Abstract:

Purpose- It is known that research assistants are in constant interaction with their advisors on various issues related to their thesis processes and other academic studies as well as their administrative work during their academic development. The literature has some studies on the factors that increase the performance of research assistants in these processes, as well as on the factors that adversely affect their performance. At this point, the quality of the research assistants' relationships with their advisors and their level of identification with the university they work for can affect their academic and administrative performances. Accordingly, the study aims to investigate the mediating role of organizational identification in the effect of the quality of the relationship between research assistants and their advisors on their performance. Methodology- Research data were collected from research assistants working for public universities in Turkey. With 201 completed questionnaires, the model with mediation analysis was tested by the researchers, based on the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) through SmartPLS 4 software. Also, descriptive data were analyzed by SPSS 25 software. Findings- The results of the research reveal that LMX influences research assistants’ job performance via their advisors. In addition, organizational identification has a partial mediating role in the effect of research assistants' relationship with their advisors on their job performance. Conclusions- It is considered that research assistants' quality relations with their advisors, as well as identification with the universities they work for, can be significantly beneficial to their job performance. The study is expected to contribute performance determinants of research assistants. Future studies can be carried out on mediation effects by adding different variables to the model.

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