Psychological needs matter more than social and organizational resources in explaining organizational commitment.

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of psychological needs satisfaction on teacher's commitment, over and above the impact of social and organizational resources, by building a model based on the Job Demands-Resources theory, Self-Determination Theory, and Conservation of Resources Theory. Hierarchical multiple regressions with data obtained from a sample of 301 Romanian teachers (89% women) reveal that psychological needs satisfaction explains a significant amount of variance in teacher commitment, compared to the variance explained by social resources and organizational resources (affective and normative organizational commitment). These results highlight the role of needs' satisfaction in predicting teachers' commitment and provide valuable information for practitioners aiming to design interventions to increase teachers' commitment.