The motivational architecture of professional learning communities: why teacher self-efficacy persists under conditions of amotivation

This study examined associations among perceived professional learning community characteristics, task-specific work-motivation regulations, and teacher self-efficacy among 471 instructors at public universities in Hunan, China. Partial least squares structural equation modelling showed that these characteristics were positively associated with teacher self-efficacy and with intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation towards an under-specified work task. All five regulations were positively associated with teacher self-efficacy, and the corresponding indirect associations were statistically significant and similar in magnitude. The findings extend professional learning community research to higher education and indicate that favourable professional learning community perceptions may coexist with diverse motivational experiences. Because the data are cross-sectional and the specific task referent was not retained, the results should be interpreted as theory-guided associations rather than causal mechanisms specific to professional learning communities. Institutions should attend to how collaborative arrangements are perceived and why faculty engage in clearly specified activities.