The psychological effect of compensation on decent work dimensions: a research on public and private school teachers in Turkey

Purpose - The purpose of this work is to examine the psychological impact of adequate compensation, which is one of the dimensions of Decent Work Scale (DWS) evaluated within the psychology of work theory (PWT), on other dimensions of DWS in teachers working in public and private schools in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach - In this study, DWS developed by Duffyet al.was used. In total, 175 private school teachers and 216 public school teachers participated in the study. The data were analyzed with LISREL 8.7 and SPSS 23.0 package programs. Findings - Considering the structural equation model formed by the sub-dimensions of the DWS and the path diagrams related to the model, it was seen that the “adequate compensation” dimension made a significant difference in “access to health services” on both public and private school teachers. In private school teachers, there is a significant relationship between the dimension of adequate compensation and “access to healthcare”, “physically and interpersonally safe working conditions”, “free time and rest” and “organizational values that complement family and social values”. However, a significant relationship was not found between the variables other than “access to healthcare” in public school teachers. According to the results of the “Independent SampleT-Test”, there is a significant mean difference between the perceptions of teachers working in public and private schools. When this difference is examined, it was seen that teachers working in public schools have a higher level of good job perception than teachers working in private schools. Research limitations/implications - DWS is a newly developed scale and has been used in a limited number of studies. It is a scale open to be developed and used with different sample groups. Originality/value - Application of DWS to teachers working in Turkey is one of the fundamental features that distinguish this study from other studies in this area. In addition, the evaluation of the psychological effects of the adequate compensation dimension, which is an important study factor, on the other dimensions of DWS adds originality to the study. It is predicted that this research will fill the deficiency in the relevant literature.