The impact of academic needs and job performance on lecturers’ work engagement in autonomous universities

Abstract

This study investigates the predictive power of academic needs and job performance on lecturers’ work engagement in autonomous universities. Data were collected from 381 faculty members at three fully autonomous universities in Ho Chi Minh City. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the relationships among the research variables. The findings revealed that academic needs strongly predicted research engagement and unexpected job performance has a significant impact on teaching engagement. In contrast, assigned job performance does not significantly affect either teaching or research engagement. These findings provide a foundation for proposing faculty support policies, such as fostering opportunities for professional development, enhancing the academic environment, reducing administrative burdens, and improving compensation schemes to promote faculty work engagement.