A LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE INFLUENCE OF

PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT ON

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AMONG MILLENNIALS
IN IT INDUSTRY
Merin Annie Kuriakose
Asst. Professor, Department of Management, Christ College of Science and Management, Malur,
Karnataka, India

ABSTRACT

Gen Y or Millennial workers are recognized as “job-hoppers”, owing to their frequent switching
of jobs to appease their self-realization needs and boost their confidence as well. This trend is
prevalent especially among the IT employees and an interesting fact about IT industry In India, is
that a considerable portion of it is constituted by millennials. This can be presumed to be a lack of
commitment to the organizational commitment. Organizational commitment, which is an effect of
the mental contract of the employees, should be examined among IT workers, given the high idea
of steady loss this area faces. Thus, it has turned into a need for organizations to discover how and
to what extent long-term relations can be developed with the millennials, making them more
committed and progressively dedicated to their organization. This phenomenon could be curbed
or brought under control, if the employees perceive that the organization, they work for is
committed to them as well.

This study intends to figure out the role of perceived organizational support among Millennials in
making them committed to the organization, thus retaining them longer.

Key words: Attrition, IT, perceived organizational support, organizational commitment,

millennials

INTRODUCTION

Millennial generation includes those individuals who were given birth between the years 1981 and

2000 (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics). They are otherwise called “Generation Y” or the
“Generation Next” or the “Net Generation”. This generational cohort pursues the “Generation X”

born during (1966-1980), who pursued “Baby Boomers” born during (1946-1964). Millennials are

considered to constitute more than 33% of total populace and the number ascents much more, with

regards to India, with a gigantic populace of 1.2 billion individuals, practically 50% of them are

under the age of 25. India is believed to have more millennials than the whole population of several

western nations joined. (Perakslis & Michael, 2012).

According to experts, by 2020, millennial or Gen Y representatives are expected to represent half

of the workforce and by 2025 their strength is required to achieve 75% or as far as figures, India

today with a stunning populace of 426 million, has one of the biggest millennial work powers on

the planet. In spite of the fact that various investigates has been done in the West, on millennials

and their work frames of mind, less has been learned about their Indian counterparts (Raina, 2017).

More than other sectors of work, Information Technology, with its sort of occupation prospects,

pay development, noteworthy advantages and more profound feeling of direction, appeals more to

the millennials, which has officially made it a “millennial heavy workforce” (Tockey, 2017). The

IT business in India has prospered and has turned into the greatest job maker throughout the years,

therefore clarifying the convergence of millennial workers. Having been credited with the

character of sequential employment jumping, the mobility intent of the millennials are more than

their non-millennial partners. According to the Randstad work monitor, (Randstad, 2018), the

craving for employment change is more in India, practically about 22%, when contrasted with

different nations, inferable from the expanding number of millennials in the workforce.

Work as characterized by experts in organizational studies is an “exchange process where

employees put in their efforts and commitment and get both physical and emotional benefits which

the organization offers them” (Uçar & Otken, 2010). Employees must feel that the organizations
support them consequently to their commitment and contribution. Along these lines, this requires

the investigation of Perceived Organizational Support among millennial representatives, inferable

from their relentlessly expanding portrayal in the workforce which would turn out to be about half

portion of the complete working population by 2020(Saxena & Jain, 2012).

Perceived Organization Support, is an imperative organization viewpoint (Mowday R. T., 1998)

which distinctly affects employee's commitment to the organization and impacts their intention to

remain (Islam et al., 2013).

LITERATURE REVIEW

 Perceived organizational support (POS)

POS is a key organizational construct in determining the longevity of the employer-
employee relationship. It has been characterized as the “employees’ perception of the
extent to which the organization values the contributions of their employees and cares
about their well-being” (Eisenberger & Stinglhamber, 2011), based on the Organization
Support Theory (Eisenberger et al., 1986; Kurtessis et al., 2015), which is also “an
application of social exchange theory to employer-employee relationship”(Baran et al.,
2012). Employees who receive support in any form will be obliged to return the favor,
based on the “norm of reciprocity”. Eisenberger et al (2001) proves that, “the employees
with strong exchange ideology exhibited a positive relation among the POS and the
affective commitment they had to the organization” which also reinforces the importance
of POS in retention of employees (Hattke & Znanewitz, 2017).

 Organizational commitment
Being one of the most studied factors, organizational commitment has an undisputable
place in organizational behavior, due to its strong association with employees’ intent to
leave, their retention, and job performance in any organization. It’s definition is given as
“the relative strength of an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular
organization” by Mowday et al., (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982). Organizational
commitment can be of three types, viz. Affective, Normative and Continuance
 commitment, of which affective commitment is the most essential for an employee to stay
longer in an organization.
An affectively committed employee continues to work in an organization because they
want to do so. This sort of a commitment is preceded by a feeling of personal satisfaction
by the employee experienced with the perception of organizational support, the sense of
organizational righteousness, the feeling of being meaningful in the workplace and
weighing one’s input into the organizational activities, which in turn leads to achievement
of personal as well as organizational goals. Thus, for “an employee to show affective
commitment, the organizations should provide them with a positive work environment
which supports its employees, treats them well and provides timely and positive feedback”.

 Impact of perceived organizational support on organizational commitment

POS and organizational commitment are associated based on the “social exchange theory”
and the “norm of reciprocity” (Emerson et al., 1976). “If an employee perceives its
organization to be supportive, they are sure to reciprocate in a favorable manner, especially
in terms of their commitment to the organization, which in turn translates into increased
performance, reduced turnover and other positive organizational outcomes”. Employees
having higher levels of POS feels a greater obligation to reciprocate to the support extended
by the organization, by caring more about the organization’s well-being and helping
achieve its goals (Eisenberger et al., 2001).
POS, being all about satisfying socioemotional demands, would boost the employee-
organization association bringing about superior affective organizational commitment
(Nica, 2016). “Employees high in POS are eager to connect more with the organization,
turns out to be more dedicated as well as considers themselves responsible to further the
organization’s goals”

OBJECTIVE

The main objective of this paper is to get an understanding of the relationship between perceived
organizational support and organizational commitment that defines the longevity of the
employees’ tenure in the organization.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This paper aims to do a descriptive study on different aspects of the relation between perceived
organizational support and organizational commitment which is a factfinding investigation. It is
specifically designed to gather and represent the information for more detailed study. Secondary
data collection method was used ranging from research papers, articles and consulting reports.

FINDINGS

From various studies it was observed that POS has a significant impact on organizational
commitment, which means that the more the perceived organizational support, the more committed
will the employees be to the organization. Based on SET (Blau,1964), employees will be obliged
to repay for the support received from the organization. Similar findings were obtained from
previous researches (Arshadi, 2011; Lee & Peccei, 2007; Nica, 2016; Uçar & Otken, 2010).”
Chances are more, that the employees, who perceive their organization to be supportive, to be
highly organizationally committed” (Gokul, Sridevi, & Srinivasan, 2012). Perceived
organizational support is found to have an impact on organizational commitment, and can predict
a variation in the organizational commitment of the employees, which proves that perceived
organizational support can lead to organizational commitment in employees. POS is likely to lead
employees to develop a sense of belonging to and pride in their organization.

CONCLUSION

Research has well established that committed employees tend to stay longer with the organization,
identifies with the organizational goals, thereby enhancing their performance. Hence it has
become an imperative for organizations to cater to the needs of their millennial employees and
extend a supportive climate for them to be more committed, thereby stay longer and strive to
achieve one’s own goals and that of the organization.

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