Cynicism Toward Educational Change on Teacher Satisfaction: The Contribution of Situational and Dispositional Attribution

Abstract

The Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013–2025 is a major education transformation effort in Malaysia. This study examines the effect of teachers’ cynicism toward this blueprint on their job satisfaction. Cynicism toward educational change is investigated through the lens of Attribution Theory, where the components of situational and dispositional attribution of cynicism were measured. Data were collected from 628 practicing teachers and selected through cluster sampling from a school district in Malaysia. Two well-established instruments were used, the Job in General (JIG) scale to measure job satisfaction and the Cynicism About Organisational Change (CAOC) scale to measure cynicism caused by situational attribution and dispositional attribution. The prevalence of teachers’ cynicism toward the blueprint is examined with descriptive analysis, and hierarchical regression is used to determine the relationships and contribution of cynicism as predictor of teachers’ satisfaction. Findings are discussed with implications that may contribute toward successful educational change.