Commitment of Russian University Teachers To University and Profession

Abstract

This article reviews the results of an online poll held among 317 teachers of state universities in a number of regions of Russia. The commitment to university and profession is evaluated with a 3-component Meyer and Allen model that singles out: emotional commitment (emotional attachment to the university or profession), normative commitment (perceived liabilities towards the university or profession), commitment based on estimate of costs (subjective estimate of costs associated with potential change of the university or profession). It shows that there are no reasons for a conflict between commitment to the university and commitment to the profession, however different groups of teachers feature different correlation between those sets. What is the most important in differentiating between the commitments is the role of work experience in a different university. Publication activity of teachers is not related to their emotional commitment to the profession or the university, however it is related to cost estimate and the normative commitment to the university and the profession. Based on which the author concludes that Russian teachers are not encouraged with article publications, i. e. with the research activity in general as the attractive part of their job and most likely are forced to do it.