Faculty members in higher education are expected to excel in teaching, research, and professional development, thus, requiring effective leadership, motivation, and organizational commitment. Most newly hired employees seek regularization to secure stable employment and benefits that allow them to remain with the company long – term. However, contract – of-service employees are excluded from these opportunities, highlighting a significant and concerning disparity. In the Philippines’ local universities and coll eges (LUCs), many educators work under contract – of-service (COS) arrangements characterized by short – term contracts and defined roles. This study employed a quantitative correlational design to examine the relationships among the variables. Data were colle cted from 300 contract – of-service instructors across all Cavite State University campuses using standardized instruments: the Vannsimpco Leadership Survey for leadership style, the Work Motivation and Satisfaction Questionnaire for work motivation, and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire for organizational commitment. Results indicated that autocratic –transformational leadership was the most dominant leadership style perceived by the participants. Moreover, participants reported moderate work motiva tion and slightly high organizational commitment levels. Furthermore, a weak but statistically significant positive relationship was identified between organizational commitment and various leadership styles, including autocratic – transactional, democratic – transformational, democratic – transactional, transformational, and laissez – faire. Additionally, work motivation showed a weak negative significant relationship with factors like work content, promotion, and recognition but a weak positive significant relati onship with general aspects. Importantly, leadership style did not predict organizational commitment, but work motivation did. These findings suggest that improving work motivation could enhance organizational commitment. Campus administrators and higher – ups are encouraged to use these insights to strengthen faculty commitment. Future studies should involve a broader participant pool, include other state universities, and refine variable correlations to produce more comprehensive findings.

Keywords: leadership style, work motivation, organizational commitment, contract-of-service instructors, state universities