Fahriye Altinay Aksal

Investigating the Relationship between Organizational Culture, Educational Leadership and Trust in Schools

Abstract The desired level in order to be successful in teaching is paralleled with the success in the performance of school administrators in educational organizations. In terms of efficiency of the educational system, instructional leadership of school principals, has a very important place. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between school culture, instructional leadership and organizational trust of the secondary school principals in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Gender, age, seniority, years of work tasks, professional seniority, school culture, instructional leadership and relationships of organizational trust was also examined in the study. According to the findings of the study, there were significant differences between school culture of the school principals and instructional leadership. However, there have been also significant differences in instructional leadership and organizational trust and between school culture and organizational trust. According to these results, the instructional leadership of the higher culture school administrators is at the highest level. It is also the feature of high school principals’ and the instructional leadership tasks they do to be successful in school, teachers have obtained their performance results that they would increase their level of organizational trust.

Behavioral intentions of disabled tourists for the use of peer-to-peer accommodations

Purpose This paper aims to examine the causal models that predict disabled tourists’ behavioral intentions to use peer-to-peer (p2p) accommodations. This study also explores the causal models through complex combinations of demographic factors, host attributes and the levels of perceived charm, convenience and other service features of the accommodations as a means of describing disabled tourists’ behavioral outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was administrated to measure the study variables. Using the convenience sampling technique, the questionnaires were distributed among disabled individuals with orthopedic disorders who reside in North Cyprus in May 2016. The five respondents were later interviewed about their needs and expectations from p2p accommodations. A set of preliminary tests (for both reliability and validity) was conducted, and descriptive statistics were used based on the scale items. Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used to test the proposed research model, which revealed sufficient and consistent conditions leading to behavioral intentions of disabled tourists in their use of p2p accommodations. The predictive validity of the model was then tested. Finally, the results of the fsQCA were evaluated based on the key tenets of complexity theory. Findings The findings reveal under which conditions disabled tourists tend to use p2p accommodations. This empirical study has relied upon the use of causal models integrating combinations of demographic variables and host and accommodation place attributes (i.e. charm, convenience and service features) which were put forth as sufficient predictive configurations of the behavioral outcomes of disabled tourists within the context of a sharing economy. Ultimately, this study finds that p2p customers are not limited to travelers with low income levels. Research limitations/implications The views of people with orthopedic problems in North Cyprus were obtained for testing the configurational model, which means that the results do not necessarily represent a large range of customers’ perspectives. Although this limitation was addressed through the application of a powerful compensatory analytical approach (fsQCA), it is advised that data from tourists with various types of disabilities in other countries be collected for future studies. Practical implications The results of this study provide practical implications for hosts on how to combine accommodation place characteristics (e.g. charm, convenience and service) with their own personal attributes (e.g. knowledge and eagerness) to bolster the disabled tourists’ intentions to use p2p accommodations. It is hoped that the results of the fsQCA using the demographic variables presented here will guide businesses toward performing target marketing. This is useful for hosts who wish to attract more disabled tourists, a profitable segment of the market. Social implications This study draws social attention to the disabled tourists as potential customers in the sharing economy. Conducting an empirical study that considers the social inclusion of tourists with disabilities in the emerging version of hospitality business is helpful to both the supply and demand sides. Originality/value To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first empirical study that investigates the indicators of disabled tourists’ intentions to use p2p accommodations. This study also adds to the current literature by modeling the behavioral intentions of disabled tourists within a sharing economy using a pragmatic and set-theoretic approach (i.e. fsQCA in conjunction with complexity theory).

Where Time Goes: The Role of Online Technology During Leisure Time Learning

The aim of this research study is to explore the role of technology in managing leisure time in a productive and socialized way for a professional growth of the graduates who have studied for a master’s degree in the field of education. In this respect, pre-service teachers reflected, through-self reports, on how they used their leisure time learning with the help of the technology. 38 volunteer pre-service teachers became part of the qualitative research in order to gain insights about leisure time management in a productive way. Case study was employed as research approach and self-report provided valuable qualitative data for the research focus. This research study revealed that pre-service teachers have the ability to manage leisure time with various social activities. Significantly, the online technology also enriches personal and professional growth.

Developing a Scale for Schools as Learning Organizations towards Quality Culture

Abstract Being open to learning understanding is essential for increasing service quality. The study aims todevelop a scale that measures whether secondary school institutions show the features of a learning organization. 297teachers participated in this research process. Data was analyzed by using statistical analysis. The factor loads for the30 questions in scale have been found satisfactory, and construct validity was ensured without adding or omittingquestions. ‘Duties and responsibilities’, ‘dialogue, sharing and teamwork’, ‘development, research and continuouslearning’, and ‘organization learning obstacles’ are the subdimensions as a result of the explanatory factor analysis.This scale will play a significant role in educational institutions that are trying to become learning organizations.

The Role of Parent Involvement: Participative Management Practices in a Special Education School Context

Abstract Parents have an important role to play in school management practices in special education institutions.It is also highly important to use the available technology in an active and correct way as a contribution to thedevelopment of the children with disabilities. It is necessary to consider the needs and expectations of all stakeholdersin order to increase quality in school management and establish a participative management understanding. Thestudy adopted a qualitative research model with a case study approach. An in-depth interview technique was used inparallel to the research problem and aim of the study. Ten volunteering mothers, as representatives of the families, from a special education institution participated in the study and expressed their opinions regarding participativemanagement, the use of technology and effects of technology in education. The results of the study showed thattechnology has made great contributions to management functions as well as families’ involvement in botheducation and management.