Abstract

Students' academic output and engagement with studies deal with the achievement goal orientation. The purpose of the study is to find out the relationship among achievement goal orientation of male and female teachers with work engagement and organizational commitment. It was a quantitative study, and a correlation research method was employed. Two districts of central Punjab were chosen as the population of the study. In order to draw a sample from universities, a stratified sampling technique was used. For data collection, two instruments were used. Results showed that there was a relationship existed between achievement goal orientation with work engagement and organizational commitment. A significant difference among demographic variables was found by using independent samples t-test. A significant difference between male and female teachers was found regarding achievement goal orientation. However, there was no difference found regarding work engagement and organizational commitment on the basis of gender.

Key Words

Goal Orientation, Male, Female, University, Teachers, Educaiton

Introduction

Previous research has proven that human behaviour is directed by human needs and goals of life. Goals may be classified into personal, professional, short term, or long-term. However, needs may be classified into physical, psychological, subjective, or objective (Nicholls et al., 2005). Any organism naturally survives through a particular mechanism of the fulfillment of a need, but Psychology views the term of need differently, and psychologists consider it a specific element that drives the living creatures towards the desired goal and certain behaviour. So, the need of attention, affiliation, and achievement are produced as instances by the psychologists. 

Elliot et al. (2005) have given a different shade to the social cognitive theory of achievement and produced it as the goal orientation theory. The goal orientation theory was introduced in the 20th century. Later, it appeared as a very significant theoretical framework after the 80s. It is notable that only goal orientation theory examines learners' engagement in the academic discipline. The other motivation theories are confined only to evaluating the learners' success or failure in academic output. Goal-setting theory has been very domineering in the field of education, and now it is being applied in various areas of social, health, and sports psychology. The two most prominent and commonly applied theories which address goal achievement behaviours are mastery and performance theories. 

Macey & Schneider (2009) illustrated that the state of a person's mind that hints towards the dedication and vigour of an individual in work, proves to be very positive in the form of work engagement. However, dedication is the positive approach towards any working with great inspiration, pride, enthusiasm, and motivation. A dedicated person has to be very consistent and committed in work and apply his maximum endeavour in task accomplishment. While clarifying the term of absorption, Harter et al., (2004) added that absorption is the state of an individual who is completely enchanted and shows absolute concertation in his work. 

Meyer and Allen (2008) elaborated that commitment is a person's high level of endeavours to achieve a specific goal or the target with a deep sense of loyalty and responsibility. Chew (2008) defined commitment bit differently and asserted that commitment is a person's deep engagement in his assigned work of an organization. It is very mandatory and more useful to train the employees of an organization instead of increasing their commitment to organizational work as the provided development in commitment and employee's job perception would definitely differ.  

While pointing out the main signs of commitment, Chan and Chew (2008) stated that reward and recognition may cause a lower output, but constant professional training and learning eventually may enhance the individual's effective commitment. Bambacas (2010) added that if the organization gives the employees considerable value and their career growth, their effective commitment certainly will boost. McElory et al. (2010) explicated that employees' level of commitment can be enhanced through rewards and incentives, and it will surely increase their retention. 

It is pertinent that achievement goal theory is considered very suitable and applicable when the motivation and its results on male and female teachers are needed to be elaborated. It is based on the notion that classroom teaching-learning assessment covers both learners' achievement as well as the teachers' performance (Butler, 2007). According to Butler and Shibaz (2008), several research studies were conducted on the subject of teachers' motivation comprising both male and female genders, and the said studies proved that above stated four-dimensional conceptualization is the most suitable strategy for the purpose of goal orientation. If a teacher intends to extend, the professional competencies of a teacher may be categorized, but for the sake of multi-task accomplishment, the vast, diverse professional competencies are indispensable (Shulman, 1986).

The previous studies have also proven the positive relationship between serious endeavours of competency and work engagement. However, the same studies showed a negative relationship with the elements of fatigue and weariness. The previous literature depicted the negative correlation among the attempt to show competencies while striving avoidance from work engagement but there is a positive relationship with the elements of fatigue and weariness too. Pintrich (2000a) clarified that the above-quoted studies were conducted in an educational setting in the discipline of the teaching-learning process, and these studies were not conducted in the domain of work engagement and organizational commitment or vigour. 

It is framed principle that if a teacher intends to remain and survive in an organization successfully, he would have to exert his maximum potential and skills for the said organization for a better and sound career. Any teacher who wishes to be the need of organization would have to show loyalty, entire commitment, and engagement in work. It is a proven fact that learners show prominent outcomes if the teachers show commitment and productivity in their assigned work. There are two sorts of teachers in the educational institution. First, the teachers who do nothing for learners' better output, and the second, who always strive for the achievement of desired objectives. These examples may be quoted for the teachers' commitment and their particular behavior (Herman, 2005). 

Adding something more, Maslic-Ersic (2003) opined that there is very nominal literature available on teachers' commitment in an educational scenario. Whereas the term commitment is very diverse used in the reference to teachers' overall performance, job satisfaction, and engagement. Undoubtedly, if a teacher is well content and committed to his work, he will never move away from his job spot. It has been shown in the work of Shu-Chi and Jung-Nung (2005) that the impact of goal orientation and organizational commitment on the mobility of employees is positively related to the total productivity of employees.

For this reason, it is important to point out that Olivia et al. (2010)'s research on goal orientation, organisational commitment with job behaviour and performance has examined the impact of performance on various aspects of organizational commitment and its influence over overall performance.

. The study found out three main components of performance goals that were connected with master learning. The only connection of performance goal with effective commitment was also proven in the said study. The connection of affective commitment and normative commitment with employees' performance also exists. However, it possesses a direct connection with job satisfaction. 

 To meet the current challenges of great competition among the organizations in the developed world, deep commitment, high efficiency, and great energy is expected and demanded from the workers (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008; Chen, 2018). Keeping the competitive advantage in view, almost all the organizations in the contemporary world consider the positive behaviour of job comprising the commitment and engagement very significant and indispensable for success and progress (Walker, 2001; Chew, 2004). 

The same principle is applied to teachers when they are imparting knowledge in any educational institution. So, they are all expected to be professionally well-motivated, committed, dedicated, and deeply engaged in their assigned tasks. According to Paulik (2020), the teachers who show deep engagement in their professional work too show their commitment and dedication in work, but on the other hand, the disengaged teachers show dissatisfaction, apathy, frustration, indifference towards their job and resultantly their output is pathetic, substandard and poor that leaves adverse effect on the overall performance of other teachers of the school or any educational institution. 

 Hoole & Bonneman (2015) are of the view that the current economic scenario coerces to ponder over that the competitive advantage of organizations may be enhanced with the help of deep work engagement that depicts the promising emotional attachment, energy, and motivation of employees which is surety of befitting overall performance of the organization or the department. The studies of Bakker & Demerouti (2008) and Othman & Nasurdin (2012) have illustrated that the engaged workforce of the organization performs better according to the competition and desired objectives, facing and tackling the problems efficiently, responding and adapting themselves briskly in the new changes of the organization. 

The previous studies conducted by different sectors have proven the significance of work engagement and its worth has fetched the entire attention of organizations all over the world (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008; Schaufeli, 2013; Breevaart et al., 2015; Demerouti et al., 2015). The evidence provided by Watson (2014) indicates that the percentage of actively engaged workers is merely 40. Iqbal et al., (2012) accepted the said percentage and considered it significant and acceptable. Thus, the researchers still seem to be desirous to move ahead to investigate the ways and useful strategies which may boost and enhance the work engagement.

Schaufeli & Bakker (2004) and Kim et al., (2009) all have pointed out that the previous research have only focused on predictors and results of work engagement. Some of the researchers like Sezen (2014) linked work engagement with personal resources as solitude at job, Akhtar et al., (2015) and Liu et al., (2017) linked work engagement with self-efficacy while Xanthopoulou et al., (2013) and Song et al., (2015) linked the work engagement with job resources like team support and organizational patronage.  

It is worthy to note that several other previous researches have focused specifically on teachers’ work engagement having three main elements into account. Bakker & Bal (2010) and Klassen et al., (2012) have disclosed the first that is the connection of work engagement of teachers with the effectiveness of teaching process and learners' achievement. The assumption stands on the second that fewer burnout hurdles are experienced by the engaged teachers, and thirdly, it is believed that engaged teachers contribute to school effectiveness more than others because they are result-oriented, productive, efficient, and committed to their assigned work. 

 Kotze and Nel (2020) have illustrated that such behavior or psychological state which indicates the relationship of workers with their organization and it affects their approach of retention or leaving the organization, is called organizational commitment. The literature is very rich in producing different definitions of organizational commitment. According to Bateman and Strasser (1984), organizational commitment is the expression of workers' loyalty to their organization. It also includes their deep longing to be consistent and remain in the organization with a high level of objectivity. However, Buchanan (1974) expressed his point of view that a particular linkage between an individual and the organization forms the commitment. Meyer & Allen (1997) have considered commitment as a psychological state which depicts the connection of workers with the organization with the element of retention or leaving the organization. 

There are three basic types of organizational commitment: affective, normative, and continual. (Meyers & Allen, 1997). Agu (2015) argues that affective commitment refers to workers' feelings of connection to the organization, whereas normative commitment refers to workers' awareness of their responsibilities and obligations to the organization. However, workers' perceptions of the cost of quitting the company or department are believed to be the commitment to the business or division. According to Meyer et al. (1993), these three types of commitment as a psychological state have been found to have value in prior studies. It could be a sign of the employee-organization connection, or it could be a sign of the effects of employee retention or disengagement..  

The previous research have proven that strong affective commitment assists the employees to remain and move ahead with the organization as they are always desirous of showing their continuance commitment. Similarly, the employees possessing normative commitment are desirous of continuing their services with the organization as they realize the worth of their engagement in work and the value of the organization (Meyer et al., 1993).

According to Mowday et al., (1979), the available literature on the subject of commitment has facilitated the researchers with three sorts of commitment specifically for the teachers and these three types are namely; the commitment with the learners, commitment with profession and commitment with the institution. In pithy words, the level of teacher's passion for his institution, manufactures the commitment (Mowday et al., 1979). While elaborating the commitment to the profession, Park (2015) has considered it positive attachment to the teaching profession, and similarly, the teacher's commitment to the learners actually indicates the level of dedication of tutor to the learner's academic achievement. 

The literature has supported the belief that

teachers' job satisfaction, their overall output, proficiency, and organizational commitment are well interconnected (Dee et al., 2006 and Park, 2015). Hong and Matsko (2019) are of the view that the strong and positive passion of teachers about the vision, mission, ethics, and mighty desire of retention in the institution, reveal the teacher's organizational commitment. Nehmeh, (2009); Balay (2014) and Akdemir, (2019) have pointed out that there is a close connection between teachers' organizational commitment and learners' academic achievement of high quality. The researchers have contributed a lot to strengthen the viewpoint that quality of commitment and dedication makes a teacher or the tutor, a precious entity and a key to the success of an institution. 

Objectives of the study

Objectives of the study were to:

1. Identify the relationship goal orientation and engagement of the work.

2. Identify the relationship goal orientation and commitment of the organization.

3. Identify the difference between male and females regarding commitment to the organization and engagement with work in achievement goal orientation. 




Research Questions

Following were the research questions of the study.

1. What is the relationship goal orientation and engagement of the work?

2. What is the relationship goal orientation and commitment of the organization?

3. Is there any difference between males and female regarding commitment to the organization and engagement with work in achievement goal orientation?

Research Methodology

It was a quantitative study, and a correlation research design was employed. To find out how distinct sets of variables relate to one another, researchers use correlation analysis.




Population 

The study's participants were faculty and students from Central Punjab's public and private universities.




Sample of the Study

The participants in this study were all university professors who were randomly chosen using the census sampling method. The sample was drawn from two public and two private universities. The study included 159 teachers as a sample.




Instrumentation  

For data collection purposes, A Self-developed questionnaire was utilized. There were four parts of the Questionnaire. The first part consisted on demographic variables like gender. Second part consisted on achievement goal orientation, the third part of the questionnaire was consisted of work engagement and fourth part of the questionnaire was consisted of organizational commitment.

Data Collection

Data were collected from four general type universities of Central Punjab. The researcher visited the universities by herself.




Data Analysis

SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences") was used for data analysis. Pearson Product Moment method was used to find the relationship among variables. An Independent sample t-test was calculated to find the significant difference among male and female teachers regarding different variables.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Tables 1. Sample Distribution of Gender

Gender	Frequency	Percentage
Male	76	47.8
Female	83	52.2
Total	159	100.0

 




The table shows that the total numbers were 159. Male teachers were 76(47.8%) and whereas female teachers were 83(52.2%) were selected as the sample of the study.




 

Table 2. Correlation between Engagement of Work and Goal Orientation

	N	r-value	Sig.
WE and Goal Orientation	159	.456	.034

 




The above table described the relationship of engagement of work and achievement goal orientation of university teachers. The correlation was used to explore the relationship among two variables. R- values shows (r=.456 at p=.034, N=159) shows t positive moderate significant relationship among these two variables.




 

Table 3. Correlation between Commitment to the Organization and Goal Orientation

	N	r-value	Sig.
OC and Goal Orientation	159	.563	.021

 




The above table described the relationship of commitment to the organization and achievement goal orientation of university teachers. The correlation was used to explore the relationship among two variables. R-values shows (r=.563 at p=.021, N=159) shows the positive moderate significant relationship among these two variables.




 

Table 4. Correlation between Commitment to the Organization and Engagement of Work

	N	r-value	Sig.
OC and WE	159	.521	.000

 




The above table described the relationship of commitment to the organization and engagement of work of university teachers. The correlation was used to explore the relationship among two variables. R- Values shows (r=.521 at p=.000, N=159) shows the positive moderate significant relationship among these two variables.




 

Table 5. Independent Sample t-Test was identifying the Difference of Male and Female Regarding Achievement Goal Orientation

Gender	N	Mean	SD	t-values	df	Sig.
Male	76	72.3947	4.60970	-1.073	157	.014
Female	83	69.8675	7.06550

 




Table shows that the significant difference among male and female teachers regarding the achievement goal orientation. The table shows that there was a significant difference of male teachers (M= 72.39, SD=5.609) and female teachers (M=69.86, SD=7.065), t (157) -1.073 at p= .014, about goal orientation. The mean difference of male teachers has more concerned rather than female teachers regarding achievement goal orientation.




 

Table 6. Independent Sample t-Test was identifying the Difference of Male and Female Regarding Engagement of Work

Gender	N	Mean	SD	t-values	df	Sig.
Male	76	59.8421	6.80794	-1.073	157	.285
Female	83	61.0000	6.78952

 




The table shows that the significant difference among male and female teachers regarding the engagement of work. The table shows that there was a significant difference of male teachers (M=59.84, SD=6.807) and female teachers (M=61.00, SD=6.789)”, t (157) -1.073 at p= .285, about the engagement of work. Mean difference of female teachers has more concerned rather than male teachers regarding engagement of work.




 

Table 7. Independent Sample t-Test was Identifying the difference of Male and Female Regarding Organization to the Commitment

Gender	N	Mean	SD	t-values	df	Sig.
Male	76	82.0132	5.78412	2.843	157	.277
Female	83	75.8795	6.49277

 




Table shows that the significant difference among male and female teachers regarding the commitment to the organization. Table shows that there was no significant difference of male teachers (M=82.0132, SD=5.784) and female teachers (M=75.87, SD=6.492), t (157) 2.843 at p= .277, about commitment to the organization. Mean difference of male teachers has more concerned rather than female teachers regarding

Commitment to the organization. 

Discussion

The study examined the relationship among achievement goal orientation with work engagement and

Commitment with organization, and researcher found the moderate positive relationship among

Variables.

McCabe et al. (2013) conducted a fascinating study on the association between the Big-Five personality trait and Goal Orientation, which investigated the goals achieved in both work and education. According to the findings, there was a strong positive link between conscientiousness and agreeableness, as well as a negative correlation between conscientiousness and performance-goal orientation, but a positive correlation between avoidance goals, performance goals, and neuroticism

A different study, done by Bipp et al. (2010), looked at the association between personality traits and the characteristics of job intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Individual differences in motivation might have important practical ramifications for managers and staffing decisions, according to the results of this study's findings.

Conferring this study, two personality traits (core self-evaluation and openness to experience) were positively correlated to the preferences relating to work characteristics.

Numerous researches were done in educational setting regarding this phenomenon. According to Sonic, Penezic, and Buric (2017), there was relationship existed among academic motivation, Big-Five traits, academic achievement at the high school level. According to the findings, students' personality qualities and academic performance are connected only through the performance approach, learning method, and work-avoidance goal orientation.

Lamm et al. (2017), found that openness, emotional stability, conscientiousness can envisage goal orientation of undergraduate leadership students. Similarly, Kaspi-Baruch explored the link between the Big Five personality traits and creative thinking as mediated by learning motivational goal orientation (2019). People with high levels of sociability and emotional stability, as well as low levels of conscientiousness, exhibited the highest levels of innovation when they were more learning-oriented.

Conclusion

The association between achieving goal orientation and the outcome of this study may be seen in the results with “work engagement and organizational commitment”. There was positive moderate relationship between male and female university teachers. The distinction between public and private male and female university teachers were found to be significant. The relationship between “work engagement and organizational commitment” was supported by previous studies with achievement goal orientations.

The following were the recommendations of the study:

1. Administration might be arranged seminar, workshops and different training sessions to enhance the teachers’ performance, and teachers showed their commitment with organizations.

2. A qualitative methodological approach of university lecturers could be done for in-depth observation.

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