Do Academics' Emotions in Teaching Affect Their Organizational Commitment?

This research pioneered the investigation of the statistically predictive power of academics' emotions in teaching for their organizational commitment--beyond age, academic rank, academic degree, sex, and taught academic discipline. Two hundred 22 academics from 13 higher educational institutions in Shanghai, mainland China, responded to a revised version of the Emotions in Teaching Inventory (Trigwell, 2009) and the Organizational Commitment Inventory (Ling, Fang, & Zhang, 2002). Results revealed that positive emotions in teaching primarily predicted the adaptive types of organizational commitment, including affective, normative, and ideal commitment, whereas negative emotions in teaching chiefly contributed to the maladaptive types of organizational commitment, including economic and choice commitment. These findings have brought new insights into the literature on emotions in teaching and that on organizational commitment. At the same time, the findings have practical implications for academics and university senior managers.