The effect of perception of cronyism on organizational trust in secondary schools

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of perceptions of cronyism (favoritism of acquaintances) on organizational trust among secondary school teachers. The subject of this study, which is conducted by using relational survey method, consists of teachers working in secondary schools in Elazığ province during 2012-2013 academic year. The research has been carried out among 452 teachers working in 24 secondary school institutions. The data for this thesis has been collected by employing techniques such as the Perceived Organizational Perception of Cronyism Scale (POC) developed by Turhan (2013), and the Multi-Purpose T Scale by Hoy, Tschannen-Moran (2003) which was adapted to Turkish by Özer et al (2009), with to which new sections were added by and Yücel and Samancı (2009). The data has been analyzed by using analysis techniques such as percentage, frequency, arithmetic mean, t-test, analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis.According to the findings of this research, while teachers' perception of cronyism does not differ according to gender and type of school, it differs according to age, seniority and how long they work at the same school. The level of organizational trust, on the other hand, does not differ according to gender, seniority, and the number of teachers, however, it varies according to the type of school.The results of the study have shown that cronyism negatively affect the organizational trust. Furthermore, the domestic group bias has the most impact on the level of organizational trust and instances of clientalistic (cronyism) applications in a school affect mostly the trust for the principal of that school. Keywords: Nepotism, Cronyism, Organizational Trust