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School ethical climate and
teachers’ voluntary absence
Orly Shapira-Lishchinsky
Department of Educational Administration, Leadership and Policy,
School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and
Zehava Rosenblatt
Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to offer a theoretical framework for linking school ethical climate with
teachers’ voluntary absence. The paper attempts to explain this relationship using the concept of
affective organizational commitment.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants were 1,016 school teachers from 35 high schools in
Israel. Data were collected by self-report questionnaires and tested against archival data. The
GENMOD procedure of SAS was applied. This procedure enables regression models for variables
which are not necessarily normally distributed – such as absence – to be fit and also to account for the
intraclass-correlations within schools. Absence was measured by frequency of absence events, and
ethical climate was measured by two dimensions: caring and formal.
Findings – Results show that caring and formal ethical climates are both related to teacher absence.
Affective commitment was found to mediate the relationship between formal ethical climate and
absence frequency. This is not true for the ethical climate of caring.
Practical implications – School principals may reduce voluntary absence by creating an ethical
climate focused on caring and clear and just rules and procedures.
Originality/value – Whereas past research on work absence focused primarily on personal
antecedents, the present study addresses factors embedded in school ethics. The results contribute to
knowledge of the influence of organizational context on absence behavior.
Keywords Ethics, Affective psychology, Absenteeism, Teachers, Israel
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Work absence is a conspicuous problem in educational institutions. In 2000, pay for
absent teachers was estimated as $2 billion per year in the USA, and e300 million in the
UK (Bowers and Mclver, 2000). In a recent large-scale study in Israel, the site of the
present study, the number of absence days of teachers in the public system
(approximately 60,000 teachers) was estimated as 8.65 days on average (Rosenblatt
and Shirom, 2005). In another study of 200 Israeli school teachers, Gaziel (2004)
reported that the average number of teacher absence days within a three month period
ranged from 3.40 to 6.00. The overall cost of teacher absenteeism in Israel in 2002-2003
was US$53 million, estimated by aggregating the salaries of absent teachers with those
of the teachers used to replace them (Rosenblatt and Shirom, 2003). Although exact
comparisons are almost impossible to make, because of differences in definition and
criteria of absenteeism, these numbers indicate the scope of the problem.
Work absence is “the lack of physical presence at a behavior setting when and
where one is expected to be” (Harrison and Price, 2003, p. 204). Sagie (1998)
distinguished between two basic types of absence:
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 48 No. 2, 2010
pp. 164-181
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/09578231011027833
(1) voluntary absences, which are normally under the direct control of the
employee and are frequently utilized for personal issues, such as testing the
market for alternative prospects of employment; and
(2) involuntary absences, which are usually beyond the employee’s immediate
control (e.g. bereavement leave).
The present study focuses on voluntary absence, because this type is more likely to be
amenable to legitimate managerial intervention.
Recent reviews of the literature emphasize absence as a variable related not only to
demographic characteristics of individuals but also to organizational environment and
social context (Felfe and Schyns, 2004; Martocchio and Jimeno, 2003; Xie and Johns,
2000). In educational research, teacher absenteeism was found to be related to a culture
consisting of attendance norms (Bowers, 2001; Myburgh and Poggenpoel, 2002), and
principals’ supportive leadership style (Imants and Van Zoelen, 1995; Scott-Norton,
1998). These studies showed that teachers react to undesired social elements in their
workplace context by staying away from work.
In the present study we extend the previous work to include ethical climate, that
direct the moral conduct of school teachers. Consistent with the above line of research
in educational institutions, we expect teacher absenteeism to increase when they
perceive their schools’ climate to be unethical. The rationale for this argument dates
back to Simpson (1976, p. 14), who drew attention to the “repeater phenomenon”,
linking employees’ frequent absences to “the moral structure of an organization”
(Simpson, 1976, p. 15) rather than to the employees’ health or personalities.
Subsequent research also showed that some aspects of ethics and morality have a
detrimental effect on employee absenteeism (De Boer et al., 2002; Staw et al., 1994;
Vardi, 2001). The reasons for this relationship, however, have not been thoroughly
investigated.
Based on a rich body of research on organizational commitment (Meyer and Allen,
1997; Cohen, 2003), we suggest that work commitment may offer some explanation to
the relationship posited between school ethics and absenteeism. The purpose of this
article is to offer a framework that links voluntary absence with schools’ ethical
climate and explain this relationship using the concept of affective organizational
commitment.
Theoretical background
Ethical climate in school
A substantial amount of research on organizational ethical climate has been conducted
in the last two decades, primarily driven by Victor and Cullen’s (1987, 1988) pioneering
work. Victor and Cullen (1988) conceptualized ethical climate in terms of employee
perceptions of organizational norms regarding work behaviors and decisions with
ethical content. Ethical climate is a reflection of ethical elements in the work
environment as perceived by its individual members. It serves as a perceptual lens
through which employees assess situations that help them identify ethical issues and
solve ethical problems (Cullen et al., 2003).
This conceptualization of ethical climate is one feature of psychological climate, which
is “a moral construct comprising an individual’s psychological meaningful
representations of proximal organizational structures, processes, and events” (Parker
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et al., 2003). Distinct from social climate, psychological climate is a property of the
individual rather than of the organization, yet as mentioned by Brown and Leigh (1996),
organizational features (as well as individual features) may be responsible for individual
variations in the perceptions and evaluations that constitute psychological climate.
Normally, psychological climate would be measured at the individual level of analysis.
That way, it could explain individual level attitudes and behaviors, such as job
involvement andperformance (Brown andLeigh, 1996). Wepropose that ethical climateis
essentially psychologicalclimate, focused onethicalfeatures in one’s school environment.
Victor and Cullen (1988) have proposed a two-dimensional model of ethical climates.
One dimension represents basic ethical approaches: egoism, benevolence, and
principle. The second represents levels of analysis: individual, local, and cosmopolitan.
The intersections of these two dimensions produce nine potential ethical climates. In a
factor analysis performed by these authors, the nine factors were collapsed into five
ethical climate factors:
(1) caring;
(2) instrumental;
(3) rules;
(4) law-and-code; and
(5) independence.
This classification (or variations thereof) was used in numerous studies that tested the
original theory of Victor and Cullen (e.g. Appelbaum et al., 2005; Kelly and Dorsch,
1991; Peterson, 2002; Upchurch and Ruhland, 1996; Wimbush and Shepard, 1994).
A study conducted by Rosenblatt and Peled (2002) investigated these five
dimensions of ethical climate in Israeli schools. They identified two conspicuous
climate types: caring and formal (the latter characterized by both rules and
law-and-code). The two climates emerged as the most powerful and valid predictors of
school outcomes. Because of their relevance to the Israeli educational system, we will
adopt Rosenblatt and Peled (2002) constructs in our study.
Caring climate is characterized by the employees’ genuine interest in each other’s
welfare inside and outside the organization. At work, a caring group shows concern
for all organizational stakeholders affected by their decisions. A caring climate is
particularly relevant in professional, service, or public organizations, where the value
of caring is intrinsic to the type of work and relationships with clients, and permeates
other facets of organizational life. A typical example is the educational institution,
where training and education are often provided with caring, support, and nurturing.
A formal climate emphasizes organizational rules and professional codes, and
encourages respect for them. In such a climate employees are expected to follow the
rules of the organization and adhere to the codes and regulations of their profession. It
is through ethical rules that everyone in the organization learns how to behave, which
values are held in high esteem, and which behaviors are rewarded (Appelbaum et al.,
2005). Because a formal ethical climate is based on fair resource distribution and
transparent procedures, it is perceived as protecting employees from abusive treatment
by management and others. This type of climate is characteristic of educational
systems in the public sector, which tend to be bureaucratic in their adherence to a firm
set of rules, thus protecting teachers from violation of their rights.
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Ethical climate and volun tary absence in schools
We maintain that teachers who perceive their school climate as focused on either
caring or formal ethics are more likely to attend work than to be absent. The theory of
psychological contract may provide basic support to this argument. Rousseau (1989, p.
125) defined psychological contract as “a set of individual’s beliefs regarding the terms
and conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement”. From the employee’s point of
view, a breach of the psychological contract is a perception that one or more of the
employer’s obligations are unfulfilled (Dabos and Rousseau, 2004; Pate et al., 2003;
Rousseau, 1995). Because contracts are so fundamental to individuals’
employment-related beliefs and experiences (Morrison and Robinson, 1997),
individuals are expected to respond to violations of psychological contracts with
compensatory mechanisms to restore equity. Compensatory mechanisms may include
work violations of their own, such as work absence.
Empirical support for the presumed relationship between organizational ethics and
voluntary absence can be found in several studies. In a study on school teachers,
Hutchison et al. (1986) suggested that when schools focus on high morality, school
teachers respond by refraining from voluntary absence. Wimbush and Shepard (1994)
showed that an unethical organizational climate was related to negative organizational
outcomes, including absenteeism. Peterson (2002), who tested Victor and Cullen’s
(1988) ethical climate model, demonstrated that an organizational climate characterized
by caring for employees was negatively related to their work absence. Finally,
Gonzalez-Roma et al. (2005), pointed at a negative relationship between rule orientation
and sickness absenc. Based on these studies, and on the psychological contract theory,
we expect that both caring and formal climates to be negatively related to
schoolteachers’ voluntary absence, leading to our first hypothesis:
H1. Teachers’ perceptions of ethical climate (caring/formal) in school will be
negatively related to voluntary teacher absence.
The media tion effect of organizational commitment
Evidence for the relationship of teachers’ perceptions of ethical climate with voluntary
absence has been outlined above, but we must still identify the inner mechanisms that
explain why teachers who perceive their work environment as unethical (particularly
with regard to caring and formality) tend to be absent from schools. We suggest that
the relationship of ethical climate with absence is explained by the notion of
organizational commitment.
Organizational commitment has emerged as a leading construct in organizational
research because of its relationship with important work-related concepts. Meyer and
Allen (1991) have identified three types of organizational commitment: affective,
normative, and continuous. Affective commitment refers to the employees’ emotional
attachment to the organization, and their identification and involvement with it.
Normative commitment reflects a sense of obligation to continue working for the
organization. Continuous commitment refers to people’s external reasons for staying
with the organization, such as the cost associated with leaving it (Meyer and Allen,
1997).
Numerous studies have investigated the association of organizational commitment
to various measures of organizational outcomes. The general consensus is that
organizational commitment is strongly related to work outcomes and job performance
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167
(Luchak and Gellatly, 2007; Meyer and Allen, 1991, 1997; Meyer et al., 2002).
Nevertheless, the relationship between organizational commitment and work outcomes
may not be universal for all types of commitment. Of the three types outlined above,
continuous commitment and normative commitments are perhaps least likely to
correlate positively with performance. Employees whose tenure in the organization is
based primarily on obligation (normative commitment) or on a rational individual
cost-benefit analysis (continuous commitment) may see little reason to do more than is
required to maintain their membership in the organization (Meyer et al., 1989). Studies
showed that affective commitment has been found to positively affect work outcomes,
including absenteeism, whereas normative and continuous commitment showed little
or negligible relationships of this type (Luchak and Gellatly, 2007; Mathieu and Zajac,
1990; Meyer et al., 2002). These conclusions were reiterated by Cohen (2003, p. 23), who
pointed out that in organizational behavior literature affective commitment was more
dominant than normative and continuous commitment. Based on these arguments we
chose to investigate only affective commitment as a potential mediator in our study
model. Next we will explore the relationship of ethical climate with affective
commitment, and of affective commitment with voluntary absence.
Ethical climates and affective commitment. When teachers perceive their
organizational climate to be caring, they are likely to feel more secure in their own
welfare, and more responsible toward others in the school (students, parents, and
colleagues). These reactions can produce a bond with the school, which encourages
cooperation and attachment and ultimately leads to a higher degree of affective
organizational commitment. Studies show that individuals in a caring climate are more
committed to attaining group goals (Cullen et al., 2003; Kelly and Dorsch, 1991; Trevino
et al., 1998).
Similar processes can be observed in the area of formal ethical climate in
organizations at large and schools in particular. In schools characterized by a climate
that transforms professional principles into clear and formal rules teachers appreciate
these rules, perceiving them as conducive to the state of belonging to a well-defined
workplace or occupation. Such feelings can increase their affective commitment to the
school. Cullen et al. (2003) indicated that when people identify with the values and
standards of the organization they are more likely to develop higher levels of
commitment. Similarly, in their study of purchasing executives, Kelly and Dorsch
(1991) found a significant relationship between rules and commitment, and suggested
that these executives had clear ideas of what the organization expected and required of
them. Therefore, we believe that affective commitment in schools increases when a
rule-based ethical climate is more pronounced.
Affective commitment and voluntary absence. Our expectation that organizational
commitment is related to voluntary absence is based on well-documented research on
organizational commitment and various facets of organizational performance (Cohen,
2003; Wasti, 2003; Wong et al., 2002). Consistent with psychological contract theory
(Rousseau, 1995), teachers who feel attached to their organization (affective
commitment) exert efforts on its behalf and are interested in contributing to its
success by reducing their voluntary absence. Gaziel (2004) found that teachers who
express a high level of commitment to their school, tend to voluntarily absent
themselves from school less frequently. Meyer et al. (2004) argued that employees who
show high affective commitment set or accept relatively difficult goals and strive to
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achieve a maximum level of performance. This line of thought was applied to work
absence by Luchak and Gellatly (2007), who showed that employees who display high
affective commitment had a lower rate of absence frequency. More direct evidence for
the relationship between affective commitment and work absence/attendance was
provided by Cohen (2003), Somers (1995) and Meyer et al. (2002). Following these
studies, we believe that teachers who feel attached to their schools (affective
commitment) are also more likely to minimize their work absence. Because teacher
absence is perhaps more strongly felt in the classroom than absence of employees in
many other work settings, teachers may invest greater effort in avoiding absences.
Based on the above, we propose that organizational commitment mediates the
relationships, outlined above (see H1), between ethical climate and work absence. We
maintain that perceptions about positive organizational ethical climate lead to higher
organizational affective commitment which in turn leads to low work absence.
H2. The relationship of teachers’ perceptions of ethical climate (caring/formal) in
school with work absence (H1) will be fully mediated by affective
commitment, so that: (a) ethical climate will be positively related to
affective commitment, and (b) the latter will be negatively related to work
absence.
The model of the study is depicted in Figure 1.
Method
Study sam ple and population
Participants were 1,016 teachers (67 percent response rate) from 35 schools belonging
to a large high school network (comprising 52 schools) throughout Israel. The average
number of teachers in each school was 54.74 (SD ¼ 25.54). Only teachers who had
worked in the school more than one year were included in the study to ensure that all
respondents had had sufficient time to develop perceptions and attitudes about their
schools. The sample was 68 percent women[1]. Participants’ average age was 43.19
years (SD ¼ 9.42). Average school seniority was 12.60 years (SD ¼ 8.48), and average
teaching seniority was 17.90 years (SD ¼ 9.39). The majority of teachers (86.1 percent)
were tenured; the others were employed through temporary contracts. A little over half
(53.7 percent) of the teachers had a Bachelor’s degree, and 35.7 percent held a Master’s
degree. The rest had non-academic degrees. These characteristics, roughly, represent
Figure 1.
Summary of the
study model
School ethical
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169
the composition of the teacher body in the network under study, and in Israeli high
schools in general (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2005).
Data collection
Letters explaining the objectives and methods of the study were sent to all 52 schools
in the network. The 35 schools included in the study were those whose principals
agreed to cooperate. Data were collected using questionnaires that were voluntarily
self-reported by teachers during their free time on school premises. Previous research
showed that self-report absence data correlated highly with record-based measures
(r ¼ 0.64, Johns, 2003). Anonymity of the respondents was a condition for allowing us
to collect data, and was strictly observed.
To determine whether the self-report data were indeed consistent with school
records, we obtained school absence data (only school-level duration data was
available). We aggregated our teacher-level self-report scores by schools and correlated
these data with the school-record data for each school. We found that the average
duration of absence in the self–report data was M
selfreport
¼ 11.91 (SE ¼ 4.30), whereas
the average duration of absence in the school record was M
schoolrecord
¼ 12.28
(SE ¼ 5.54). Because no significant differences were found between the data sources
regarding the average duration of absence (Wilcoxon test, Z ¼ 2 0.392, p ¼ 0.695), we
concluded that the self-report data agreed with school records and could be used
confidently.
Study measures
Absenteeism behavior. Teachers were asked, “How many workdays did you miss in
each of the last five months?”. We further asked teachers to report each absence
incident separately.
For example: Absence incidents in October:
Incident 1. Number of absence days: ____
Incident 2. Number of absence days: ____
Incident 3. Number of absence days: ____
(Repeated for each of the five months.)
We attached calendars to all the questionnaires to refresh the teachers’ memory
regarding their absences in the preceding five months. Because the school day in Israel
is relatively short, and the normal workday of an Israeli teacher is accordingly short
(roughly four teaching hours a day on average), partial absence (part of a day) is rare,
and was not considered in this study.
The measure used was absence frequency (not duration), that is, the number of
times a teacher was absent during the reporting period, regardless of the number of
days lost. It is generally believed that absence frequency is the best measure of
voluntary absence, whereas absence duration (total number of days lost) is the best
reflection of involuntary absences Thus, studies show that an absence of one-two days
is considered as voluntary, whereas an extended period of days of absence is
considered involuntary regardless of the reason give for the absence (Blau et al., 2004;
Gellatly, 1995; Sagie, 1998). In the present study we chose absence frequency as our
dependent variable because our purpose was to investigate the relationship between
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ethical climate and absenteeism in the context of the teachers’ psychological contract,
which reflects their choice to attend or not to attend (voluntary absence).
We chose a five-month period to obtain a valid picture of teacher absence because it
represents half a school year in Israel (one semester), and because it is reasonable to
expect that teachers are able to recall their absences during this period (Johns, 1994).
Time span is important because it may be associated with both random error and
systematic bias in absence self-reports. Increasing the time frame of the self-report
would increase reliability but at the same time jeopardize validity and accuracy
because of potential memory decrement, systematic bias, or both.
The decision to measure work absence retroactively was based on the assumption
that teacher absence rates are relatively stable. We tested this assumption by
examining school records of absence rates over the preceding five years. The data for
this test were based on teacher reports from the 35 schools participating in the study.
We found that between 1999 and 2004 the change rate of absent days per school was
0.09 percent (SD 0.00413), showing that absence fluctuation was minimal. This
conclusion is consistent with the findings of Rosenblatt and Shirom (2005), who studied
individual background predictors of absenteeism in the entire population of Israeli
teachers. They reported that the strongest predictor of teacher absenteeism in 2002 was
teacher absenteeism in 2001, indicating absence stability.
Ethical climate. This variable explored teachers’ perceptions of how ethical issues
were considered and handled in their respective schools. Accordingly, the measure
tapped into teachers’ individual views of their ethical environments. Aiming to
reproduce the two ethical dimensions we selected for our study, we replicated authors’
factor analysis of Victor and Cullen’s (1988) original 26-item measure. We used the
Obvarimax procedure, which allows interdependence between variables, and selected
the items that loaded above 0.3. This process yielded six factors, the first two of which
were adopted for the present study for the following reasons: First, each one of these
two factors had above 15 percent explained variance, while the next factors had
smaller levels of explained variance. Second, we were theoretically interested in these
two factors because they proved to be strong predictors in another study on Israeli
schoolteachers (Rosenblatt and Peled, 2002). These factors were:
(1) “Caring” climate, defined as a climate of concern for the welfare of all school
members (corresponding to the “friendship” and “social responsibility”
dimensions of the original index). This factor included six items, with a
reliability of a ¼ 0.86, and 15.87 percent explained variance. Sample items are:
“In this school people look out for each other’s interest” and “In this school it is
expected that you always do what is right for the public”.
(2) “Formal” climate, defined as a climate of compliance with professional and
social codes and with school rules and regulations (corresponding to the “rules
and procedures,” “law-and-code,” and “efficiency” dimensions of the original
index) (nine items, a ¼ 0.87, 15.68 percent explained variance). Sample items
are: “Everyone is expected to stick to school rules and procedures,” and “In this
school the law or ethical code of the profession is a major consideration”.
The remaining four factors were found to be relatively low (6.85-9.61 percent explained
variance). Response options for the caring and formal measures ranged from
1 ¼ strongly disagree to 5 ¼ strongly agree.
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171
Affective commitment. This variables addressed teachers’ perceptions of the
affective (emotional attachment, identification, involvement) reasons for wanting to
remain in their school. The measure represents one of Meyer and Allen’s (1997) original
three-way organizational commitment construct (seven items, a ¼ 0.88, 21.54 percent
of explained variance). This dimension was selected for the present study on
theoretical grounds (see above), a decision that was further supported by its factorial
explained variance, which was considerably larger than the explained variance of
normative and continuous commitment (13.66 percent and 10.27 percent, respectively).
A sample item: “I really feel as if this school’s problems are my own.”
Background charac teristics. The following background characteristics were
measured: age, gender, school seniority, teaching seniority, tenure, and education.
Only gender correlated (modestly) with our dependent variable (M ¼ 1.35 and 1.00 for
women and men respectively, r ¼ 0.137, p , 0.05).
Data analysis strategy
Since voluntary teacher absence is a discrete count variable, Poisson regression models
were used to assess its relationship with the other variables. The study is based on
individual-level analysis, trying to capture teachers’ perceptions about the ethical
climate in their respective schools, and the relationship of these perceptions with their
absence behavior. However, because of the data’s hierarchical nature (teachers nested
within schools) the usual assumption of independence of all observations was not
applicable. Following Hoffman’s (1997) work, we maintain that teachers are organized
in schools physically, but also through their perceptions and attitudes. The GENMOD
procedure of SAS was therefore applied. This procedure enabled us to fit regression
models for variables which are not necessarily normally distributed (such as Poisson),
and also to account for the intraclass-correlation within schools.
In regard to our mediation hypothesis, we looked into several approaches to
mediation analysis. MacKinnon et al. (2004) identified and compared 14 methods,
which they categorized into three frameworks. The first, which is the causal step
approach (Kenny et al., 1998), is the most commonly used, we applied it in our analysis.
By this approach, to demonstrate full mediation one estimates four different models,
which is typically done by least squares estimation. First, the dependent variable is
regressed on the independent variable, to demonstrate that variations in the
independent variable significantly account for variations in the dependent variable.
Second, the mediator is regressed on the independent variable, to demonstrate that
variations in the independent variable significantly account for variations in the
presumed mediator. Third, the dependent variable is regressed on the mediator, to
demonstrate that variations in the mediator significantly account for variations in the
dependent variable. Finally, the dependent variable is regressed on both the
independent variable and the mediator. Full mediation is considered evident if the
relationship of the independent to the dependent variable is no longer significant in the
presence of the mediator.
For steps one, three and four, GENMOD was used to fit the Poisson regression
models, while the Mixed procedure of SAS was used for step two. The latter procedure
is applicable to fit a regression model where the dependent variable is normally
distributed and the observations are not independent.
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Results
The mean of absence frequency was 1.24 (SD 1.18). Table I displays the descriptive
statistics for the explanatory variables in the study, (independent and mediator). Note
that formal climate had a higher prominence (mean 3.88) than caring climate (mean
3.29). Also, findings (Table II, model 1) indicate that the relationship of formal climate
with absence frequency was weaker (B ¼ 2 0.09, p ¼ 0.04)[2] than that of caring
climate (B ¼ 2 0.14, p ¼ 0.002).
Hypotheses testing
H1 stated that school ethical climate (caring/formal) and teacher voluntary absence
will be negatively related. Findings (Table II, model 1) indicate that both caring and
formal ethical climates were negatively related to absence frequency. H1 was therefore
supported.
H2 stated that the relationship of school ethical climate (caring/formal) with work
absence will be fully mediated by affective commitment. Results showed the following:
both caring and formal ethical climate significantly and positively predicted affective
commitment (B ¼ 0.576, SE ¼ 0.028; p , 0.0001 and B ¼ 0.505, SE ¼ 0.037;
p , 0.0001, respectively). Affective commitment was directly related to absence
frequency (B ¼ 2 0.115, SE ¼ 0.044; p ¼ 0.008). These results showed then that
affective commitment was related to both ethical climates (caring and formal) and to
work absence.
When affective commitment was added to the regression equation of the
relationship of the two ethical climates with work absence (Table II, model 2), findings
showed that the relationship of caring climate with absence stayed significant
(B ¼ 2 0.110, SE 0.055, p , 0.05), but the relationship of formal climate with absence
became non significant (B ¼ 2 0.037, SE ¼ 0.048). Added to the findings above
(referring to H1) on the total relationships between the two ethical climates and absence
MSD 1 2 3
1 Caring ethical climate 3.29 0.73 (0.86)
2 Formal ethical climate 3.88 0.60 0.543
*
(0.87)
3 Affective commitment 3.950 0.770 0.555
*
0.411
*
(0.88)
Notes:
*
p , 0.01; n ¼ 1,016, Reliability coefficients (alpha Cronbach) in parentheses
Table I.
Means, standard
deviations, correlations,
and reliability coefficients
of the study independent
variables
Model 1
Model 2 mediated effect
with affective
commitment
Variable B SE B SE
Caring ethical climate 2 0.141
**
0.046 2 0.110
*
0.055
Affective commitment 2 0.053 0.054
Formal ethical climate 2 0.092
*
0.0456 2 0.037 0.048
Affective commitment 2 0.097
*
0.048
Notes:
*
p , 0.05;
**
p , 0.01; n ¼ 1,016 (GENMOD procedure)
Table II.
Mediation of the
relationship between
teachers’ perceptions of
ethical climate
(caring/formal) and
absence frequency by
affective commitment
School ethical
climate
173
frequency, these results indicate a full mediation effect of affective commitment on
formal climate (the B value became non-significant when affective commitment was
present in the equation). No mediation effect was found for caring climate since the
relationship between absence frequency and affective commitment became
non-significant. H2, then, was partially supported (for formal but not for caring
climate: see Table II). Gender-based separate analyses showed no significant mediation
effect of affective commitment on caring and formal climate
Figure 2 summarizes the results for the mediation of affective commitment in the
relationship of formal ethical climate with work absence.
Discussion
The present study aimed at predicting teachers’ voluntary absence by the dimensions
of ethical climate. Thus, the study follows previous research showing that absence
behavior is related to perceptions of organizational climate (Imants and Van Zoelen,
1995) and organizational justice (e.g. Colquitt et al., 2002; De Boer et al., 2002). Taken
together, the results of these previous studies were used as a foundation for the study
hypotheses and model, while focusing on ethical climate.
Despite growing interest in the concept of ethical climate since its conceptualization
by Victor and Cullen (1987, 1988), relatively little has been written on its relationship
with absence behavior (one exception being Peterson’s, 2002 study). The present study
is an attempt to fill this gap and to take research in this area one step further. Focusing
on two specific types of ethical climate – caring and formal – the present study sought
to explain the relationship between these two ethical types on one hand and absence
behavior on the other, using the notion of affective organizational commitment. The
study model was tested in a school context.
Results largely supported the study’s theoretical model. We showed that both the
caring and formal aspects of ethical climate were related to absence frequency.
Affective organizational commitment mediated the relationship between formal
climate and absence frequency. In other words, results showed that teachers who
perceived their work climate to be highly ethical by focusing on formal rules, increased
their attachment to the organization, and it turn, tended to be absent less frequently.
The results of the study are related to the growing literature focusing on the
importance of organizational context in understanding organizational behavior.
Although most studies regard context as part of organizational structure (e.g. Clinebell
and Shadwick, 2005; Kim and Lee, 2006), others consider organizational characteristics
Figure 2.
Summary of coefficient
modeling results
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processes such as task significance and autonomy (Rousseau, 1989; Sosik and Lee,
2005). The present study also dwells on contextual processes not often addressed in
research: ethical norms and values, as perceived by the schoolteachers. Results show
the influence of an ethical environment on teacher attitudes (organizational
commitment) and behavior (absence frequency), contribute to our understanding of
the effect of perceived organizational context.
Nevertheless, our results seem to contradict the findings of studies on another form
of organizational context: supportive work environment; in particular the relationship
between supportive school environment and absence behavior. These studies (e.g.
Gonzalez-Roma et al., 2005; Rael et al., 1995) showed that supportive work environment
and sickness absence were positively related because supportive work environment
contributed to an increased employee self-esteem and sense of control, encouraging
employees to take time off knowing that their colleagues would fill in for them. In other
words, a supportive work environment can be a facilitating mechanism leading
employees to take time off from work.
The difference between the results of this line of research and our study may lie in
the distinct socio-psychological processes on which they are based. A supportive
environment, focused on responding to teacher needs, may increase the teachers’ focus
on their individual interests, leading to behavior intended to maximize individual gain
(such as taking time off from work). By contrast, an ethical climate is based on moral
values, and may thus increase the sense of social responsibility and shared work norms
(as perceived by the individual), leading to increased teacher commitment and away
from voluntary absence.
Caring climate came up as a strong predictor of low absence frequency, consistent
with similar results in previous studies (Bowers, 2001; Imants and Van Zoelen, 1995;
Scott-Norton, 1998). This finding is not surprising in an educational context, where
care for students is a leading value (Husu and Tirri, 2001; Colnerud, 1997). But the
finding that affective organizational commitment does not mediate the relationship
between caring climate and absence frequency, while it does so for formal climate, has
not been expected. Apparently, although a caring climate in school does correlate with
affective commitment, this relationship does not go through organizational
commitment. The reason that caring climate leads directly to low absence frequency
may be the fact that caring is a universal value (Schwartz, 1997; Rice, 2001), and as
such less related to feelings towards the focal organization. This is different from
formality, which is normally linked to the focal organization, and therefore evokes a
sense of organizational commitment, which in turn affects (or coincides with) absence
behavior.
Although formal climate scored higher than caring climate, as reflected in the
means, its relationship with voluntary absence was lower. The great importance
attached to formal climate may be a characteristic of a bureaucratic educational system
and of the teachers’ response to bureaucratic formalism. It shows that a mechanistic
form of organizations – the machine metaphor (Burns and Stalker, 1961) – probably
characterizes the educational bureaucratic structure. In this case, rules and regulations
do not necessarily symbolize rigidity, but serve as both functional and protective
mechanisms in ensuring certainty, transparency, and fair treatment of the teachers
involved. This may explain why teachers who perceive their school ethical climate as
predominantly formal, tend to reduce their absenteeism. This is consistent with the
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author study, in which formal climate (labeled “law-and-code”) was also found to be a
strong predictor of school outcomes. Yet, caring climate, although perceived as less
prominent in school than formal climate, was found in the present study as a stronger
predictor of non-absence than formal climate, While both types of ethical climate are
important, apparently, ethical elements associated with care and concern for people,
when perceived to exist, attract teachers to stay in school to a larger degree than ethical
elements associated with formality.
In line with the near consensus in literature regarding the significance of affective
organizational commitment, our results reaffirm the connection found in previous
research between affective commitment and work absence (Luchak and Gellatly, 2007;
Meyer et al., 2002; Somers, 1995). But in the case of Israeli schools, the significance of
the affective commitment may be attributed to structural reasons. The low pay and
inferior working conditions of Israeli schoolteachers (Israel Central Bureau of
Statistics, 2002), similar to those of American schoolteachers (Ingersoll, 2004), lead to
an “employee” rather than an “employer” labor market, namely, there is a shortage of
good quality teachers. The results of the study show that what keeps teachers in their
jobs (in our case – be present and not absent) is affect-based commitment and
perception of the school as promoting organizational (caring and formal) ethics.
Limitation and future research
Our study had a few limitations, of which the first and foremost is its potential
same-source bias. Although objective data of absence frequency were not available,
precautions were taken to ensure data accuracy (individual data were aggregated by
school and compared with average school absence records, which were accessible). It is
recommended that the study be replicated using different data sources, including non
self-report absence data (e.g. organizational records, supervisory reports, colleague
reports). In addition, our same-source technique may include instances in which some
of the absence data predate the climate data. Although our analyses of absence rates
over years showed little fluctuation, we encourage future studies to use multi
time-points techniques to strengthen predictability.
A second limitation of the study has to do with the fact that data were collected at
one time point, precluding causal conclusion. The regression analysis, therefore, did
not support clear causational conclusions. We suggest that future research investigate
causation relationships between the study’s main variables, ethical climate and
absenteeism. This can be accomplished through longitudinal research methods, where
data on perceptions, attitudes and behaviors (absences) are collected at multiple points
in time.
Third, our data collection approach, in which absence data were measured
retroactively, was based on the assumption (supported by previous results such as
Baguma, 2001; Farrell and Stamm, 1988; Ones et al., 2003) that teacher absence rates
are relatively stable. Together with the use of self-report measures, this assumption
may ignore memory failure that may artificially look like behavior stability. We tested
this assumption by examining record data of absence rate fluctuations in previous
years and found them to be relatively stable. Again, the use of longitudinal methods
may eliminate dependence on retrospective data.
Fourth, the sample of the present study included only teachers, which limits the
generalizability of the findings to other sectors of business and industry. Considering
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the growing awareness and knowledge of the importance of workplace ethical
environment in the organizational literature in general (Wimbush and Shepard, 1994),
future research should attempt to replicate the framework of this study to other
occupational groups of public and private organizations, to permit generalization to a
broader segment of the workforce.
Finally, as absenteeism is only one component of the withdrawal syndrome
(Koslowsky and Krausz, 2002), future studies should test the model of the present
study on other withdrawal symptoms such as tardiness and intent to leave. Studies
showed that tardiness and intent to leave were moderately related to job satisfaction
and organizational commitment (Koslowsky et al., 1997; Lee and Mitchell, 1994). It is
likely that these withdrawal symptoms are also related to ethical climate. Applying the
design of the current study to a range of these work withdrawal and dysfunctional
behaviors would allow a deeper understanding of the effect of ethical climate on
employee performance
Conclusions
The study describes the ethical framework of schoolteachers’ work absence. Whereas
past research on work absence focused mostly on personal (demographic, medical,
work attitudes) antecedents (Johns, 1997), the present study addresses factors
embedded in organizational ethics. It contributes to our knowledge of both work
absence (focusing on voluntary absence), and of organizational ethics (focusing on
selective aspects of ethical climate). It also contributes to research on the dominance of
organizational context on absence behavior.
Practically, school principals can use the results of this study to reduce voluntary
absence by creating an ethical climate focused on the value of caring and on the values
of clear and just rules and procedures. Based on the study findings, school principals
can expect both types of ethical climate to reduce voluntary absence, and a formal
climate to also lead to increased commitment. Generally, a school climate based on
caring and formal structures can be created by introducing and maintaining a stable
set of ethical work norms and by working toward the adoption and internalization of
these values.
Notes
1. The present study is part of a larger research project on teacher withdrawal syndrome and
school ethics.
2. Because of the nature of the data (a dependent count variable and hierarchical data,
standardized regression (denoted by beta) is not used since it. is unclear which variance
components one should use for the standardization. Therefore we use B (not
b
).
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About the authors
Orly Shapira-Lishchinsky is a faculty member at the Department of Educational Administration,
Leadership and Policy, in Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Her research areas include evaluation of
school effectiveness, organizational ethics and withdrawal behaviors. Her recent publications
include articles in Sex Roles, International Journal of Educational Management and Journal of
Business Ethics.
Zehava Rosenblatt is a faculty member in the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa,
Israel. Her specialization is school human resource management, and her research interests
include teacher job design, teacher absence, school ethics and accountability. Her recent
publications include articles in Educational Administration Quarterly, Journal of Organizational
and Occupational Psychology and Journal of Business Ethics. Zehava Rosenblatt is the
corresponding author and can be contacted at: zehavar@construct.haifa.ac.il
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