Organizational Commitment
An employee’s psychological attachment towards his working organization is mirrored through the degree of commitment he manifests towards work. A Committed person is more likely to want to remain with an organization and work towards its goals. Since commitment is a multidimensional concept, it is hard to properly define it. Commitment is considered to be one of the most challenging fields, and as a result, it has been subjected to extensive research in the fields of management, organizational behavior, and human resource management, over the years (Cohen, 2007, p. 336).
Kanter (1968) has stated that commitment manifests the willingness of a person to spend his energy on behalf of the betterment of the society. Salancik & Pfeffer (1977) saw commitment as a state of being bound by an individual’s own actions. Similar ideas have been used in defining organizational commitment as well. Sheldon (1971) has stated that organizational commitment has the ability to attach a person’s identity to an organization by means of an attitude or orientation. O’Reilly (1989) supporting that idea stated that an employees’ sense of job involvement, loyalty, and belief in the values of the organization mirrors how much he is psychologically attached to that organization by means of organizational commitment. Despite the diversity of all these definitions available, certain trends are evident. In particular, a many of these definitions focus on individual’s commitment related behaviors or attitudes. When an individual is bound by his actions or exhibit behaviors that exceed formal expectations, it is considered to be a manifestation of commitment. Such behaviors represent sunk costs in the organization where individuals refrain from alternative courses of action and choose to link themselves to the organization. On the other hand, attitudinal commitment exists when the identity of a person is linked with that of an organization and when the goals of the organization become integrated with those of the individual (Mowday et al., 1982).
Organizational-Commitment as a concept
The concept of organizational commitment has become popular in the literature on industrial and organizational psychology (Cohen, 2003). However, in the process of conceptualization, the authors define organizational commitment as a whole new concept rather than a meaning of a term alone. Porter (1973) defined organizational commitment in terms of the involvement of an individual with a particular organization and the how the identity of the individual is related with that of the organization. He stated that a committed individual believes and accepts organization’s goals and values while working to achieve them with the purpose of maintaining organizational membership for a long time. However, the insight of Becker (1960) on this was slightly different. He put forward the “exchanged-based definition” or the “side-bet” theory. This theory reveals that individuals will stay committed to the organization despite all the stressful conditions, as long as they get to hold their positions. However, if they are given alternative benefits or better opportunities elsewhere, they will leave the organization without looking back. O’Reilly (1989) took a totally different approach and introduced three processes or stages of commitment in the popular O’Reilly and Chatman’s model. They were compliance, identification, and internalization. He stated that at the first stage of commitment, compliance, a person accepts the influence of others mainly if they are given something in return for a payment. Then at the second stage of Identification, the desire to maintain a satisfying, self-defining relationship encourages the individual to accept the influence. At the final stage of Internalization, the individual finds the values of the organization to be intrinsically rewarding and in harmony with personal values. However, in a world where work is changing along with increased global competition, rapid developments in information and technology and re-engineering of business, the relevance of these concepts of commitment is subjected to an argument (Cohen, 2003).
Dimensions of Organizational Commitment
Due to various deficits in considering organizational commitment as a singular concept, scholars have introduced several multidimensional approaches over the years. The differences between such multidimensional frameworks and previous concepts stem largely from the different motives and strategies involved in their development (Lesbabe & Nkosi, 2007) .O’reilly & Chatman’s Model (1986) was such a model which defined organizational commitment on the basis of compliance, identification, and internalization. Penly and Gould (1988) introduced another multidimensional framework by including three components named morale, calculative and attractive. However, the three component model introduced by Allen and Meyer (1990) is the most commonly used framework. It is considered as the most prominent approach to studying organizational commitment for more than 20 years (Cohen 2007, 337). At the moment, it is the most widely accepted conceptualization of organizational commitment in the world without any doubt (Herrbach, 2006).Meyer and Allen (1984) identified the lack of consensus in construct definition of organizational commitment as an issue, when synthesizing the results of commitment research. Therefore, after reviewing organizational commitment theory and research extensively, they proposed a model to interpret existing research and to serve as a framework for future research (Meyer and Allen, 1991). They have initially conceptualized organizational commitment into a bi-dimensional construct after studying previous work of Porter (1974) and Becker (1960). The first two dimensions were affective and continuous, later followed by a third dimension called normative (Meyer and Allen, 1984). These three approaches together imply that commitment is a psychological state that characterizes the relationship that employee has with a particular organization while affecting the employees’ decision to continue or discontinue working at the same place. They also pointed out that beyond these three approaches the nature of the psychological states is subjected to change (Meyer and Allen, 1991).
The first dimension termed as affective commitment refers to employee’s emotional attachment to the organization, how he is identified with in the institution that he provides service and the degree of involvement he has with the particular organization. It implies that the employees with strong affective commitment tend to stay continuously with that organization as they want to do so (Meyer and Allen, 1991). The employee recognizes the goals and values of the organization as his own and feels the urge to fulfill them (Buchanan, 1974).
The second dimension of organizational commitment is continuance commitment or perceived cost which is based on Becker’s side bet theory. It suggests that the employees feel committed to their organizations only because of the costs that are associated if they decide to leave (Meyer and Allen, 1984). According to Becker (1960), commitment to a course of action develops as a result of the side bets that are created and knowledge of the fact that those would be lost if the action were to be discontinued. Employees who are linked to the organization by means of continuance commitment remain because they are well aware of the profits associated with staying and the cost associated with leaving (Kanter, 1968).
The final and third dimension, normative commitment (Allen and Meyer, 1990) exists because the employees feel that they are obliged to remain with the organization. An employee committed in a normative manner disregards the status enhancement or satisfaction that he receives as he feels that irrespective of all those facts, staying in the company is the morally right thing to do (Marsh & Mannari, 1977). The employee feels the pressure to act towards achieving organizational goals and interests (Wiener, 1982).
Allen and Meyer (1991) highlighted the importance of considering three dimensions as components rather than types of commitment since when considered as three individual types, it implies that these three psychological states are mutually exclusive, which in reality is actually not. An employee can experience all three forms of commitment to varying degrees at the same time. It is possible for an employee to understand the need and obligation to stay within the organization while having no strong desire to continue. At other times he/she might possess a strong desire to remain in the organization without any strong need or obligation. Thus, the net sum of an employee’s commitment to the organization would reflect each of the three separable psychological states (Kaur & Sandhu, 2010).
Allen and Meyer (1991) also pointed out that the degree to which each component of commitment is displayed in individuals actually depends on a set of different antecedents. The affective commitment may differ according to personal characteristics, job characteristics, work experiences, and structural characteristics. In addition, affective component of commitment is considered to be the most consistent and strongest predictor of positive organization relevant and employee relevant outcomes. Attendance, performance, and organizational citizenship behavior, stress, and work–family conflict have strong correlations with this component. Although not much as solid as that, normative commitment also manifests desirable outcomes while continuance commitment stays rather unrelated or negatively related to above outcomes (Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002). Randall, Fedor, and Longenecker (1990) found out that affective commitment contributed significantly to the prediction of concern for quality, sacrifice orientation and willingness to share knowledge. On the other hand, the normative commitment has contributed only to the prediction of sacrifice orientation, and continuance commitment did not add to the prediction of any of these behaviors in a significant manner. According to Meyer and Allen (1984), work behavior has correlated positively with measures of affective and normative commitment, but not with continuance commitment. Furthermore, various studies demonstrate that, affective, continuance and normative organizational commitment are related to career stage( Kaur & Sandhu,2010), religiosity and ethical ideology( Bouarif,2015), citizenship behavior(Chen & Fransesco,2003), organizational culture(Shurbagi & Zahari,2014), and performance and quality of work(Park & Rainey,2007) in their own unique ways.
Although it is widely accepted that these three forms of commitment are related yet distinguishable from one another (Meyer et al., 2002), there is still a dispute over that fact whether normative commitment can actually be differentiated from affective commitment. Bergman (2006) after analyzing theoretical and empirical literature to find out whether these two dimensions can truly be separated, came to the final conclusion that theoretically, these two individual components describe the ways in which individual can bond with an organization in different manners.
Impact of Organizational Commitment on organizational performance
In order to face with ever-increasing challenges in this highly competitive world and to perform at peak levels, each one of the employees should be committed to the objectives and strategic goals of the organization (Lesabe & Nkosi, 2007). According to Katz (1964) and McElroy (2001), to maintain the effectiveness of an organization, the employees should enter and remain with the organization, carry out specific roles and, should engage in innovative and spontaneous activities that go beyond role prescriptions. However, achieving such aspects will be impossible, if not for the employees with organizational commitment. A study done by Bhati & Dixit (2012), indicate that a positive relationship exists between the three components of commitment-affective, continuance and normative commitment and sustained productivity of an organization.
When employees are loyal and truly engaged, they can contribute to positive business outcomes such as increased sales, improved productivity, profitability and increased retention that eventually leads to high performance (Rogers, 2001; Tsui, Pearce & Porter; 1995). Greenberg and Baron (2003) revealed that highly committed employees tend to make sacrifices to render efficient services to their organization. Moreover, it has found out that, employees with high levels of organizational commitment are less likely to resign or be absent from work whereas, those who demonstrate low levels of commitment are more likely to be absent and not to retain their jobs (George & Jones, 2002; Greenberg & Baron, 2003).
Organizational commitment is essential in goal achievement, innovation, and stability of an organization. Therefore, it plays an important role in management discourse too. This eventually leads to strong relationships between employees, managers, owners, units and other concerned parties of an organization, creating better superior subordinate relationships and improved organizational climate. This ensures that a well-qualified talent pool is attracted to and is preserved within the organization (Awamleh, 1996).
However, having committed employees can bring about negative consequences as well. It has found out that it can cause loss of flexibility within the organization while creating less innovation among employees due to acceptance of the status within the organization as it is (Meyer & Allen, 1997).
Challenges faced by women in demonstrating organizational commitment
Female participation in the global workforce has increased exponentially over the past number of years, worldwide including countries such as the USA (Auster, 2001), and many other in Europe (Paoli & Merllie, 2001). When it comes to weighing out organizational commitment displayed by men and women, several studies present different opinions. Research done by Aranaya et al. (1986) and Kaldenberg et al. (1995) show that men display greater organizational commitment than women, while another set of studies (Matthieu and Zajec, 1990) presents data to prove that when it comes to displaying organizational commitment, women are actually in the front. However, there are some studies that have discovered that a significant relationship between genders and organizational commitment does not exist (AI-Ajmi, 2006).
Along with the rise of female labor force participation, challenges like managing time, roles and responsibilities are commonly seen, particularly among women in child bearing years (Marcinkus and Hamilton, 2006). These women are under huge pressure as they have to find meaning in work, at home and in their personal life while competing for priorities and career roles at the same time. As a result, most of the career-minded mothers have to make a choice between a challenging job, a promising career and the demands of home life (Dex, 1999). Okumus et al. (2010) pointed out that female employees do not have enough time for their friends and family, hobbies, and for household duties. As a result, they find difficulties in job promotions, long working hours and various job conditions. Studies show that organizations now employ a significant number of women who have reached midlife and mid-career. The main problem faced by these women is to find the perfect work-family balance or work- life integration among conflicting demands of their careers, children and child care, elder care, and other personal issues (Marcinkus et al., 2007). However, no matter the efforts they put in, when it comes to fulfilling the needs of children and organization performance expectations, there is always a collision (Auster, 2001). The conflict occurs when the employee gives priority to work demands at the expense of family demands or vice versa (Cole, 2004). Studies also reveal that female managers are less effective in managing organizational resources than male managers (Adekola, 2006; Ajaja, 2004). Although, both male and female workers could be committed and effective in managing the organizational resources for goals achievement, male workers are more committed to achieving organizational goals than female workers due to work-family role conflict (Akintayo, 2010).
It has been found out that work-family conflict has become an important factor which determines the degree of organizational commitment. A significant difference exists between married and single employees as far as the impact of work-family role conflict is considered (Akintayo, 2010). In this competitive world with the intention of increasing productivity, organizations inflict an increased time demand upon their workforce, leaving less time available for the employees to be with their families. If the female employee is more committed to the welfare of the family, it will be the number one priority leading to a reduction in time and energy being spent in the work domain. Thus, it is believed that employees who experience high family role conflict manifest less affective commitment towards the organization. Although children often become the number one priority in employee mothers, when they seek stimulations, challenges, achievement, and enrichment in their work, the career once again acquires an important place. Moreover, women in their mid- career transition period tend to seek more self-care time in an effort to find new meaning in the work, family and self -equation( Grady &McCarthy, 2008). When an organization offers high inducements to the employee, she will produce extra efforts to ensure continued employment. The continuance-committed employee will tend to be more dedicated to working with the intention of achieving financial benefits and it will ultimately lead to high work-life conflict in the long run(Iverson and Buttgieg, 2008).
Studies have found out that in South Asian countries gender differences directly affect job satisfaction of female employees. Female employees encounter more challenges in the organizations when compared with male employees including forgoing marriage, motherhood, and gender discrimination. Males have the upper hand and superior power on their families as well as in organization set up in the South Asian society. Women are often exploited and their voice is often suppressed (Akhwand, Fatima, Ibrahim, Iqbal & Suleman, 2015).These researchers also point out that female employees are given fewer opportunities for career advancement than male employees. For example, when it comes to awarding an executive status, almost always a male employee will be appointed to that position. The society believes that females are not eligible for executive posts due to having low decision power and confidence (Akhwand et al., 2015). It is also believed that female employees are unable of working for long hours in the organization and they do not possess the ability to move from one place to another (Pinar et al., 2011).As a result, even females who are highly qualified, are deprived of reaching administrative ranks in the organizations (Li and Leung, 2001) and they get fewer opportunities for promotion (McCuddy et al., 2010). All these factors negatively affect the organizational commitment of female employees and studies imply that organizational commitment does not decrease with the increasing gender discrimination and glass ceiling practices (Imam and Shah, 2013).
Strategies to overcome challenges
The organization’s ability to retain employees by providing them with satisfying work environments is as critical as the appointment of talented employees. Employees will remain only if they feel committed to the organization. The ability to establish a committed workforce within the organization is a challenge that should be overcome for its success. Therefore, it is crucial for the management to understand the concept of organizational commitment and the behaviors displayed by such committed employees and act accordingly (McElroy, 2001).
According to Pavesic and Brymer( 1990) both male and female employees tend to dislike their job in the organization due to factors like, long working hours, job stress, low income, having no time for their personal life, shortage of labor, lack of employee motivation and the attitudes between the employees and managers. Therefore, it is essential to study the relationship between the job satisfaction, organizational commitment and performance with variables such as leadership style, gender, and work experience. When the prevailing barriers are recognized and remedied, the employees will manifest more organizational commitment, perform better and enhance organizational productivity (Al-Meer, 1989).
Research studies reveal that establishment of integrated sets of management strategies focusing on commitment as opposed to exercising control over the work force produce high levels of affective employee commitment and subsequent organizational performance (Tsui et al., 1995). Therefore, to establish organizational commitment within an organization, giving compensations and benefit packages regularly to the employees, taking necessary steps to increase morale and motivation of the employees and enhance the nature of the job while implementing proper training, development programs and performance management systems can be done (Lesabe & Nkosi, 2007). Early employment experiences are really important as dissatisfaction with training may result in less commitment to the organization later. As a result, more attention should be paid to early employment experiences and strong relations with employees should be established at the management level itself (Li and Wang Leung, 2001). Employees’ level of commitment can be enhanced by establishing organizational ethical standards. This can be fulfilled by rewarding/sanctioning ethical/unethical behaviors. Top management of the organization itself can be used as a reference group in this regard (Aduloju, Obalola &Olowokudejo, 2012).
According to Abbas et al. (2011), when employees are provided with equal opportunities in terms of pay, hiring, promotion, recognition and rewards, career progression, developmental assignments, and training and development, they can perform well and improve organizational commitment. These opportunities must be provided irrespective of all the differences, including the gender difference. Imam and Shah (2013) insisted that female employees need to be recognized and given equal participation in each and every level of the organization just as male employees. In order to achieve that and keep female employees motivated, glass-ceiling practices in the corporate sector must be completely eliminated. They further reveal that it will create favorable working environment for women and will help to improve female employee’s attitude, organizational commitment and ownership towards work engagements.
Since work-family role conflict is one of the most common problems faced by many employees Akintayo (2010) pointed out that the level of family responsibilities of the workers need to be taken into account during recruitment, in assigning responsibilities and placement process in order to improve their organizational commitment. The importance of introduction of organizational support programs for all levels of workers was highlighted in this study. This study suggested that female and married workers who endure high social and marital responsibilities should be assigned to less challenging managerial positions while highly challenging positions must be assigned to single and male workers. Akintayo (2010) also suggested that in order to reduce work-family role conflict induced stress and to improve organizational commitment, organizational support systems such as dare care systems and recreation centers should be introduced. Furthermore, the introduction of job incentives such as increased wages and salaries, improved condition of service, promotions at appropriate times and provision for retirement benefits will have a positive impact on organizational goal achievement. In order to assist the employees to update and acquire their skills and knowledge on appropriate strategies necessary to reduce or prevent stress induced by work-family conflict, on the job and off the job training programs, funded by the employer, must be introduced to employees of all levels including the managers on a continuous basis.
Carmeli (2003) and Vakola et al. (2004) have revealed that emotional intelligence is associated with greater job satisfaction, increased ability to manage stress levels and stronger organizational commitment. In addition, Putter (2014) has pointed out that emotional intelligence can predict affective commitment in an employee. Therefore, recruiting employees who are emotionally intelligent can be used as a strategy to moderate the relationship between work-family role conflict and job satisfaction and the relationship between work-family role conflict and career commitment.
Studies related to organizational commitment in healthcare sector
Healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses and other staff, who perform very challenging and demanding jobs, are considered to be the image builders for the hospitals. Modern health care sector, including both hospitals and hospital employees, are confronted with a number of challenges posed by internal and external business environments. Hospitals have to compete with increasing privatization, while health care employees are affected by technological advancements and high rates of competition. Employees have to deal with various changes in the work style, work culture, family needs, and work demands need in order to achieve their goals effectively and efficiently( Azeem & Akhtar,2014).
According to Carman-Tobin (2011), the stability of healthcare organizations rests upon the organizational commitment of their employees. However, The World Health Organization (WHO, 2003) has stated that not having sufficient employees who are truly committed to their work is a critical problem faced by the healthcare system. Employee turnover has identified to be the main cause for lack of commitment from nurses and doctors (Fabiene & Kachchhap, 2016). It is supported by the findings of the study done by Meyer, Allen & Smith (1993). They used new and professional nurses as subjects of their study and discovered that occupational commitment contributes independently to the prediction of important outcomes such as turnover, performance, and citizenship. According to their findings, the three components of occupational commitment are related to antecedents or consequences of commitment such as job satisfaction and job involvements in different ways.
Managers of a company bear the responsibility of implementing perfect leadership style and establishing job satisfaction among employees. This should be fulfilled according to the organizational culture and the degree of maturity of its employees. Studies show that hospital employees are moderately satisfied with their jobs and moderately committed to their organization. Most of the employees are not satisfied with their salaries, benefits, rewards, work conditions, and communication. If necessary changes are implemented according to demographic variables such as age, years of work experiences, marital status, gender and organizational position, monthly salary, type of hospital, employees’ organizational commitment and leadership style of managers, the dissatisfaction among healthcare employees can be reduced significantly(Mosadeghrad & Ferdosi, 2013).This will create stronger commitment in doctors, nurses and paramedical staff and once permission is granted to specialized medical departments to delegate more responsibility to its medical employees, it will enhance their job satisfaction and loyalty to the organization while improving patients’ satisfaction as well.
Since it is hard to predict the future trajectory of national healthcare or the economy, healthcare institutions feel the need to be stable while ensuring safety and quality of care of patients. Therefore, it is really important to properly understand the requirements of each and every health employee starting from the lower end of the spectrum up to the top(Carman-Tobin,2011). Thus, various studies should be pursued at local, national and international levels in order to identify factors required to establish patient satisfaction and loyalty through strengthening the organizational commitment of healthcare employees (Chahal & Mehta, 2016).