THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE INFORMAL COMMUNICATION LEVELS IN SCHOOLS AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL OF THE TEACHERS / OKULLARDAKİ İNFORMAL İLETİŞİM DÜZEYLERİ İLE ÖĞRETMENLERİN PSİKOLOJİK SERMAYELERİ ARASINDAKİ İLİŞKİ

Abstract

Aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the informal communication skills in schools and the psychological capital of the teachers. This study employs correlation survey model. The research population is comprised of 1871 teachers assigned to all schools within the Torbali district of Izmir province, Turkey, in the 2020-2021 academic year. The research sample is comprised of 396 teachers selected through convenience sampling. In this study, “Informal Communication Scale” is used to identify the perceptions of teachers regarding the informal communication levels in their schools, and “Psychological Capital Scale” is used to identify their psychological capital levels. Since we observed that the distribution of the data in the research was normal, we employed multiple regression data analysis techniques of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient. As per the findings of the analysis, the perception of the teachers regarding the informal communication in schools is at a high level. We observe a significant difference between the perception of the teachers regarding the informal communication with regard to the variant of the school level that they are assigned. When compared with the primary school teachers, secondary school teachers think that the informal communication in their schools is realized at a higher level. According to the findings of the other demographical data employed in the study, while the perception of the teachers regarding the informal communication varies according to their seniority, it does not vary according to the variables of gender, the number of teachers in the assigned school and the approximate term of tenure at the same school. Our findings suggest that the other variable in the study, the psychological capital of the teachers is at a very high level. The psychological levels of the teachers do not reflect a significant difference when compared with the variables of the assigned school’s level and gender. However, according to the findings based on the other demographical variables, the psychological capital levels of the teachers vary. According to this study, there is a positively medium correlation between the perceptions of the teachers regarding the informal communication in schools and their psychological capital levels. Based on these findings, we deduce that the if the informal communication in schools’ increases, the psychological capital levels of the teachers’ increase. According to another finding of this study, the recreational levels of the informal communication significantly predict the psychological capitals of the teachers. Nevertheless, we observe that the friendship, influence and information dimensions regarding the informal communication in schools do not predict the psychological capitals of the teachers. Article visualizations: