Performance evaluation, sense of fairness, and teacher happiness: A study on the psychological adaptation of teachers in private universities in Yunnan

The high growth of the Chinese private higher education has been associated with intricate issues touching on faculty well-being especially in the underrepresented areas like the Yunnan Province. Despite the fact that performance evaluation systems aim at improving the quality of instruction and accountability of the organization structure known about the psychological implications of these systems on the faculty members. This paper examines the connection between performance assessment and teacher satisfaction, and pays attention to the mediating functions of professional identity and organizational identification. Based on the Social Exchange Theory, the study had a quantitative, cross-sectional design and sampled 511 full-time faculty members of nine private universities in Yunnan. Both the direct and the indirect pathways were evaluated by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and bootstrap mediation analysis. The results show that performance evaluation is a strong predictor of teacher happiness (β =. 201, p =. 003), and that such relation is completely mediated by professional identity (β =. 493, p =. 004) and organizational identification (β =. 390, p =. 046). Demographic analysis also indicated that there were significant differences in outcomes with respect to educational background, marital status and years of service. The research proves the dual-pathway model of psychological adaptation and supports the fact that fair and developmental appraisal systems are important to enhance faculty well-being. The results provide practical implications of policy in institutions and the necessity of identity and culture sensitive approaches towards performance management in higher education.