Purpose: While being largely studied in organizational research, job engagement has rarely been empirically investigated in the context of higher education. In this study, this paper aim to examine the effects of leader performance expectation and coworker pressure on research engagement of lecturers and the moderation of achievement value. Design/methodology/approach: The authors based the survey on the data collected from public higher educational institutions in Vietnam. Findings: The findings contribute to the literature of job engagement in higher education from an organizational behavior perspective by explaining the mid-level impacts of departmental factors affecting research engagement. Originality/value: The authors develop an organizational behavior perspective related to middle-level factors to understand factors influencing one specific research job of lecturers in higher education in a non-Western developing nation.