ADMINISTRATIVE, FACULTY, AND STAFF PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AND COMMITMENT IN CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION by

Although organizational climate research has focused on nearly every aspect of education, Christian institutions of higher learning have been virtually ignored. To address this gap, this study seeks to map Christian college/university administrative, faculty, and staff perceptions of their organizational climate and their organizational commitment. Four evangelical higher education institutions with a census of 2076 employees agreed to participate in a survey that included the Personal Assessment of College Environment, a 46-item instrument comprised of four factors: institutional structure, supervisory relationship, teamwork, and student focus and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, an 18-item inventory that assessed three different types of commitment: affective (i.e., want to stay), continuance (i.e., need to stay), and normative (i.e., obligated to stay). Nine hundred fifty seven employees responded to the survey with useable data, representing a 46% response rate. Data was analyzed using several statistical procedures including Pearson Product Moment Correlation, stepwise multiple regression, MANOVA, and ANOVA. Interestingly, a statistically significance negative correlation was found for total climate and commitment scores on the aggregate sample. Likewise, a statistically significant negative relationship was also found for staff members who comprised nearly 67% of the total respondents, but no level of significant correlations were noted for either administrators or faculty. Administrators were found to have a more favorable view of their institutional climate than staff. Employee age, tenure, and employee classification had predictive value for organizational climate whereas only employee age and tenure predicted organizational commitment.