Teacher’s turnover intentions: Examining the impact of motivation and organizational commitment

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the path of motivation leading to organizational commitment resulting in reduced turnover intentions (TIs). It examine the relationship between dimensions of motivation (amotivation, introjected regulations (IRs) and intrinsic motivation (IM)) with dimensions of commitment (affective, normative and continuance). Furthermore, it test the effect of these three dimensions of commitment on TIs. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 467 teachers working in public schools in Dhofar Governate in Sultanate of Oman was selected for the study. A path analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized model. Findings: The analysis unveils that teacher’s TIs can be reduced with a right mix of motivation and commitment. Furthermore, amotivation is only linked to affective commitment and this linkage is positive; IRs positively affect continuance and normative commitment (NC); and IM positively affects affective commitment and NC. Moreover, a significant negative effect of affective, normative and continuance commitment is found on TIs. Originality/value: This research sheds light on how motivation can indirectly affect TI through commitment. This study is of immense importance as it focuses on the education sector in Oman especially in Dhofar Governate.