Organisational commitments and teaching styles among academics in mainland China

Abstract

This research pioneered the investigation of the predictive power of organisational commitments for academics’ teaching styles. Participants were 370 faculty members from 15 higher educational institutions in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China. Results showed that academics’ organisational commitments as measured by the Organisational Commitment Inventory statistically significantly predicted their teaching styles as assessed by the Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory over and above their gender, age, taught academic discipline and academic rank. Practical implications of the findings are proposed for academics and for university senior managers.

Keywords:

• organisational commitments
• teaching styles
• university academics
• mainland China

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Committee on Research and Conference Grants as administered by the University of Hong Kong for funding this project. Our very special thanks go to all the research participants.