Teacher commitment: Exploring associations with relationships and emotions

•Teachers adapted differently depending on the relationships.•The student–teacher relationships showed an emotional path to commitment.•Only colleague relationships were directly associated with commitment.•Relationships with principals and commitment were weakly mediated by emotions.

The present study aimed to provide greater insight into the connections between teachers' relationships with people inside and outside schools and teacher commitment. The possible mediating role of teacher emotions was also examined. The significant connections between teachers' relationships and teacher commitment appeared to differ according to teachers' relationships. The current findings revealed that teachers exhibit particular adaptation behaviors toward students, principals, colleagues, and local educational authorities. The direct and indirect connections between relationships and commitment were distinguished, and they helped to clarify the mixed and ambiguous results from previous research.