Relationship between organizational democracy and political behaviors in higher education organizations

In this study, it was aimed to determine the level of organizational democracy perceived by the academic staff in their institutions and the frequency of encounter with political behaviors of academic staff in their institutions and to examine the relationship between these two variables. For this purpose, data were collected from 283 academic staff, working at three state and three foundation universities locate in Ankara, in 2016-2017 academic year. The data were analyzed by quantitative techniques and the findings showed that the level of organizational democracy perceived by the academic staff and the frequency of encounter with political behaviors were moderate. It was found that, the perception of organizational democracy of the academic staff working at foundation universities is higher, and the frequency of encounter with political behaviors is lower than the academic staff working at the state universities. In addition, it was determined that the level of orgaizational democracy perceived by academic staff and the frequency of encounter with political behaviors differed in terms of the duration of service in the institution. Finally, it was found that there is a moderate and negative relationship between organizational democracy and frequency of encounter with political behaviors, and that organizational democracy predicts the frequency of encounter with political behaviors.