Does the Age of Career Decision-Making Matter? Accounting for Teacher's Job Commitment in Taiwan

Accounting for teacher's job commitment, does the age of career decision-making matter? Before 1994, teacher education in Taiwan has been largely controlled and monopolized by the government. Through institutional arrangements such as tuition-free teacher education, future job guarantee and stability, teacher's colleges attract many teenages at the age of 15 or 18. However, examination-oriented educational environment in Taiwan did not provide much chance for youths to explore one's aptitude. It also commonly seen that decisions on fields of study have been influenced or even determined by the parents. In this case, the decision on attending teacher's college almost determines lifelong careers.

Using data from Taiwan Education Panel Survey, this study investigates whether the age of career decision-making among middle school teachers has any impact on their job commitment. It is hypothesized that career decision-making at a younger age in the job-guarantee system in Taiwan before the 1994 reform is unfavorable to job commitment among these prospective teachers, which in turn affects students' performace. It is possible that the rigidity of institutional arrangements prevents youths from a self-determination process. When extrinsic motivation outweighs intrinsic motivation, lack of intrinsic motivation is detrimental to job commitment as well as teaching efficiency.