FACTORS INFLUENCING ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION IN LEADERSHIP ROLE OF EXTENSION AGENTS IN IRAN

Transcription

1 FACTORS INFLUENCING ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION IN LEADERSHIP ROLE OF EXTENSION AGENTS IN IRAN By ROYA KARAMI Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2011

2 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my best friend and husband, Mohammad, and my lovely daughters Delvin and Narin, for respecting the path I have chosen throughout my entire academic journey. To my mother and father for their unwavering love, faith, support, and belief in me. ii

3 Abstract of thesis presented to the Senate of the Universiti Putra Malaysia in Fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy FACTORS INFLUENCING ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION IN LEADERSHIP ROLE OF EXTENSION AGENTS IN IRAN By ROYA KARAMI May 2011 Chair: Professor Maimunah Ismail, PhD Faculty: Faculty of Educational Studies This study aims to examine factors influencing achievement motivation in leadership role of extension agents in Iran. Agricultural extension in the coming years has to go beyond the role of transfer of technology and get involved in leadership role related to capacity building, team building, and institutional restructuring in the extension system. Past studies have indicated that there were variations in the results regarding extension agents level of leadership role attainment and little is known about the level of achievement motivation in leadership role among extension agents in Iran. It was also suggested that further research should focus on differences between men s and women s achievement motivation in leadership role due to women s low self-perception in leadership role, gender ratio, and the importance of gender homophily of leader and follower in the community. Using Bandura s social cognitive theory and Farmer s model of achievement motivation this study examines the influence of background factors on iii

4 achievement motivation in leadership role directly, and indirectly as mediated through personal and environmental factors. The study adopted a cross sectional survey and a structured questionnaire for data collection. The study involved 303 respondents, selected through a cluster sampling technique involving Jihad-e-Agriculture organizations in three provinces of Kermanshah, Tehran, and Khorasan Razavi in Iran. Descriptive analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) under the AMOS software and independent sample t-test in SPSS were used in the analysis. Results of the SEM in direct model indicated that the model was fit the data. The results of hypotheses testing in the direct structural model showed that there were significant relationships between masculinity, femininity, leadership stereotypes and achievement motivation in leadership role. Among the personal factors, self-efficacy, intrinsic achievement value, extrinsic achievement value, and leadership competencies showed significant and positive relationships with achievement motivation in the leadership role of extension agents. To test the mediating effect of personal and environmental factors on the relationships of background factors and achievement motivation in leadership role an overall structural model was developed and the results showed a good fit of the model. The results also indicated a partial mediating effect of self-efficacy, intrinsic, extrinsic, and leadership iv

5 competencies in the relationship between masculinity and achievement motivation in leadership role. The relationship between femininity and achievement motivation was partially mediated through subjective, extrinsic, leadership competencies, and mentoring. There were indirect effects of subjective and leadership competencies on the relationships between work experience and achievement motivation. Lastly, selfefficacy, subjective achievement value, and mentoring, partially mediated the relationship between leadership stereotypes and achievement motivation. The mediating influence of personal and environmental factors on the relationships between masculinity, femininity, leadership stereotypes and achievement motivation was confirmed by using bootstrapping method. The results of full mediation model showed that 78% of variance of achievement motivation in leadership role was explained by the proposed model. This study contributes knowledge on the pre-influence of background factors in shaping cognitive abilities of individuals and environmental factors on achievement motivation in leadership role. Insights generated from this study would certainly be useful to improve practice and performance of organizations, agents, and clients in the entire extension system. v

6 Abstrak tesis yang dikemukakan kepada Senat Universiti Putra Malaysia sebagai memenuhi keperluan untuk ijazah Doktor Falsafah FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI MOTIVASI KEJAYAAN DALAM PERANAN KEPEMIMPINAN AGEN PENGEMBANGAN DI IRAN Oleh ROYA KARAMI May 2011 Pengerusi: Profesor Maimunah Ismail, PhD Fakulti: Fakulti Pengajian Pendidikan Tujuan kajian ialah untuk mengenal pasti faktor yang mempengaruhi motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan agen pengembangan di Iran. Pengembangan pertanian dijangkakan perlu mengorak langkah melebihi peranan pemindahan teknoloji iaitu terlibat pesat dalam kepemimpinan seperti pembangunan kapasiti individu, kerja berpasukan dan pembentukan semula insitusi. Kajian-kajian lepas telah menunjukkan bahawa terdapat variasi tentang tahap motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan dan terdapat jurang pengetahuan mengenainya dalam kalangan agen pengembangan di Iran. Adalah juga dicadangkan supaya kajian berkaitannya dijalankan dalam kalangan agen pengembangan lelaki dan wanita atas justifikasi persepsi kendiri yang rendah wanita, nisbah gender dan keperluan ciri homofili antara agen dan klien dalam sistem vi

7 pengembangan. Dengan menggunakan teori kognitif sosial Bandura dan model motivasi kejayaan Farmer, kajian ini telah dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti pengaruh faktor latar belakang ke atas motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan secara terus, dan secara tidak terus dengan menggunakan faktor peribadi dan persekitaran sebagai faktor mediasi. Kajian ini menggunakan survei cross-sectional dan menggunakan borang soal selidik berstruktur. Data dikumpul daripada 303 responden yang mana mereka dipilih dengan menggunakan teknik persampelan kluster melibatkan organisasi Jihad-e-Agriculture dalam tiga wilayah di Iran iaitu Kermanshah, Tehran, and Khorasan Razavi. Analisis deskriptif dan Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) daripada perisian AMOS dan sampel bebas ujian-t daripada SPSS telah digunakan dalam analisis. Keputusan SEM dalam model terus menunjukkan data adalah menepati model yang dibentuk. Dalam menguji hipotesis hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat hubungan signifikan antara maskuliniti, femininiti, stereotaip kepemimpinan dan motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan. Antara faktor peribadi, self-efikasi, nilai kejayaan intrinsik, nilai kejayaan ekstrinsik, kompetensi kepemimpinan menunjukkan kaitan positif secara signifikan dengan motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan dalam kalangan agen pengembangan. Untuk mengkaji pengaruh mediasi faktor peribadi dan persekitaran ke atas hubungan antara faktor latar belakang dan motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan, satu vii

8 model telah dibangunkan dan didapati data terhasil menepati model tersebut. Analisis menunjukkan terdapat pengaruh secara separa faktor efikasi kendiri, nilai kejayaan intrinsik, nilai kejayaan ekstrinsik, kompetensi kepemimpinan dalam hubungan antara maskuliniti dan motivasi kejayaan. Hubungan antara femininiti dan motivasi kejayaan juga dimediasi secara separa melalui nilai kejayaan intrinsik, nilai kejayaan ekstrinsik, kompetensi kepemimpinan dan pementoran. Terdapat juga kesan secara tidak terus untuk kompetensi kepemimpinan terhadap hubungan antara pengalaman kerja dan motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan. Akhir sekali, efikasi kendiri, nilai kejayaan subjektif, dan pementoran, menunjukkan kesan mediasi secara separa tentang hubungan antara stereotaip kepemimpinan dan motivasi kejayaan. Pengaruh mediasi faktor peribadi dan persekitaran ke atas hubungan antara maskuliniti, femininiti, dan stereotaip kepemimpinan disahkan melalui teknik bootstrapping. Hasil analisis penuh mediasi mendapati model yang terhasil menerangkan 78% varians motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan. Kajian ini menyumbang pengetahuan tentang pra-pengaruh faktor latar belakang ke atas kebolehan kognitif individu dan kemampuan faktor persekitaran untuk mempengaruhi motivasi kejayaan dalam peranan kepemimpinan agen pengembangan di Iran. Penemuan kajian sesungguhnya akan mampu digunakan dalam memperbaiki amalan dan prestasi organisasi, agen dan klien dalam keseluruhan sistem pengembangan di kawasan kajian. viii

9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank God for giving me stamina, energy, and extra effort to complete my study. I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to my kind supervisor, Professor Dr. Maimunah Ismail, for her belief and confidence in my abilities to complete this dissertation. I honestly do not think a better supervisor than her exists. I will forever appreciate your tireless efforts specially the last months prior to the thesis submission. Also, I would like to thank my committee members Dr. Zoharah Omar and Dr. Nor Wahiza Abdul Wahat, for their guidance and support over the past few years. Thank you for all your help, guidance, and mentorship that constantly challenged me to go further. I have learned so much from all of you that bring with me much more than merely an outstanding educational experience. I would like to thank the officers of extension in Jihad-e-Agriculture organizations of Kermanshah, Tehran, and Khorasan Razavi for their permission, accessibility, and allowing me to do data collection at their offices in provinces, counties and centers. Special thanks to Mr. Solimaniyan, Ghanbari, and Tehrani, the honorable Heads of extension offices in Khorasan Razavi, Kermanshah, and Tehran respectively, who facilitated the data collection process. Further, special thanks to Ms. Barati from Khorasan Razavi, Miss. Jafari from Kermanshah for their respectable close cooperation and follow up to collect the data from provinces, counties and centers which needed much patience, interest, and commitment to get done such a time-consuming job in a short time; You two all the time, supported me with your smiling scrutiny. Also I wholeheartedly appreciate Mr. Roohollah R. Sistani for editing my thesis. ix

10 The last but not the least, I am indebted to my parents, for their unconditional love and support. I am truly blessed to have you as my parents. I feel very fortunate to have Mohammad, as my partner and best friend for his love and unending supports. I will never be able to express what you mean to me. This work is a result of you and me working together. Lovely Delvin, your being with me has always been a source of love and enthusiasm and your patience in not having enough of what could be called welfare for a child life, in being far away from those who were your lovely ones, because of my state of living as a student, has been resulted in giving life to this dissertation. Sweetie Narin, you joined us at the hard-pressed months of the last year of writing this thesis and brought a lot of happiness in our life. Both of you, Delvin and Narin, are my source of aspiration to face the coming years and the wellspring of power for me to be a goodenough mother for you. Special thanks to my brothers, Ramin, Shahin, and Reza, for their supports and encouragements as well as my parents-in-law who were influential to me in finishing this research. x

11 I certify that an Examination Committee has met on date of viva voce to conduct the final examination of Roya Karami on his Doctor Philosophy thesis entitled Factors Influencing Achievement Motivation in Leadership Role of Extension Agents in Iran in accordance with Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Higher Degree) Act 1980 and Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Higher Degree) Regulations The Committee recommends that candidate be awarded the relevant degree. Members Committee are as follows: Azizan b Asmuni, PhD Associate Professor Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia (Chairman) Rahim bin Md. Sail, PhD Professor Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia (Internal examiner) Habibah bt Elias, PhD Professor Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia (Internal examiner) Christopher James Garforth, PhD Associate Professor Policy and Development School of Agriculture University Reading- Reading United Kingdom (External examiner), PhD Professor and Deputy Dean School of Graduate Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia Date: xi

12 This thesis was submitted to the Senate of Universiti Putra Malaysia and has been accepted as fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The members of the Supervisory Committee were as follows: Maimunah Ismail, PhD Professor Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia (Chairman) Zoharah Omar, PhD Senior Lecturer Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia (Member) Nor Wahiza Abdul Wahat, PhD Senior Lecturer Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia (Member) HASANAH MOHD GHAZALI, PhD Professor and Dean School of Graduate Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia Date: xii

13 DECLARATION I declare that the thesis is my original work except for quotations and citations which have been duly acknowledged. I also declare that it has not been previously and is not currently submitted for any other degree at University Putra Malaysia or at any other institution. ROYA KARAMI Date: 3 May 2011 xiii

14 TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ABSTRACT ABSTRAK ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS APPROVAL DECLARATION LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES Page ii iii vi ix xi xiii xvii xviii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Context and Background of the Study 1 The History of Extension Systems Worldwide 1 The History of Extension Systems in Malaysia 3 The History of Extension Systems in Iran 5 The Role of Extension Agents in Iran 7 Importance of Leadership Role to the Extension Agents 10 Importance of Leadership Role to the Extension Organizations 14 Importance of Leadership Role to the Extension Clients 18 Background of the Achievement Motivation 21 Problem Statement 27 Objectives of the Study 30 Significance of the Study 30 Limitations of the Study 32 Operational Definitions 34 Summary 37 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 39 Theoretical Framework 39 The Historical Background of Motivation Theories 39 The Historical Background of Achievement Motivation Theories 43 The Bandura s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) 46 Farmer s Model of Achievement Motivation 50 The Emergent Leadership role of Extension Agents 52 Motivation and Achievement Motivation 54 Aspiration 57 Mastery 61 Salience 63 Background Factors and Achievement Motivation in Leadership Role 65 xiv

15 Gender 68 Gender Identity (Gender Role Stereotypes) 71 Work Experience 73 Career Stage (Age) 75 Leadership Stereotypes 78 Personal Factors and Achievement Motivation in Leadership Role 81 Self-efficacy 83 Self-esteem 86 Achievement Value 89 Extension Agents Leadership Competencies 94 Environmental Factors and Achievement Motivation in Leadership Role 98 Mentoring 100 Extension Organization Supports 105 Extension Organization Supervisors Supports 110 The Mediating Effect of Personal and Environmental Factors 112 Summary METHODOLOGY 118 Research Design 118 Research Framework 120 Research Hypothesis 121 Population and Sampling 123 Sample Size 126 Instrument Development 129 Validity and Reliability 139 Data Collection 142 Data Analysis 144 The Missing Data 146 Goodness-Of-Fit (GOF) Measures 147 The Measurement Model 148 The Outlier 149 The Normality 150 The Multicollinearity 151 The Construct Validity 151 The Structural Equation Model 152 The Test of Mediating Effect 153 Summary 154 FINDING AND DISCUSSION 156 Descriptive Statistics 156 Individual Characteristics 157 xv

16 Background Factor Variables 159 Personal Factor Variables 162 Environmental Factor Variables 165 Objective 1: To Determine the Level of Achievement Motivation in 166 Leadership Role of Extension Agents in Iran Inferential Statistics 169 The Measurement Model 170 The Structural Model 177 Objective 2: To Identify the Relationship between Background, 180 Personal, and Environmental Factors and Achievement Motivation in Leadership Role of Extension Agents in Iran Objective 3: To Identify the Mediating Effect of Personal and 191 Environmental Factors on the Relationship between Background Factor Variables and Achievement Motivation in Leadership Role of Extension Agents in Iran Discussion 199 Discussion of First Objective 199 Discussion of Second Objective 200 Discussion of Third Objective 207 Summary SUMMARY, CONCLUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND 212 RECOMMENDATIONS Summary of Findings 213 Conclusion 220 Background Factors Influences 220 Personal Factors Influences 224 Environmental Factors Influences 226 Implications 227 Recommendations for Future Research 231 REFERENCES 233 APPENDICES 245 BIODATA OF STUDENT 254 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 255 xvi

17 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3-1: Results of variables reliability in pilot test : The distribution of study clusters and questionnaires : Demographic and professional profile of respondents (n= 303) : Distribution of respondents by background factor variables (n= 303) : Distribution of respondents by personal factor variables (n= 303) : Distribution of respondents by environmental factor variables (n= 303) : Distribution of respondents by achievement motivation dimensions (n= 303) : GOF indices of the measurement model : The results of CFA for measurement model : GOF indices of direct structural model : Unstandardized and standardized regression weights in direct hypothesized path model 4-10: Results of independent- sample t-test on achievement motivation between male and female : GOF indices of overall structural model : Unstandardized and standardized regression weights in overall hypothesized path model 4-13: Standardized regression weights regarding indirect hypothesized path in overall model 4-14: The effect of exogenous variables on achievement motivation through the mediation of personal and environmental factors xvii

18 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2-1: The model of career motivation of London and Noe (1997) : Social cognitive model of Bandura (2001) : The achievement motivation model of Farmer s (1985, 1997) : The historical diagram of motivation theories and theoretical consideration of study : The research framework : Organizational chart of ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture : Sampling procedure of the study : The initial measurement model of the study : The measurement model of the study showing the relationships of items and constructs : The direct structural model of the study : The overall structural model of the study showing the relationships between the variables 188 xviii