Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 15, No. 1, 2024 84 The Impact of University Teachers’ Organizational Commitment on Work Performance Yurong Pan1, 2, *, Roberto Arguelles1 1 Graduate School, Angeles University Foundation, Angeles City 2009, Philippines 2 School of Mathematics and Physics, Bengbu University, Bengbu City 233000, China *Corresponding Author: Yurong Pan (pan.yurong@auf.edu.ph) Abstract: This study aims to determine the impact of university teachers’ organizational commitment on their work performance. The sample consists of 202 respondents who are teachers from a university in China. The data is gathered through a questionnaire. The study uses Pearson correlation analysis method and regression analysis technique by SPSS software. Findings of this research confirm there is a significant positive correlation between organizational commitment and work performance. The results of the regression analysis show that teachers’ affective commitment have significant positive impact on task performance and contextual performance; teachers’ normative commitment have not significant influence on task performance and contextual performance; continuance commitment have no significant effect on task performance, but have a significant and positive effect on contextual performance. Keywords: Organizational commitment; Teacher; Work performance; Questionnaire survey. 1. Introduction Teachers are the main body responsible for school education, teaching, and scientific research. Teachers are considered the most important and influential factor in a school. Improving teachers’ performance is a long-term mechanism for schools to gain sustained motivation; Improving teachers’ performance is an important means to improve the quality of teaching and the level of education in schools. Many factors can affect teachers’ performance, which have been studied by scholars. Some scholars believe that the leadership style of principals, teachers’ happiness, teachers’ salary, organizational commitment, and other factors can affect teachers’ work performance [1,2,3,4,5]. The organizational commitment in organizational behavior reflects a psychological contract between employees and the organization [6]. The maintenance of the relationship between teachers and schools mainly relies on the psychological contract between teachers and schools. Teachers’ organizational commitment refers to the psychological mindset of recognizing the school's goals, culture, and values, making every effort to minimize gains and losses for the school, and yearning to stay in the school [3]. When teachers feel the school's care and support for them, they will increase their loyalty to the school, reduce the turnover rate, and this will be beneficial for stabilizing the talent team and improving the overall performance of the school. Celep founded that “teachers with high school identification would make the greatest effort to work for the school and feel proud of their own school, while teachers with low commitment would have lower work efficiency” [7]. Currently, the competition for talent in Chinese universities is fierce. Every university strives to retain high quality teachers who can deliver quality education to its students. For competitive universities, it is critical to study the organizational commitment of teachers. It will help university management and administrative departments make the right decisions when introducing new human resource policies and implementing organizational management models. Therefore, studying the impact of organizational commitment on work performance of university teachers is of great practical significance. However, there is relatively little study about the relationship between university teachers’ organizational commitment and work performance, and the literature available for reference is very limited. To fill this gap, this study takes teachers in a university of China as an example to explore the impact of teachers’organizational commitment on their work performance through a survey. 2. Literature Review 2.1. Organizational Commitment Organizational commitment (OC) is an important concept that affects employees, organizations, and even society as a whole [8]. Since the proposal of organizational commitment, it has been the focus of many researchers. Meyer et al. believed that OC refered to a psychological state of whether employees stay in the organization, which was composed of affective commitment (AC), continuance commitment(CC), and normative commitment (NC) [9]. The importance of OC in any organization cannot be underestimated. Meyer & Herscovitch pointed out “organizational commitment refered to the power to connect employees and a series of activities related to the enterprise”[10]. Wiener's view was that OC refered to the recognition and acceptance of corporate culture and goals by employees, as well as compliance with corporate rules and regulations, ultimately leading to better realization of corporate interests[11]. According to Al Zefeiti et al. [12], Eleswd &Mohammed [13], Stinglhamber et al.[14], OC refers to the degree to which employees adopt organizational values and goals and identify with them in fulfilling their job responsibilities. Dajani stated that organizational commitment was strong desire of employees to contribute to the organization and continue to cooperate with it [15]. Teachers’ organizational commitment is a psychological emotion of teachers, which measures their level of identification and investment in the school. Huang agrued that teachers' organizational commitment was a work attitude and 85 retention psychological efficacy towards the school [16]. Ref. [2, 17] studied dual commitment of teachers (organizational commitment and professional commitment). Bogler & Somech (2004) pointed out that teachers who were highly loyal to schools also feeled that they had a high status and are willing to make contributions beyond their expectations[18]. However, if there are issues with the organizational commitment of teachers, it will lead to poor organizational performance in universities [19]. 2.2. Work Performance Scholars initially limited their understanding of work performance to behavioral outcomes. Munsterberg was one of the earliest psychologists to study work performance, and he primarily focused on task performance [20]. After that, some scholars pointed that work performance should not only focus on the results, but also pay more attention to the processes of employees’ behavioral. Motowidlo said: "work performance was the sum of valuable behavioral events that employees make towards the organization during a specific time period"[21]. Yildiz et al. defined work performance as the achievement or completion of work, the level of success of work, and the effort of employees to complete their work [22]. The future of a country's education system depends on teachers, who must provide learners with better teaching quality[23]. The issue of teacher performance has always been of great concern to university administrators. Hwang et al. pointed out that teachers' job performance can be defined as the actions they perform in schools for achieving educational targets[24]. Song stated that the definition of teacher job performance included "actions and behaviors taken", "results achieved, and performance"[6]. 2.3. The Relationship Between Organizational Commitment and Work Performance OC is closely related to employee work performance, and many scholars have conducted research on this topic. Ahmad et al. used survey data collected from 310 employees of fifteen advertising companies in Islamabad (Pakistan) to examine the impact of OC and attitude towards work on job performance[25].Kaplan et al. found through their research that AC had a significant positive effect on work performance, while NC and CC had no significant impact on work performance[8]. Al Zeifeti&Mohamad believed “employees have a firm belief in organizational values and goals, as well as a willingness to make significant efforts for the organization, which can motivate them to work better”[12]. Kustiawan et al. investigated the effects of emotional organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and employee engagement on employee performance in manufacturing companies[26]. Some scholars argued that the significance of organizational commitment was to recognize the connection between individuals and organizations, in order to encourage their desire for optimal performance. Ref. [27, 28] also discussed the relationship between OC and work performance. Teachers' OC is a psychological bond that connects teachers and schools. It is closely related to the work attitude, performance, and retention tendencies of teachers, and affects the effectiveness of school organizations. Bogler&Somech have shown that employees with strong organizational skills would work harder and contribute to organizational performance[18]. Tolentino’s research results showed that for academic personnel in the university, only the AC dimension was significantly correlated with work performance, while administrative personnel did not have a single commitment dimension related to work performance[29]. The study results of Zhang [3] found "teachers' OC is a mediating variable between university salaries and job performance, with the mediating role of teacher emotional commitment being particularly significant". Ref. [2, 17] used a people-oriented analysis technique to identify and compare the differences between teachers' organizational commitment and professional commitment, and studied the relationship between teachers' dual commitment and employee behavior. With this background in mind, to determine the influence of university teachers’ OC on work performance, we propose the following research hypothesises: H1:There is a significant correlation between teachers' OC and work performance. H2: Teachers' affective commitment has a significant positive impact on task performance. H3: Teachers' continuous commitment has a significant positive impact on task performance. H4: Teachers' normative commitment has a significant positive impact on task performance. H5: Teachers' affective commitment has a significant positive impact on contextual performance. H6:Teachers' continuous commitment has a significant positive impact on contextual performance. H7: Teachers' normative commitment has a significant positive impact on contextual performance. 3. Research Methodology The quantitative methods [30] is used in this article, data collection methods through distributing questionnaires to teachers of a university in China.We distributed 280 survey questionnaires and retrieved 225, of which 202 were valid. Descriptive (frequency distribution) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression) were applied to analyze the research data by SPSS software. In this article, the organization commitment scale which is developed by Meyer, Allen, and Smith [31]was used to determined the level of university teacher’s OC. This Scale includes three dimensions: AC (6 items), NC (6 items), and CC (6 items), with a total of 18 items, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for overall scale was calculated as 0.898 . To measure teacher’s work performance, this study uses a scale developed by Borman&Motowidlo [32] and designed it based on the actual situation of Chinese university teachers. The scale of work performance consists of two parts which are task performance (TP) with 6 questions and contextual performance (CP) with 6 questions,with a total of 12 questions. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for overall scale is 0.946. Before the formal survey, a questionnaire was tested and predicted. The scale is a five-point Likert response set that ranges from “Strongly Disagree=1” and “Strongly Agree =5”. 4. Results and Discussion 4.1. Profile of Respondents We use SPSS to conduct statistical analysis on the collected questionnaire data. The distribution characteristics of the data are shown in Table. 86 Table 1. Profile of respondents Atribute Frequency Percentage of studies Age <35 Years 61 30.2% 36-50 Years 119 58.91% >50 Years 22 10.89% Gender Male 85 42.08% Female 117 57.92% Number of year in the university 1-5 years 32 15.84% 6 -10 years 36 17.82% above 10 years 134 66.34% Education level Doctor 65 32.18% Master 88 43.56% Bachelor 49 24.26% From Table 1, it can be seen that among the 202 teachers, 30.2% are under the age of 35, 119 are between 36 and 50 years old, accounting for 58.91%, and 22 are over 50 years old. Overall, the proportion of middle-aged people is relatively high. 42.08% of the samples are male, and 57.92% are female teachers. In this sample, 68 people, accounting for 33.66%, have worked at this university for less than 10 years, while 134 people have worked for more than 10 years. Generally speaking, the longer a teacher stays in a university, the deeper their feelings towards the university. From the distribution of educational levels among the respondents, 88 teachers have a master's degree, accounting for 43.56%, 65 teachers with doctoral degrees, accounting for 32.18%; There are 49 teachers with undergraduate degrees, accounting for 24.26% . Overall, university teachers have higher educational qualifications. They belong to intellectual employees. 4.2. Correlation Analysis To examine the relationship between teachers' OC and work performance, we calculated the correlation coefficients between the two variables, which is as shown in Table 2. Table 2. Correlation Coefficient Matrix AC CC NC TP Person correlation 0.445 0.361 0.243 P-Value 0 0 0 CP Person correlation 0.587 0.460 0.350 P-Value 0 0 0 According to Table 2, the correlation coefficients between AC and task performance is 0.445, the correlation coefficients between CC and task performance is 0.361, and the correlation coefficients between NC and task performance is 0.243. The accompanying probability P-value of all correlation coefficients are 0, if significant α is 0.01, and they are all less than 0.01, indicating a significant positive correlation between the three dimensions of OC and task performance. The correlation coefficients between AC, CC, NC, and contextual performance are 0.587, 0.460, and 0.350, respectively. The accompanying probability P-value of all correlation coefficients also are 0 (P<0.01), indicating a significant positive correlation between the three dimensions of OC and contextual performance. Thus, H1 holds. 4.3. Regression Analysis of Teachers’ Organizational Commitment and Work Performance To determine the explanatory power of the three dimensions of teachers’ OC on work performance. We conduct regression analysis with task performance as the dependent variable and AC, CC, and NC as independent variables. The results are shown in Table 3. Table 3. The Results of Regression Analysis for Task Performance Independent variables Unstandardized β Std. Error t Sig. DW Tolerance VIF Constant 1.497 0.273 5.482 0.000 2.003 AC 0.347 0.078 4.474 0.000 0.673 1.485 CC 0.213 0.084 2.541 0.012 0.662 1.511 NC 0.053 0.101 0.522 0.602 0.553 1.807 Dependent variable: Task performance The overall regression model is significant ( 224.02 R , 339.20F , 01.0P ). It was found that AC, CC, and NC have an overall explanatory power of 22.4% for the variance of task performance. Tolerance and variance inflation factor(VIF) are important statistics for measuring multicollinearity between explanatory variables. From the values of Tolerance and VIF in Table 3, multicollinearity of the three independent variables is not a problem. The DW (Durbin Watson) test is a statistical test method that infers whether there is autocorrelation in a small sample sequence. The value of DW is between 0 and 4. When DW=2, there is no autocorrelation in the residual sequence. In Table 3, the value of DW is equal to 2.003, which is approaching 2, indicating that the residual sequence of the model has no autocorrelation. This indicates the model fits well. The partial regression coefficient of AC β equls 0.347 with T-test statistic 87 of 4.474 ( 01.0p ), indicating that AC has a significant positive impact on task performance. Therefore, H2 holds. However, the partial regression coefficient of continuous commitment β equls 0.213 and T-test statistic is 2.541 ( 01.0p ), indicating that continuous commitment does not have a significant positive impact on task performance. So, H3 is not valid. Similarly, normative commitment has not a significant positive impact on task performance, H4 does not hold. Among the three independent variables, only AC has a significant positive impact on TP. The researchers conduct regression analysis with contextual performance as the dependent variable and AC, CC, and NC as independent variables. According to the regression results, we find that the overall regression model is significant ( 393.02 R , 391.44F , 01.0P ). This indicates that AC, CC, and NC have an overall explanatory power of 39.3% for the variance of contextual performance. According to Table 4, among the three independent variables, AC and CC have a significant positive impact on contextual performance, and H5 and H6 are valid. However, NC does not have a significant positive impact on contextual performance ( 01.0p ), and H7 does not hold. Table 4. The Results of Regression Analysis for Contextual Performance Independent variables Unstandardized β Std. Error t Sig. DW Tolerance VIF Constant 0.962 0.236 4.070 0.000 2.092 AC 0.455 0.067 6.762 0.000 0.673 1.485 CC 0.250 0.073 3.447 0.001 0.662 1.511 NC 0.077 0.087 0.882 0.379 0.553 1.807 Dependent variable: Contextual Performance 5. Conclusion This paper takes a university in China as an example, and conducts a questionnaire survey of 202 respondents using the OC scale and the work performance scale to explore the influence of university teachers' OC on work performance. The survey results display that the three dimensions of OC of college teachers: AC, CC, and NC, all have a significant positive linear correlation with task performance and contextual performance. According to the results of regression analysis, this study found university teachers' AC, CC, and NC can jointly predict 22.4% of the variation in task performance. AC has a significant positive impact on task performance, while CC and NC have no positive influence on task performance, which is consistent with the conclusion of KAPLAN et al. [8]. In addition, the research results reveal that university teachers' AC, CC, and NC can jointly predict 39.3% of the variation in contextual performance. AC and CC have a positive impact on contextual performance. However, NC does not have a positive impact on contextual performance. To sum up, AC has a significant effect on the work performance of college teachers, which is consistent with the research conclusion of Tolentino [29]. This result is related to Chinese traditional culture. Chinese traditional culture focuses on the overall spirit and emphasizes patriotism for society, the nation, and the country; Chinese culture pays special attention to the emotional component of experience, emphasizing that a drop of kindness should be repaid by a spring. Based on this survey, we suggest that colleges and universities should care about teachers’ lives and personal career development, improve teachers’ organizational commitment levels, and retain talents with affection. This article launched a study on teachers in a Chinese university, and the findings have some limitations. 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