The moderating effects of perceived threat to valued job features on career commitment among university professors
This article studies the relationships between perceptions of threats to valued job features, total job (job insecurity) and career commitment among university professors, using the context of post tenure review policy. It surveys professors from a randomly selected sample of 74 universities that have implemented post tenure review policies and processes and analyzes their responses using structural equation methods. It tests hypotheses about relationships between perceptions of threats to job features, the total job as a result of post tenure review policy, and career commitment. It finds that when post tenure review is perceived as a threat to valued job features such as job autonomy and the total job, it negatively affects measures of affective, continuance, and normative career commitments. The implications of these findings for university administrators, regents, and boards of governors contemplating the development and implementation of post tenure review policies are discussed.