Employee organizational commitment----The influenc

Employeeorganizationalcommitment:theinfluenceofculturalandorganizationalfactorsintheAustralianmanufacturingindustrySophiaSu*,KevinBairdandBillBlairDepartmentofAccountingandFinance,EFS,MacquarieUniversity,Sydney,NSW,AustraliaTheimportanceofenhancingemployeeorganizationalcommitment(EOC)ishighlightedbytheextensiveliteraturerevealingitspositiveimpactonemployees’jobperformance,reducingabsenteeismandturnoverrates,andimprovingemployees’adaptabilitytoorganizationalchange.ThisstudyprovidesaninsightintohowEOClevelscanbeenhancedbyexaminingthecontextualfactorsthatcaninfluenceEOC.Specifically,thestudyexaminestheassociationbetweencultural,organizational,anddemographicfactorswiththelevelofEOCintheAustralianmanufacturingindustry.Datawerecollectedbyasurveyquestionnairefromarandomsampleof500managerswiththeresultsrevealingthattwoculturalfactors(outcomeorientationandstability)andthreeorganizationalfactors(organizationalsize,perceivedorganizationalsupportandjobsatisfaction)werefoundtobesignificantlyassociatedwiththelevelofEOC.FurtheranalysisprovidesapreliminaryinsightintohowtoenhancetheEOCofspecificmanagerswithdifferentculturalandorganizationalfactorsfoundtobeassociatedwiththeEOCofmanagersatdifferentlevelsintheorganizationalhierarchy.ThefindingshaveimportantimplicationsforpractitionersattemptingtoimprovethelevelofEOCoftheiremployeeswiththesubsequentenhancementsinthelevelofEOClikelytocontributetoimprovementsinproductivityandgrowthintheAustralianmanufacturingindustry.Keywords:employeeorganizationalcommitment(EOC);jobsatisfaction;manufac-turingindustry;organizationalculture;perceivedorganizationalsupportIntroductionEmployeeorganizationalcommitment(EOC)reflectsemployees’identificationwiththeorganization’sgoalsandvalues;theirwillingnesstoexertagreateffortonbehalfoftheorganization;andtheirintentiontostaywiththeorganization(Porter,Steers,MowdayandBoulian1974).TheimportanceofEOCishighlightedbytheextensiveliteraturewhichhasfocusedonEOCasapotentialdeterminantofemployeemotivation,andstaffabsenteeismandturnoverrates(Porteretal.1974;MathieuandZajac1990;Hackett,PeterandHausdorf1994;Ko,PriceandMueller1997;Agarwala2003;Meyer,BeckerandVandenberghe2004;Smeenk,Eisinga,TeelkenandDoorewaard2006;Bhatnagar2007).Forexample,PoolandPool(2007)maintainthatEOCplaysasignificantroleincreatinganorganizationalenvironmentthatpromotesmotivationandjobsatisfactionintheworkplace.Inaddition,Gellatly(1995)suggestedthatEOCisapowerfulpredictorofabsenteeismwhileStallworth(2004)foundthatthereisanegativecorrelationbetweenthelevelofEOCandanemployee’sintentiontosearchforjobalternativesandtoleaveone’sjob.ISSN0958-5192print/ISSN1466-4399onlineq2009Taylor&FrancisDOI:10.1080/09585190903363813*Correspondingauthor.Email:[e-mail]lofHumanResourceManagement,Vol.20,No.12,December2009,2494–2516GiventheimportanceofEOC,theoverallobjectiveofthisstudyistoprovidepractitionerswithaninsightintohowtheycanenhancethelevelofEOCwithintheirorganization.ThestudyaimstoachievethisobjectivebyextendingtheliteratureexaminingthecontextualfactorsthatcaninfluenceEOC.Accordingly,thisstudy’soverallobjectiveiscategorizedintothreemainobjectives:toexaminetheassociationbetween(i)cultural,(ii)organizationaland(iii)demographicfactorswiththelevelofEOCintheAustralianmanufacturingindustry.ThefirstobjectiveistoexaminetheassociationbetweenculturalfactorswiththelevelofEOC.DespitetheclaimthatcriticaloutcomessuchasEOCandemployeeperformanceareaffectedbyanorganization’sprevailingculture(Nystrom1993),onlyafewstudies(Nystrom1993;LokandCrawford1999,2001;McKinnon,Harrison,ChowandWu2003;McMurray,ScottandPace2004)haveexaminedtheassociationbetweenorganizationalcultureandthelevelofEOC,withMcMurrayetal.(2004)theonlystudyconductedwithintheAustralianmanufacturingindustry.Eachofthesestudiesincorporatedsmallsamplesizes(maximumof13organizations).Accordingly,themotivationforexaminingtheassociationbetweenorganizationalcultureandEOCisthedearthofstudiesexaminingthisrelationship.Furthermore,thestudyaimstocontributetotheliteraturebyexaminingthisassociationusingalargesamplesizeandbyfocusingontheAustralianmanufacturingindustry.Specifically,thestudywillexploretheassociationbetweenEOCwiththesixdimensionsofcultureattributedtoO’Reilly,ChathamandCaldwell’s(1991)OrganizationalCultureProfile(OCP)measure:teamwork;respectforpeople;outcomeorientation;innovation;stability;andattentiontodetail.ThesecondobjectiveofthestudyistoexaminetheassociationbetweenorganizationalfactorswiththelevelofEOC.Specifically,thestudyhypothesizestheassociationbetweenfiveorganizationalfactors(organizationalsize,training,linktorewards,perceivedorganizationalsupport,andjobsatisfaction)withthelevelofEOC.WhilethefiveorganizationalfactorsexamineddonotrepresentanexhaustivelistoffactorsassociatedwiththelevelofEOC,theyarechosenasexamplesofthefactorsthathavebeenexaminedinpaststudies.Previousstudieshaveproducedmixedfindingsinrespecttotheassociationbetweenthreeofthesefactors(organizationalsize,training,andjobsatisfaction)andthelevelofEOC.Itishopedthat