Article

Employee Commitment: South Asian Journal of Human

­Resources Management
The Role of Organizational 5(1) 1–27
2018 SAGE Publications India
Socialization and Protean Private Limited
SAGE Publications
Career Orientation sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2322093717739729
http://hrm.sagepub.com

Hewawaduge Menaka Nishanthi1

Pavithra Kailasapathy2

Abstract
The current study examines the impact of organizational socialization on employee
commitment of executive employees in banking sector of Sri Lanka and the
moderating role of protean career orientation. It is hypothesized based on affect
theory of social exchange and social exchange theory that organizational sociali-
zation has a positive impact on employee’s affective, continuance and normative
commitment forms. Further, it is suggested that these three direct relationships
are moderated by the protean career orientation of the banking employees based
on self-determination theory. These relationships are tested using data collected
from a sample of 209 executive employees in the banking industry of Sri Lanka.
Data were collected using questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS and
AMOS. Results showed that there is a positive effect of organizational sociali­
zation on the three forms of commitment while no moderator effect of protean
career orientation was identified on these direct relationships.

Keywords
Employee commitment, affective commitment, continuance commitment, normative
commitment, organizational socialization, protean career orientation

Introduction
For many organizations, talented employees have become the corner stone
of competitive advantage (Mathis & Jackson, 2001). However, retaining and
Senior Lecturer, Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Commerce and
1 

Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

Senior Lecturer, Department of Human Resources Management, Faculty of Management and
2

Finance, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Corresponding author:
Hewawaduge Menaka Nishanthi, Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Commerce
and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya 11600, Sri Lanka.
E-mail: menaka@kln.ac.lk
2 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

attaining the commitment from that talent pool has become a key challenge today
(Spagnoli & Caetano, 2012). Though this has become a crucial matter for current
employers, the concept of commitment was developed and studied extensively
since 1960s in order to comprehend the relationship between the employees and
the organizations (Jonsson & Jeppesen, 2012). Many definitions of commitment
have been offered, but it is well accepted that commitment reflects feelings such
as attachment, identification or loyalty to the object of the commitment (Morrow,
1983). Some researchers (e.g., Natarajan, 2011; Payne & Huffman, 2005) have
stated that managing a committed workforce would result in positive outcomes to
the organizations such as increase in productivity, organizational performance,
greater employee satisfaction as well as lower absenteeism.
Banking sector in Sri Lanka plays a major role in economic development of the
country. It accounts for 58.8 per cent of financial system assets at the end of year
2016 and comprises of licensed commercial banks (LCBs) and licensed specia­
lized banks (LSBs). The branch network and other outlets of LCBs, which is the
focus of this study, has grown rapidly from 4,748 in 2008 to 5,854 by the end of
2016 (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2016). This evidences that the banking sector in
Sri Lanka is well capitalized, regulatory monitored and rapidly expanding.
However, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (2016) also states that its growth in terms of
asset portfolio is less in 2016 comparative to previous year. It was also noted that
this sector is confronted with challenges in terms of novelty, productivity and
value addition (The Report: Sri Lanka, 2016). Hence, it is worthwhile to assess
whether these issues can be addressed by retaining a dedicated and talented work­
force. Although statistical data are not available for Sri Lanka with regard to the
attrition rates in different industrial sectors of the economy, as to the people aspect,
it is a fact that banks in particular are pressed with high attrition rates among
their executives and supervisory grades (Ariyawansa, 2008). This fact was sup­
ported by the Fitch Ratings Lanka Ltd. in its report (2007), which stated that
retaining human talent is a key issue for Sri Lankan banks. Fitch observed that
there is relatively high staff turnover among the junior management and clerical
levels within the banking sector. There can be many reasons for this high turnover
while lack of commitment to the organization might be one of the reasons.
This affects the creation of a trained pool of staff to meet current requirements
and future management succession needs (Ariyawansa, 2008).
Hence, in order to create psychologically attached employees, organizational
socialization could be used as a means of improving their commitment to the
organization. Organizational socialization is identified as the process by which
newcomers make the transition from being organizational outsiders to being
insiders (Bauer, Bodner, Erdogan, Truxillo, & Tucker, 2007). Yang (2008) found
that organizational socialization impacts employee commitment and job satisfac­
tion, leading to less labour turnover in the hotel crew. As socialization provides
employees with clearly set information, it helps them to cope with stress and other
matters related to job, which would increase their affection to the organization
(Allen & Meyer, 1990b). Furthermore, literature reviewed suggests that at least of
the possibility, if not of probability, that those with protean and/or boundary-less
career attitudes will be less committed to their organizations. According to Hall
Nishanthi and Kailasapathy 3

(2004), protean career is a self-directed orientation to the career where it is greatly

influenced by one’s personal values. Such people are more proactive (Briscoe,
Hall, & DeMuth, 2006) and seemingly more likely to leave if their needs are not
being fulfilled with their employer (Briscoe & Finkelstein, 2009). Therefore, this
concept can be associated to test the impact on commitment of employees. But
this further needs to be verified in the Sri Lankan context.
Kaur and Sandhu (2010) in their study of clerical and managerial staff work­
ing in different private and public sector banks in India have established that
employees in the early career stage have the lowest mean scores on all three
dimensions (affective, continuance and normative) of employee commitment.
This highlights the fact that executive level employees are less committed to
their banks than their managers. They also found that the level of commitment
goes on increasing as employees move from early to mid-career and then to late
career stage. Further, Iqbal et al. (2013) found that in Pakistan commitment of
banking staff was at a mean value of 1.79 out of 5, which is very low.
In the Sri Lankan context, the informal discussions with executives and
the pilot survey conducted by the first author found that the level of commitment
of executive employees in the banking sector was questionable. Their levels of
absenteeism as well as employee turnover rate, which are considered as outcomes
of commitment (Luthans, 2005), are high compared to senior managerial grades.
Even though it was not clearly disclosed by every LCB, several leading commer­
cial banks indicated that out of the total labour turnover, majority (38%–56%)
were the executives (Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, 2016; DFCC Bank PLC;
People’s Bank PLC, 2016; Sampath Bank PLC, 2016; Seylan Bank PLC, 2016).
The study focused on assessing the socialization and commitment levels of execu­
tives in the view that socialization would be more applicable to newcomers to
the organization. According to the pilot survey conducted by the first author,
in the Sri Lankan banking sector, newcomer category in the permanent cadre in
most banks are positioned as executives. However, in some other banks, this category
is known as “staff” employees. Hence, the authors focused these employee
categories assuming that executive category include new employees to the current
organization. However, there can be exceptions such as demotions or change in
employment. Another reason for this focus is that the protean career orientation is
mostly associated with undergraduates (Briscoe et al., 2006); early and mid-career
employees (Gulyani & Bhatnagar, 2017; Meister & Willyerd, 2011; Sargent &
Domberger, 2007), with the exceptions from Hall and Mirvis (1995) who studied
older workers career aspirations. In those studies as the emphasis is much on the
early career stage (Sargent & Domberger, 2007), the aim of this study is to find
whether younger generation is more protean career oriented which would moderate
the relationship between socialization and commitment.
Diverse categories of employees in private sector and banking sector
(e.g., Mangaleswaran & Sriniwasan, 2012; O’Donnell, Jayawardana, & Jayakody,
2012; Perera, 2002; Wickramasinghe & Wickramasinghe, 2012) in Sri Lanka
have been subjected to research by many commitment scholars. However, limited
research found where focus was solely on banking executives as the sample.
The concept of socialization is not identified as a popular topic among Sri Lankan
4 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

researchers as well. According Bauer et al. (2007) and Saks, Uggerslev and
Fassina (2007), organizational socialization has rarely been examined in the context
of commitment. Lack of research on the relationship between organizational social­
ization and commitment, specially addressing banking executives, is somewhat sur­
prising. The corporate sector, scholars as well as practitioners should be interested
in understanding this relationship. In addressing the practical significance of the
study, it is visible that the banking sector organizations in Sri Lanka play a leading
role in the Sri Lankan finance sector. If the banking employees’ productivity is less,
absenteeism rates and turnover rates are high, banks will not be able to achieve their
intended targets as well as move with confidence in the path of success. Hence,
being the largest category of employees in the lower managerial level, identifying
the level of commitment of banking employees is of greater value. This would
enable these organizations to understand the commitment levels of those, identify
reasons behind their low commitment as well as to take necessary actions to improve
their commitment in order to uplift their organizational performance.

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

Employee commitment refers to the bond that exists between the organization and
the employee (Klein, Molloy, & Cooper, 2009). By combining the existing litera­
ture Meyer and Allen (1991) and Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993) devised a better
representative model on commitment including affective, continuance and nor­
mative commitment forms. Even though socialization can occur at every stage of
work life, the socialization of newcomers or new hires in particular is considered
crucial (Filstad, 2011). This is because, being more sensitive to the socialization
influences, employees can easily adjust themselves to specific roles in an organi­
zation (Ashforth & Saks, 2000). According to Bauer, Morrison and Callister
(1998), socialization is essential to the organization as it ensures continuity of
central values, assisting newcomers with a framework on how to integrate and
develop interrelationships with the work environment and other employees.
Having an effective socialization process would result in employees gathering
relevant knowledge about and how to adjust to new jobs, roles, work groups and
the culture of the organization in order to become part of the organizational
membership (Ashforth, Sluss, & Saks, 2007; Haueter, Macan, & Winter, 2003;
Mitus, 2006; Saks et al., 2007). However, it should be noted that socialization
is not just restricted to newcomers (Thomas & Lankau, 2009). This is due to
the frequent and extensive changes that are visible in the today’s dynamic
work environment. This has transformed socialization into a lifelong process
encompassing individuals’ entire careers, as they continually need to refine their
understanding of their job roles within and across organizations (Chao, O’Leary-
Kelly, Wolf, Klein, & Gardner, 1994).
The relationship between organizational socialization and employee commit­
ment has been empirically established by several researchers (e.g., Allen &
Meyer, 1990b; Cohen & Veled-Hecht, 2010; Filstad, 2011; Heimann & Pittenger,
1996; Mitus, 2006). Founded on such work, new employees who are more
Nishanthi and Kailasapathy 5

socialized should be more committed than their less-socialized peers. This is

because socialization involves providing employees with relevant information
through planned involvements, which would enable them to overcome their
anxiety, confusion, and frustrations and concerns about their roles, which would
in turn enhance their bond and the identification with the organization (Cooper-
Thomas & Anderson, 2002).

Organizational Socialization and Employee

Affective Commitment
Affective commitment is defined as “employee’s emotional attachment to, identi­
fication with and involvement in the organisation” (Allen & Meyer, 1990a, p. 3).
Using Lawler’s (2001) affect theory of social exchange, the relationship between
organizational socialization and employee affective commitment can be estab­
lished. Social exchange is conceptualized as a combined action of two or more
personalities in which each personality has something the other one would value
(Lawler, 2001). The affect theory of social exchange recognizes the operational
elements of exchange that produce emotions and feelings, and then also recognize
how people relate these emotions to diverse social categories (relations, groups,
networks). The theory also identifies how well the actors are committed to estab­
lish relationship based on their emotions towards the social units. Supporting this
theory Cropanzano and Mitchell (2005) have mentioned that emotions regarding
exchange and reciprocity differ among diverse individuals. Employee differences
regarding exchange relationships would also affect the quality of the exchange
relationships (Andrews, Witt, & Kacmar, 2003). This emphasizes that if the new
employee perceives the exchange or the socialization received by him/her as satis­
factory, greater would be the adjustment, clarification of roles through negotiation
between leaders and members which would result in affective commitment.
Further, he/she would adjust his/her behaviour in accordance to the job demands
and would negotiate alternative behaviours accepted (Miner, 2002).
Mueller and Lawler (1999) stated that proximal variables such as organization,
the job and the work group exercise the most significant influence on employees’
actions because based on the proximity, more initiatives are provided to exchange
relationships. The main idea proposed here is that assuming the nested nature of
the organizational unit, employee commitment to the organization would be primarily
affected by the work conditions given in a particular unit. This is because that
the day-to-day experiences that employees have in their local units would create
positive feelings and these favourable feelings would in turn develop commitment
to the current unit in consideration (Cohen & Veled-Hecht, 2008). According to
Gregersen (1993), individuals can come to identify strongly with proximal and
possibly influential factors. Gregersen’s argument can be easily applied to the
association between socialization and employee affective commitment. The organi­
zation, the occupation and the work group deliver more close attention in terms of
their association to the concept of commitment in the organization’s immediate
work setting. The basic argument here is that in the workplace context, organizational
6 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

socialization will be strongly related to employee affective commitment, which

provides more opportunities for exchange relationships. Organizational socializa­
tion facilitates the new employees to establish more rigorous exchange relationships
with the workplace by providing them with relevant information about the organi­
zation’s anticipations, how to meet those anticipations and the benefits, and
rewards received by doing so (Gregersen, 1993).
Furthermore, the organizational commitment model of Allen and Meyer (1997)
indicates that affective commitment is affected by factors such as job challenge,
role clarity, goal clarity and goal difficulty, receptiveness by management, peer
cohesion, equity, personal importance, feedback and dependability. These factors
can be taken as components of the socialization domains identified by Taormina
(2004) as training, understanding, co-worker support and future prospects. Though
organizational socialization should increase commitment, content perspective
(Chao et al., 1994; Haueter et al., 2003) suggests that the socialization process is
not indistinguishable to every employee and the extent of socialization varies
between employees, in how much they learn about the organization as a whole
and about its norms, aims, morals, history, politics, language and other character­
istics. Their level of social interactions would also differ and these variations
build different levels of affective commitment among employees. Employees who
are more knowledgeable are better adjusted to the organization and become more
loyal, and they feel that the employer has invested greatly in them and reciprocate
loyalty towards the organization (Mitus, 2006). Therefore, it could be proposed
that organizational socialization affects employees’ level of affective commitment
to the organization.
Research conducted by Afsanepurak, Hossini, Seyfari and Nasab (2012), Cohen
and Veled-Hecht (2008) and Manzoor and Naeem (2011) have revealed that there
was a significant positive relationship between organizational socialization and
employee affective commitment. However, Filstad (2011) found that there was no
significant relationship between organizational socialization tactics on the context
and content dimensions (formal training and career development) and affective
organizational commitment, but the relationship was significant between institu­
tionalized social dimensions and organizational commitment. Accordingly, based
on the affect theory of social exchange, it can be hypothesized:
H1: Organizational socialization has a positive impact on employee affective commitment.

Organizational Socialization and Employee

Continuance Commitment
Allen and Meyer (1997, p. 11) defined continuance commitment as “awareness of
the costs associated with leaving the organisation.” It is calculative in nature
because of the individual’s insight or weighing of costs and risks related with exiting
the organization (Allen & Meyer, 1997). Social exchange perspective would pave
the path to establish the relationship between organizational socialization and
employee continuance commitment. Humans tend to be motivated by the desire to
gain rewards and to avoid potential costs that could arise in social conditions.
Nishanthi and Kailasapathy 7

In considering such a view of human social relations, social exchange theory

involves a number of crucial assumptions. According to Chibucos, Weis and Leite
(2004, p. 137), first, “social exchange theory operates on the assumption that indi­
viduals are generally rational and engage in calculations of costs and benefits in
social exchanges.” In this respect, they exist as both rational actors and reactors
in social exchanges. This assumption reflects the perspective that social exchange
theory largely attends to issues of decision-making. Second, it is developed based
on the postulation that those who are involved in the interactive relationships are
logically looking to capitalize the benefits or profits received from those scenarios,
specially relating to meeting the primary human needs (Chibucos et al., 2004).
As such, under continuance commitment, an individual’s association with the
organization is based on valuation of financial paybacks gained (Beck & Wilson,
2000). Further, they develop commitment to the workplace because of the favour­
able external benefits that have been gained through the effort bargain without
recognizing one’s self with the goals and values of the organization. Jha (2011)
also indicates that employees will remain with the organization due to accumula­
tion of non-transferable investments such as strong peer relationships, career pros­
pects, retirement benefits and acquisition of unique job skills, which would be too
costly or cannot be attained elsewhere. This argument is taken to support the view
that, through organizational socialization, employers’ investment on the emplo­
yees is greater, given the extrinsic rewards to employees such as training, under­
standing, co-worker support and future prospects, and given better alternatives,
employees may leave the organization. Hence, under social exchange perspective,
it could be argued that given better socialization as a reward to employees
while assuming the value of external alternatives are low, employees tend to
continue their employment and be committed to the current organization, building
an exchange relationship. As such, it could be argued that if an employee receives
proper employee socialization, which would be beneficial for his/her future
development, employee’s tendency to remain in the organization would be
greater. Accordingly, the second hypothesis is proposed as follows:
H2: Organizational socialization positively affects employee continuance commitment.

Organizational Socialization and Employee

Normative Commitment
The third and the last dimension of the organizational commitment model is norma­
tive commitment. Allen and Meyer (1997, p. 11) defined normative commitment as
“a feeling of obligation to continue employment.” Internalized normative beliefs of
duty and obligation make employees responsible to withstand the current employ­
ment in the workplace (Allen & Meyer, 1990a). According to Allen and Meyer
(1990a), employees with normative commitment feel that they should remain with
the organization. In terms of the normative dimension, employees stay because
they are obliged to do so or it is the right thing to be done.
The strength of normative commitment is affected by accepted rules about
mutual responsibility between the organization and its members (Suliman &
8 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

Iles, 2000). The mutual responsibility is based on the social exchange theory,
which proposes that a person getting a benefit is under a solid normative
responsibility or rule to payback the benefits received in some other way
(McDonald & Makin, 2000). This implies that individuals often feel a respon­
sibility to pay back the organization for investing in them for giving them
opportunities such as training and development etc. “The mind-set of obligation
develops as a result of the internalisation of norms through socialisation,
the receipt of benefits that induces a need to reciprocate, and/or acceptance of
the terms of a psychological contract” (Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001, p. 2).
Based on the arguments above and social exchange theory, it could be proposed
that there is a relationship between organizational socialization and employee
normative commitment:
H3: There is a positive impact of organizational socialization on employee normative
commitment.

Protean Career Orientation

According to the literature, the concept of protean career orientation addresses
the self-directed and values-driven career attitudes of individuals. These protean
career-oriented individuals tend to value freedom and continuous growth when
managing their careers. Protean career orientation has been examined as a
predictor of employee commitment by many scholars (Briscoe & Finkelstein,
2009; Cafferkey, Harney, Dundon, & Edgar, 2017; Çakmak-Otluoğlu, 2012;
Fernandez & Enache, 2008; Supeli & Creed, 2016) in the recent past. Briscoe
and Finkelstein (2009) did not find any relation of protean attitudes to affec­
tive, continuance and normative commitment forms. However, Fernandez and
Enache (2008) found that protean/boundary-less attitudes are related to affective
commitment. Çakmak-Otluoğlu (2012) in his dimension-wise analysis of protean
career orientation found that self-directed career management positively
related to affective and normative commitment while negatively associated
with continuance commitment. Values-driven career orientation was associated
negatively to normative commitment. However, instances where protean career
orientation has been examined as a moderator are rare. Direnzo and Greenhaus
(2011) proposed protean career orientation to moderate the relationship
between detection of a negative discrepancy and the enactment of career strat­
egy behaviours. However, to our knowledge, no studies were found where
protean career orientation moderated the associations between socialization
and commitment.
This phenomenon could be well understood through the work of Ryan and
Deci (2000) who introduced the self-determination theory. Self-determination
theory “is an approach to human motivation and personality that highlights
the importance of humans’ evolved inner resources for personality develop­
ment and behavioural self-regulation” (Ryan, Kuhl, & Deci, 1997, p. 69). Thus,
this theory identifies individuals’ inborn development inclinations and inborn
psychological needs, which provide the foundation for their self-motivation
Nishanthi and Kailasapathy 9

and for their behavioural tendencies, and facilitate positive processes (Ryan &
Deci, 2000).
As per Briscoe and Finkelstein (2009), employees with a protean career
attitude are more focused on their self-development rather than the organizational
attachment. As such, if employees do not receive adequate opportunities to
develop their career within the working organization, there is much tendency to
seek career development outside the organization. That is, they are in search of
focused careers in organizations where their anticipated personal values are
aligned (Kinnie & Swart, 2012). Supporting this, Tak and Lim (2008) found that
even the professionals are more career focused rather than focusing on the
employing organization. Hence, it could be anticipated that employees will not
give up their career aspirations in lieu of lifetime employment (bond) in a single
work setting which does not offer expected career growth and advancement.
Instead, they focus personal branding (Cafferkey et al., 2017). Fernadez and
Enache (2007) also suggested that employees will display affective commitment,
only if their value systems are aligned with the organizations’ and are provided
with opportunities for growth. This notion was confirmed by Yan, Zhu and Hall
(2002) who also stated that these self-driven individuals are more likely to have a
transitional relationship with the organization than having a relational one. Hence,
it could be argued if employees are strongly protean career oriented, that would
deteriorate their bond with the organization weakening the relationship between
organizational socialization and employee affective commitment.
According to Briscoe and Finkelstein (2009), there is a tendency in employees
with protean and boundary-less career attitudes to leave an organization due to
their independent nature regardless of practical concerns of livelihood. Direnzo
and Greenhaus (2011) also stated that employees with strong protean career atti­
tudes tend to assume greater responsibility in governing their career actions, if
they notice any disagreement in their employability and personal values. It further
illustrates that even though the organizations offer benefits such as greater pay,
socialization opportunities, etc., which are greater than the alternative employ­
ments in the industry, they tend to select a self-directed and values-driven career
path due to their self-motivation vice versa. In contrast to this, Volmer and Spurk
(2011) found a positive association with salary. However, findings of Baruch,
Wordsworth, Wright and Mills (2012 as cited in Gubler, Arnold, & Coombs, 2014)
were not in line with the earlier discussion. Supeli and Creed (2016) also stated
that organizations’ attention should be directed upon the category of employees
they are addressing. This is due to the fact that for older traditional workers, salary
and group-based promotions might act as motivators to be committed, while for
the independent younger workers that might not be the case. Hence, it could be
said that though employees receive greater socialization which could enhance
their continuance commitment, employees with strong protean career attitudes
might demonstrate less continuance commitment weakening the relationship
between organizational socialization and continuance commitment.
The third dimension, normative organizational commitment, highlights the fact
that one should be committed to the organization for obligatory reasons. Supeli and
Creed (2016) suggest that protean-oriented employees tend to demonstrate less
10 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

loyalty and commitment to an organization; thus, would value expressing own

values than organizational values and outputs. Hence, it could be reasoned that
even though the organization provides better socialization opportunities such as
training, understanding, peer support and career advancement (Taormina, 2004) to
employees which make them obliged, dedicated and committed to the organi­
zation, if they are occupied with strong protean career attitudes, that would hinder
their commitment thus weakening the relationship between organizational sociali­
zation and employee normative commitment. Driven by the intrinsic motivation
which is characterized by doing something purely because of self-enjoyment or fun
and by engaging deeply in learning activities (Vansteenkiste, Lens, & Deci, 2006),
employees tend to seek greater development in their careers.
Accordingly, the hypotheses for the moderating relationships of protean career
orientation between organizational socialization and employee commitment
forms can be proposed based on the self-determination theory as follows:
H4: Protean career orientation moderates the relationship between organizational social­
ization and employee affective commitment. Specifically, the positive relationship
proposed would be weaker when the protean attitudes are stronger than when the
protean attitudes are weaker.
H5: Protean career orientation moderates the relationship between organizational sociali­
zation and employee continuance commitment. Specifically, the positive relationship
proposed would be weaker when the protean attitudes are stronger than when the
protean attitudes are weaker.
H6: Protean career orientation moderates the relationship between organizational sociali­
zation and employee normative commitment. Specifically, the positive relationship
proposed would be weaker when the protean attitudes are stronger than when the
protean attitudes are weaker.

The conceptual model is shown in Figure 1.

H1 Affective commitment

H4 H2
Organizational socialization Continuance commitment
H5
H3

Normative commitment
H6

Control variables
Protean career
• Age
orientation
• Gender

Figure 1. Conceptual Model of the Study

Source: Authors’ own.
Nishanthi and Kailasapathy 11

Method
This is a cross-sectional study. The unit of analysis is the individual banking
employees (executives). Out of the 400 questionnaires distributed to 10 LCBs in
Sri Lanka, 225 questionnaires were returned (response rate of 56.25%). Of those
returned, only 209 questionnaires were in a usable state (effective response rate
of 52.25%). The researchers employed convenience sampling technique and
the data collection was done through a self-administered anonymous question­
naire. A pilot test was also conducted using 30 banking employees in order to
identify issues associated with the measures, questionnaire design, etc. After the
data collection was performed, data were analysed using SPSS version 16 and
AMOS software. Then the data were tested to ensure normality, linearity, homo­
scedasticity, validity, reliability, correlation, absence of multicollinearity as well
as common method bias.

Measures
In order to test organizational socialization, organizational socialization inven­
tory (OSI) developed by Taormina (2004) was employed. Employee commit­
ment was measured using the scale developed and validated by Allen and Meyer
(1990a). Protean career orientation was measured using the scale of Briscoe and
Hall (2005). In addition, the following demographic variables were measured:
gender, age, work tenure, position and educational qualifications. Of these, age
and gender were considered as control variables in this study as they have been
often found as determinants of commitment (Becker, 1960; Meyer & Allen,
1997; Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982).

Sample Composition
The sample consisted of 209 banking employees (executives). Most (58.4%)
belonged to the age category of 21–30 years, while very few (2.9%) emplo­
yees belonged to the age category of 51–60 years. Majority (56.9%) of the
employees were female. Out of the total sample, a majority (61.7%) belonged to
the private sector, while the remainder (38.3%) belonged to the public sector.
Majority (90.5%) of the sample were junior executives. Most of the respondents
(70.2%) have been in their current position for 1 to less than 3 years.

Results
The mean, standard deviation (SD), correlation and reliability statistics related to
the variables in the model are shown in Table 1.
In order to test the construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis was performed
(Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, 2010). As majority of the standardized regres­
sion weights of the variables are above the threshold of 0.7 (Hair et al., 2010),
it could be concluded that all the measures adopted from previous research show
acceptable validity.
12 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Output of the Preliminary Analysis

Correlation
Measure Mean SD PCO NC CC AC
Protean career 3.58 .51 (.833)
orientation (PCO)
Normative 4.07 .83 .17* (.760)
commitment (NC)
Continuance 4.87 .82 .145* .219** (.889)
commitment (CC)
Affective 3.71 .73 .067 .122 .094 (.809)
commitment (AC)
Socialization 5.40 .65 .126 .271** .245** .188** (.957)
Source: Survey data.
Notes: Scale reliabilities (Cronbach’s alphas) appear on the diagonal. Results are from a two-tailed test.
* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01

Hypotheses Testing
For the current study, hierarchical multiple regression analysis and moderated
multiple regression analysis were employed to test the hypotheses.
The hierarchical multiple regression was performed by entering control varia­
bles—age, and gender—in step 1, and then entering the independent variable,
organizational socialization in step 2. In step 3, dependent variables, employee
commitment forms were entered in separate regression runs to measure all
the direct relationships between organizational socialization and employee
commitment forms. The results indicated that the control variables—age and
gender—do not have a significant effect on dependent variables affective,
continuance and normative commitments.
The results suggest that the influence of organizational socialization on
employee affective commitment is significant. Organizational socialization
explains 5.1 per cent of the variance (R2) in affective commitment (see Table 2)
over and above the 3.7 per cent variance (R2) explained by the control variables.
Further, results show that organizational socialization is positively related to
affective commitment (β = 0.192). Hence, H1 is accepted.
Results in Table 3 shows that organizational socialization is positively related
to continuance commitment (β = 0.259), and it explained 8.7 per cent of the
variation (R2) in continuance commitment. Hence, H2 is supported.
The third hypothesis is also confirmed as 8.2 per cent of the variation (R2) in
normative commitment is due to the changes in organizational socialization
according to the results presented in Table 4. Further, results also indicate that
organizational socialization is positively related to normative commitment
(β = 0.268). Therefore, H3 is accepted.
Moderated multiple regression analysis was used to test the moderator effect
on direct relationships between variables. As shown in Table 5, as the t-statistics
of the interaction terms are not significant (affective commitment, p = 0.683;
continuance commitment, p = 0.742; normative commitment, p = 0.804),
Nishanthi and Kailasapathy 13

Table 2. Impact of Organizational Socialization on Employee Affective Commitment of

Banking Employees

Model 1 Model 2
Variables β t Sig. β t Sig.
Control variables
Gender −0.102 −1.435 0.153 −0.102 −1.460 0.146
Age
31–40 years −0.054 −0.751 0.454 −0.055 −0.766 0.444
41–50 years 0.043 0.603 0.547 0.050 0.719 0.473
51–60 years −0.013 −0.189 0.850 0.008 0.118 0.906
Independent variable 0.192 2.795 0.006
Organizational socialization
Model summary statistics
R2 0.014 0.051
Adjusted R2 −0.005 0.027
∆R 2
0.014 0.037
∆F 0.727 7.81
Sig. ∆F 0.575 0.006
Source:  Survey data.

Table 3. Impact of Organizational Socialization on Employee Continuance Commitment

of Banking Employees

Model 1 Model 2
Variables β t Sig. β t Sig.
Control variables
Gender 0.012 0.164 0.870 0.011 0.168 0.867
Age
31–40 years −0.119 −1.655 0.099 −0.120 −1.714 0.088
41–50 years 0.003 0.043 0.966 0.013 0.190 0.849
51–60 years 0.066 0.944 0.346 0.095 1.393 0.165
Independent variable
Organizational socialization 0.259 3.828 0.000
Model summary statistics
R2 0.021 0.087
Adjusted R2 0.002 0.064
∆R 2
0.021 0.066
∆F 1.098 14.66
Sig. ∆F 0.359 0.000
Source:  Survey data.
14 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

Table 4. Impact of Organizational Socialization on Employee Normative Commitment

of Banking Employees

Model 1 Model 2
Variables β t Sig. β t Sig.
Control variables
Gender 0.050 0.702 0.484 0.050 0.725 0.470
Age
31–40 years −0.060 −0.830 0.408 −0.060 −0.863 0.389
41–50 years 0.004 0.063 0.950 0.015 0.216 0.829
51–60 years −0.070 −0.994 0.322 −0.040 −0.585 0.559
Independent variable
Organizational socialization 0.268 3.955 0.000
Model summary statistics
R2 0.012 0.082
Adjusted R2 −0.008 0.060
∆R 2
0.012 0.071
∆F 0.603 15.64
Sig. ∆F 0.661 0.000
Source:  Survey data.

no moderation effect was created by protean career orientation on the relation­

ships between organizational socialization and the three forms of commitment.
Hence, Hypotheses 4, 5 and 6 are rejected.

Discussion
Study’s results reinforce the findings of Allen and Meyer (1990b), Ashforth and
Saks (1996), Baker and Feldman (1990) and Mitus (2006) by identifying signifi­
cant relationship between socialization and affective commitment. Even though
the first hypothesis is accepted as the impact is significant, there is a relatively
lower impact of socialization on employee affective commitment which is around
5 per cent. Hence, it is possible to think that other factors such as job challenge,
role clarity, goal clarity and goal difficulty, receptiveness by management, peer
cohesion, equity, personal importance, feedback and dependability (Allen &
Meyer, 1997) might have an influence on the level of affective commitment of
banking employees. Though organizational socialization should increase commit­
ment, content perspective (Haueter et al., 2003) suggests that the socialization
process is not identical to every employee. Their level of social interactions differ
and these variations build different levels of commitment among employees.
This suggests that within the organizational setting, there can be many other rea­
sons that might be influencing affective commitment of banking employees.
The second hypothesis, which states that organizational socialization positively
Table 5. Moderator Effect of Protean Career Orientation of Banking Employees

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Variables β t Sig. β t Sig. β t Sig.
Hyp. 4—Control variables—Gender −0.102 −1.435 0.153 −0.099 −1.413 0.159 −0.095 −1.351 0.178
Control variables—Age 31–40 years −0.054 −0.751 0.454 −0.052 −0.724 0.470 −0.049 −0.680 0.497
41–50 years 0.043 0.603 0.547 0.055 0.782 0.435 0.058 0.817 0.415
51–60 years −0.013 −0.189 0.850 0.016 0.227 0.821 0.015 0.213 0.831
Independent variable—Organizational 0.188 2.705 0.007 0.026 0.065 0.948
socialization (OS)
Moderator—Protean career 0.046 0.656 0.513 −0.071 −0.241 0.810
orientation (PCO)
Interaction—OS×PCO 0.213 0.408 0.683
Model summary statistics
R2 0.014 0.053 0.053
2
Adjusted R −0.005 0.024 0.020
2
∆R 0.014 0.039 0.001
∆F 727 4.110 0.167
Sig. ∆F 0.575 0.018 0.683
(Table 5 Continued)
(Table 5 Continued)

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Variables β t Sig. β t Sig. β t Sig.
Hyp. 5—Control variables—Gender 0.012 0.164 0.870 0.020 0.297 0.767 0.017 0.255 0.799
Control variables—Age 31—40 years −0.119 −1.655 0.099 −0.111 −1.603 0.111 −0.113 −1.623 0.106
41—50 years 0.003 0.043 0.966 0.027 0.396 0.693 0.025 0.361 0.719
51—60 years 0.066 0.944 0.346 0.119 1.719 0.087 0.119 1.726 0.086
Independent variable—Organizational 0.244 3.621 0.000 0.371 0.950 0.344
socialization (OS)
Moderator—Protean career 0.136 1.989 0.048 0.228 0.793 0.429
orientation (PCO)
Interaction—OS×PCO −0.167 −0.329 0.742
Model summary statistics
R2 0.021 0.105 0.105
2
Adjusted R 0.002 0.078 0.074
2
∆R 0.021 0.083 0.000
∆F 1.098 9.412 0.108
Sig. ∆F 0.359 0.000 0.742
 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Variables β t Sig. β t Sig. β t Sig.
Hyp. 6—Control variables—Gender 0.050 0.702 0.484 0.059 0.860 0.391 0.061 0.881 0.379
Control variables—Age 31—40 years −0.060 −0.830 0.408 −0.052 −0.745 0.457 −0.050 −0.716 0.475
41—50 years 0.004 0.063 0.950 0.029 0.425 0.671 0.031 0.447 0.656
51—60 years −0.070 −0.994 0.322 −0.016 −0.237 0.813 −0.017 −0.245 0.807
Independent variable—Organizational 0.253 3.745 0.000 0.157 0.402 0.688
socialization (OS)
Moderator—Protean career
0.139 2.030 0.044 0.070 0.242 0.809
orientation (PCO)
Interaction—OS×PCO 0.126 0.248 0.804
Model summary statistics
R2 0.012 0.101 0.101
2
Adjusted R −0.008 0.074 0.070
2
∆R 0.012 0.089 0.000
∆F 0.603 10.002 0.062
Sig. ∆F 0.661 0.000 0.804
Source:  Survey data.
18 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

affects employee continuance commitment, is also supported. Previous resear­

chers (e.g., Beck & Wilson, 2000; Filstad, 2011; Mitus, 2006) have not separately
identified whether there is a direct relationship between organizational socializa­
tion and employee continuance commitment as many have opted only to test
affective commitment relationships. Cohen (2003) and Meyer et al. (2002) have
also recognized affective commitment as a more reliable and representative form
of employee commitment than normative or continuance commitment. According
to Allen and Meyer (1990a, 1997), continuance commitment is relatively inde­
pendent from both affective and normative commitment forms. As continuance
commitment has not been tested along with other commitment forms in a single
model, it is a novel contribution of the present study. Within Sri Lankan context,
continuance commitment has been found to be positively related to turnover
intentions by O’Donnell et al. (2012). Further, they illustrate that given Sri Lanka
is a developing country, it is necessary to monitor the employee commitment
levels as there is greater tendency to stay even with job dissatisfaction, as leaving
the job is too costly given the current economic and labour conditions. However,
such commitment might result in reduced job performance and high absentee­
ism and turnover intentions (O’Donnell et al., 2012). This justifies the rele­
vance of continuance commitment within the Sri Lankan context as a unique
contribution.
Thirdly, the results also established that there is a positive effect of organiza­
tional socialization on employee normative commitment. The relationship
between organizational socialization and normative commitment has not been
widely tested separately due to lack of interest in the normative commitment
concept (Cohen, 2003; Meyer et al., 2002). Further, according to Ko, Price and
Mueller (1997), this might also be due to the considerable overlapping nature
between normative and affective commitment, which has led to the unclear
nature of conceptually separating these two concepts. Hence, this hypothesis
also provides novel insights regarding the impact of organizational socializa­
tion on normative commitment of employees through the data collected in the
Sri Lankan context.
Though aforementioned three hypotheses were supported indicating that
there is a positive effect of organizational socialization on three commitment
forms, the variances explained were relatively low signifying that there might be
many other reasons affecting those three forms of commitment apart from organi­
zational socialization in the banking sector. According to Rollinson, Broadfield
and Edwards (1998), organizational commitment can be influenced by a number
of factors such as resources, physical conditions (location where the offices are
based), safety and security of employees in the workplace. Employee’s personal
characteristics (age, years of service, gender), work practices in relation to
recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, promotions and management
style might also have an influence on level of commitment of employees (Meyer &
Allen, 1997). Lack of clear direction (Kotzé & Roodt, 2005), level of control
over work environment, availability of innovative and supportive subcultures
(Lok & Crawford, 1999 as cited in Kotzé & Roodt, 2005) were also identified as
factors affecting the employee commitment in the banking sector. Further,
Nishanthi and Kailasapathy 19

morale and motivation (Lesabe & Nkosi, 2007); compensation and benefit
packages (Higginbotham, 1997) might also affect their level of commitment to
the organization. Why socialization is having a less effect on commitment also
needs attention as well. Filstad (2011) stated that out of Jones’s (1986) organi­
zational socialization tactics, social dimension (co-worker support) was significant
with commitment while contextual- (training and understanding) and content-
(future prospects) related dimensions were not supported. This contradicts with
findings of Ashforth et al. (2007) and Bauer et al. (2007), where institutionalized
socialization tactics (what is offered by the organization such as training, career
development) affect commitment. This might be reasoned as to less impact of
socialization on commitment as Taormina’s (2004) model consist of three of these
dimensions (training, understanding, future prospects) which had no effect on
commitment (Filstad, 2011).
Furthermore, the concept of socialization was mostly identified as a newcomer
orientation in the Sri Lankan context, but it has not been discussed by combining
all four domains (training, understanding, co-worker support and future prospects)
introduced by Taormina (1994) as organizational socialization. Here, it has been
identified as a continuous process rather than considering it as a newcomer
orientation programme. Even in the international literature, organizational social­
ization has rarely been examined in the context of commitment (Bauer et al.,
2007; Saks et al., 2007). Previous empirical studies show that a few studies have
examined the relationship between socialization and organizational commitment
(e.g., Allen & Meyer, 1990b; Ashforth & Saks, 1996; Baker & Feldman, 1990;
Mitus, 2006). Hence, the current study provides theoretical implications specially
looking at the socialization of banking employees. Accordingly, the study built
and tested a conceptual model that integrates affect theory of social exchange
(Lawler, 2001) and social exchange theory (Blau, 1964; Homans, 1961; Thibaut &
Kelley, 1959) facilitating the direct relationships between organizational sociali­
zation and three commitment forms of affective, continuance and normative.
Further, the study contributes to the literature of key management concepts,
employee commitment and organizational socialization.
Even though protean career orientation was introduced as a moderator based
on previous theoretical support, results of current study were insignificant. Hence,
no moderation effect was created by protean career orientation on the relation­
ships between socialization and affective, continuance and normative commit­
ment forms. There might be several reasons for this non-moderation. The findings
of Briscoe and Finkelstein (2009) suggested that organizations should be expect­
ing little or no commitment from employees with protean attitudes or a boundary-
less mindset as everyone has strong self-attachment feelings, feelings of obligation
or lack of alternatives. Though those negative relationships did not emerge, neither
did positive ones. Commitment forms were not simply moderated by peoples’
protean attitudes as did in the current study. Further, there is a possibility that the
study setting (banking industry) might not be suitable to test this relationship.
These two positive relationships are further verified by Mowday and Colwell
(2003 as cited in Briscoe & Finkelstein, 2009) who stated that employees with
protean and boundary-less attitudes are prone to remain with the organization,
20 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

as development opportunities make the remaining more attractive based on the

cost–benefit analysis of leaving as well as due to the obligatory attitude based on
equity theory. Apart from these causes, tenure in an organization would also make
an alteration to this relationship between protean career orientation and continu­
ance, normative commitment forms (Briscoe & Finkelstein, 2009). Further, culture
of the organizations can also influence to a greater extent in this non-moderation
(Briscoe & Finkelstein, 2009). According to Gasteiger and Briscoe (2007 as cited
in Briscoe & Finkelstein, 2009), employees holding protean attitudes are more
interested in working with inventive and risk-taking entrepreneurial employers.
Today, within the Sri Lankan banking industry also, it is visible that novel con­
cepts to attract customers are emerging due to the mass competition prevailing
among the commercial–non-commercial, private–public banks. Further, the bank­
ing industry is an industry in which employees tend to take greater risk as deals
with financial resources. Hence, these might be the reasons why protean attitudes
did not moderate the relationships between socialization and three commitment
forms as proposed. However, this requires further illustration by doing further
studies on the same.
Though the moderator hypotheses were not supported, the conceptualization
of the study is done with the aim of making new knowledge to the current career
management literature. The closest occurrence of the same is that, Direnzo and
Greenhaus (2011) proposed protean career orientation to moderate the relation­
ship between detection of a negative discrepancy and the enactment of career
strategy behaviours. However, protean career orientation has not been tested as a
moderator between socialization and commitment forms by past scholars. Hence,
present study has uniquely identified and filled a research gap in career manage­
ment literature.
The study provides managerial implications into developing commitment of
banking employees, especially focusing at executives in Sri Lanka. According to
the descriptive statistics (mean), although the overall commitment level is at a
moderate level, affective commitment displays the lowest mean value out of the
three commitment types. This indicates that banking employees’ feeling of
belongingness, identification with the organization (Allen & Meyer, 1990a) are
low. They are committed to the organization mostly due to the high cost of leaving
the organization (Jaros et al., 1993 as cited in Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001). If their
productivity is less, absenteeism rates and turnover rates are high, and then the
banks will not be able to achieve their intended targets as well as to move with
confidence in the path of success. Lack of organizational commitment or loyalty
has also been cited as an explanation for employee absenteeism and turnover
(Nazir, Shafi, Qun, Nazir, & Tran, 2016). Hence, in order to retain and enhance
commitment to the organization in the long term, actions must be formulated
by the bank’s senior. In addition, identifying the level of commitment of the exec­
utives in the banking sector is of greater value as this would enable these organi­
zations to understand the commitment levels of those employees, identify reasons
behind their low commitment as well as to take necessary actions to improve their
commitment levels in order to uplift their organizational performance. This would
enable to develop these employees as future managers of the banks safeguarding
Nishanthi and Kailasapathy 21

the investments (e.g., training) made on them as well as ensuring their career
success. Further, bank managers can take necessary actions to enhance employee
normative commitment by creating an obligatory attitude to remain with the
organization. Further, even though a moderator effect of protean career orienta­
tion on employee commitment was not identified, this study provides a guarantee
to managers that even though the banking employees tend to be protean career
oriented (mean of 3.58 out of 5), they would not be a risky investment as it has
been found that employees with protean attitudes also tend to be committed to the
organization or there is no relation of it to the employee commitment. Hence, if
the banks offer greater socialization opportunities comprising with more training
and development opportunities in particular, those employees will also be committed
to the current organization like others.

Limitations
The basic method of data collection of the study involved a structured question­
naire. This might contribute to self-biasness of the given responses. Further, this
also resulted in the risk of non-return of questionnaires which had a great impact
on the response rate. The design of the study is correlational and cross sectional.
Hence, it is not possible to make conclusions about cause and effect or sequence
of events, and everything is measured only at one specific time point. Further,
there has been very little empirical evidence found relating to the concept of
protean career orientation and employee commitment in the literature which limits
the justifications given to the current findings. The study does not have a sampling
frame and no records are available which could be accessed freely to obtain a
complete list of banking executive employees. Study used convenient sampling
technique to collect data. But as the technique falls under non-probabilistic sam­
pling techniques, generalizability of the findings out of the banking sector would
be a matter of concern. Further, the researcher was only able to collect a sample
of 209 responses, in which public sector sample size was relatively low to conduct
a subgroup analysis (public/private). Otherwise, this would have further enhanced
the explanation of the current study.

Conclusion
The uniqueness of this study is that it contributes to the various domains of human
resource management, organizational behaviour, career management and manage­
ment. The study confirms that organizational socialization is a significant factor for
employee commitment and highlights the prominence of providing continuous
training, understanding, managing proper co-worker relationships and providing
opportunities for future development to uplift their commitment levels. This is benefi­
cial for the employer in the long term as it would enhance the overall organizational
performance. The results of the study further suggest that being protean does not
necessarily result in less employee commitment. Hence, the study may provide
reassurance to employers who might worry about investing in employees who are
22 South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management 5(1)

more self-driven. However, it would be necessary for the employing organizations

to continue providing/enhancing the current rich tolerant culture coupled with
proper HRM policies and ample opportunities for career advancement.

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