Academic Commitment Research Articles

Time Series Modelling of Academic Employee Commitment of a Sub-Saharan African University

The study objective is to see how human resource management (HRM) could rely on small data evidence-based analytics to gauge employee commitment in a sub-Saharan African University. A 7-point Likert scale questionnaire on academic employee commitment in Kenya Public Universities was designed, validated and pilot tested. Out of around 60 questionnaires administered, only 31 responses were obtained before the Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic lockdowns in Kenya. The responses were subjected to the Modeler analyses using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 21) to generate twelve optimal ARIMA (0,0,0) models for further statistical analyses. Results indicate 46.7% of employees want to spend the rest of their career in the organisation, over 61.2% of employees felt alienated and 34.9% were not emotionally attached. Around 59.3%, 64.0% and almost all employees tested on different metrics have difficulty leaving the organisation now. Although 28.9% of employees could leave abruptly, 64.6% of employees felt acculturated and 29.7% would remain at all costs. Overall, add-on effects of willingness to stay and bear with the organisation, emotional attachment, alienation, moral obligation, beneficial to remain, discouragement levels, organisational culture and being sold out to organisation could influence employee commitment levels. Thus, contributing to the HRM field, especially because the twelve-layered cascade of a series-parallel network made up of ladder and lattice structures of shared human and material resources management was used to deduce the Jackson’s theorem. Future research shall consider larger sample sizes to enable us to confirm or refute the conclusions derived in this study.

Putting the Goal Back into Grit: Academic Goal Commitment, Grit, and Academic Achievement

Grit has recently been challenged for its weak predictive power and the incompleteness of its measurement. This study addressed these issues by taking a developmental, person-oriented approach to study academic-related goal commitment and grit and their effects on academic achievement. Using longitudinal data among Finnish eighth and ninth graders (n = 549, 59.4% female, age = 14–16), the longitudinal changes in grit and academic goal commitment profiles were investigated through latent profile and latent transition analyses. Four profiles were identified across two grades: High committed-persistent and moderate consistency (~17%), Moderate (~60%), Low committed-persistent and moderate-low consistency (~8%) and Extremely low committed-persistent and moderate-low consistency (~12%). The students in the High committed-persistent and moderate consistency profile had the highest academic achievement of all the profiles when controlled for gender, socioeconomic status, conscientiousness, and academic persistence. The results revealed that students’ profiles changed between the eighth and ninth grades, with more than one-third of the High committed-persistent and moderate consistency adolescents dropping from this group. Further analysis showed that the profiles varied by educational aspiration, gender, and socioeconomic status. These findings imply that the combination of grit and academic goal commitment influences academic achievement; however, this combination is less common, unstable, and affected by internal and external factors. The study provided important implications on the weak grit effect and the ways to improve it.

Technology usage as a vehicle for information and approximation with society

Introduction: Confronting the COVID-19 pandemic involves actions in the scope of information, especially in combating false content disseminated by social media. In this sense, medical students, including those belonging to a Trauma and Emergency Academic League, have mobilized to create a media campaign in order to disseminate information about SARS-CoV-2’s aspects to the population. The objective of this work was to report the contribution of the league members to the campaign developed to disseminate reliable scientific content based on simple and objective language about COVID-19. Methodology: A campaign was organized by second to the sixth-year medical students, members of 15 university academic leagues, with the aim to use social media as an information tool for health educational practice. Results: The students from the Trauma and Emergency Academic League made a total of 6 posts on Instagram, using the league’s and the campaign’s accounts. Those posts obtained a total of 1983 views and had the purposed of reaching the general population. The information provided was about self-medication and its risks or benefits, preventive measures against COVID-19 and how to make and use homemade masks. Among the public that accessed the campaign’s profile on Instagram, 70% were women and 80% were between 18 and 34 years old. Discussion: With the reported activities, league students described acquiring knowledge about COVID-19, in addition to teamwork experience and contribution to the fight against the pandemic through the materials production and its dissemination to the population. It allowed innovation in learning and in the access to knowledge, as the pandemic imposed new health-related educational challenges. However, it is noticed that there is a limitation in the posts scope, as they have mostly reached a specific age group. Conclusion: The proper internet usage is essential to combat misleading information in the pandemic context. Therefore, the online dissemination of reliable information with the intent to reach a larger audience indicates academic commitment, especially to social responsibility.

Effect of Adopting Hardship Allowance Academic Staffs in Jig-Jiga University, Somali Regional State, Ethiopia

Higher education is one of the most important drivers of a nation and plays a significant role in the development of any country through the creation and cultivation of knowledge for the sake of building a modern world. The academic staffs are a key resource within higher education institutions. A positive and healthy university structure results in increased academic staff retention, job satisfaction, commitment and better job motivation. The study attempted to examine the extent to which hardship allowance retains and attracts academic staff at Jig-Jiga University (JJU). This study took a mixed method of research design. Primary data were collected through questionnaire surveys and interviews from various fields while secondary data were collected from the website, different journals, books and the internet which related to the hardship allowance. The Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 200 university academic staff while interviews were to university top management officials. The study found that the absence of hardship allowance to JJU’s academic staff meant relegating the desired goals of quality education and staff retention. In fact, the existence of such difficult conditions in Jig-Jiga town is duly recognised by different federal institutions operating in Jig-Jiga town. The federal institutions clearly recognise the existence of different difficult working conditions in the town and provided hardship allowance for their employees while their counterpart JJU staffs are getting nothing of such kind. The study offers practical suggestions that deep and urgent attentions need put in place to improve the staffs’ life, moral, and motivational crises. Further, the Ministry of Science and Higher education has to oversee the situation like the other sectors that implemented the hardship allowance to their employees.

Noncognitive Skill Profiles and Their Relationships With Academic Outcomes at Hispanic‐Serving Institutions

Hispanic‐serving institutions (HSIs) face a multifaceted set of challenges in determining how to maintain their effectiveness in building student competencies and encouraging their academic success. To understand the importance of noncognitive skills on fostering such success, this study reports on efforts at three HSIs to make meaningful use of noncognitive assessment data in combination with student background characteristics and academic outcomes. We applied a person‐centered approach to extract latent profiles from data measuring students' academic skills, commitment, self‐management, and social support. These profiles demonstrated reliable patterns of student noncognitive skill expression across the three institutions and exhibited meaningful relationships with external covariates and distal outcomes alike. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

EMPLOYEE RETENTION STRATEGIES AND NORMATIVE COMMITMENT OF ACADEMICS IN SELECTED PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Tertiary educational institutions are facing a huge challenge in terms of retaining skilled human resource capacity, which has a debilitating effect on its ability to make strides in the areas of socio-economic and political development. The need for qualified academic staff in Nigerian tertiary institutions of learning is on the increase, while, majority of the tertiary institutions in Nigeria are experiencing dearth of teaching personnel due to poor remuneration, low motivation, low job satisfaction and lack of organisational commitment amongst the lecturers, which have created negative job attitudes and poor organisational commitment. This study therefore investigated the influence of employee retention strategies on normative commitment of academics in selected private universities in Ogun state, Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 1,842 academics in the private universities (Covenant, McPherson, Babcock, Bells, Crawford and Crescent universities). Through a multiple sampling technique, 589 out of 1842 were sampled for the study. Data were analyzed using both descriptive, as well as inferential statistics. Findings revealed that employee retention strategies had a significant effect on the normative commitment of academics in selected private universities in Ogun state, Nigeria (R2 = 0.638, t = 169.039, p<.05). The study recommends among others that private universities should take into consideration the retention factors which impact on the employees’ commitment to the institution and improve on them so as to curb employees’ desires to leave the organisation.

The Relationship Between Academics’ Dark Triad Traits and Their Organizational Commitment in Physical Education and Sport

The results of the recent studies on “dark triad” have caused this concept to become popular among the educational sciences. As the importance of these personality traits comes from the possibility of having an impact on students’ learning. Many researchers believe that teachers ‘personality traits may affect students’ learning processes in the future. So the main aim of this research is to examine the relationship between the dark triad traits of the academics and the organizational commitment dimensions. In the study conducted in the relational survey model, the Dark Triad Traits Scale developed by Paulhus & Williams (2002) and the Organizational Commitment Scale developed by Allen & Meyer (1990) were used as data collection tools. The sample of the research consists of 372 academics determined by random method. In the analysis of the data obtained from the scales, Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the level of relationship. As a result of the research, while a very low inverse relationship was determined between the emotional commitment of academics and personality traits of Machiavellianism and psychopathy, a moderate direct relationship was found between continuance commitment and the personality traits of Machiavellianism and psychopathy.

Analisis Strategi Pengelolaan Wakaf Uang di Indonesia (Pendekatan Metode Delphi)

Potential cash waqf in Indonesia is enormous. However, the fact that management of waqf money is still encountering many obstacles. This study tried to identify priority constraints become a bottleneck in the management of cash waqf in Indonesia, following the priority solution that can be offered in support of the management of cash waqf in Indonesia with the approach of the Delphi method. Delphi method is a systematic method of collecting opinions from a group of expert withdrawal through a series of questionnaires based linkert scale. Based on the analysis of Delphi that rank highest priority constraint is the lack of public understanding of the waqf money followed by lack of public awareness to be charitable. The results of the analysis of Delphi that ranked highest strategic priorities with the acquisition of the average value of the same magnitude, there are three criteria, namely to provide effective education and outreach to the community about cash waqf, an innovative marketing strategy of waqf institutions, as well as the transparency and accountability of waqf institutions. It is expected that the joint commitment of various parties, academics, practitioners and policymakers in boosting cash waqf management efforts in Indonesia

A Circle of Violence: Are Burnout, Disengagement and Self-Efficacy in Non-University Teacher Victims of Workplace Violence New and Emergent Risks?

Workplace violence (WV) is defined as an intentional misuse of power, including threats of physical force against another person or group, which can cause physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social harm. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence, characteristics and consequences of WV in a sample of Italian teachers. Our hypothesis was that WV impacted workplace satisfaction, self-efficacy and burnout. A self-administered questionnaire was answered by 331 teachers. A total of 192 (58%) subjects reported experiencing a physical or psychological form of WV. Overall, findings confirmed our hypothesis: teacher victims of WV showed high levels of burnout—both in terms of exhaustion (F = 3.96; p = 0.04) and disengagement (F = 5.85; p = 0.016), lower levels of workplace satisfaction (F = 13.24; p < 0.001) and regulatory emotional self-efficacy—especially for negative emotions (F = 5.45; p = 0.02) compared with teachers who have never experienced WV. This investigation suggests the importance of preventing WV and offering support to victims. Doing so will increase teachers’ ability to manage and cope with violent behavior. Prevention and intervention may also decrease serious consequences in relation to victims’ wellbeing, and improve the general stability of the classroom, as well as motivation and academic commitment.

Commitment of Faculty Members at Al-Rustaq’ College of Education in Saltant of Oman to Professional Teaching Ethics from the Perspective of Students

Commitment of Faculty Members at Al-Rustaq’ College of Education in Saltant of Oman to Professional Teaching Ethics from the Perspective of Students

Impact of Internal Branding on Student Engagement: Insights from a South African University

This study explores how internal branding affects the levels of engagement with the brand by HEI students. The research setting for this study was the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, (Wits) a leading Commonwealth University in South Africa. Most studies on internal brand focus on employees and have been conducted in the developed word. This study focuses on students as the stakeholder and takes place in an emerging market. Assembling internal branding and student engagement from a theoretical perspective, the findings run counter to the known theory by showing that students can be engaged and loyal to the institution without the University having a formal internal branding program. The lack of internal branding had no impact on academic commitment but has a negative impact on brand engagement. Some reasons for this are suggested.

The Role of Moral Attitude, Goal Commitment, and Cheating Tendency in Academic Achievement

This study aims to examine the effects of cheating tendency, academic goal commitment, and moral attitude toward cheating on academic achievements of teacher candidates. 486 teacher candidates were recruited. The moral attitude toward cheating was measured with the Moral Attitude subscale of the Scale for Attitude Towards Cheating. The cheating tendency was measured with the Cheating subscale of the Academic Dishonesty Scale. The academic goal commitment was measured with the KUT scale. Academic achievement was measured with the GPA. The data were analyzed with the independent t-test, Pearson Correlation test, and path analysis. While moral attitude positively and directly affected academic goal commitment, it negatively and directly influenced cheating tendency negatively. Academic goal commitment predicted cheating tendency negatively and GPA positively. The cheating tendency had a negative impact on GPA. Academic goal commitment positively affected GPA via cheating tendency; however, the direct effect of academic goal commitment on GPA was higher than the indirect effect. Moral attitude negatively predicted cheating tendency via academic goal commitment while it affected GPA positively. Moral attitude positively predicted GPA via cheating tendency. Consequently, cheating tendency affected academic achievement negatively. Moral attitude toward cheating and the high level of academic goal commitment reduced cheating tendency and increased academic achievement.

Validation of an Instrument and Measurement of Employee Work-Life Policies, Psychological Empowerment, and Job Commitment of Academic Staff in Universities

This study used a structural equation modelling approach to assess the association between employee work-life policies, psychological empowerment, and academic staff job commitment in universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. Three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study following a descriptive survey research design. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted in the selection of 315 academic staff from two universities in the study area. “Work-Life Policies, Psychological Empowerment and Job Commitment Questionnaire (WPPEJCQ)” was used as the instrument for data collection. The construct validity of the instrument was ascertained through an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The Kaiser-Meyer-Ohlin of .894 and the Bartlett coefficient of 7795.820 were obtained. Several fit indices of Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to accept the model such as RMSEA=.031, TLI=.969, CFI=.971 and many others. The null hypotheses were all tested using Path analysis. Findings revealed, among others, that there is a significant effect of work-life policies on the affective (β=.774,t=21.636,p<.05), continuance (β=.450,t=8.932,p<.05), and normative (β=490,t=9.967,p<.05) dimensions of academic staff commitment; furthermore, psychological empowerment has a significant effect on the affective (β=.795,t=23.199,p<.05), continuance (β=.501,t=10.261,p<.05) and normative (β = .520, t = 10.795, p< .05) dimensions of staff commitment; and there is a significant composite effect of work-life policies and psychological empowerment on the affective, continuance, and normative commitment levels of academic staff in universities. Based on these findings, conclusions and recommendations were made

Academic Commitment In Relation To Social Media Usage And Emotional Maturity Among College Students

Academic Commitment In Relation To Social Media Usage And Emotional Maturity Among College Students

Model of Organizational Commitment of the Head of Vocational High School in Medan North Sumatera

The purpose of this study is to determine the Fixed Model or Theoretical Model of Organizational Commitment that can describe the structure of the causal relationship between exogenous variables with endogenous variables Organizational Commitment of Head of Vocational School in Medan City. This research was conducted in 2019 with a total sample of 106 using Kreijcie tables. Data were analyzed by path analysis after meeting the analysis requirements tet, namely the Normality and Linerity test. The research findings indicate Organizational Commitment of Had of Vocational High School are directly affected by organizational culture, academic supervision knowledge, and job satisfaction. Thus, a theoretical model or fixed model was found that illustrates the structure of the causal relationship between organizational culture variables, academic supervision knowledge, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of head of vocational high schools in Medan City. To increase the head’s organizational commitment, organizational culture, knowledge of academic supervision, and job satisfaction must be included in the strategic planning of human resource development at the Vocational High School in Medan City, but still consider other variables that influence further organizational commitment research.

Development of Socio-Emotional and Creative Skills in Primary Education: Teachers' Perceptions About the Gulbenkian XXI School Learning Communities Project

In recent decades, several authors have warned of the need to equip students with skills that include critical thinking, creativity, and emotional management. Emotions can facilitate or impede children’s academic engagement, commitment, and ultimate school success since relationships and emotional processes affect how and what we learn. Teachers are the main emotional leaders of their students, and the foundation for promoting emotional balance within their groups is their ability to recognize, understand, and manage their emotions. The SEL approach defends that, as with academic skills, the development of social and emotional skills must be accomplished through explicit instruction. In the academic year 2014/2015, three schools in the Portuguese region of the Alentejo began an innovative four-year project to promote change in learning. The main goal was to improve learning by promoting the acquisition of basic knowledge within the formal curriculum and to stimulate the development of analytical and practical reasoning skills, resilience and responsibility, as well as technological, emotional, social and creative skills. To this end, the research team created two programs to be developed in primary school, the Emotional Literacy Program (ELP) and the Creative Thinking Development Program (Flow) as well as a training program for teachers, Mediators for Well- Being Program. This article details a study analyzing the perceptions of primary school teachers who participated in the project. Data were collected by interviews and teachers’ reflections were analyzed. Content analysis was chosen as the analytical technique as it is appropriate for treating qualitative data. The results show very positive impacts on the professional and personal development of teachers. Teachers reported improvements in student behavior, in the relationships between them and in the classroom environment. They further emphasized the need for teachers to receive more training in emotional education in their academic and in service education.

Effect of Best Possible Self Intervention on Situational Motivation and Commitment in Academic Context

This study investigated the immediate effect of a Best Possible Self (BPS) intervention to enhance positive affect, situational academic motivation and academic commitment in a university context. A large sample of 176 French undergraduate students participated in the study. An experimental group (n = 88) performed a “Best Possible Self” (BPS) intervention that consisted of mentally thinking of the ideal academic future life. A control group (n = 88) was recruited to read neutral information during the same time. We evaluated positive and negative affect, situational academic motivation, and academic commitment. A comparison between the experimental and control group revealed significantly higher levels of positive affect, self-determined situational motivation, and academic commitment in the experimental group than in the control group. The results suggest that future positive thinking may be used to enhance situational academic motivation, and academic commitment in students, with a pivotal role for positive affect. Finally, the BPS intervention effect on motivation was fully mediate by positive affect.

Validity Evidence of a Scale on Academic Expectations for Higher Education

Abstract By using structural equation modeling, this study investigated the dimensionality and invariance of the Brazilian scale of Academic Expectations for Higher Education - short version. The sample consisted of 6,913 students from a Brazilian public university. The results showed good adjustment of the proposed solution containing seven factors: Quality of Academic Education, Social and Academic Commitment, Expansion of Interpersonal Relationships, Opportunity for Student Exchange and Internationalization, Perspective of Professional Success, Concern with Self-Image, and Development of Transversal Skills. The results indicate that the scale is invariant with regard to different groups: students who entered university traditionally and those who entered through social programs for minorities, male and female students, and part-time, full-time or non-working students. The scale can support higher education institutions in the development of educational policies, programs and academic services.

The birth of neoprofessionalism in the context of neoliberal governmentality: The case of productive university teachers

In the regime of neoliberal governmentality, international competitiveness comes to define teachers as the source of a problem in that they can undermine national prospects. In order to improve the quality of human capital, the strategy of performance management has been introduced. Foucauldian scholars conceptualize its negative influence on university academics as performativity. However, Foucauldian researchers may overlook its positive influence on productive faculty members. In order to examine this possible aspect, 16 individual interviews were completed in America, Greece, South Africa, Mainland China, and Japan. The findings show that although productive university teachers suffered a considerable amount of pressure from this policy, it facilitated them to validate their academic commitment and to acquire social status.

Correlation of academic adaptation and commitment to social activity in university students with chronic diseases

Adaptation of students with chronic diseases to the university educational environment is an important challenge in keeping with the equal opportunity strategy. This process is fraught not only with difficulties, but also with those opportunities that can be created within the framework of the versatile social activity of students. The aim of the research is to study the correlation between academic adaptation and adherence to various forms of social activities in students with chronic diseases and those without health limitations. The study involved 419 full-time students. We used an original questionnaire aimed at identifying socio-demographic characteristics, a methodology for assessing the components of academic adaptation and a scale of commitment to various forms of social activities. Our research revealed differences in adherence to the forms of social activities. We identified multiple linkages between academic adaptation and Internet cognitive, educational and socio-political forms of activities among students with chronic diseases, as well as linkages between leisure, civic, educational, protest, radical protest and subcultural forms of activities among students without chronic diseases. We found specificity in predicting academic adaptation in students' commitment to certain forms of social activities. We offer recommendations for psychological and pedagogical support of academic adaptation to students with chronic diseases.