An examination of the relationship between organizational cynicism, organizational commitment, and school culture at transported education schools

The purpose of this research is to explain the relationship between organizational cynicism, organizational commitment, and school culture in transported education schools. The study is designed in a relational model from quantitative methods. The population of the study consists of 2881 primary and secondary school teachers working in 276 transported schools in the central and district areas of Manisa province. The sample of the study includes 388 teachers who were selected using the criterion sampling method and worked during the 2022-2023 academic year. Personal information form, Organizational Cynicism Scale, School Culture Scale, and Organizational Commitment Scale were used to collect data. In the analysis of the data, normal distribution analyses, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis were used. The findings revealed that according to the teachers' views, teachers' levels of organizational commitment are moderate, levels of organizational cynicism are low, and among the dimensions of school culture, the lowest level is the bureaucratic culture dimension while the highest level is in the supportive culture dimension. There is a moderate, negative, and significant relationship between organizational cynicism and the supportive and achievement dimensions of school culture and between organizational commitment and its sub-dimensions of emotional and normative commitment. Positive significant relationships were found between organizational commitment and the sub-dimensions of school culture. Organizational cynicism and the sub-dimensions of organizational commitment explained 42% of the variance in the supportive dimension of school culture, with the highest explanatory power in this dimension. When organizational cynicism is controlled, the sub-dimensions of organizational commitment significantly explain all the sub-dimensions of school culture. The only positive relationship between the organizational cynicism variable and the sub-dimensions of school culture is in the bureaucratic culture dimension. This suggests that cynicism may increase in organizations with a bureaucratic culture. It is recommended to conduct qualitative mixed-method research explaining the bureaucratic culture-organizational cynicism relationship. This study examined the relationship between all variables in transported schools and concluded that organizational cynicism and the sub-dimensions of organizational commitment (continuance, normative, emotional) play an important role in school culture in transported schools. Especially in very small and large districts, the level of cynicism among teachers was found to be higher. Special measures can be taken for these districts, or measures can be taken to reduce the level of cynicism.