Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between teachers' organizational commitment perceptions and both their psychological hardiness and some demographic variables in a sample of Turkish primary schools. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 405 randomly selected teachers working at primary schools in Ankara participated in the study. Personal Views Survey III-R and the Organizational Commitment Scale were used to gather data. Findings: This paper supports the argument that psychological hardiness is a meaningful construct predicting the perceptions of primary school teachers on organizational commitment. Results reveal that psychological hardiness is positively and significantly related to both identification and internalization components of teacher commitment, whereas it is negatively and significantly correlated to the commitment predicated on compliance. Teacher compliance commitment is negatively associated with both identification and internalization. Although gender and years of experience are significant predictors of identification and internalization, the variables of subject specialization and age did not significantly predict all three subscales of teacher commitment. Originality/value: This paper represents a different approach to organizational commitment by examining teacher commitment under three components--compliance, identification, and internalization. This paper also explores the relationships between organizational commitment and teacher psychological hardiness which is a personality style reducing the negative effects of stress. Results from this study are discussed in relation to practical implications in school settings. (Contains 4 tables.)