Role of job satisfaction as a mediator in the relationship between psychological climate and organisational commitment of lecturers at higher education institutions

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the role of job satisfaction as a partial mediator in the relationship between psychological climate and organisational commitment. The study involved as respondents 328 lecturers who work in various higher education institutions. The measuring instruments used in the study were: (1) organisational commitment by Seniati and Yulianto (2010), based on Meyer and Allen (1997); (2) psychological climate by Brown and Leigh, based on Kahn (1990); (3) job satisfaction by Seniati and Yulianto (2010), based on Spector (1997). The study results showed that there were significantly positive effects of psychological climate on job satisfaction (β = 0.84, p < 0.05), and job satisfaction on organisational commitment (β = 0.47, p < 0.05). Furthermore, these findings also indicate that the influence of psychological climate on organisational commitment can occur through job satisfaction in higher education institutions (β = 0.23, p < 0.05). On the basis of these results, we encourage higher education institutions to enhance the level of job satisfaction and organisational commitment of their lecturers by creating an improved psychological climate for them.