Globally, a substantial proportion of early career teachers leave the profession within the first five years (Vanmol et al., 2022), raising concerns about teacher retention and the long-term stability of the teaching workforce (Marz & Kelchtermans, 2020). Early career teachers frequently encounter challenges such as managing student diversity, heavy workloads, and multicultural classroom contexts. Prior research suggests that improving retention requires not only fostering positive teaching motivation but also strengthening professional competence, school support, and collegial interaction (Gaikhorst et al., 2016). However, how motivational orientations are translated into sustained professional engagement and affective commitment across career stages remains insufficiently understood.

To address this gap, the present study draws on achievement goal theory (Butler, 2007) and social network theory (Wolff & Spurk, 2020) to examine the relationships among teachers’ achievement goal orientations, social networking behavior, work engagement, and affective commitment. Achievement goal orientations reflect teachers’ motivational tendencies toward learning and performance (Han & Gao, 2023), while social networking behavior captures how teachers mobilize interpersonal relationships within and beyond their schools. Work engagement is conceptualized as a proximal motivational state linking goal orientations and social processes to affective commitment (Seppälä et al., 2009). A multigroup analytical approach was used to compare early career and experienced teachers within a specific cultural context.

Survey data were collected from 517 elementary school teachers in Taiwan, including 282 early career teachers and 235 experienced teachers. Established instruments measured achievement goal orientations (mastery goals [MG], performance-approach goals [PAG], and performance-avoidance goals [PVG]), social networking behavior (internal social networking behavior [INB] and external social networking behavior [ENB]), work engagement (WE), and affective commitment (AC). Confirmatory factor analyses supported acceptable reliability and validity (CR = .69–.90; AVE = .53–.69). The seven-factor measurement model demonstrated aceptable fit to the data (χ²/df = 2.74, TLI = .94, CFI = .95, RMSEA = .058).

Multigroup analysis revealed both shared and career-stage–specific patterns. Across both early career and experienced teachers, MG was positively associated with INB (β = .56 and β = .51, respectively). Importantly, MG had no direct effect on affective commitment in either group. Instead, its influence on AC occurred exclusively through full mediation via work engagement (MG → WE → AC) or through a full serial mediation pathway involving INB and work engagement (MG → INB → WE → AC). This pattern was consistent across career stages, indicating that mastery-oriented motivation translated into affective commitment only when enacted through engagement-related and relational processes.

In contrast, performance-avoidance goal orientation (PVG) exhibited a differentiated pattern. PVG showed a significant indirect effect on AC among experienced teachers (β = .11) but not among early career teachers, while performance-approach goal orientation (PAG) showed no direct or indirect association with AC in either group. Notably, the positive indirect effect of PVG observed among experienced teachers contrasts with dominant Western interpretations that conceptualize avoidance-oriented motivation as maladaptive. In the East Asian cultural context examined here, performance avoidance may reflect responsibility, concern for social evaluation, and the maintenance of relational harmony, which can be transformed into sustained engagement once professional roles and relational resources are stabilized (Hulleman et al., 2010; Świątkowski & Dompnier, 2021).

Overall, the findings indicate that teachers’ motivational knowing is not translated into professional outcomes automatically but is enacted through specific forms of professional acting. While mastery-oriented motivation operates through social networking behavior and sustained work engagement across career stages, the enactment of performance-avoidance motivation depends on teachers’ career stage and cultural context. These results underscore the importance of aligning motivational support with organizational structures that enable teachers to transform motivation into meaningful professional action across the teacher career span.

Participants and Procedures. This study employed a quantitative survey design. A total of 630 questionnaires were distributed to elementary school teachers across northern, central, southern, and eastern Taiwan, of which 517 valid responses were returned (response rate = 82.1%). Among the respondents, 282 teachers (55.5%) were classified as early-career teachers with less than six years of teaching experience, and 235 teachers (45.5%) were classified as experienced teachers with more than six years of teaching experience. Participation was voluntary and anonymous, and ethical approval was obtained before conducting investigation. Measures. Achievement goal orientations were measured using ten items adapted from Shim et al. (2013), assessing mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. Social networking behaviors were measured with thirteen items adapted from Wolff and Spurk (2020), covering internal and external networking behaviors. Work engagement was assessed using three items adapted from Seppälä et al. (2009), and affective commitment was measured with four items adapted from Conley and You (2021). All items were rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Validity and Reliability. Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, with all values exceeding the recommended threshold of .70. Construct validity was examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS 28. Composite reliability (CR) values ranged from .69 to .90, and average variance extracted (AVE) values ranged from .53 to .69, indicating acceptable convergent validity. Discriminant validity was supported, as the square roots of AVE exceeded inter-construct correlations. The seven-factor measurement model demonstrated good fit to the data (χ²/df = 2.74, TLI = .94, CFI = .95, RMSEA = .058). Data Analysis. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 20 and AMOS 28. Following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach, the measurement model was tested prior to estimating the structural model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was then employed to examine the hypothesized relationships among constructs. Model fit was evaluated using χ²/df, CFI, TLI, and RMSEA. To examine career-stage differences, multi-group SEM was conducted to test configural, metric, and structural invariance across early-career and experienced teachers. Mediation effects were examined using bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples and 95% confidence intervals.

This study contributes to debates on teacher motivation and professional development by explicating how motivational knowing is transformed into professional acting across career stages. Rather than assuming a direct translation from motivational orientations to professional outcomes, the findings demonstrate that knowing and acting are connected through relational and engagement-based processes that are socially and culturally situated (Kelchtermans, 2009). Across early career and experienced teachers, mastery goal orientation consistently functioned as a form of motivational knowing oriented toward learning and growth. However, its influence on affective commitment was entirely indirect, operating through social networking behavior and sustained work engagement. This pattern aligns with prior research showing that professional motivation becomes consequential only when enacted through everyday practices such as collaboration, help-seeking, and relational participation (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). Career-stage differences further illuminate how knowing is enacted over time. For early career teachers, external networking with mentors, peers, and professional communities was crucial for converting motivation into confidence, belonging, and commitment during early professional socialization (Vanmol et al., 2022). In contrast, experienced teachers relied more heavily on internal collaboration, reflecting accumulated social capital and stabilized professional roles. Importantly, the findings offer a culturally grounded understanding of performance-avoidance motivation. Contrary to dominant Western interpretations that frame avoidance as maladaptive (Elliot & Church, 1997), performance-avoidance goals among experienced teachers showed adaptive indirect effects within stable relational contexts. In collectivist settings, such motivational knowing may reflect responsibility, self-regulation, and concern for relational harmony, which can be enacted as sustained professional engagement (Świątkowski & Dompnier, 2021). Overall, this study underscores that knowing and acting are dynamically intertwined rather than linearly connected. Supporting teachers’ long-term commitment therefore requires not only fostering adaptive motivation but also designing organizational conditions that enable meaningful enactment across career stages.

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