ATTITUDES

Attitude is important variable in human behaviour:

Nature The salient features which contribute to the meaning of attitudes are:

i. Attitudes refer to feelings and beliefs of individuals or groups of individuals.

ii. The feelings and beliefs are directed towards other people, objects or ideas.

iii. Attitudes tend to result in behaviour or action.

iv. Attitude can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favourable to very unfavourable.

v. Attitudes endure.

vi. All people, irrespective of their status or intelligence, hold attitudes.

Some of the definitions of attitude are as below: a. “The word attitude describes a persistent
tendency to feel and behave in a particular way towards some object”.

b. “Attitudes are evaluative statements either favourable or unfavourable concerning objects,

people or events. They reflect how one feels about something”.

c. “Attitudes are learned predispositions towards aspects of our environment. They may be
positively or negatively directed towards certain people, service or institutions”.

3.13 FORMATION OF ATTITUDE Individuals acquire attitudes from several sources, but the
point to be stressed is that the attitudes are acquired, but not inherited. The most important
sources of acquiring attitudes are:

i. Direct experience with the object

Attitudes can develop from a personally rewarding or punishing experience with an

object. Employees form attitudes about jobs on their previous experiences. For

e.g.. if everyone who has held a job has been promoted within six months, current

job holders are likely to believe that they will also be promoted within six months.

Attitude formed on experience are difficult to change.

ii. Classical conditioning and attitude

One of the basic processes underlying attitude formation can be explained on the

basis of learning principles. People develop associations between various objects

and the emotional reactions that accompany them. For e.g., many soldiers who

were stationed in the Persian Gulf during the war with Iraq reported that, they never

wanted to sit on a sandy beach again. This is the soldiers formed negative attitudes

towards sand. Similarly, positive associations can develop through classical

conditioning. Advertisers make use of the principles of classical conditioning of

attitudes by attempting to link a product they want consumers to buy with a positive

feeling or event.

iii. Operant conditioning and Attitude acquisition

Another learning process, operant conditioning, also underlies attitude acquisition.

Attitudes that are reinforced, either verbally or non-verbally, tend to be maintained.

Conversely, a person who states an attitude that elicits ridicule from others may

modify or abandon the attitude. But it is not only direct reinforcement or punishment

that can influence attitudes.

iv. Vicarious learning

In which a person learns something through the observance of others, can also

account for attitude development — particularly when the individual has no direct

experience with the object about which the attitude is held. It is through vicariously

learning processes that children pick up the prejudice of their parents.

We also learn attitudes vicariously through television, films and other media.
a. Family and Peer groups

A person may learn attitudes through imitation of parents. If parents have positive

attitude towards an object and the child admires his parents, he is likely to adopt

a similar attitude, even without being told about the object and even without having

direct experience. Attitudes towards the opposite sex, religion, tolerance or prejudice,

education, occupations and almost all other areas where attitudes are capable of

expression are the result of our accepting or rejecting the attitudes held by members

of our family. Similarly, attitudes are acquired from peer groups in colleges and

organizations.

b. Neighbourhood

The neighborhoods we live has a certain structure in terms of its having cultural

facilities, religious groupings and possibly ethnic differences. Further, it has people

who are neighbours. Neighbouring — adults or children- tolerate, condone, or deny

certain attitudes and behaviour and as a result we are either Northerners or

Southerners. Further, we accept these moves and conform, or we deny them and

possibly rebel. The conformity or rebellion in some respects is the evidence of the

attitudes we hold.

c. Economic status and occupations

Our economic and occupational positions also contribute to attitude formation.

They determine, in part, our attitudes towards unions and management and our

belief that certain laws are “good” or “bad”. Our socio-economic background

influences our present and future attitudes.

d. Mass communication

All varieties of mass communications — televisions, radio, newspaper and magazines

feed their audiences large quantities of information. The presentation of news or

information is constructed so as to cater to the attitude of the audience. In turn,

the audience selects the specific form of mass communication that best reflects its
attitudes on various subjects. The material we select helps us either to

substantiate our opinions or to establish new ones

TYPES OF ATTITUDES

Individuals possess hundreds of attitudes. But in organizational behaviour, we are

concerned with work related attitudes which are mainly three:

i. Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction refers to one’s feeling towards one’s job. An individual having

satisfaction is said to posses positive attitude towards the job. Conversely, a

dissatisfied person will have negative attitude towards his orher job. When people

speak of employee attitudes they invariably refer to job satisfaction. In fact, the

two terms are used interchangeably, though subtle difference does exist between

the two.

ii. Job Involvement

Job involvement refers to the degree with which an individual identifies

psychologically with his or her job and perceives his or her perceived performance

level important to self worth. High degree of job involvement results in fewer absence

and lower resignation rates.

iii. Organizational Commitment

The last job attitude refers to organizational commitment. It is understood as one’s

identification with his or her organization and feels proud of being its employee.

Job involvement refers to one’s attachment to a job whereas organizational

commitment implies an employee’s identification with a particular organization

and its goals. Needless to say, it is to state that, an individual may be attached to

his or her job but may be indifferent to the organization and its objectives. Turnover

and absenteeism are low when employees have organizational commitm

Job involvement
Definition (1):

Job involvement is the degree to which an employee identifies with his or her job,
actively participates in it, and considers his or her job performance to
be important to his or her self-worth. Employees with a high level of
this involvement strongly identify with and really care about the kind of work they
do. Their positive attitude leads them to contribute to their work in positive ways.
High levels of this involvement have been found to be related to fewer absences,
lower resignation rates, and higher employee engagement with work.

Definition (2):

“Job involvement refers to a state of psychological identification with

work—or the degree to which a job is central to a person's identity. “
It has been considered as the main factor for increasing productivity and
unlocking worker or employee motivation from the organizational
perspective. Job involvement formulates a key to performance, motivation,
satisfaction, and personal growth in the workplace from an individual perspective.
It contributes significantly to organizational morale, effectiveness, and
productivity by deeply involving employees in their work and makes it a fulfilling
and meaningful experience. Individuals get involved in their works or jobs when
they understand the potential in them for satisfying the hidden psychological
needs such as for achievement, growth, meaning, security, and recognition.
Job involvement will not depend on demographics such as age, gender, education
and work experience, but it may depend on personality traits. For
instance, intrinsically motivated employees having self-esteem may show higher job
involvement. Moreover, employees involved in their job may interact with
supervisors in a positive manner and involve in meeting performance standards or
organizational goals. Furthermore, such employees are strongly committed,
dedicated to work and intrinsically satisfied. In addition, they are more inclined
towards career advancement than other subordinates.

What is Organizational Commitment?

Organizational commitment refers to the attachment between an employee and an
organization in terms of the psychological point of view of the employee. In short, it
is the bond employees experience towards the organization. Organizational
commitment determines the retention of employees within the company and
passion of employee to accomplish targets of the organization. The level of employee
satisfaction, employee engagement, leadership performance and job security can be
predicted by organizational commitment.

1) It is a broad attitudinal construct. It is theory-based, holds significant integrative

potential, and is more manageable than other forms of organizational attitudes.

2) It is significantly related to favorable organizational outcomes. At the individual

level of analysis, commitment predicts important employee behaviours such as staff
turnover, absenteeism, organizational citizenship or extra-role behaviours, and
performance (Allen & Meyer, 1996; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Steers, 1977).

organizational commitment can be viewed as follows:

1) Willingness of an individual to identify with and the desire not to leave an

organisation for selfish interest or marginal gains;
2) Desire to contribute to the effectiveness of an organisation;

3) Willingness to make personal sacrifice, to perform beyond normal expectations

and to endure difficult times with an organisation;

4) Belief in and acceptance of organization’s values and goals.

Components of Organizational Commitment

O’Reilly and Chatman (1986) conceptualised organisational commitment as a

psychological attachment and developed a model in which three dimensions of
organisational commitment were described: internalisation, identification, and
compliance. Internalisation measures the extent to which the employee feels they
share the same mission and values as the organisation. Identification describes the
employee’s desire to affiliate with their organisation without accepting the
organisation’s values as his/her own. Compliance describes an employee who
accepts the organisation’s values for his/her own personal gain but does not
internalise or hold any of those same values. Although this model represents the first
attempt to understand the multi-dimensional nature of organisational commitment,
it is not very popular.

The model of organisational commitment proposed by Meyer and Allen (1991) is the
most popular and comprehensively validated multidimensional model. Three
components are contained in Meyer and Allen’s (1991) organisational commitment
model: affective, continuance, and normative. Affective commitment is a feeling of
emotional attachment demonstrated in the statement, “I work here because the
people are great and the work is fun.” Continuance commitment is a feeling that the
costs of leaving are too high or it is too much trouble to go somewhere else. For
example, “I’d leave if I knew I could get another job that paid as much.” Normative
commitment is a feeling of obligation. For example, “I work here because they hired
me when I needed a job so I owe it to them.” The three components are now
described in greater detail.
Three-Component Model (TCM) is a distinguished theory in organizational
commitment. As per this theory, there are three distinct components to
organizational commitment.

1. Affective commitment – Emotional attachment with the organization is

described as affective commitment. High level of active commitment will lead to long
term bond with the company.

2. Continuance commitment – This level of commitment will lead the employee to

consider that leaving the organization is costly.

3. Normative commitment – This level of commitment will lead the employee to

consider that he or she is obliged to stay in the company.

What is the Relationship Between Job Involvement

and Organizational Commitment?
Job involvement and organizational commitment are closely related and
interdependent. A person with high job involvement may have higher organizational
commitment. Both organizational commitment and job involvement determine the
retention of employees with the workplace. However, both concepts deal with
individual emotions and psychology. Personality traits also play a bigger role in job
involvement and organizational commitment.

What is the Difference Between Job Involvement

and Organizational Commitment?
The key difference between job involvement and organizational commitment is that
job involvement refers to the degree to which an employee is engaged in and
enthusiastic about performing their work whereas organizational commitment
refers to the bond between individual and organization. Thus, job involvement may
depend on the desire of the individual for his profession or organization whereas
organizational commitment solely depends on the organization.

Moreover, higher job involvement can be indicated if the individual is performing a

task in his own favorite field. On the contrary, higher organizational commitment can
be indicated if the individual has a positive work environment, positive feedback from
the organization. Organizational commitment is directly responsible for employee
retention whereas job involvement does not have a direct involvement for employee
retention. So, this is too a significant difference between job involvement and
organizational commitment. Furthermore, job involvement will lead to employee
motivation, performance, career growth, and satisfaction in their profession,
whereas organizational commitment will lead to employee retention and job
security.
Factors of Job Involvement

1. Motivation
Motivation refers to the process that causes people to act as they do. A study shows
that motivation occurs “when a need is aroused and the person wishes to satisfy it”,
therefore motivation is the core to the success of the organization is essential when the
higher employee’s levels of motivation, the more productive outcome they can give to
the organization.

Van Niekerk (1987) has defined that motivation as the creation of work circumstances
that influence employees to perform certain task of their own free will, in order to reach
the goals of the organization and satisfy their own needs. Therefore, it is very important
for employer to motivate their employee in order to increase the organization
productivity as well as the profit. Research has shown that the more employee become
motivated the more involvement towards their jobs at workplace.
However, Du Toit (1990) added that motivation has influenced by individual
characteristics such as people’s own interests, value and needs, work characteristics such
as task variety and responsibility and organizational characteristics such as its policies,
procedures and customs. Despite that Pinder (1998) have described that motivation as
the set of internal and external forces which initiate the work-related behavior and
determine its form, intensity and also duration.

Researcher study Cunningham (2002) shown that firefighters have one of the most
dedicated and motivated professions in the world. In addition, a firefighter is also seen
as one of the most ethical and honorable positions a person who able to hold because
they are the most trustworthy in the consensus of the public which stated by
Cunningham (2002), example to go into a burning buildings and rescue complete
strangers, firefighter have to be a very motivated group of people with a sense of
organization and teamwork which described by Casey (2000).

It is clearly stated in the research that motivation of a workers carry the behavioral of
them towards their job involvement, also determine their level of motivation in the
workplace. In some cases managers play an important role of leadership to boost their
worker’s motivation towards their performance and task that given to them. Motivation
of a worker could provide better self enhancement towards their career.

A study of motivation shows that the impact on the academic staff motivation in a
higher education which refer to the hygiene factor of Herzberg mentioned by Rowley
(1996). From the study the author explained that the frustration could develop from the
dissatisfaction which able to prevent staff from accomplish their jobs such as poor
timetable organization, inadequate maintenance of educational equipment or else time
management.

In addition, Hertzberg theory has conducted a study on the motivation factors which
included of the work itself, advancement, recognition and responsibility directly related
to the employee job and individual itself. Taylor’s Scientific Management (1911) has
proposed a science theory could be able develop for each element of an employee’s
task that scientifically selected and trained, where else the managers should sincerely
ensure the employee that being done in accordance with the principles of the science,
and also there should be an equal division of their task and responsibility between the
organization’s management. The author has argued that motivation need to bring
human skills whereby minimizing their hope of mistakes and careless that they could
make.

A researcher Dinham and Scott (1998) has identify that the work salary has become the
important needs of every employee which could lead them to a very high or low level
motivation in many academic field. For example, a supported research from Darmody
and Smyth (2010) appeal that this factor lead of deterioration of some staff in academic
profession.

2. Organizational citizenship behavior

According to Organ (1988) has defined the term of organizational citizenship behavior
as an individual behavior that is discretionary which is not directly that recognized by
the formal reward system and also promotes effective functioning of the organization.
Organizational citizenship behavior refers to employees such as supportive actions to
assist other employee and go beyond the minimum requirement of their task.

Moreover, organizational citizenship behavior has been related construct from the
organizational commitment that developed by organizational psychologist which
described by Cohen (2000), which emphasize to particular class of employee behavior
and attitude based for a practically significant workplace based of employee job
attitudes.

organizational citizenship behavior exist of factors such as positive and negative “extra-
role” behavior which influence the employee’s productivity believed to be reflected in
performance evaluations explained by MacKenzle (1991). The variable of job
involvement has related to organizational citizenship behavior which affective response
of various job related whereby explain the employee’s mood engaged with their
organizational citizenship behavior according researcher Schnake (1991).

Organizational citizenship behavior is most important variable of explaining the

individual as a social theory with greater frequency which means the organizations and
their representatives make a better allocation decision making towards their job
performance described by Blau (1964).

Organ and Konovsky (1989) has mentioned a study that organizational citizenship
behavior has become an important element of a cognitive appraisal of an employee
work performance and also related to their work environment based on the outcome
such as positive and negative behavior during perform their task in an organization. For
example, employee that has positive behavior towards their organization, then they tend
to be more spiritual on handling their work.

In the view of Smith (1983) has stated that organizational citizenship behavior has two
main facets such as organizational altruistic, it refer to specify person and also
organizational citizenship behavior compliance more of “good soldier” or “good citizen”
of doing the “right and proper”. For example, employee in working environment helps
to attach them with the interrelated work relationship between other employee from
different department and establish an altruistic motive with an organization share their
skill, knowledge, capability, and experiences together with passion which mentioned by
(Bolino, 2002).

3. Job satisfaction: Job satisfaction is an important asset to the business owners

and top managers because the low levels of job satisfaction are related to increased
absenteeism and higher job turnover levels towards their job involvement at workplace
by Annabel Droussiotis (2007). However, Hart (1999) concluded that job satisfaction
contributes to overall life satisfaction and according to Edward Lawler (1973) measured
job satisfaction as quality of life in an organization which important for the managers to
understand the components of work life and ensure that the workplace provides the
employee needs. Moreover, job satisfaction is an affective reaction to one’s job which
resulting from the incumbent’s comparison of actual outcomes with those desired
“expected, deserved and so on” stated by researcher Lewis J.W. Lim (2012).
Other interpretation view that job satisfaction attributes the positive and negative
feelings and attitudes of people hold about their jobs and that depend on many work-
characteristics but also on personal characteristic such as age, gender, health and social
relationship which described by Schultz and Schultz (1998). But argued by researcher
Locke & Latham, (2000) that job satisfaction is one of the top issues for management
and organization researchers have been conducted on different dimensions of job
satisfaction because it has been closely linked with the organizational phenomena such
as leadership, morale, motivation and performance.

According to Freeman (1978) that employers prefer that their employees to be satisfied,
since the employees’ satisfaction is closely related to their labor market such as
productivity, quits and absenteeism. On the other hand, Locke (1976) has defines that
the job satisfaction as the individual’s subjective valuation of different aspects of their
job involvement.

Another author Herzberg (1957) has stated that employee’s psychological recognition
given through their accomplishment of their job, to believe the level of job satisfaction
determined by the gap of the work actually and expected obtained by the employees.
There are five factors that related to the job satisfaction of the employees included
company policy, administration, inter-personal relations, work condition and payment.

Shore (1995) has mentioned that an employee tend to be more loyal towards their
organization when they have the high level of job satisfaction whereby the employee
has happy working environment with the other employee, who share the experience and
skill together. The bonding of the employee working relationship could foster the level
job satisfaction in the workplace.

There are some other determinants of Job involvement such as :

1. Work Life Balance

2. Quality of Work
3. Working Conditions/ Environment
4. Benefits

ANTECEDENTS OF ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT

Organisational commitment is related to three antecedent categories: personal
variables, work situation and organisational characteristics, and work experiences. Age,
gender, organisational tenure, educational level, and personal attributes are examples
of personal variables. Job and role characteristics contain career mobility, job challenge,
job level, role conflict, role ambiguity, level of autonomy and working hours. Finally,
social involvement, personal importance and formalisation are structural factors
1.Personal Characteristics: Research has shown that commitment is related to personal
characteristics such as age, length of service in a particular organisation, gender, marital
status, employee’s level of education and personality attributes.
Age and Tenure: Research shows age and tenure to be positively correlated with
commitment. According to Meyer and Allen (1997), as people get older and remain in
their organisations, they may develop an emotional attachment with the organisation
that makes it difficult to switch jobs. It may also be because older workers or those with
longer organisational tenure accumulate more ‘‘side bets,’’ such as pension plans and
other benefits (Meyer & Allen, 1984) that make them more committed to stay with the
organisation. Older people are also more likely to be committed probably because
alternative employment opportunities diminish for them or because commitment may
be a successful strategy in getting along. Meyer and Allen (1997) also suggest that the
results of a positive relationship between tenure and organisational commitment might
be a simple reflection of the fact that uncommitted employees leave an organisation,
and only those with a high commitment remain.
Gender: Earlier research reported that women were more committed than men
(Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). More recent studies, however, found no relationship
between gender and organisational commitment (Van der Velde, Bossink, &
Jansen, 2003).
Marital Status: Marital status has emerged as a consistent predictor of
organisational commitment. Findings reported by Hrebiniak and Alutto (1972),
John and Taylor (1999), and Tsui, Leung, Cheung, Mok, and Ho (1994) indicate
that married people were more committed to their organisation than unmarried
people. Married people have greater financial burdens and family responsibilities
and need more stability and security in their jobs. Therefore, they are likely to be
more committed to their current organisation than their unmarried counterparts.
Education: Level of education has been found to have a negative relationship
with organisational commitment (Steers, 1977). Higher education is associated
with lower commitment, perhaps because educated people have expectations
the organisation cannot meet or are more committed to professions (their
occupational community) than to organisations. It may also be that alternative
work opportunities are greater for people with higher education. People with
low levels of education, on the other hand, generally have more difficulty changing
jobs and therefore show a greater commitment to their organisations.
Personal attributes: Several personal attributes are related to commitment, among
them are work-oriented life interests, achievement motivation, and a sense of
competence. These kinds of relationships support the notion of exchange between
the employee and his organisation.
2 Work Situation and Organisational Characteristics
Commitment has been found to be related to such work characteristics as task
autonomy, feedback and job challenge, promotion opportunities, training and
mentoring opportunities, and supportive and considerate leadership. Finally,
research studies have revealed that commitment is influenced by perceptions of
organisational justice.
Job and role characteristics: Concerning job and role characteristics, both career
mobility (Bhagat & Chassie, 1981) and job challenge (Kirchmeyer, 1995) are
found to be positively correlated with organisational commitment. Further, role
conflict, role overload and role ambiguity have a negative correlation with
organisational commitment (e.g. Mayer and Schoorman, 1998). The level of
autonomy in the work place is found to be very important as autonomy is
significantly positively related to organisational commitment (e.g. Hall et al.,
1970). Thus organisations have a greater chance of retaining their employees if
they offer them interesting, challenging, unambiguous, and clearly-defined jobs
and those that give them a sense of accomplishment.
Promotion Opportunities: Policies and practices concerning the movement of
employees, particularly upward movement, once they are in the organisation
tend to affect their commitment. For example, Gaertner and Nollen (1989) found
that commitment was greater among employees who had been promoted and
that it was also positively related to employees’ perceptions that the company
had a policy of promoting from within. Such a policy might be perceived by
employees as evidence of organisational support, which in turn instills a greater
commitment to the organization
Job Security: Research studies have found job security to be positively related to
organisational commitment (Yousef, 1998). The existence of job security is likely
to bolster employees’ perceptions of organisational support which would help to
foster organisational commitment. Thus, there is a positive relationship between
job security and organisation commitment.
Leadership behaviours: DeCotiis & Summers (1987) found that when employees
were treated with consideration, they displayed greater levels of commitment.
Bycio, Hackett, & Allen (1995) reported positive correlations between the
leadership behaviours of charisma, intellectual stimulation, individualised
consideration, and contingent reward and affective, continuance, and normative
commitment.
Organisational justice: There are two important dimensions of organisational
justice: procedural justice and distributive justice. Distributive justice refers to
the perceived fairness of the amounts of compensation employees receive, whereas
procedural justice refers to the perceived fairness of the means used to determine
those amounts (Folger & Konovsky, 1989). Research indicates that both
distributive justice and procedural justice are related to organisational commitment
(McFarlin & Sweeney, 1992). Although both dimensions of organisational justice
are important and have been linked to commitment, research evidence suggests
that procedural justice is a better predictor of employee commitment to the
organisation than distributive justice. Distributive justice, however, is a better
predictor of personal outcomes such as pay satisfaction. One reason for this
could be that use of fair procedures in decision making provides evidence of a
genuine caring and concern on the part of the organisation for the well being of
employees (Lind & Tyler, 1988). This in turn motivates the employees to continue
their association with their current organisation.
Organisational support: Perceived organisational support is defined as “the extent
to which employees perceive that the organisation values their contribution and
cares about their wellbeing” (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-LaMastro, 1990).
Researchers have discovered a positive relationship between perceived
organisational support and affective organisational commitment (Meyer & Allen,
1997). Employees exchange commitment to the organisation for greater care,
concern, and support from the organization.
Organisational culture: Recent studies point to the importance of organisational
culture in predicting organisational commitment. Organisational culture refers
to a complex pattern of assumptions, beliefs and values that guide the behaviour
of individuals in organisations (Schein, 1996). Lok and Crawford (2001) found
that innovative organisational culture, characterised by a willingness to experiment
and innovate was a strong predictor of organisational commitment Hatton et al.
(1999) indicated that greater employee commitment was associated with cultures
that were more tolerant, staff-oriented, achievement oriented, innovative, and
rewarding. Furthermore, organisational cultures that foster staff empowerment
and trust in management have been linked to higher organisational commitment
(Laschinger et al., 2001). It is reasoned that organisational culture influences
employees’ sense of engagement, identification and belonging and such
sentiments seem to have an impact on commitment.
Working Conditions: Good working conditions such as clean, attractive
surroundings enable employees to perform their work smoothly and thus are
likely to have a positive impact on organisational commitment. Research by
Painter and Akroyd (1998) found that the general working conditions were
significantly related to organisational commitment.
Type of work sector: Research has found that government employees have higher
levels of continuance commitment than other sectors (Perry, 1997; Meyer &
Allen, 1997). This is due to the antecedents of public service motivation. Because
public sector employees in the past have high levels of commitment to the
organisation and its goals because it is argued that they are a different type of
employee, with strong ethics as well as job security (Perry, 1997). Lio (1995)
states “facing today’s difficult times, many public employees appreciate the
relatively secure job situation associated with public employment and consider
it a major reason for their organisational commitment”.
3 Work Experiences
The extent of job involvement, level of job satisfaction and the degree of trust
are some of the important work experiences that influence an employee’s
commitment to his/her organisation.
Job Involvement: Job involvement concerns an individual’s ego involvement
with the job–that is, the degree to which an individual’s self esteem is affected
by his/her work performance (Lodahl & Kejner, 1965). Several studies have
revealed a significant positive relationship between organisational commitment
and job involvement. One explanation for this could be that for employees with
a high level of job involvement, the job is important to one’s self image. These
high-involvement employees identify with, and care about, their jobs and are
thus less likely to quit their jobs.
Job satisfaction: Although there is certainly a chicken-and-egg debate over issues
regarding the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational
commitment, several researchers have made the case that job satisfaction is a
predictor of organisational commitment (Porter, Steers, Mowday, & Boulian,
1974).
Trust: Trust refers to the person’s degree of confidence in the words and actions
of another. Trust in organisational authorities has been shown to influence a variety of
subordinate’s work attitudes and behaviour (Brockner et al., 1997).
When trust levels are high, employees are supportive of, or committed to,
authorities and the institutions that the authorities represent. Brockner et al. (1997)
report that trust has a positive effect on employee commitment. In a similar vein,
Dirks and Ferrin’s (2002) research findings demonstrate a substantial relationship
between trust in leadership and organisation commitment.
CONSEQUENCES OF ORGANISATIONAL
COMMITMENT
In general, organisational commitment is considered a useful measure of
organisational effectiveness (Steers, 1977). In particular, “organisational
commitment is a “multidimensional construct” (Morrow, 1993) that has the
potential to predict organisational outcomes such as performance, turnover,
absenteeism, tenure, and organisational goals” (Meyer & Allen, 1997).
Meta analyses indicate that commitment is negatively related to turnover
(CooperHakim & Viswesvaran, 2005), absenteeism (Farrell & Stamm, 1988), and
counterproductive behaviour (Dalal, 2005) and positively related to job
satisfaction (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005), motivation (Mathieu & Zajac,
1990), and organisational citizenship behaviours (Riketta, 2002). Moreover,
research studies have provided evidence of a positive correlation between
organisational commitment and job performance (e.g., Meyer, Paunonen, Gellatly,
Goffin, & Jackson, 1989). Low commitment has also been associated with low
levels of morale (DeCottis & Summers, 1987) and decreased measures of altruism
and compliance (Schappe, 1998). Finally, non-committed employees may describe
the organisation in negative terms to outsiders thereby inhibiting the organisation’s
ability to recruit high-quality employees (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982). These
findings have important implications for both organisation theory and the practice
of management.
In general, affective commitment seems more strongly related to organisational
outcomes such as performance and turnover than the other two commitment
dimensions. One study found that affective commitment was a significant
predictor of various outcomes (perceptions of task characteristics, career
satisfaction and intention to leave) in 72% of the cases, compared with only
36% in normative commitment and 7% for continuance commitment. Research
further suggests that employees with high levels of continuance commitment
have lower performance ratings and less likely to engage in organisational
citizenship behaviours. Furthermore, unionised employees with high continuance
commitment are more likely to use formal grievances, whereas employees with
high affective commitment engage in more constructive problem solving when
employee-employer relations turn sour.
However, it is important to note that too much of affective commitment can also
have negative consequences for an organisation. One concern is the organisational
loyalty reduces turnover, which may limit the organisation’s opportunity to hire
new employees with different knowledge and fresh perspectives. Another concern
is that loyalty results in conformity, which can undermine creativity and ethical
conduct.