| This qualitative study was an exploration of the perceptions of middle school teachers, administrators, and parents of middle school teachers' empowerment and its influence on their organizational commitment. The research questions for this study focused on how middle school teachers, administrators, and parents perceived empowerment of middle school teachers in the middle school setting and how empowerment influenced middle school teachers' commitment to the organization. Social cognitive theory served as the theoretical foundation for this study. The setting for the research was one middle school in a rural school district located in Mississippi. There was purposive sampling of 18 teachers, three administrators, and six parents from the middle school, for a total sample size of 27, with whom semi-structured interviews were conducted. The analysis of the content revealed that middle school teachers, administrators, and parents perceived empowered teachers as having the following characteristics: (a) confidence, (b) dedication, (c) motivation (d) leadership, (e) morale, and (f) influence. Middle school teachers considered dedication as one of the most important characteristics of an empowered teacher, while administrators noted confidence, and parents felt influence were key characteristics for an empowered educator. The researcher concluded that empowerment was not perceived as coming from one specific entity; it was present through different influences, which led to job commitment of middle school teachers.;Key words: Empowerment, Social cognitive theory, organizational commitment. |
