Attitudes towards work in Educational Institutions 1

The current study aims to evaluate employees’ attitudes towards work in educational institutions. An attitude scale was developed in order to reach the researchs ub-purposes. The scale was administered to the selected sample to obtain the research findings. Survey model, a quantitative Research method, was used within the current research. The Research population consists of Education employees working in schools under department of education in the town of Corlu, city of Tekirdag. 312 administrators, 1878 teachingand 480 supportive staff worked in 98 schools in the town of Corlu when the Research was conducted. 215 participants within the research sample were selected through non-proportional quota sampling among the teachers working in schools in the town. A scale to measure attitudes toward work was used as the data collection tool within the research. Some statistical analyses were needed in order to define the Research sub-dimensions. SPSS 21 software package was used to analyze the data. One-way variance analysis (ANOVA), ttest, Tukey, and LCD tests were used in the analyses. Employees considered their works in five different dimensions. When employees’ attitudes toward work are examined based on their demographic characteristics, it is seen that employees’ age, genders and seniority were a significant factors defining their attitudes toward work. The employees’ attitudes toward work at educational institutions were examined in the current study. The five dimensions defined within the research results must be considered significant for employees at educational institutions and some incentives must be activated.


Introduction
We may struggle to comprehensively explain and even understand, at times, certain concepts that we often use daily.Throughout the history, science has concentrated on these concepts and mediated to better explain them.The concept of attitude is among them.Attitudes have constituted a concept that particularly social scientists dwelled upon.
It will be appropriate to analyze its definitions in order to be able to explain attitudes.Turkish Language Association (TLA) provides the two following definitions for attitude: 1. Noun -Preferred path, disposition.

2.
Using money or any other thing carefully; economizing; saving; economy.Social sciences involve the first definition above.Attitudes form a cognitive system to facilitate an individual's relationships with their surroundings.Therefore, it may be said that the topic of attitudes is centrally significant in explaining the socialization process and social behaviors of an individual within social psychology (Baysal & Tekarslan, 1996, p. 253).
Attitude, of which scientific examination was initiated in the 19th century, means "ready to act" in its Latin root (Arkonaç as cited in Tavşancıl, 2002).A definition that could be embraced by many social-psychologists today is as follows: "Attitude is a tendency, attributed to an individual, systematically forming his/her opinion, feelings, and behaviors towards a psychological object" (Smith as cited in Kağıtçıbaşı, 2003).
In another definition, it is about individuals' adopting regular attitudes and behavior patterns towards certain objects, based on past experiences.Someone, for many reasons, may dislike a politician or food at a restaurant.Such attitude by an individual is expected to be followed by, for instance, not voting for that party or by not going to that restaurant.Attitudes are among the characteristics that distinguish us from others.Individual attitudes are formed through our lifelong experiences and individual upbringing styles (Özkalp&Kırel, 2001).
Attitudes may facilitate individual's relationships with his/her surroundings by building cognitive systems.Even though attitudes may be similar to value judgements in terms of sources and, also partially, formation, they may differ due to very high-level variability coefficients (Şimşek, Akgemci & Çelik, 2011).
Attitude is a process of enthusiasm and diagnosis, occurring based on certain value judgements and beliefs, in relation to a part of individual's own inner world.Attitudes may be measured by looking into individual's either behaviors or present life.Therefore, in measurement, both behavior analysis and analyses via inner observations can be used (Eren, 2007).An individual's attitudes are invisible; however, an opinion of his/her attitude towards an object is obtained by observing his/her behaviors (Tavşancıl, 2002).Influences of certain factors on development and settlement of attitudes are undeniable facts.These are factors such as past experiences, influences by parents, friends, and media (Kağıtçıbaşı, 2005).
Many researchers studied the concept of attitude within the relevant literature.Why is this concept so important?Attitudes have been thought to have a secret power to guide individuals' behaviors (Baysal & Tekarslan, 1996, p. 254) as well as to build a system facilitating individuals' adjustment in their environments.
Attitudes towards work can be considered tendencies occurring based on individuals' evaluations of their own work (Sandal Önal,2015).Attitudes towards working life are directly related to one's happiness.However, some misfortunes may also happen in the working life; even the relationship between the organization and the employees may corrupt at times.Such corruption at work may be stemming from either employee's abuse of the organization, organizational abuse of the employee or employee's reluctance towards operations and actions within his/her duties (Cherrington as cited in Basaran, 2000).
Employee seeks cognitive solutions for the negative organizational conditions that s/he cannot change.When employee's efforts to adjust in the organizational conditions fail and this failure is continuous, s/he turns to affective methods of adjustment (Başaran, 2000).
Within organizations, employee attitudes are significantly effective on their behaviors.Such attitudes occur through a synthesis of individuals' beliefs and feelings towards certain ideas, situations, and other people.In this context, attitudes are very important because they constitute expression of many employees' feelings.When an individual's attitude towards an object or stimulant is known, such individual's behavior towards the stimulant may be predicted.That is very significant in practice (Üstüner,2006).Administrators must take attitudes into consideration for within-organization applications because attitudes have been shaped in relation to individual 's values, experiences, and character (Moorhead&Griffin, 1998).In addition, when the administrators consider attitudes within the context of organizational behavior, it is useful in learning about employee's attitudes toward his/her profession and selecting management strategies.
Although we have theoretical pre-suppositions such as "whatever the numbers and qualities, human element is the most significant, the most prioritized, and the most valuable resource because organizations survive with people and organizations are for people" (Sezer & Bayraktaroğlu, 2003), it does not seem possible for human capital to be effective and efficient without adequate education and development (Sezer,2013).Attitudes formed within working life may define individual's position and provide researchers with the key to make him/her a happy individual.As the employees' satisfaction in businesses and organizations increase, the organization will function more effectively and sustainably.Employees' individual targets and organizational purpose will join to create the highest effect (Ramazanoğlu, Arslan & Karahüseyinoğlu, 2003).Therefore, definition of attitudes toward work is of great importance for an organization.
In the study schools was selected as an organization to identify the employee's attitudes towards work.School is the most functional part of the education system, determines the operational limit for a specific organization and production (Açıkalın,1998).School administrators, teachers and support staff are the employees working in schools.The employees of educational organizations can support to be more effective in achieving the aims of the school by determining the attitudes toward work.A review of relevant literature, a study about the attitudes of school employees towards work has not been observed.So that ıt's also expected to contribute the literature by identifying the work attitudes of the employees in educational organizations.

Aims
The current study aims to evaluate employees' attitudes towards work in educational institutions.Based on the purpose, following questions of sub-purpose are put forward: Participants reflect their own true attitudes.

Scope and Limitations
The current research is limited to 215 employees, selected via non-proportional quota sampling method, who worked in educational institutions in town of Corlu, city of Tekirdag.

Method
An attitude scale was developed in order to reach the research sub-purposes.The scale was administered to the selected sample to obtain the research findings.Survey model, a quantitative research method, was used within the current research.
Survey model aims to describe an existing phenomenon as it is (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006).The purpose through this model is to describe a past or present phenomenon as it was or is.The incident, individual, or object, to be studied, is described as it is under respective conditions (Karasar, 2008,p.77).

Population
The research population consists of education employees working in schools under Department of Education in the town of Corlu, city of Tekirdag.312 administrators, 1878 teaching and 480 supportive staff worked in 98 schools in the town of Corlu when the research was conducted.Research constitutes the universe of 2670 employees working in the educational organizations 215 participants within the research sample were selected through by randomly nonproportional quota sampling among the teachers working in schools in the town.Non-proportional quota sampling provides equal chance of being selected with all in the population (Karasar, 2008).Thus, 12% of the 2670 employees in educational organizations were reached.215 reached employees of educational organizations, % (11) 5 is administrator, 88% (190) and 7% of teachers ( 14) a support staff.

Data Collection Tool
It is impossible to directly observe individuals' attitudes (Köklü,1995).Therefore, it's decided to use a scale to measure attitudes toward work as the data collection tool within the research.A scale used to measure attitudes towards the employees work in general hasn't been found in the literature.In the initial steps when the scale was being formed, an item pool was created by researchers with analyzing literature.Possibly relevant items were gathered and these items were evaluated with help provided by experts within the field to finally have a consensus on 30 items for administration.
A pre-administration of the scale was conducted on 123 education employees.Upon preadministration, Cronbach's Alpha value of the scale was found as .85.Based on the factor analyses, 8 items on the scale were excluded.Within a factor analysis, factors with the most accumulation are found and items with the most factor load, among items in high-level relationship with these factors, are selected.Statements under certain factors are considered and the common topic represented is used to name the relevant dimension (Köklü,1995).As such, the scale was found to have 5 different dimensions.Final version of the scale with 22 items had a .814value of Cronbach's Alpha.

Data Analysis
Some statistical analyses were needed in order to define the research sub-dimensions.SPSS 21 software package was used to analyze the data.One-way variance analysis (ANOVA), t-test, Tukey, and LCD tests were used in the analyses.

Findings
In the following section of research, statistical results regarding sub-purposes are included.

Employees' Attitudes Toward Work
Employees' attitudes toward work at educational institutions were defined in five different dimensions through the scale used.This was achieved with the help of factor analyses in the scale developed to reveal the dimensions.Scale dimensions are named according to the common topics expressed by items coming together in the.The relevant dimensions and items are presented in Table 1.Dimensions defined through factor analysis are as follows: 1.
To find the work exciting 2.
To enjoy the work 3.
The work embraced by the community 4.
To find the work tiring 5.
Unfavorable working conditions Based on these results, item score average regarding employees' finding their works exciting, the first dimension, was found as 3.55.Item score averages regarding employees' enjoyment of their work as the second dimension, employees' work embraced by the community as the third dimension, employees finding their works tiring as the fourth dimension, and employees' unfavorable working conditions as the final dimension were found as follows, respectively: 4.17, 4.03, 4.51, and 3.04.
The results show that averages regarding employees' finding their works tiring and enjoying their works were high-level.The lowest-level average was on unfavorable working conditions.Average of all dimensions yields a number of 3.86.Based on these results, it may be said that participants' attitudes toward work were on positive levels.

Employees Consideration of Work based on Demographic Characteristics
Employees' demographic characteristics such as genders, education levels, ages, seniority (length of service), and duties were included in the measurement through t-test and ANOVA statistics.Values found are presented below based on criteria defined in sub-purposes.

Examining Attitudes based on Participants' Genders
215 education employees participating in the current research included 145 (68%) females and 70 (32%) males.Majority of the participants were female.(X= 3.91) are on a higher-level than male attitudes (X= 3.76).Based on this result, it can be said that females' attitudes toward work are on higher levels.

Examining Attitudes based on Participants' Education Levels
11 (5%) among 215 education employee participating in the research were graduates of elementary school; 4 (2%) were graduates of high school; 191 (89%) were university graduates; and 9 (4%) had graduate education.Most of the participants, as they were teaching, had university education.In Table 4 In Table 4, ANOVA results regarding consideration of employees' attitudes toward work based on education levels.Based on the obtained findings, no significant difference between employees' education levels and their attitudes was observed [F(3-211)=1.368, p>0.05].The findings show that there is no significant relationship between employees' education levels and their attitudes.In Table 5, ANOVA results regarding consideration of employees' attitudes toward work based on their age levels were included.Based on the obtained findings, significant differences between employees' age levels and their attitudes were observed [F(2-212)=5.618,p<0.05].Tukey and LSD tests were used in order to define between which groups the differences occured.Based on these tests, attitudes of employees aged 25 -35 (X=3.74) were more differentthan those of employees aged 36 -49 (X=3.90) and 50 and over (X=4.02).In addition, it is observed that attitudes of employees in younger age groups were lower-level than those of employees in other age groups.The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between experience and attitudes.
Table 6 includes ANOVA results regarding consideration of employees' attitudes toward work based on their length of service.Based on the obtained findings, it can be said that there is a significant difference between employees' seniority and their attitudes [F(2-212)=3.338,p<0.05].Tukey and LSD tests were used in order to define between which groups the within-groups difference takes place.Based on the tests, it is observed that employees with 6-20 years of seniority(X=3.81) had lower-level attitudes than those with 21 years and more seniority (X=3.99) and the difference is statistically significant.

Examining Attitudes based on Participants' Income Level
10 (5%) among 215 education employee participating in the research had an income level of up to 1000 TL; 197 (91%) earned 1000 -4000 TL and 4 (2%) had 4000 TL and over.4 (2%) participants did not specify their income level.Table 7 includes ANOVA results regarding consideration of employees' attitudes toward work based on their level of income.Based on the obtained findings, it can be said that there is no significant difference between employees' level of income and their attitudes [F(2-209)= .325,p>0.05].The findings indicate that there is no significant difference between employees' income levels and their attitudes.

Examining Attitudes based on Participants' Positions
191 (89%) among the 215 education employees participating in the research were teachers; 13 (6%) were supportive staff; and 11 (5%) were school administrators.8 includes ANOVA results regarding consideration of employees' attitudes toward work based on their positions.Based on the findings obtained, no significant difference between employees positions as administrators, teachers or supportive staff was found [F(2-211)= .561,p>0.05] .The findings indicate no significant difference between employees' positions at work and their attitudes.

Discussion
The employees' attitudes toward work at educational institutions were examined in the current study.The employees' attitudes toward work at educational institutions were considered in overall five different dimensions.Within the relevant literature, five different attitude dimensions, in relation to one another, with, however, distinguishable characteristics, are encountered and the said dimensions are job satisfaction, loyalty in the organization, embracing the work, motivation, and intention to continue with the work (Çam & Yıldırım,2010, p.77).Current study dimensions, on the other hand, included dimensions such as employees' finding the job exciting, enjoying the work, the job embraced by the community, finding the work tiring, and unfavorable working conditions.Employees working within educational institutions have found their work tiring.They stated that their working conditions were unfavorable.In addition, the average of employee attitudes toward finding work enjoyable has been on high levels.Even though it is indicated that education employees find their jobs tiring and working conditions unfavorable, they enjoy their work.Employees' enjoyment of their work may be based on a finding byKılıç, Tanrıkulu & Uğur (2013) about teachers enjoying their work because they could be contributing in the community and teaching new generations.
Employees' attitudes toward work are examined based on their demographic characteristics.Employees' genders are observed to be a significant variable in defining their attitudes toward work.Female employees had higher levels of attitudes toward work.Semerci&Semerci's (2004) research, no significant differences in female teacher candidates' attitudes compared to those of male teacher candidates were found.However, females had higher-level significant differences in dimensions such as finding the profession respectable and enjoying the job.Within Kucuk's (2012) study, female music teachers had higher scores of attitudes toward profession than males did;89% of the participants were teachers and 68% were females.Majority of the participants were female teachers.In Baykara-Pehlivan's (2008) research, a significant difference was found in female teachers' attitudes towards profession, compared to those of male teachers.It was stated that the difference in attitudes may have been based on perceiving teaching as the profession for females.
It was found that level of education was not statistically significantly effective on defining attitudes toward work.Kılıç et al. (2013) found no significant relationship between levels of education and job satisfaction of teachers as a group of employees in educational institutions.The researchers stated that teachers with a graduate degree had higher self-respect positively contributing in job satisfaction.
It's seen that employees' age was a significant factor defining their attitudes toward work.As employees' age increased, their attitudes toward work were found higher.In Kucuk's study (2012), it was stated that music teachers of 40 and over had high levels of attitudes toward work.
Seniority among employees is encountered as a significant variable in the definition of attitudes toward work.It was observed that as the seniority increases, attitudes rise.On the other hand, Kılıç et al. (2013) found that professional seniority was not effective on attitudes toward work.Kucuk (2012) also stated in his/her study on music teachers' attitudes toward work that professional seniority did not make a significant difference.However, it can be said that teachers with 6-10 years of service had the lowest average and as their professional seniority increased, they developed loyalty and more positive attitudes towards the profession.With professional experience, employees' attitudes towards work increase positively.
No significant relationship between employees' job income and their attitudes towards work was observed.This finding helps emphasize that incomes have some social effects as well as financial dimension.A close relationship occurs between basic needs such as confidence, social status, receiving respect, and social acceptance and the salary earned (Can, Akgün & Kavucubaşı,1998).Ramazanoglu et al. (2004) stated that employees' attitudes in a business were negatively affected due to income management.Salary is among factors positively or negatively affecting attitudes toward work.However, no significant difference in attitudes toward work between administrators that could be included in higher income group, teachers that could be included in medium income group and supportive staff that could be included in lower income group was found.Three groups showed positive attitudes toward work.Yasar Ekici (2015) found in his research that teacher candidates perceiving the teaching profession as a respectable job exhibited more positive attitudes toward work.Similar to teachers, other education employees also may have positive attitudes toward their jobs based on the rationale that working within education institutions provides a more respectable job and social status.It indicates that employees within educational institutions focus on moral job satisfaction rather than material income and they are not affected by medium and lower income levels due to service nature of educational institutions.
used within the research is qualified to help collect data based on research purposes.2.

Table 1 :
Results of the Scale Factor Analysis Rotated Component Matrix aEmployees considered their works in five different dimensions.Detailed results regarding these five different dimensions are presented below.Averages of scores on scale items were examined in order to obtain findings regarding these dimensions.Relevant results are presented in Table2.

Table 2 :
Statistics regarding Employees' Work Consideration Table 3 includes values regarding attitudes considered based on participants' genders.T-test results on values obtained from responses are presented below.Table 3: t-test Results regarding Employees' Consideration of Work based on Genders Table 3 includes t-test results regarding consideration of employees' attitudes toward work based on gender.Based on the obtained findings, a significant difference between employees' gender and attitudes is observed [t(215)=2.374,p<0.05].As seen in the table, female attitudes Participants' Ages 215 participants' age levels varied as follows: 71 (33%) between ages 20 -35; 118 (55%) between ages 36 -49; and 26 (12%) age 50 and over.Table 5 includes values regarding consideration of participants' attitudes toward work.

Table 6 :
Table 6 includes values regarding consideration of participants' attitudes toward work based on length of service.Variance analysis results of findings obtained from responses are presented below.Variance Analysisi Results regarding Participants' Consideration of Work based on their Table 7 includes values regarding participants' consideration of attitudes based on their income level.Variance analysis results of values obtained from relevant responses are presented below.Table7: Variance Analysis Results regarding Employees Consideration of Work based on Their

Table
Table 8 shows whether participants' positions create a statistical difference in their attitudes toward work.Variance analysis results of values obtained from relevant responses are presented below.Table8:Variance Analysis Results regarding Employees Consideration of Work based on Their