 teachers for qualitative data in Yunusemre and Şehzadeler districts of Manisa province. It was determined that social trust tends to spread to different social institutions. In terms of demographic variables, notable findings include female teachers having higher levels of normative commitment and union interest, older and experienced teachers showing strong commitment, and school principals scoring higher than other job groups. Educational level, institution type, and branch variables were found to have limited effects. Qualitative findings revealed that teachers consider union advocacy performance as the main criterion in union selection and value consistency between discourse and action. Union switching experiences generally stem from inadequate advocacy, lack of democratic participation, and transparency issues. Teachers' finding unions inadequate in terms of performance indicates effectiveness problems in the system. It was determined that the perception of rights protection is an important determinant of union belonging, voluntariness and value alignment support belonging, while coercive elements negatively affect it. There are different views regarding the civil society identity of educational unions, with politicization problems negatively affecting civil society functions while professional organization functions are evaluated more positively. Positive relationships were found between organizational commitment sub-dimensions, and a strong positive relationship was detected between positive civil society perception and the personal-professional contribution dimension of union commitment. Research results show that democratic participation culture for educational administrators, concrete service delivery and transparency for union administrators, and strengthening union rights for policymakers do not negatively affect organizational effectiveness.