This study examined the mediating and sequential mediating effects of professionalism awareness and teaching ethics on the relationship between early childhood teachers’ perceived organizational culture and rights-respecting practices for young chil...
This study examined the mediating and sequential mediating effects of professionalism awareness and teaching ethics on the relationship between early childhood teachers’ perceived organizational culture and rights-respecting practices for young children. Apropos of this aspect, the following research questions were formulated.
First, What are the early childhood teachers’ tendencies toward perceived organizational culture, professionalism awareness, teaching ethics, and rights-respecting practices for young children, and their inter-correlations?
Second, How do perceived organizational culture, professionalism awareness, and teaching ethics influence rights-respecting practices for young children among early childhoodteachers?
Third, Does professionalism awareness mediate the relationship between perceived organizational culture and rights-respecting practices for young children?
Fourth, Does teaching ethics mediate the relationship between perceived organizational culture and rights-respecting practices for young children?
Fifth, Do professionalism awareness and teaching ethics sequentially mediate the relationship between perceived organizational culture and rights-respecting practices for young children?
The participants were 437 early childhood teachers working in the Gyeongnam region. Data were collected through online and offline surveys conducted between the 1st and 20th of August, 2024, and analyzed using the SPSS 26.0 statistical software and employing descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. PROCESS Macro Models 4 and 6 were used to verify the mediating effects.
The results of this study are as follows. First, among the types of perceived organizational culture, rational culture was rated the highest, followed by group culture, development culture, and hierarchical culture. The overall levels of professionalism awareness, teaching ethics, and rights-respecting practices for young children were relatively high. All types of perceived organizational culture indicated significant correlations with rights-respecting practices, whereas development culture, rational culturel, and group cultures were significantly associated with professionalism awareness and teaching ethics.
Second, teaching ethics exerted the greatest influence on rights-respecting practices, followed by professionalism awareness and rational culture, development culture, and hierarchical culture, suggesting that rights-respecting practices for young children are more grounded in teachers’ ethical judgments and professional responsibility than institutional or structural factors alone.
Third, developmental, rational, and group cultures were found to influence rights-respecting practices through the mediating effect of professionalism awareness, indicating that, as early childhood teachers perceive their organizational culture as developmental, rational, and group-oriented, they tend to have a higher awareness of professionalism, which, sequentially, leads to greater engagement in rights-respecting practices.
Fourth, developmental, rational, and group cultures influenced rights-respecting practices as well, through the mediating effect of teaching ethics, implying that these types of organizational cultures function as important environmental factors in shaping teachers’ ethical awareness and promoting ethical practices.
Fifth, developmental, group, and rational cultures sequentially influenced rightsrespecting practices through professionalism awareness and teaching ethics, demonstrating a structural pathway in which perceived organizational culture enhances professionalism awareness. Subsequently, the latter strengthens teaching ethics and ultimately leads to respect for young children’s rights. These findings indicate that promoting rights-respecting practices requires an integrated support system that considers organizational culture, teacher professionalism, and ethical awareness, rather than isolated interventions.
This study’s significance resides in empirically clarifying the processes through which perceived organizational culture influences rights-respecting practices for young children via professionalism awareness and teaching ethics, including their sequential mediating effects. Thus, fostering organizational culture centered on developmental group and rational values, along with educational and support systems that strengthen early childhood teachers’ professionalism awareness and teaching ethics, is essential for enhancing rights-respecting practices.