Relating Through Recognizing: The Content, Structure, and Contexts of School Staff Member Recognition Networks

Abstract

This dissertation introduces teacher recognition networks as a relevant aspect of teachers’ informal everyday work experience. Drawing from literature that suggests that value of authentic support and affirmation of one’s identity, recognition networks are suggested as a critical part of how teachers perceive and act on the job in ways that matter for educational outcomes. A grounded qualitative study is conducted of school staff members in an urban-adjacent district in New England that focuses on their experiences with workplace recognition and key sources of variance that suggest recognition is best conceptualized as a network tie. In the following two quantitative studies drawn from the same school district, recognition networks are framed as a foil to advice - the former suggests what ‘is working’ and the later suggests ‘what needs work.’ Surveys are analyzed to compare network traits of recognition and advice ties to ascertain their uniqueness, and regression modeling is used to explore variance in the ways in which these two networks are supportive of organizational perceptions of collective responsibility, innovative climate, and organizational commitment. The final study explores the ways in which advice and recognition network traits vary in their relationship to innovative climate during times of crisis and pre-crisis. Overall, this dissertation establishes that recognition can be conceptualized as a network and is a relevant aspect of teacher’s work experience. Further, it establishes that recognition is a unique network tie that is related to outcomes such as innovative attitudes in ways quite different from advice ties. Lastly, it establishes that the ways in which these networks are related to outcomes vary contextually – in particular, during crisis.