Capturing the process of academic commitment: a taxonomy and test of post-secondary student academic commitment trajectories

How does students' academic commitment develop over the course of their first term? Process research on students' early academic experiences has been scarce due to a lack of appropriate high-density-high-frequency research designs. We thus have very limited knowledge on how students become academically committed over time. Drawing on the analogue of workplace commitment, I extracted five process-theoretical accounts regarding how students' AC might evolve over time: Learning to Love, Honeymoon Hangover, High Match, Moderate Match, or Low Match. I measured 180 students' weekly levels of commitment across 18 weeks (2,778 observations) of post-secondary education. In line with expectations, I found evidence for the above-mentioned five distinct AC trajectories. These findings illustrate the utility of a more nuanced, temporal approach to the study of commitment, and carry both theoretical and practical implications for student development and learning potential.