Organizational Commitment: A Survey of Sri Lankan Academia

Abstract

University academics are the “Jewel” of higher education sector in any country. Quality of the graduate and the recognition universities hold locally and internationally significantly reflect the commitment of academic staff to their work and to their institutions. In a context where academic commitment is not subjected to adequate investigation, this study aims at identifying the level and nature of academic commitment with a view of paving the path to more comprehensive studies on the area. Questionnaire survey was conducted and 387 academic staff covering all 15 state universities participated in the survey adequately representing each university. Mean statistics were basically used for arriving at conclusions on the nature of their organizational commitment in terms of affective, normative and continuance commitment. Mean values suggested that Affective commitment dominates the behaviour of academics in general, yet the role played by other two types of commitments is more or less similar. High continuance commitment among respondents indicate potential risk of a more cost driven attachment where absence of associated costs may hinder the level of commitment severely. Therefore, this study provides insights to the university administration to see the real nature of academic commitment and address the potential issues and challenges. This is prominent today where many initiatives are taken to produce quality competent global graduates to the nation and when its true responsibility lies in the hands of academia.