To provide more insights into inconsistent findings on the relationship of organizational commitment to effectiveness, this study conducted a questionnaire survey among 188 academics in Beijing. Analysis of survey responses suggested that organizational commitment presented significant relationships to performance and effectiveness. These relationships varied with the nature of commitment dimensions. Besides, performance mediated the relationships of commitment dimensions to effectiveness in teaching and research. These relationships could be partly explained with faculty's personal goals, available resources, perceptions of reward/effort balance, and the contribution of teaching and research activities to teaching outcome and research output. These findings enrich the literature by identifying performance as an intervening variable in the relationship of organizational commitment to effectiveness. Meanwhile, these findings provide practical implications for the promotion of Chinese academics' teaching outcome and research output.