Educators work Locus of Control in Ethiopian Teachers’ Training Colleges: The Case of Three Teacher Training Colleges in Oromia (Preprint)
Authors: Regassa Sr Tadesse 
Published: May 2024

BACKGROUND

The behaviour of employee can be influenced by a number of personality attributes, one of which is locus of control. Locus of control (LoC) is a psychological concept that relates to a person's belief in what causes good or bad outcomes (Omukhango, 2016). It also relates to a person's general expectations about events regarding the work carried out next. In other words, it relates to someone who will be responsible for what happens. The formulation of locus of control classifies general opinion about who or what influences things from internal to external control along the bipolar dimension (Omukhango, 2016).
According to Çelik and Sarıçam, (2018), locus of control is defined as a personality dimension as the perception that responsibility, which is oriented towards the relationship between individual behaviour and its results, will be directed to several related objects. Personality as an individual attribute has been identified to place significant effect on various job related attributes (Mercurio, 2015;Robbins and Judge, 2013, Mensah and Adjei, 2015). In addition, locus of control is considered as an output related to the repetition of positive or negative consequences of behaviour in relation to future expectations.

Locus of control is closely related to academic achievement, belief systems, satisfaction with life, etc. (Çelik and Sarıçam, 2018). Robbins and Judge (2013) in this regard have reviewed the results of substantial numbers of research and argue that personality dimensions and job performance have significant relationships as such individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to have higher job performance in most if not all occupations. Jafri, Dem, and Choden, (2016) indicate that people personality have strong association with their creativity.
Locus of control can explain work behaviour through an assessment of employees of their work results when controlled internally or externally. It is known that locus of control is a factor of core self-evaluation which is a good predictor of job satisfaction and performance (Mulki and Lassk, 2019). Locus of control was described as the extent to which individuals believed they could control events around them (Rotter, 1966). It was generally classified as either internal, meaning individuals believed they control the circumstances and events in their lives, or as external, meaning individuals believed they do not control these circumstances but rather attribute these to chance or fate (Spector, 1982). It was believed that those employees can control their behaviour that affects the outcome they have done (Olonade et al., 2020).

Locus of control has been associated with several personal and organizational outcomes. Perhaps one of the major conceptions which bears some relationship to the belief in internal versus external control of reinforcements is that of need for achievement. The work of McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, and Lowell (1953) and of Atkinson (1958) and their colleagues working primarily with adults, and Crandall (1963) with children, suggests that people who are high on the need for achievement, in all probability, have some belief in their own ability or skill to determine the outcome of their efforts (Spector and Michaels, 1986).

The theory of locus of control shows that a person can have internal or external locus of control (Asante and Affum-Osei, 2019). Individuals with internal locus of control believe that the outcome of an event will largely be influenced by the actions or behaviour they do. On the other hand, individuals with external locus of control believe that the outcome of an event is largely outside their control (external factors). Individual perceptions of whether or not their actions have an effect on their work results will be directly related to many key behavioural decisions such as work attitudes, perceptions of the work environment, job performance and career success and job satisfaction. It also relates to a person's general expectations about events regarding the work carried out next. In other words, it relates to someone who will be responsible for what happens. The formulation of locus of control classifies general opinion about who or what influences things from internal to external control along the bipolar dimension (Omukhango, 2016).
Locus of control reflects the degree to which individuals perceive the relationship between their behaviour and the outcome of their behaviour. Furthermore, Spector (1982) reveals that individuals with internal locus of control can rely on themselves in getting guidance, are independent, and are not influenced by leaders or others in their performance in the organization. Conversely, individuals with external locus of control will expect help and fulfilment of needs from others in the organization. Thus, individuals with external locus of control are employees or followers who are more obedient and feel the strong influence of the leader on performance and other work-related gains, including job satisfaction.
Research by Galvin et al., (2018) also cites the work of Rotter (1954, 1966) on social learning theory regarding locus of control. Social learning theory states that individuals learn by observing events that occur around them in ways that ultimately influence behaviour. In the learning process, individuals can develop expectations that specific behaviours will produce special assistance. According to Rotter, who has been quoted by Galvin et al., (2018), relatively stable individual differences (i.e., locus of control) arise from time to time in relation to the extent to which individuals perceive a causal relationship between behaviour and reward. These research endeavours have identified several personal, organizational and situational factors that are strongly correlated with employees’ organizational and professional commitment(Craig, Allen, Reid, Riemenschneider, and Armstrong, 2013; Goulet and Frank, 2002; Iverson and Roy, 1994; Jordan, Lindsay, and Schraeder, 2012; Kalleberg and Mastekaasa, 1994; Lambert and Hogan, 2009; Luxmi and Yadav, 2011; Miller and Lee, 2001).
Spector, (1982) stated that when reinforcement is perceived by the subject as following some action of his own but not being entirely contingent upon his action, then, it is typically perceived as the result of luck, chance, fate, and when the event is interpreted in this way by an individual, the situation is called external control. If the person perceives that the event is contingent upon his own behaviour or his own relatively permanent characteristics, we have termed this a belief in internal control (ROTTER, 1996).

OBJECTIVE

to examine instructors work locus of control
to identify the challenges
to shed light on the status of work locus of control

METHODS

The major purpose of this study was to examine and describe instructors’ work locus of control of instructors in teachers training colleges of Ethiopia. The study hence, involved the collection of quantitative data and quantitative analysis to investigate the practice. Since the study was about the WLC of instructors teaching in Ethiopian TTCs, data were collected from 86 instructors teaching in three colleges: Bonga TTC (BTTC): Jimma TTC (JTTC) and Mettu TTC (MTTC). The three sample colleges were selected based on their convenience to the researchers’ access. While convenience was a concern, an attempt was also made to include diversified colleges based on their geographical and administrative locations. From each of the three sample colleges, participants were selected through proportional random sampling technique where by departments and gender of the participants was used as strata. This was done to ensure the representation of instructors from diversified academic fields and gender in the sample. Standardized questionnaires on WLC along with items pertaining to demographic features were used to collect data for the study.
Data regarding the locus of control of the instructors were collected through the Work Locus of Control Scale (WLCS) which is a 16 item instrument designed to assess control beliefs in the workplace. It is a domain specific locus of control scale, which correlates about .50 to .55 with general locus of control. The format is summated rating with six response choices: disagree very much, disagree moderately, disagree slightly, agree slightly, agree moderately, agree very much, and scored from 1 to 6, respectively. Total score is the sum of all items, and ranges from 16 to 96. The scale is scored so that externals receive high scores.
Data related to demographic characteristics were also separately recorded for each of the participants through distinct relating items. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the data analysis. Tables, charts, frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviations were predominantly used for the description of data. Accordingly, the discussions of demographic characteristics and the magnitudes of the instructors WLC were described through the descriptive techniques. Inferential statistical techniques such as t-test and Analysis of variances (ANOVA) were also employed to see the statistical significance. For so doing, initial data cleaning efforts were made prior to the analysis to make data ready for the analysis. Besides, the major assumptions required so as to carry out these inferential statistical techniques were thoroughly checked. T-test and ANOVA were conducted to find out statistically significance differences between two or more groups of participants.

RESULTS

In the following section, the demographic characteristics of the participants are discussed. The section mainly involves the description of the participants based on their demographic attributes. To this end, descriptive statistics are predominantly used.
Participants across sample colleges and their departments
Table 1: Participants across Sample Colleges
Sample Colleges Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid BTTC 36 41.9 41.9 41.9
JTTC 20 23.3 23.3 65.1
MTTC 30 34.9 34.9 100.0
Total 86 100.0 100.0
In this study a total number of 86 instructors were involved from three sample colleges. Accordingly, 36 (41.9%), of them were from BTTC while the rest 20 (23.3 %) and 30 (34.9%) of them were from JTTC and MTTC respectively (Table 1).

Table 2 deals with the academic stream of the participants of the study. The data in the table, hence, shows that the majority, 38 (44.2%), of the participants were from Natural sciences whereas 26 (30.2%) and 19 (22.1%) of them were from social sciences and education respectively. Participants for the Aesthetic constitute 3.5 % (3) of the samples. This might imply that the departments relating to the life sciences constitute larger number of instructors in the TTCs compared to other fields of study.

Table 2: Academic Stream of the Participants
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid Social Science 26 30.2 30.2 30.2
Natural Science 38 44.2 44.2 74.4
Education 19 22.1 22.1 96.5
Aesthetic 3 3.5 3.5 100.0
Total 86 100.0 100.0

Sex of the Participants
Figure 1 presents the sex of participants where 90.59 % (77) of the participnats were male while the rest 9.41 % (8) of them were female instructors.

While women teachers comprise about 33 % of the total teachers population in all public and private educational institutions found in the entire nation (MoE, 2002), they constitute only 9.41 % (8) of the total 86 instructors teaching in sample TTC’s (See Figure 1). The Chi Square result indicates statistically significant variations among the sample instructors in terms of their sex, x2(1, N= 86) =56.012, p= .000. This indicates that women are gravely situated among the teaching staff of the TTCS. There are no statistically significant differences among the sample TTC in this regard as indicated in the Chi-square result, x2(2, N= 86) =4.6, p= .102. The results of this study are consistent with the findings of previous studies carried out in Oromia TTCs (Hunde, Amsale, Ferede, and Bekele, 2019).
Age of the Participants

Figure 2: Age of the Participants
Figure 2 above depicts the percentages of the age of the participants. Accordingly, the significant majority of the participants (55.66%) were between 31-40 years of age whereas the ages of the 23.53 % of participants were between 41-50 years. 13.24 % and 7.35 % of the participants were between 20-30 years of age and 51 years and above respectively. The average age of the participants of the study was 38.5 years (SD=7.80643). This may indicate that the majority of instructors in the Ethiopian TTCs are in the age of adults.
Table 3: Statistics of Age, Total years of Services and Years of service in the College
Total years of service Total Service in TTC Age of the participant
N Valid 86 86 68
Missing 0 0 18
Mean 18.0233 9.9884 38.5000
Std. Deviation 7.86650 6.26192 7.80643
Variance 61.882 39.212 60.940
Range 33.00 28.00 36.00
Minimum 2.00 1.00 23.00
Maximum 35.00 29.00 59.00
According to Table 3 above, the participants of the study had 18.02 years of total service on average (SD= 7.86) with the minimum of 2 years and the maximum of 35 years of service. This might imply that the participants in general had adequate work experiences. This may imply that there is a wide range of variations among the instructors in the TTCs in relation to their work experiences which may be favourable to professional development and experience sharing endeavours among the instructors.
The table also presents the data pertaining to the particular work experiences of the instructors in the sample college at which they are currently working in. Accordingly, their experiences ranged from year one to 29 years with the variance of 39.21. The average work experience of the participants in the sample colleges was 9.9 years with the standard deviation of 6.26.
Data pertaining to the ages of participants also were presented in Table 3. The data shows that the average age of the participants was found out to be 38.5 (SD=7.80643) while the minimum age was 23 years and the maximum was 59. This might imply that the majority of the instructors were in the age category of adulthood as indicated in their average years of age.
Figure 3 deals with the marital status of the participants. In the general background section of the questionnaire, participants were asked to indicate their marital status, among other demographic characteristics. According to the figure, then, 86.75 % of the participants were married while the rest 13.25 % of them were single.

Marital status

Figure 3: Marital Status of the Participants
Descriptions of Instructors’ Locus of Control
In this section of the paper, the descriptive statistics regarding instructors’ Work Locus of Control are discussed hereunder. Work locus of control also was measured through the Work Locus of Control Scale developed by Paul E. Spector. There are 16 items constitute the scale of which each of the eight emphasize internal locus and external locus of attributes. According to Spector, the total score is the sum of all items, and ranges from 16 to 96. The scale is scored so that externals receive high scores. Internal consistency (coefficient alpha) generally ranges from .80 to .85 in the English language version.

Comparison of Colleges on the Major variables
Table 4: Descriptive statistics of the sample colleges on the major variables of the study
N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Minimum Maximum
Lower Bound Upper Bound
WLC BTTC 36 47.00 10.05698 1.67616 43.5972 50.4028 25.00 66.00
JTTC 20 45.50 8.22384 1.83891 41.6511 49.3489 26.00 64.00
MTTC 30 49.0667 10.57627 1.93095 45.1174 53.0159 27.00 67.00
Total 86 47.3721 9.83995 1.06107 45.2624 49.4818 25.00 67.00
Table 4 presents the mean scores of the three sample colleges in relation to the Work Locus of Control scale. Regarding the Work Locus of Control scale, the highest mean score was observed at MTC M=49.0667: SD=10.57627 whereas the lowest mean score was of JTTC (M=45.0: SD=8.22384) indicating that instructors at JTTC were endowed with an internal locus of control as compared to the instructors at MTTC who were having an external locus of control in relation to the former group of participants. Nevertheless, there are no statistically significant differences among the three TTCs, MTTC (M=49.0667: SD=10.57627), BTTC (M=47.00: SD=8.22384) and JTTC (M=45.0: SD=8.22384) in relation to the instructors locus of controls, F (2, 83) = .829, p= .440. The effect size, calculated using eta squared, was .01 which according to Pallant was very small.
Table 5: ANOVA of Colleges
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
WLC Between Groups 161.226 2 80.613 .829 .440
Within Groups 8068.867 83 97.215
Total 8230.093 85
ANOVA was also run to investigate whether there are statistically significant differences among the three colleges in terms of the work locus of control of their instructors. Consequently, no statistically significant differences were found among the BTTC (M= 4.5051: SD=.75138), JTTC (M=4.5889: SD=.81239) and MTTC (M=4.5111: SD=.72968), F (2, 83) = .088, p= .916.
Gender, Marital Status and Current Educational Qualifications
In this section, three important demographic characteristics namely: Gender, Marital Status and Current Educational Qualifications were dealt with in relation to the Work Locus of Control. Serious of t-tests were carried out to compare the instructors Locus of control based on their gender, marital status and educational qualifications.
Table 6: T-test analysis on WLC
Category of the participants N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

WLC Male 77 47.4416 9.75421 1.11160
Female 8 46.7500 11.92536 4.21625
Single 11 49.1818 6.01362 1.81317
Married 72 46.7083 10.21520 1.20387
BA/BSC/BED 7 51.5714 7.91322 2.99092
MA/MSC/MED 77 46.9870 10.03873 1.14402
Data on the Table 6 presents the mean scores of the participants regarding their Work locus of Control in relation to their sex, marital status and current education qualifications. Accordingly, higher mean scores are shown for male (M=47.44: SD=9.75), single (M=47.44: SD=9.75) and for those with BA/BSC/BED (M=51.5714: SD=7.91322). This indicates that the male participants, the single and those qualified with BA degree have internal locus of control as compared to the female, the married and those with MA Degrees respectively.
T-test was computed to see if there are any statistically significant differences between male and female; single and married and between those with the first degrees and the second degrees. There was no significant difference in scores for males (M=47.44: SD=9.75) and females (M=46.7500: SD=11.92536; t (83) = 1.87, p= .852, two-tailed). The magnitude of the differences in the means (mean difference = .69156, 95% CI: -6.66396 to 8.04708 was very small (eta squared = .006)
Similarly, though single participants in general are found out to have internal locus of control than the married, the t-test analysis result yielded that there was no statistically significant difference between the single (M=47.44: SD=9.75) and the married (M=46.44: SD=10.21) in terms of their perceptions of their personalities, t (81) =.78, p= .269 .
Table 7: Marital status t-test
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Std. Error Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
Lower Upper
WLC Equal variances assumed 4.550 .036 .780 81 .438 2.47348 3.17073 -3.83527 8.78224
Equal variances not assumed 1.136 20.207 .269 2.47348 2.17645 -2.06352 7.01049

Age VS Work Locus of Control
The ages, total years of work experiences and total service in the sample colleges of each of the participants were recorded separately and then age was grouped in to four while the total work experience and service in the sample TTCs were categorized in to three groups for the purpose of analysis. Multivariate analysis was carried out to test the impacts of each of the demographic factors on locus of control and also to test if there are any combined effects of demographic characteristics on each of the two dependent variables. One-way Analysis of variance was computed to compare each of the four groups in relation to the Work Locus of control.
Regarding their WLC, the data on the above same table shows that participants of 51 years of age and above (M=38.2000: SD=7.08520) have the lowest mean scores where as participants between 31-40 years of age (M=48.6053: SD= 8.70396) have shown the highest scores. This implies that instructors of 51 years and above have external locus of control while those of 51 years and above ages have an internal locus of control as compared to the others.
Table 8: Descriptive statistics on Ag and WLC
N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Minimum Maximum
Lower Bound Upper Bound
WLC 21-30 years 9 46.6667 9.87421 3.29140 39.0767 54.2567 25.00 59.00
31-40 years 38 48.6053 8.70396 1.41197 45.7443 51.4662 32.00 67.00
41-50 years 16 48.5625 10.35998 2.58999 43.0421 54.0829 32.00 66.00
51 years and above 5 38.2000 7.08520 3.16860 29.4026 46.9974 26.00 44.00
Total 68 47.5735 9.38133 1.13765 45.3028 49.8443 25.00 67.00
ANOVA was carried out to see if there are statistically significant differences among the participants of different age groups in terms of their WLC. Accordingly, statistically significant variation was found among the four age groups in terms of work commitment, F (3, 64) =3.356, p=.024 while there is no statistically significant difference among the four age groups in terms of their Work Locus of Control scales, F (3,64) =1.989, p=.125. This implies that age has significant impact on commitment of the instructors while it doesn’t significantly affect their WLC.
Regarding the relationship between demographic characteristics and Locus of control, researches have yielded in inconsistent findings. For example, the study which was conducted in India to investigate the relationship between locus of control and job performance of employees have found out that age groups have shown significance variance in terms of their locus of control (Vijayashreea and Jagdischchandra, 2011). On the other hand, a research conducted, by Asiedu-Appiah and Addih, to assess emplyees locus of control and their contexctual performance indicates that age has no significant correlation coefficient with the WLC of the employees (Asiedu-Appiah & Addih, 2011). The findings of this study are in line with the findings of the latter as such that age has no significant impact on the locus of control of the employees.
Table 9: ANOVA Age, and WLC
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
WLC Between Groups 502.816 3 167.605 1.989 .125
Within Groups 5393.816 64 84.278
Total 5896.632 67
Total years of service and Work Locus of Control
Data regarding the total years of service of the participants of the study was collected separately and then grouped in to three categories for the purpose of analysis. The descriptive statistics regarding the WLC of the participants in line with the total years of services is presented on Table 10.
Table 10: Descriptive statistics _ Total years of service, WLC
N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for ean Minimum Maximum
Lower Bound Upper Bound
WLC 1-10 yrs. 11 47.5455 12.20953 3.68131 39.3430 55.7479 25.00 60.00
11-20 yrs. 46 47.6522 9.47562 1.39710 44.8383 50.4661 27.00 67.00
21 and above 29 46.8621 9.79695 1.81925 43.1355 50.5886 26.00 66.00
Total 86 47.3721 9.83995 1.06107 45.2624 49.4818 25.00 67.00
According to the data on the table, participants with 1-10 years of total work experiences have shown the highest mean score of 4.74 (SD= .81736) on work commitment while the lowest mean score was for participants with 11-20 years of experiences (M=4.46: SD=.7724). This might indicate that the category of instructors with the lowest years of service had the highest work commitment whereas the second in the row of the category
The table also indicates the descriptive statistics of the three groups in terms of their WLC. Accordingly, instructors with 11-20 years of total work experience had shown highest mean score (M=47.65: SD=9.47) followed by the participants with 1-10 years of total work experiences (M=47.54: SD=12.109). Instructors with total work experiences of 20 and above years have shown the lowest mean score in WLC (M=46.86: SD=.7969). This might indicate that instructors with the total years of service of 20 years and above have an internal locus of control as compared the two categories of participants.
Table 11: ANOVA_ Total years of service and WLC
ANOVA
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
WLC Between Groups 11.483 2 5.741 .058 .944
Within Groups 8218.610 83 99.019
Total 8230.093 85
Nonetheless, the one way analysis of variance result regarding the work commitment and WLC of the instructors of the three categories indicates that there are no statistically significant differences among the three groups in terms of their work commitment (F(2,83)=.626, p=.537) and their work locus of control (F(2,83)=.58,p=.944).
Table 12: ANOVA _ Total years of Service in the TTC and WLC
ANOVA
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Work Locus Total Between Groups 114.124 2 57.062 .584 .560
Within Groups 8115.969 83 97.783
Total 8230.093 85

Table 12 also deals with the instructors Locus of Control in relation to their years of services in the sample TTCs. The highest mean score was noted for Instructors with 11-20 years of services (M=47.718: SD=10.88) while the lowest score was for those with 21 years and above work experiences (M=:43.1667: SD=5.23568). The mean scores of the latter category was less than the Ethiopia national norm regarding the WLC (47.37). This apparently indicates that people with the highest stay in the sample TTCs had an internal locus of control as compared to the other two categories with the relatively low work experiences in the sample colleges. Although, the differences among the three groups are not statistically significant, F (2, 83) =.584, p=.560 (Table 21). This might indicate that though there are apparent differences in the locus of control among instructors of different stay time in the sample TTCs, as it is observed in their mean scores, such differences are not statistically explainable.

CONCLUSIONS

Locus of control as a type of personality measure that indicates the extent to which individuals believed they could control events around them, might determine various personal and organizational attributes. Nonetheless, research as to what really determines the WLC are scarce. This study come up with findings that show demographic factors except age have no relationship with employees WLC. As indicated by the results of the analysis Age was found out to have a negative effect on WLC as such that with the age increases externality in terms of locus of control increases and the vice versa. It is hence, safe to conclude that age might affect WLC in the context of higher education and thereby the colleges need to consider the promotions for the recruitment of youngster instructors. Nevertheless, further research in the area to better understand and to have a conclusive position regarding the topic is inevitable.

The findings of the study are consistent with the findings of some researches while at the same time are contradicting with the findings of significant researches in the topic. For example, some studies find no significant gender differences in WLC (Feingold, 1994; Mueller, 2004), while there is extensive evidence showing that men tend to be more internal than women (Costa et al., 2001; Hall, 1984; Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974; Anastasia and Linz, 2006; Sherman et al., 1997; Smith et al., 1997 cited in (D’souza, Agarwal, and Chavali, 2013). In line with this, though the findings of the study indicate that men have an internal locus of control, the differences with women are not statistically significant. Hence, it is possible to conclude that there are no differences among the instructors WLC based on their gender. This might imply that the colleges might promote the recruitment of both sexes of instructors without discrimination. It was also clear that there were no statistically differences among the different age groups. From this, one can see that the variations among the locus of control of the instructors teaching in Ethiopian TTCs are not necessarily attributed to their demographic characteristics.
There is a paucity of research on WLC in general and though the results of such few studies have shown consistent relationships between internal locus of control and achievement, job satisfaction and performance, this study came up with differing finding that the Locus of control doesn’t significantly determine the instructors’ total work commitment. For example, the study by Boshoff and Zyl, (2011) found out that there were statistically significant relationships between internal locus of control and ethical behaviour. As the study in the area yielded in inconsistent findings these results might not be as conclusive as possible. Therefore, it seems wise to suggest for further studies in the area that could be carried out in the similar contexts of TECs and by involving larger sample size and also in different organizational contexts.