Differentiating among role perceptions of echelons comprising a centralized national educational hierarchy

Attempts to establish a distinction among echelons comprising a centralized national educational system by means of exploring their role perceptions of stress, tension, ambiguity risk and exposure to criticism. Statistical factors are computed and a discriminating procedure is executed based on the assumption that different hierarchical positions and work circumstances which exist in public centralized service‐oriented organizational hierarchies create unique influences on echelons’ role perceptions. Findings indicate that echelons are differentiated by their perceptions of risk and exposure to criticism, but not by their perceptions of role tension, stress and ambiguity. Findings indicate that the executing echelon in a centralized system perceives risk and exposure to public criticism to be greater in comparison with other echelons. Argues for back‐up mechanisms to be established in centralized organizational systems, so that the ability of the executing echelon’s members to respond and cope effectively with criticism and risk will be increased, and their perceived vulnerability will be reduced.