The Relationship between Teachers’ Job Embeddedness and Vocational Belonging Perceptions

In this study, the relationship between primary school teachers’ perceptions of job embeddedness and vocational belonging was analyzed using the correlational research model. The study group consisted of 258 primary school teachers working at primary schools located in Bolu city center in the 2017 2018 academic year. The research data were collected using through two scales: (1) the “Job Embeddedness Scale” originally developed by Mitchell et al. (2001), revised by Felps et al. (2009) and adapted into Turkish by Kıran (2017), and (2) the “Vocational Belonging Scale” developed by Keskin and Pakdemirli (2016). The study was designed as a correlational study in order to analyze the relationship between primary school teachers’ job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions. The data were analyzed through SPSS for Windows 21 program. For the analysis of the data, the percentage and frequency values, the mean and the standard deviation scores of the scales were calculated. The findings revealed a positive, moderate level relationship between teachers’ job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions.


Introduction
Rapidly evolving information and communication technologies have led to substantial changes in the core of individual and social life. The necessity of good education cannot be denied in order to advance as a society and to achieve an improved level of prosperity. Today, great technological developments and consequent sociological changes have made it necessary for all societies to adapt to continuously changing and renewing conditions of the times. Such changes urge societies to communicate and interact more than ever. Such an important social transformation increases the importance of higher order cognitive skills such as effective communication, recognition of diverse cultures, development of collaboration at an advanced level, competition on a global scale and ability to think in a solution-oriented way. In this context, it is necessary to increase the quality of education provided at schools to achieve better outcomes. A rise in success at schools can only be realized with qualified teachers. In other words, it is necessary to have good teachers to educate talented students [1,2]. It is necessary for teachers, who are the architects of society, to be trained at a level that can respond to the needs of the country and the era. That is because the prosperity of a country depends on well-trained teachers who have professional and personal qualifications that are sufficient to carry out their responsibilities in the best possible way. That is, the teaching profession is a profession that determines the future of communities -in other words, the fate of communities.
Teachers should be the individuals who can assess the conditions in the best possible way to respond to the rapidly changing needs of the society and educational institutions. They should work continuously to achieve perfection and be able to show flexibility in this path through creativity. They should not have any ideological obsessions that may harm the basic principles of the society. An educational system can attain its objectives only if these specified objectives are achieved at schools and classes that are the subsystems of that educational system. The ability of those classes to reach the specified objectives depends on the activities that are carried out in classrooms. At this point, teachers and their organizational behaviors come to the forefront. The teaching profession is a concept that establishes a position within educational institutions. It also establishes a set of behaviors prescribed by that position. It refers to the status, responsibilities and relationships of that position. Studies on teachers and the teaching profession in the context of organizational behavior actually aim to analyze the organizational behavior of an employee in an educational organization. This study presents an analysis of the behaviors that reflect teachers' perceptions of job embeddedness and vocational belonging.

Job Embeddedness
Today, several new concepts that are associated with organizations and organizational effectiveness have begun to be discussed and examined in the literature. One of these concepts is the perception of job embeddedness. The concept of job embeddedness was suggested for the first time by Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski and Erez [3]. It is related to an employee's organizational fit, organizational links and self-sacrificing behaviors towards the organization where he works. Proposed by Mitchell et al. [3], the Job Embeddedness Theory offers a new perspective which focuses on factors that encourage an employee to stay in an organization and motivate other employees in this direction. The concept of job embeddedness has been proposed to explain how various factors play a role in keeping an employee on the job [4]. The Job Embeddedness or Embeddedness Theory explains why employees stay on a job with a combination of psychological, social and financial factors. These effects are perceived as a network that wraps and surrounds an employee not only in his workplace but also outside his workplace and in his business circle [3,5]. Job embeddedness offers rich social connections, job fit and personal investment in an organization; in addition to those, it provides employees with the ability to create opportunities to expand and enhance new skills and social ties with others [5,6]. Critical aspects of job embeddedness are related to employees' connections with other employees and the community, how employees fit in the organization or their community, and finally what they will have to sacrifice if they have to quit their jobs [7]. Job embeddedness offers a variety of effects related to employee retention in the workplace [3]. Job embeddedness is expressed as an effect that arises from the combination of all mechanisms enabling employees to stay in their current organizations [8]. Job embeddedness includes personal links, fit in the community and organization, and how much employees will have to sacrifice in the event of a job change [9,10]. Job embeddedness is a situation related to the reasons why employees stay in their organizations [11]. Job embeddedness consists of a combination of factors that keep employees in their jobs.
The Job Embeddedness Theory is associated with three dimensions referring to all factors inside or outside a workplace [3]. These include links, fit and sacrifice. These three dimensions are decisive as much as they allow an individual to connect with his organization or society [12]. Links are considered as formal or non-formal connections between an individual and institutions or other persons. Embeddedness refers to the number of channels that offer connections in social, psychological and financial networks that include the physical surroundings and the society where an employee and his family live. It also refers to the friends and groups at the workplace and outside the workplace. The more the number of connections between a person and the network is, the more likely it is that that person bonds with his job or organization [3], and the less likely it is that that person decides to leave his job [13]. Being the first dimension of job embeddedness, links are based on visible connections with the community and organization. Social links cover the degree of relation with close friends and family members, marriage status, having children to care about, hobbies and religious activities and house ownership. Conversely, organizational links include an employee's title, duration of work in the organization, the degree of interaction with colleagues and participation in organizational committees. Organizational links are based on empirical studies [14,15] previously conducted on normative effects [16,17] and kinship obligations [12]. Therefore, individuals have a large number of links at various points of their lives. Separation from their houses or their jobs may require rearrangement of these links or result in terminating some of these links completely [3]. The second dimension of job embeddedness is adaptation. In an organization, an employee's personal values, career objectives and plans should conform to the demands of his current job such as the organizational culture, job knowledge, skills and abilities. Moreover, an employee also considers how much he fits in his society and his environment. A better fit means that the employee feels a stronger bond with an organization professionally and personally. Social factors (e.g. the general culture, climate and life comfort of the place where the individual lives) also play an important role in an individual's job fit. In addition, outdoor activities such as fishing and skiing, recreational activities such as sports, music and drama, and the political and religious environment vary depending on the place of residence. These conformity assessments may be independent of professional or organizational fit. Moving to another place may require a rearrangement of fit. However, even without a new settlement, a new job may subject employees to conditions such as new working hours and different travel conditions that may turn their general conventions upside down [3]. Organizational fit can be described as the chemical harmony between an individual and the organization [12]. Chemistry fit is about how an individual or a group is in interaction and communication, how they determine their goals, how they can work together for common goals. As a result, a better harmony will mean that employees will be more satisfied with their organization, both professionally and personally, and feel more committed. Therefore, individuals who fit in their jobs or organizations are said to be in the society in which they live will not easily quit their jobs [18]. The sacrifice dimension refers to the perceived cost of materials or psychological interests that will be lost if an employee quits his job. For example, leaving an organization may refer to personal losses such as giving up on fellow employees, interesting projects and some side incomes.
The more an employee gives up when quitting his job, the harder it becomes for him to leave that organization [3]. Moreover, losing a supportive organizational environment should also be considered as a significant cost for employees. Financial (such as higher wages and profits) and psychological (such as organizational support) losses prevent employees from quitting a job [18]. An employee's quitting his job will lead to consequences that may also mean social sacrifices. It may, as well, be difficult to give up a community that is favorable, safe, loved and respected [3].
Earlier studies conducted on job embeddedness have focused mainly on positive results. However, studies conducted later on have suggested that job embeddedness can also lead to negative outcomes such as decrease in motivation and negative workplace behaviors [19]. Burton [20] suggested that employees with an elevated level of job embeddedness are more likely to be exposed to mobbing attacks. According to Sekiguchi, Burton and Sablynski [21], if the level of leader-member exchange and organizational self-esteem is low, a high level of job embeddedness may be detrimental to employee performance. The concept of "embeddedness" is used to describe the effect of limited economic actions and social relations in the academic literature of sociology [21,22]. Embeddedness is an idea in which the phenomena -which wrap individuals and the events they experience like a network, and which are spread -isolate the individuals even from the most difficult times they experience [3]. Embeddedness addresses not only the effects of specific behaviors, attitudes and intentions at work but also the aspects of social factors that affect behaviors at work [19]. Job embeddedness shows that an employee has several links. These include his social, psychological and financial networks; family; and friends and groups outside the workplace. These links give the employee psychological motivation and empowerment under every condition. Moreover, if anything bad happens, the employee sees and interprets it positively. Thanks to the power and motivation provided by these links. This motivates and advances an individual in whatever he does in his private life and business life. Furthermore, job embeddedness is a more powerful predictor than factors such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment that are the best known and accepted psychological descriptions for organizational outputs such as job continuity, participation and performance [10]. Job embeddedness also helps employees feel a stronger organizational commitment, organizational identification and vocational belonging.

Vocational Belonging
Hagerty and Patusky [23] define the sense of belonging as an individual's valuable participation in and conformity to a community. What is meant by the valuable participation is for an individual to feel to be a valuable and preferred person in a community. The sense of belonging can also be discussed as belonging to a group, as being important for each other, and as a shared common objective and association -which have a meaning that is the opposite of alienation and isolation [23,24]. Belonging is established with the environment that surrounds an individual. It is shaped and updated and varies by intentional (family, country, ethnicity) or unintentional (education, politics, trade) preferences of an individual. An individual's history of belonging that starts with birth persists in the form of his transferring the characteristics of the environment in which he has lived and grown to his own identity, by means of cognitive, emotional and social learning; the history also persists in the form of his identification and dedifferentiation with that environmentdespite all the differences the environment has [25]. No matter how it is acquired, belonging has a power of affecting internal dynamics of a society. The sense of belonging becomes indispensable when this power -a part of which an individual belongs to -grows and the opportunities provided by that power increase. Individuals, as a part of the whole, become responsible for their own actions and the formations emerging in that whole, as well as being under the responsibility of other people in that whole. The sense of belonging triggers a mutual responsibility between a person -who belongs to a wholeand the whole to which that person belongs in a partnership of power to meet the need for trust [26].
Belonging is a term related to an individual's general attitude towards his profession. Belonging is considered as an attitude resulting from a collection of and a balance of numerous desired and undesired experiences [27]. In this respect, belonging refers to the combination of all the attitudes fed by various aspects of an individual's profession [28]. Many authors have made various definitions of belonging. The concept of vocational belonging was first described by Greenhaus in 1971. In the literature of vocational belonging, the viewpoint that is dominant was offered by Greenhaus as a career-oriented approach. While Greenhaus [29] defines vocational belonging as "the act of a profession's becoming important in an individual's life," Aranya, Pollock and Amernic [30] define vocational belonging as "a relative power by which an individual identifies with a profession." Morrow [29] associates vocational belonging with other types of belonging in his Job Commitment Model and defines vocational belonging as the "career commitment" [31]. An individual's attitudes towards his profession gain importance as a common point in defining this concept. Vocational belonging is associated with many factors, including managers' attitudes and behaviors towards employees in an institution. The factors include not only the way employees get organized for the business life and the level of communication they have but also the extent to which social and economic expectations from the job are fulfilled as well as the qualifications the workplace has.
Employees' positive ideas on such issues mean that they identify themselves with their institution. This feeds their feelings of vocational belonging, which ensures a high work motivation and an improvement of work efficiency. Thus, vocational belonging is a significant element that determines employees' attitudes and behaviors towards the business life and affects their work performance positively [32]. The common point in the definitions of vocational belonging is the sense of interest and belonging that employees feel towards their profession.
Professions have vital functions for both individuals and the society. They have a decisive role in the functioning of a society, in the determination of an individual's social position and in his participation in the society [33]. According to Karaca [34], belonging to a group and class and being in solidarity with that group or class bring confidence to an employee and prevent the employee from isolation, desperation and loneliness. In societies in which the concept of profession -especially the teaching profession -is very important, the members of the profession feel a need for social support. Social support refers to satisfying an individual's basic needs -such as love, appreciation and self-realization, which are some of the needs in the hierarchy of needs -by means of interactions established with other individuals such as his friends, his family, his superiors or professional advisors [35].
Vocational belonging affects individuals' quality of life, since it is an important part of individuals' professional lives [36]. In other words, vocational belonging is directly associated with individuals' quality of life and directly affects their vocational satisfaction. Vocational belonging directly affects work performance [9]. An employee, who does not feel a sense of belonging towards his profession, may make mistakes and this leads to deterioration of quality of his work. Vocational belonging is of utmost importance in terms of motivating an employee. An individual's vocational belonging may improve his commitment to work and may directly affect his work performance. In other words, a person's job satisfaction and efficiency may improve if he is motivated to work [37]. Vocational belonging is associated with significant outcomes such as improving job performance [9], reducing the dropout rate, and increasing satisfaction at the organizational and professional level [38]. A high level of vocational belonging is associated with positive behaviors that are beneficial for the organization. Accordingly, individuals with high vocational belonging tend to engage in fewer activities harmful to their company [39].
Even though there are many studies available in the literature on job embeddedness, there are a limited number of educational studies or studies on teachers involving job embeddedness. In a study conducted by Lev and Koslowsky [40], the relationship between the job embeddedness of teachers and their organizational citizenship and organizational commitment was examined.
In their study, Lev and Koslowsky [40] examined the relationship between the job embeddedness of teachers and their sense of responsibility, job performance and contextual performance. In the meantime, Burke [41] analyzed the relationship between the job embeddedness of teachers and the support provided by the management or their colleagues. In a study conducted on public officials, Kıran [5] included teachers to the research sample and analyzed the relationship between the job embeddedness of teachers and their organizational cynicism, psychological capital and desire to quit the job. In the literature, there are also studies examining the relationship between the job embeddedness of academicians and their performance and burnout [42], organizational cynicism and work performance [43] in educational institutions. There are studies on job embeddedness in different institutions, as well [3,8,19,21,44,45,46,47]. When the literature is reviewed, even though the literature presents more studies conducted on belonging and the rate of studies carried out on belonging especially in educational institutions is remarkable [48], the literature presents a limited number of studies on vocational belonging [49, 50 51, 52, 53, 25]. In other words, there are no studies in the literature that examine the relationship between job embeddedness and vocational belonging directly or indirectly.
It is not possible to achieve the targeted educational outcomes -regardless of how well educational objectives are set and regardless of how functionally the course content is selected and organized -unless those objectives are implemented by teachers who have such objectives and such a comprehension [54]. It has been suggested that the vocational belonging of teachers towards their organizations is of utmost importance in whether educational organizations reach their objectives. Job embeddedness is a significant determinant of the formation of this sense of belonging. It is considered to be important to determine how teachers perceive job embeddedness and vocational belonging especially in primary schools as they are the key point of the educational system. It is also important to reveal whether these perceptions are interrelated or not. The aim of this study, in this context, was to determine the relationship between the behaviors of primary school teachers reflecting their job embeddedness and vocational belonging.

Research Design
Correlational research model was used in the present study to analyze the relationship between primary school teachers' job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions as correlation studies not only allow analysis of the relationship between two or more variables without interfering these variables in any way but also are effective in revealing relationship between variables and determination of levels of these relationships, they provide necessary clues for future and further studies on these relationships [55].

Study Group
Primary school teachers (n=258) working at primary schools located in the city center of Bolu -Turkey in the 2017-2018 academic year formed the study group of the present study (see Table 1). When the primary school teachers are examined in terms of their demographic characteristics, as presented in Table  1, it is seen that while 62.8% (n=181) of teachers were female, 37.2% (n=77) of them were male. When their ages are concerned, it is observed that even though 27.1% (n=70) were between "41-45 age" group, 8.6 % (n=22) were between "25-30 age" group. When teachers are examined in terms of teaching experience, it is seen that while 27.9 % (n=72) of them had "21-25 years" of experience in teaching, 9.7% (n=25) of them had "26+ years" of experience.

Collection of Data
Research data were collected through using "Job Embeddedness Scale" developed initially by Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski and Erez [3], then organized by Felps, Mitchell, Hekman, Lee, Holtom and Harman [56], and adapted into Turkish language by Kıran [5] and using "Vocational Belonging Scale" developed by Keskin and Pakdemirli [25]. During the administration of the scales, the following steps were followed: The literature was reviewed to choose the most suitable measurement tool for the purpose of the study. The permission was taken from the authors to use the scales in the study. Then the scales were administered at schools by giving to the primary school teachers by the researcher. During the administration of the scales, the teachers were informed generally about scales, about the aim of the study and voluntarily participation of the teachers was taken as base during this stage. In the 2017 -2018 academic year, 385 teachers were working at 34 primary schools within the city center of Bolu. During the administration of the scales, the researcher, himself, distributed scales to teachers who participated in the study voluntarily and who were working at these primary schools. Additionally, the researcher, himself, collected the scales in the present study. For the analysis of the data collected, a total of 258 scales were subjected to the analysis processes in the study as 127 scales were not included in the analysis process due to various reasons (e.g. they were blank, with missing markings, and more than one marking scales etc.) and that formed 85.2 % of teachers.

Data Collection Tools
Job Embeddedness Scale: Developed firstly by Mitchell et al. [3], then rearranged and developed by Felps et al. [56], this scale was adapted into Turkish by Kıran [5]. Kıran [5] initially applied exploratory factor analysis on "Job Embeddedness Scale" to determine whether the scale provided theoretical validity. Before applying exploratory factor analysis, skewness and kurtosis of variables included in the job embeddedness scale were checked, no expressions were found with a value higher than absolute value, 2. At adaptation stage of job embeddedness scale, consisting of 6 sub-dimensions determined in Felps et al. [56] study, Kıran [5] applied exploratory factor analysis to understand whether the scale provided structural validity, and expressions in the scale were collected in 5 groups. Kıran [5] first performed an exploratory factor analysis in order to find out whether the job embeddedness scale had theoretical validity. Before the exploratory factor analysis was performed, the skewness and kurtosis of the variables included in the job embeddedness scale were examined. None of the skewness or kurtosis values was greater than 2. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis of the job embeddedness scale performed by Kıran These values were all satisfactory. As a result of factor analysis, since Item 14 and Item 15 had low levels of factor loads, they were removed from the analysis, and the scale was subjected to analysis again. As a result of factor analysis, the items were collected in 5 dimensions. It was seen that there were no items included in "dedication to environment" dimension. The scale was prepared in 5-point Likert-type and consisted of 16 items and 5 subscales. Among dimensions of the scale, there are 4 items in environmental fit sub-dimension; 4 items in organizational fit sub-dimension; 3 items in environmental link sub-dimension; 2 items in organizational sacrifice sub-dimension; 4 items in organizational link sub-dimension. According to results of reliability analyses applied for each sub-dimension, it was concluded as reliable with "environmental fit" dimension as 0.85, "organizational fit" 0.79, "organizational link" 0.82, "environmental link" 0.64, "organizational sacrifice" 0.71 [5]. Also, in this study, the Cronbach Alpha coefficient was found as 0.88 in total for Job Embeddedness Scale. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient for Job Embeddedness Scale sub-dimensions was found as 0.90 for "environmental fit" dimension; 0.91 "organizational fit" dimension, 0.83 for "organizational link" dimension, 0.78 for "environmental link" dimension and 0.82 for "organizational sacrifice" dimension. These findings indicate that measurement tool is reliable [57]. During the analysis of the data collected through Job Embeddedness Scale, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was not performed as Job Embeddedness Scale was used by the researchers in different studies [40,41,5] in which teachers were taken as the sample or study group of these studies.
Vocational Belonging Scale: It is a scale consisting of 39 items and 3 dimensions that was prepared in 5-point Likert-type developed by Keskin and Pakdemirli [25]. At the stage of scale development, validity and reliability of the scale were analyzed, and scale reliability was tested with Cronbach-Alpha. It was deemed appropriate to bring together many questions which are related with each other and obtain fewer numbers of consistent questions, and to apply factor analysis to name factors more easily. As a result of Exploratory Factor Analysis, 39 variables were reduced to three factors, and three sub-dimensions were obtained. Factors' Eigen values were 13.1 for factor 1; 5.7 for factor 2; 2.2 for factor 3. Factor 1 explains 26.14 of the total variance; factor 2 explains 20.13% of the total variance; factor 3 explains 7.55% of the total variance. These three factors explain 53.81% of the total variance. As a result of factor analysis, the scale was collected in 3 dimensions. The scale was prepared in 5-point Likert-type and consisted of 39 items and 3 subscales. Among dimensions of the scale, there are 18 items in vocational management belonging, 16 items in vocational organization belonging, and 5 items in vocational place belonging. According to the results of reliability analyses conducted for each sub-dimension, it was concluded that "vocational management belonging" is reliable with 0.95 value; "vocational organization belonging" with 0.90 value; and "vocational place belonging" with 0.76 values [25]. Also in this study, the Cronbach Alpha coefficient was found as .95 in total for Vocational Belonging Scale. Cronbach Alpha coefficient related to Vocational Belonging Scale sub-dimensions were found as .93 for "vocational management belonging", .94 for "vocational organization belonging" and .91 for "vocational place belonging" dimensions. These findings indicate that measurement tool is reliable [57]. During the analysis of the data collected through Vocational Belonging Scale, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was not performed as Vocational Belonging Scale was used by the researchers in different studies [59,53,49,66] in which teachers were taken as the sample or study group of these studies.

Data Analysis
During the analysis of the data, normality distributions of the scales and their sub-dimensions were examined primarily to determine the statistical methods to be used in the analysis of the data obtained from the scales. Skewness and kurtosis of the scales and their sub-dimensions varied between -.360 and 268 depending on the variables in the scales. Skewness and kurtosis values between -1 and +1 indicate that the scales and their sub-dimensions did not significantly deviate from the normal distribution [58]. Based on the results that were obtained, the statistical methods based on the assumption of normal distribution were used.
For the analysis of the data concerning teachers' characteristics, the percentage and frequency values were calculated as well as the mean and the standard deviation scores of the scales. Additionally, an independent samples t-test was used to determine the differences on the scores of the two scales according to gender and two ANOVA analyses were used to determine the differences on the scores of the two scales according to age and teaching experience. The correlation analysis technique was used to examine the relationship between job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions of the teachers in this regard. In the meantime, the direction and magnitude of the correlation between pairs of variables were used to determine the nature of the relationships. The absolute values of coefficients between .70 and 1.00 were interpreted as a high level of correlation; those between .69 and .30 as a moderate level of correlation; those that were .29 or below as a low level of correlation; and those with a value closer to .00 were interpreted as having no relationship [55]. The statistical analysis of data was carried out in the SPSS software. The significance was tested at the p<.05 level. When interpreting the mean values, the scores obtained from the scales referred to the following meanings: "1.00-1.80: None," "1.81-2.61: Low," "2.62-3.42: Moderate," "3.4-4.23: High," and "4.24-5.00: Very High."

Findings
The findings related to teachers' Job Embeddedness and Vocational Belonging perceptions were given in Table 2 and 3.

Teachers' Perceptions of Job Embeddedness
The findings related to teachers' job embeddedness perceptions are given in Table 2.

Teachers' Perceptions of Vocational Belonging
The findings related to teachers' Vocational belonging are given in Table 3. When the mean and standard deviation scores related to teachers' vocational belonging perceptions are examined, as in Table 3, in general, teachers' job belonging perceptions were at ( =2.98, sd=1.03) "moderate" level.
Also, moderate levels of teachers' perceptions were found when teachers' perceptions about the sub-dimensions of the scales ,namely; vocational management belonging dimension ( =2.82, sd=1.07), vocational organization belonging dimension ( =3.20, sd=1.09) and vocational place belonging dimension ( =2.91, sd=.95) were concerned, When teachers' vocational belonging perceptions are examined , it is observed that while the highest mean score was found in vocational organization belonging dimension, the lowest mean score was found in vocational management belonging dimension.

Examining Teachers' Job Embeddedness and Vocational Belonging Perceptions With Respect To Variables
The findings related to teachers' job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions with respect to variables (gender, age, teaching experience) are presented in Table 4, 5, 6. Results of independent samples t-test analysis in Table 4 indicated no significant gender differences on the scores of teachers' job embeddedness (t 0,05:256 =.424, p>.05) and vocational belonging (t 0,05:256 =.805, p>.05) perceptions. However, the male teachers' mean scores were greater than those of the female teachers.
According to ANOVA test, no significant age differences were found, as in Table 5, on the scores of teachers' job embeddedness (F (6-251) = .266, p>05) and vocational belonging(F (6-251) = .185, p>05) perceptions.   The results of the ANOVA test revealed no significant differences on the scores of teachers' job embeddedness (F (6-251) = .199, p>05) and vocational belonging (F  = .241, p>05) perceptions when their years of experience in teaching is concerned as in Table 6.

The Relationship between Teachers' Job Embeddedness and Vocational Belonging Perceptions
The findings related to teachers' job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions are given in Table 7.
Analyzing the Table 7, it can be seen that there is a moderate level positive relationship between teachers' job embeddedness and vocational belonging (r=0.45; p<0.05). As teachers' perceptions of job embeddedness increase, their perceptions of vocational belonging also increase.

Discussion and Conclusions
In this study, the relationship between job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions of elementary school teachers were analyzed. It was found that the teachers' perceptions of job embeddedness were at a moderate level. From among the sub-dimensions of the job embeddedness scale, the environmental fit, organizational fit, organizational connection, environmental connection and organizational sacrifice dimensions were at moderate levels. Based on the analysis of the means and standard deviations related to the job embeddedness, the highest mean score was of the organizational connection dimension, while the lowest mean score was of the environmental connection dimension. In the literature, there are studies on job embeddedness in various sectors. Kıran [5] showed that teachers had a high level of job embeddedness perception. Akgündüz, Güzel and Harman [61] also found high levels of perceptions of job embeddedness in their studies on different business sectors, whereas Kesen and Akyüz [62] and Dedeoğlu, Özdevecioğlu and Oflazer [63] found a moderate level of perceptions of job embeddedness among employees.
Job embeddedness is associated with employees' organizational fit, organizational links, and their sacrifices for the organization. Moreover, it refers to all the situations revealed by the employees' connections with social, political and cultural communities in their environment; their relationships with other organizations; their conformity to neighbors, friends, groups and activities; and their links and sacrifices. Critical aspects of job embeddedness are related to employees' connections with other employees and the community, how employees conform to the organization or their community, and finally what they can sacrifice if they have to quit their jobs [7]. Individuals may continue their current job by sacrificing desires arising from themselves or their environment. Based on this framework, Mitchell [3] has addressed two types of job embeddedness: on-the-job embeddedness and off-the-job embeddedness. While on-the-job embeddedness is associated with an individual's internal forces ensuring the employee's stay on the job, off-the-job embeddedness is associated with the individual's private experiences and the forces in the social environment of the individual [44]. Job embeddedness is considered as a critical factor for organizations and individuals. That is because employees with job embeddedness are expected to work harder within the scope of their organizational roles, fulfill their jobs more carefully, exhibit more positive attitudes in general and increase their job performances [60].
In this study, it was concluded that the teachers' perceptions of vocational belonging were at a moderate level. Moreover, from among the sub-dimensions of vocational belonging scale, the vocational management belonging, vocational organization belonging, and vocational place belonging dimensions were at moderate levels. Based on the analysis of the means and standard deviations related to the vocational belonging, the highest mean score was of the vocational organization belonging dimension, while the lowest mean score was of the vocational management belonging dimension. There are several studies in the literature that have been carried out on job embeddedness in educational institutions [40,41,5]. There are a limited number of studies in the literature on teachers' perceptions of vocational belonging. Perie and Baker [59], Şahin [53] and Öztaş [49] also found that teachers' perceptions of vocational belonging were at a moderate level. These findings parallel the results of the present research study. In a study conducted on a different business industry by Erdoğan [66], it was concluded that participants' perceptions of vocational belonging were at a high level.
Vocational belonging is associated with employees' various attitudes and behaviors related to their job and covers objectives related to their profession; therefore, vocational belonging is one of the crucial elements that affect individuals' behaviors [39]. At the same time, the professional degree of belonging varies from person to person. Individuals with a high level of vocational belonging are characterized as having a powerful belief in and acceptance of the objectives of a profession, and as eager to make an effort on behalf of their profession and maintain their membership in the profession [64]. Vocational belonging refers to individuals' interests in their profession. That is, if an individual is interested in his work, he has a sense of belonging, but if he is uninterested and uninvolved, he is deprived of his sense of belonging. This uninterested occurring in the teaching profession may result in problems that are very difficult to solve among students who will graduate from schools to serve to educate future generations. The level of vocational belonging among teachers working in educational positions may positively or negatively affect how they teach and the relationships they have with students and other people.
In the study, a moderate positive correlation was found between job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions of the teachers. As the teachers' perceptions of job embeddedness increased, their perceptions of vocational belonging also increased. In other words, the teachers with a high level of perceptions of vocational belonging also had a high level of perceptions of job embeddedness. There are no studies in the literature that examine job embeddedness and vocational belonging perceptions of teachers. However, there are studies in the literature in which the relationship between job embeddedness and various other variables is examined. Lev and Koslowsky [40] analyzed the relationship between teachers' job embeddedness and their gender, organizational citizenship and organizational commitment. Lev and Koslowsky [65] examined the relationship between the job embeddedness of teachers and their sense of responsibility, job performance and contextual performance. Burke [41] analyzed the relationship between the job embeddedness of teachers and the support offered by the management or their colleagues. Mitchell [3] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and desire to quit the job, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and search for an alternative job. Lee, Mitchell, Sablynski, Burton and Holtom [9] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and organizational citizenship, job performance, intention to quit and conscious absenteeism. Sekiguchi et al. [21] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness of an employee and his performance, interactive work leader-member exchange, organizational self-esteem and organizational citizenship behavior; Ng and Feldman [44] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and job performance. Birsel, Börü, İslamoğlu and Yurtkoru [8] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and socio-demographic variables Candan [42] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness, job performance and burnout. Özçelik and Cenkci [45] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness, patriarchal leadership and job performance. Şanlı [47] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and employee advocacy, organizational support and intention to quit the job. Nafei [46] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and organizational cynicism. Crossley, Bennett, Jex and Burnfield [19] and Şanlı [47] analyzed the relationship between the job embeddedness teachers and their intention to quit the job. Akgündüz, Güzel and Harman [61] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and trust in the manager. Kesen and Akyüz [62] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and prosocial motivation. Dedeoğlu et al. [63] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness and the quality of work life, optimism and the quality of life. Kanten, Kanten and Dündar [60] analyzed the relationship between job embeddedness, happiness and satisfaction with the hierarchy of salary.
It has emerged from this research study that individuals who feel embedded in their jobs can develop commitment and a positive sense of belongingness towards their organizations. This is because being embedded in a job indicates a positive situation for individuals. If this positive situation can be used well, it can be thought that it is easier for teachers to identify with their institutions and to adapt to their institutions. This will help teachers to get rid of negative thoughts such as leaving their schools or quitting their jobs. It is also important that employees not only have certain qualifications, but also identify themselves with their professions and institutions and strive for the success of their institutions. This situation makes it necessary for employees to have a high level of vocational belonging. Vocational belonging is the main influence that improves and sustains motivation and performance in work life. In this respect, it has gained considerable importance in recent years for both employees and employers. The determination of the level of vocational belonging of individuals prevents the loss of qualified labor force as well as being a guide for creating solutions that will satisfy the parties and for developing innovations. Behaviors such as the following will increase both the job embeddedness and vocational belonging of teachers: Taking into account the suggestions, complaints and requests of employees; creating a comfortable and peaceful work environment for employees; being fair and effective in the decisions taken and including employees in the decision-making process; being transparent; ensuring trust; dealing with employees' organizational and individual problems and listening to them; allocating time; giving feedback on successes/failures; being at an equal distance to all of the employees without favoring any of them; and being able to show an approach from a humanist point of view.
Based on the results presented above, it can be argued that job embeddedness is quite a new field of study in Turkey. Therefore, the relationship between this concept and other concepts can be examined especially in educational settings. Teachers can review their level of job embeddedness and the factors that affect their adaptation to schools and to their environment. They can reconsider how establishing connections with the organization and the environment contributes to themselves. And, they can also review how sacrificing for the school and the environment will let them into an interaction with themselves, with their surroundings and with their organizations. They can spend more time at schools especially to improve their behaviors in a positive sense. Certain activities can be carried out in this respect, such as in-service trainings or similar activities related to communication and problem solving techniques to enhance positive emotions, thoughts and behaviors and to reduce negative ones. This study was designed to determine teachers' vocational belongings. Similar studies can be carried out on different sample groups such as inspectors, school administrators, students and parents. Moreover, studies on vocational belonging can be carried out in different types of schools such as secondary schools, high schools and universities.