Researcher Ahlam Muhammad Abu Jame’, a student in the doctoral program in Educational Administration, has defended her dissertation titled: “Organizational Culture in Universities within the Green Line and its Relationship to Academic Freedom and Excellence in Performance As Perceived by Arab Faculty Members: a Proposed Perception.”
The researcher used the descriptive approach (quantitative and qualitative) / correlational method, in the academic year 2023/2024 on a random sample of 103 lecturers. She collected data using a questionnaire and conducted interviews with 10 lecturers working in different universities.
The results of the prevailing organizational culture in universities/colleges inside the green line (Occupied Palestinian Territory) were arranged in a row from highest to lowest: organizational expectations, level of organizational environment, organizational communication, organizational values, level of organizational beliefs, and organizational norms. As for academic freedom, the levels of freedom to teach and transfer knowledge were low, while freedom to scientific research, freedom to express opinions and participate in discussions, and freedom to write, author, and publish were moderate. The results showed that there were no differences in the level of organizational culture due to the variables of gender, experience, specialization, and university, and their presence to the variable of academic rank. The results also showed a strong correlation between organizational culture and academic freedom on the one hand and excellence in performance on the other hand, which indicates the importance of the organizational environment regulating work. Moreover, the results showed that excellence in performance trumps organizational culture and academic freedom, and there is a strong convergence with what resulted from the quantitative data regarding the level of organizational culture and the reality of academic freedom, as well as excellence in performance among Arab lecturers in universities inside the Green Line.
In light of these results, a proposed perspective was built aiming to overcome the gaps and severe lack of academic freedom, which was found to be moderate and sometimes specified with conditions, which has a significant impact on work productivity and excellence in performance, because this reflects the lack of a safe and secure educational environment.
The dissertation was supervised by Dr. Ghassan Sarhan. The committee of examiners included Dr. Tayseer Abu Sakour, Dr. Munira Al-Sharman, and Dr. Sami Odwan.