A Structural Model of the Relationships Between Personality Factors, Perceptions of the School as a Learning Organization, Workplace Learning and Job Performance of Teachers

The study examined a hypothesized structural model which postulated the relationships between: 1) five personality factors which are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness; 2) the perceptions of the school as a learniqg organization; 3) engagement in workplace learning activities; and, 4) job performance. The main objective of this study was to
determine the role of engagement in workplace learning activities as a plausible mediating variable between personality and perceptions of the school as a learning organization, and job performance of teachers by testing a hypothesized structural model. Using responses to a 119-item survey (n=366) among secondary school teachers in one of the states in Malaysia, the structural model was tested
against the data for its fitness, via AMOS version 16.0. Results indicated that engagement in workplace learning activities was a significant mediator for the relationships between teacher personality factors of conscientiousness,
extraversion and openness to experience, teachers' perceptions of the school as a learning organization and job performance. The percentage of variance explained
by these variables in workplace learning was 61% and in job performance was 48%. In line with the two-step approach in structural equation modeling and due to the adaptation and translation of the instruments, the study also established
validity of the Bahasa Malaysia version of the measures via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Additionally, findings on gender, subject taught, age and tenure(years of teaching experience) differences in the five personality factors, teachers' perceptions of the school as a learning organization, engagement in workplace learning activities and job performance revealed that: 1) the female teachers rated themselves as more agreeable than the male teachers; 2) teachers who were less than 30 years old and between 31-40 years rated themselves as more neurotic than those who were more than 50 years; and, 3) the junior teachers rated their teaching performance as significantly lower than the seniors. Besides that, the study also included examination of the interrelationships between the constructs and found that 17 of the 18 postulated relationships were significant at p<.05. The findings support the assumptions in the Kurt Lewin's Field Theory that there exist relationships between a person (teacher personality factors) and his or her
environment (perceptions of ,the school as a learning organization), which influences his or her behavior (engagement in workplace learning activities and job performance). In addition, it also highlights the role of engagement in workplace learning activities as a significant mediator in explaining the relationships. Finally, theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the context of teacher professional development and performance.