Table 1
List of the background (i.e., individual and structural) variables used in the current study.
| INDIVIDUAL VARIABLES | Were collected through a questionnaire completed by the staff. |
| Gender | Female (0), male (1). |
| Formally educated preschool teacher | Qualified preschool teachers in the Swedish preschool context requires a three-year formal university level education (0 = no, 1 = yes). |
| Employed as preschool teacher | Employed as a preschool teacher at their current preschool (0 = no, 1 = yes). |
| Substitute staff | 0 = not employed as a substitute staff member, 1 = employed as substitute staff member. |
| Experience of working within the profession | The number of months in their profession as either preschool teacher, child minder or substitute. |
| Experience within the particular preschool | The number of months employed at their current preschool. |
| STRUCTURAL VARIABLES | Were collected through a questionnaire completed by the preschool principals. |
| Child group size | The number of children in the child group. |
| Child-staff ratio (in the child group) | The number of children in the child group divided by the total activity percent of the preschool staff working in that child group. Full time was 100% (or 1). |
| Proportion of L2 learners (in the child group) | The number of L2 learners divided by the total child group size. |
| Proportion of qualified preschool teachers (in the workgroup) | The number of qualified preschool teachers in the child group divided by the total number of preschool staff in the child group. |
| Proportion of substitute staff (in the workgroup) | The number of substitute staff in the child group divided by the total number of preschool staff in the child group. |
| Proportion of children with special educational needs (in the child group) | The number of children who formally receives special educational support of any kind (provided by the preschool) divided by the total child group size. A child being a L2 learner did not automatically count them in this category. |
| Principal’s education | 0 = the preschool principal lacks a principal education, 1 = the preschool principal had principal education. |
| Preschool principal’s experience of working as a principal | The preschool principal’s total number of months working as a preschool principal. |
| Preschool principal’s experience within the particular preschool | The preschool principal’s total number of months worked as a preschool principal in their current preschool. |
Table 2
Descriptive statistics of the most important variables and correlations among them.
| VARIABLE | MIN | MAX | MEAN | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Employed as preschool teacher | 0 | 1 | 0.51 | 0.5 | – | –0.02 | 0.05 | –0.11 | 0.03 | 0.26*** | 0.14* | 0.37*** | –0.07 | 0.02 | –0.13 | 0.15* | –0.03 |
| 2. Experience of working within the profession (months) | 3 | 492 | 152.84 | 133.4 | –0.02 | – | 0.10 | –0.00 | 0.07 | 0.01 | –0.01 | 0.13 | 0.06 | 0.07 | 0.08 | 0.02 | 0.04 |
| 3. Child group size | 11 | 42 | 19.8 | 6.07 | 0.05 | 0.10 | – | –0.09 | –0.01 | 0.01 | –0.06 | 0.03 | 0.03 | –0.04 | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.02 |
| 4. Proportion of L2 learners | 0 | 1 | 0.53 | 0.31 | –0.11 | –0.00 | –0.09 | – | –0.02 | –0.00 | 0.14* | 0.00 | 0.19** | –0.02 | 0.01 | –0.06 | 0.03 |
| 5. Child–staff ratio | 3.5 | 15 | 5.47 | 1.56 | 0.03 | 0.07 | –0.01 | –0.02 | – | 0.08 | 0.14* | 0.18** | –0.08 | –0.04 | –0.05 | –0.13 | –0.08 |
| 6. Role conflicts | 1 | 4.75 | 2.66 | 0.87 | 0.26*** | 0.01 | 0.01 | –0.00 | 0.08 | – | 0.60*** | 0.64*** | –0.29*** | –0.11 | –0.38*** | –0.25*** | –0.33*** |
| 7. Qualitative demands | 1 | 5 | 2.74 | 0.96 | 0.14* | –0.01 | –0.06 | 0.14* | 0.14* | 0.60*** | – | 0.58*** | –0.19** | –0.23*** | –0.32*** | –0.21** | –0.31*** |
| 8. Quantitative demands | 1 | 5 | 3.26 | 0.87 | 0.37*** | 0.13 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.18** | 0.64*** | 0.58*** | – | –0.24*** | –0.14* | –0.30*** | –0.17** | –0.29*** |
| 9. Principal support | 1 | 5 | 3.92 | 0.94 | –0.07 | 0.06 | 0.03 | 0.19** | –0.08 | –0.29*** | –0.19** | –0.24*** | – | 0.48*** | 0.71*** | 0.42*** | 0.60*** |
| 10. Co-worker support | 1 | 5 | 4.27 | 0.79 | 0.02 | 0.07 | –0.04 | –0.02 | –0.04 | –0.11 | –0.23*** | –0.14* | 0.48*** | – | 0.55*** | 0.20** | 0.41*** |
| 11. Openness | 1 | 5 | 3.71 | 0.83 | –0.13 | 0.08 | 0.02 | 0.01 | –0.05 | –0.38*** | –0.32*** | –0.30*** | 0.71*** | 0.55*** | – | 0.31*** | 0.61*** |
| 12. Influence | 1 | 5 | 3.48 | 0.75 | 0.15* | 0.02 | 0.05 | –0.06 | –0.13 | –0.25*** | –0.21** | –0.17** | 0.42*** | 0.20** | 0.31*** | – | 0.39*** |
| 13. Organizational commitment | 1 | 5 | 3.67 | 0.89 | –0.03 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.03 | –0.08 | –0.33*** | –0.31*** | –0.29*** | 0.60*** | 0.41*** | 0.61*** | 0.39*** | – |
| 14. Job satisfaction | 1 | 5 | 4.01 | 0.82 | –0.11 | 0.02 | –0.01 | 0.02 | –0.11 | –0.33*** | –0.32*** | –0.42*** | 0.54*** | 0.50*** | 0.51*** | 0.30*** | 0.69*** |
[i] Note. * p < 0.05, ** p =< 0.01, *** p =< 0.001.
Figure 1
Final random forest model (OC-RF model 3) predicting organizational commitment.
Table 3
Final Hierarchical Regression model (OC-HR Job demands-resources-openness model) predicting organizational commitment.
| COEFFICIENTS | Est. | CI | p |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Intercept) | 1.12 | 0.17–2.08 | 0.021 |
| Education & Experience | |||
| Teacher (0 = No, 1 = Yes) | 0.10 | –0.10–0.30 | 0.321 |
| Experience within profession (in months) | 0.00 | –0.00–0.00 | 0.993 |
| Structural Factors | |||
| Child group size | –0.00 | –0.02–0.01 | 0.912 |
| Proportion of L2 learners in child group | –0.01 | –0.31–0.30 | 0.959 |
| Child-staff ratio | –0.00 | –0.06–0.06 | 0.928 |
| Job Demands | |||
| Role conflicts | –0.03 | –0.18–0.12 | 0.716 |
| Qualitative demands | –0.08 | –0.21–0.05 | 0.201 |
| Quantitative demands | –0.05 | –0.21–0.10 | 0.481 |
| Job Resources | |||
| Principal support | 0.25 | 0.10–0.41 | 0.001 |
| Influence | 0.15 | 0.01–0.29 | 0.035 |
| Co-worker support | 0.07 | 0.03–0.11 | 0.321 |
| Organizational Job Resource | |||
| Openness | 0.32 | 0.15–0.49 | <0.001 |
| Model fit | |||
| p | <0.001 | ||
| R2 | 0.467 | ||
Figure 2
Final random forest model (JS-RF model 3) predicting job satisfaction.
Table 4
Final Hierarchical Regression model (JS-HR Job demands-resources-openness model) predicting job satisfaction.
| COEFFICIENTS | Est. | CI | p |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Intercept) | 2.68 | 1.84–3.51 | <0.001 |
| Education & Experience | |||
| Teacher (0 = No, 1 = Yes) | 0.03 | –0.15–0.22 | 0.702 |
| Experience within profession (in months) | 0.00 | –0.00–0.00 | 0.853 |
| Structural Factors | |||
| Child group size | –0.00 | –0.02–0.01 | 0.842 |
| Proportion of L2 learners in child group | –0.07 | –0.35–0.21 | 0.628 |
| Child-staff ratio | –0.01 | –0.06–0.04 | 0.719 |
| Job Demands | |||
| Unnecessary demands | –0.05 | –0.17–0.07 | 0.384 |
| Qualitative demands | –0.01 | –0.12–0.10 | 0.855 |
| Quantitative demands | –0.26 | –0.39–0.13 | <0.001 |
| Job Resources | |||
| Principal support | 0.26 | 0.12–0.39 | <0.001 |
| Co-worker support | 0.29 | 0.16–0.42 | <0.001 |
| Organizational Job Resource | |||
| Openness | 0.05 | –0.10–0.21 | 0.510 |
| Model fit | |||
| p | <0.001 | ||
| R2 | 0.456 | ||