This section is divided into three sections. The first section will focus on conclusions and the second section will focus on recommendations for future research and recommendations for the financial sector in St. Lucia.
Conclusions
This section will examine the contributions that this research made to the field of behavioural science and human resource development.
Firstly let us recall the purposes of the research:
1. To establish the degree to which perceived managerial trust of subordinates contributes employees’ job involvement.
2. To establish the degree to which perceived managerial trust of subordinates contributes employees’ affective organizational commitment.
3. To establish the degree to which perceived managerial trust of subordinates contributes to employees’ job satisfaction.
This research showed that when managers trust their employees this could have positive effects on their job attitudes. Positive attitudes towards work lead to positive work outcomes. For research purpose number one, the research regression analysis revealed that perceived managerial trust in their subordinates has a positive effect on their job involvement. The beta coefficient associated with managerial trust in subordinates (0.296, p < 0.003) is significant and positive, indicating a positive relationship between the variables, which means that when concern in managerial trust increases job involvement also increases. It means that if employees perceive
74
that their managers trust them; this will have a positive effect on how involved they are with their jobs.
For research purpose number 2, regression analysis shows that managerial trust in subordinates has a positive effect on their affective organizational commitment. The beta coefficient associated with managerial trust in subordinates (0.447, p < 001) is significant and positive indicating then when managerial trust in subordinates increases affective organizational commitment also increases. For this reason if employees perceive that managers trust them then that would have a positive effect on their affective organizational commitment.
Finally for research purpose number 3, regression analysis reveals that the beta coefficient associated with managerial trust in subordinates is (0.299, p < 0.001) is significant and positive which indicates a direct relationship where higher numeric values of managerial trust leads to higher numeric values of job satisfaction.
Managerial trust in subordinates had a bigger impact on affective organizational commitment than other independent variables. One of the surprises in this research was that “reliability”
which is often mentioned as one of the dimensions of trust (refer to table 2.2) was not significantly associated with any of the job attitudes.
Although the findings in this research may not be entirely new but there are limited studies which measures managerial trust in subordinates, hence the contributions in this research is relevant to the field of organization behaviour and human resource development.
Recommendations for Future Research
Firstly this study collected data from the financial sector in St. Lucia hence other studies can conduct the same research in other sectors particularly within the public sector (government
75
workers) to see if the results would be consistent using other industries. Also a sample of only 100 participants were used future studies can try to have a bigger sample which could probably yield better results especially since the R squared seem to be relatively low.
Secondly, this research focused solely on trust on an interpersonal level particularly managerial trust in their subordinates. Other studies can look at trust on both organizational and interpersonal level and make a comparison on which one will have a bigger effect on job attitudes. Also a comparison can be made on subordinates trust in leaders and managerial trust in subordinates as it is possible that the two would have different effects on employees’ job attitudes. Again this research used employees’ perception of managerial trust and its effect on employees’ job attitude, other studies can focus on the managers’ perspective instead of the employees’.
Thirdly, other dimensions of organizational commitment for example normative commitment can be included in the study to find out if a strong relationship exists with the trust as did affective commitment. Also other dimensions of trust can be used as there are many others suggested by other researchers. This research used harmony, reliability, and concern suggested by Tzafir and Dolan but this does not necessarily suggest that they were the best set of independent variables to examine managerial trust in subordinates. Bearing in mind also that reliability in this research failed to contribute to the trust model although it is one of the most popular dimensions used in trust.
Finally, a comparative study can be conducted within high power distance countries and low power distance countries to see if a relevant difference exist between the two groups. The reason for this is that trust is often described as relationship based hence it would be interesting to find out if organizational trust would be an issue in high power distance countries compared to low power distance countries.
76
Recommendations for Financial Sector
Based on the research findings, this research will outline some recommendations that could be useful to the financial sector in St. Lucia.
Descriptive statistics shows that participants agreed with the trust items, meaning that generally they perceived that their managers trusted them which is good since the sector can use this to their advantage. Though the findings indicate that relationship did exist between managerial trust and the job attitudes it can still be noted that there is still need for improvements where the employees’ job attitudes are concerned.
Firstly, descriptive statistics revealed that most of the participants responded fairly disagree or neutral to the job involvement items; from the descriptive statistics it can also be seen that majority of the respondents are very young 21-25 years who have not have a great deal of experience at their jobs. This is usually the age where the young workers would explore and discover their career paths. For this reason this research recommends that career planning be one of the tools used in the Human Resource department to help the young workers decide on what they really want to do. By so doing, HR can have a better idea about placing the workers in specific departments that would suit their interests. Training and other development programs can be put in place to help qualify these employees. Also the sector can think about increasing employee’s chances of getting a promotion so that those who begin at entry level positions could within a period of 5 years get the chance of career advancement.
Secondly, the financial sector can also help in building employees’ affective organizational commitment. Empirically it can be said that job involvement and organizational commitment are inter-correlated although one looks at commitment to the job and the other to the organization. Job involvement however has a higher impact on job performance while organizational commitment is known to have a stronger impact on turnover (Blau & Boal, 1987).
Having said this then we could see how taking care of employees’ job involvement could to some extent help build employees’ affective organizational commitment. Also since researchers
77
believe that organizational commitment is linked to employee’s turnover then the next recommendation would be that the sector provides incentives to employees which may not have to be monetary. One suggestion is that employees get recognition on jobs well done, also as mentioned earlier, increase their chances of getting a promotion. Scholarships and other monetary aid can also be offered to employees to help them in their self-development, and hence enrich the organizations’ talent pool. Also while much research on affective commitment links it to tenure, for example Kaur and Sandhu (2010) quoted research that older employees view their years of working with the organization as an investment and tend to have the belief that it would be difficult for them to move to another job. These employees who have offered long service to the organization develop an affective attachment to their place of work hence experience an increase in commitment to the organization. This research showed a very weak link between tenure and affective commitment and that could be because of the relatively young people employed in the financial sector. From the correlations table, though there was a significant association between the variable it was not as high as anticipated. In fact experience and age appeared to have a more significant association with affective commitment (see full correlations table found in table b1). This research therefore recommends that this fact be used to the advantage of the financial sector. The financial sector should considering hiring employees who are little bit more experience and older.
Finally, to help increase job satisfaction levels among employees the financial sector should provide them with professional growth opportunities. Provide employees with the necessary training to help build their abilities to do their work. Another recommendation is that the job offers variety so that it may keep the interest of the employee. The sector should also provide the opportunity for workers to use their talents and initiative. A secure work setting should also be offered to workers that would ensure permanency in their jobs. Last but not least providing workers with competitive salaries is imperative especially if the sector would like to keep the talents.
78
The researcher is aware that there are many more factors that could contribute to a better financial sector; however it is not possible that all be mentioned in this study. The researcher believes based on the research findings that all the above mentioned recommendations is practical and relevant, and would contribute to a better financial sector in St. Lucia.
79
REFERENCES
Atinc, G., Simmering, M. J., Kroll M. J., (2012). Control variable use and reporting in macro and micro management research. Organizational Research Methods, 15(1), 57-74. doi:
10.1177/1094428110397773
Aselage, J., & Eisenberger, R. (2003). Perceived organizational support and psychological contracts: a theoretical integration. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(5), 491-509.
doi: 10.1002/job.211
Babbie, E. R. (1990). Survey research methods. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub.
Babbie, E. R. (2011). Survey research. In Introduction to social research. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
Bachmann, R., & Zaheer, A. (2006). Handbook of trust research. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Becker, T. E. (2005). Potential problems in the statistical control of variables in the organization research: A qualitative analysis with Recommendations. Organizational Research Methods, 8(3), 274-289. doi:10.1177/1094428105278021
Bentler, P. (1977). Factor simplicity index and transformations. Psychometrika, 42(2), 277-295.
doi: 10.1007/BF02294054
Bittel, L. R., & Newstrom, J. W. (1990). What every supervisor should know. New York: Gregg Division, McGraw-Hill.
Blau, G. J., Boal K. B., (1987). Conceptualizing how job involvement and organizational commitment affect turnover and absenteeism. Academy of Management Review, 12(2), 288-300. Retrieved from
http://kimboal.ba.ttu.edu/Selected%20writings/Conceptualizing%20Job%20involvement
%20and%20org%20commitment_AMR1987.pdf
Brown, S. (1996). A meta-analysis and review of organizational research on job involvement.
Butler, J. K. (1983). Reciprocity of trust between professionals and their
secretaries. Psychological Reports, 53(2), 411-416. doi: 10.2466/pr0.1983.53.2.411 Carnevale, D. G., & Wechsler, B. (1992). Trust in the Public Sector: Individual and
Organizational Determinants. Administration & Society, 23(4), 471-494. doi:
10.1177/009539979202300404
Carpenter, M., Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2010). Personality, attitudes, and work behaviors.
In Principles of management. [Irvington, N. Y.]: Flatworld Knowledge.
Cohen, D., & Prusak, L. (2001). In good company: How social capital makes organizations work. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., & LePine, J. A. (2007). Trust, trustworthiness, and trust propensity:
A meta-analytic test of their unique relationships with risk taking and job
performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(4), 909-927. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.92.4.909
Coughlan, M., Cronin, P., & Ryan, F. (2007). Step-by-step guide to critiquing research. Part 1:
Quantitative research. British Journal of Nursing, 16(11), 658-663. Retrieved from http://www.olemiss.edu/celi/Files/step-by-step-guide-to-criti-research-part-1-quantitative-reseawrch.pdf
Covey, S. R. (2004). The 7 habits of highly effective people: restoring the character ethic. New York: Free Press.
80
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchel, M. S. (2005). Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874-900. doi: 10.1177/0149206305279602 Cummings, L.L., Bromiley, P. (1996), "The Organizational trust inventory (OTI): development
and validation", in Kramer, R.M., Tyler, T.R. (Eds),Trust in Organisations: Frontiers of Theory and Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Danhauer, S. C., Carlson, C. R., Androkowski, M. A., (2005). Positive psychosocial functioning in later life: use of meaning-based coping strategies in nursing home residents. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 24(4), 299-318. doi: 10.1177/0733464805277754
Dirks, K. T., & Ferrin, D. L. (2002). Trust in leadership: Meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 611-628. Retrieved from http://apps.olin.wustl.edu/faculty/dirks/metaanalysis.pdf
Ekmekçi, A. K. (2011). A study of involvement and commitment of employees in
Turkey. Journal of Public Administration and Policy Research, 3(3), 68-73. Retrieved from
http://www.academicjournals.org/jpapr/PDF/pdf2011/March/EKMEK%C3%87%20%20 pdf.pdf
Emerson, R. M. (1976). Social exchange theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 335-362.
Retrieved from http://umsl.edu/~keelr/3210/resources/emerson_social_exchange.pdf Field, A. P. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS: And sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll.
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Fields, D. L. (2002). Taking the measure of work: a guide to validated scales for organizational research and diagnosis. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Field, A. P. (2000). Discovering statistics using SPSS for Windows: Advanced techniques for the beginner. London: Sage Publications.
Freund, A. (2005). Commitment and job satisfaction as predictors of turnover intentions among welfare workers. Administration in Social Work, 29(2), 5-21. doi:
10.1300/J147v29n02_02
Gould, S. (1979). Age, job complexity, satisfaction, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14, 209-223. Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MiamiImageURL&_cid=272611&_user=12
27126&_pii=000187917990071X&_check=y&_origin=&_coverDate=30-Apr- 1&view=979c&wchp=dGLzVlV-zSkzk&md5=de91f4af676adbe5e0d48453f9adb80a/1-s2.0-000187917990071X-main.pdf
Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 5(2), 161-178. Retrieved from
http://www.gigusa.org/resources/gt/32.pdf
Haldar, U. K. (2009). Human resource development. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Harrison, D. A., Newman, D. A., & Roth, P. L. (2005). How important are job attitudes? meta-analytic comparisons of integrative behavioral outcomes and time sequences. Academy of Management Journal, 49(2), 305-325. Retrieved from
http://www.business.unr.edu/faculty/simmonsb/mgt486/amjjobattitudes.pdf
Hassan, A., & Ahmed, F. (2011). Authentic leadership, trust and work engagement. International Journal of Human and Social Science, 6(3), 164-170. Retrieved from
http://www.waset.org/journals/ijhss/v6/v6-3-24.pdf
Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W. (2007). Understanding individual differences in organizational behavior. Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western.
81
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (2009). The motivation to work. New Jersey:
Transaction Publishers.
Hung, L. (2008). Research on how training influences administrative staff job involvement and organizational commitment. The Journal of Human Resource Adult Learning, 4(2), 115-121. Retrieved from http://hraljournal.com/Page/12 Li Mei , Hung.pdf
Jensen, M. C. (1994). Self-interest, altruism, incentives & agency theory. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, VII(2). Retrieved from
http://business.illinois.edu/aibrahim/readings/Incentives%20and%20Agency.pdf
Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), 305-360. Retrieved from http://www.sfu.ca/~wainwrig/Econ400/jensen-meckling.pdf
Jones, G. R., & George, J. M. (2008). Contemporary management. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Kafetsios, K., Zampetakes, L. A., (2008). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction: Testing the mediatory role of positive and negative affect at work. Personality and Individual
Differences, 44, 712-722. Retrieved from
http://jpkc.henu.edu.cn/glxlx/uppic/Emotional%20intelligence.pdf
Kaur, K., Sandhu, H.S. (2010). Career stage effect on organizational commitment: Empirical evidence from Indian banking industry. International Journal of Business Management, 5(12), 141-152. Retrieved from www.ccsenet.org/ijbm
Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practices of structural equation modelling. New York:
Guilford Press
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1995). The leadership challenge: how to keep getting extraordinary things done in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2010). The truth about leadership: the no-fads, heart-of-the-matter facts you need to know. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kramer, R. M. (1999). Trust and distrust in organizations: Emerging perspectives, enduring questions. Annual Reviews Psychology, 50, 569-598. Retrieved from
http://portal.psychology.uoguelph.ca/faculty/gill/7140/WEEK_3_Jan.25/Kramer_ARP19 99.pdf
Kumar, R. (1996). Research methodology: a step-by step guide for beginners. Melbourne:
Longman Australia.
Lambert, E., & Hogan, N. (2008). The Importance of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in Shaping Turnover Intent: A Test of a Causal Model. Criminal Justice Review, 34(1), 96-118. doi: 10.1177/0734016808324230
Lee, B. H., & Jamil, M. (2003). An empirical study of organizational commitment: a multi-level approach. The Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 4(3), 176-186. Retrieved from http://www.ibam.com/pubs/jbam/articles/vol4/article4_10.htm
Lee, J., & Kim, S. (2011). Exploring the Role of Social Networks in Affective Organizational Commitment: Network Centrality, Strength of Ties, and Structural Holes. The American Review of Public Administration, 41(2), 205-223. doi: 10.1177/0275074010373803 Leonard, K. M., (2008). Trust and the manager-subordinate dyad: Virtual work as a unique
context. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management. 8(3), 197-201. Retrieved from http://opus.ipfw.edu/manage_facpubs/47
82
Lester, S. W., & Brower, H. H. (2003). In the Eyes of the Beholder: The Relationship Between Subordinates' Felt Trustworthiness and their Work Attitudes and Behaviors. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 10(2), 17-33. doi: 10.1177/107179190301000203 Locke, E. A. (1970). Job satisfaction and job performance: A theoretical
analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 5, 484-500. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/003050737090036X
Locke, E. A. (1969). What is job satisfaction? Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 4(4), 309-336. Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0030507369900130
Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. (1999). The effect of performance appraisal systems on trust for managment: A field quasi experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(1), 123-136.
Retrieved from
http://www.fdp.hse.ru/data/808/479/1225/Oct%2012%20The%20Effect%20of%20the%
20Performance%20App..gement%20A%20field%20quasi-experiment.pdf
McAllister, D. J. (1995). Affect- and cognitive-based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), 24-59. Retrieved from http://www.bschool.nus.edu.sg/Staff/bizdjm/McAllisteramj95.pdf
Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace: theory, research, and application. London: Sage.
Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L., & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the Organization: A Meta-analysis of Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61(1), 404-413. doi:
10.1006/jvbe.2001.1842
Mishra, A. K. (1996). Organization response to crisis:The centrality of trust. Retrieved from http://totaltrust.files.wordpress.com/2006/02/Trust%20Book%20Chapter1.pdf Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H., & Zentes, J. (2009). Formal and informal coordination
mechanisms. In Strategic international management: text and cases (p. 168). Wiesbaden:
Gabler.
Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment*1. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14(2), 224-247. doi: 10.1016/0001-8791(79)90072-1
Neill, J. (2007). Qualitative versus quantitative research: Key points in a classic debate.
Retrieved from
http://wilderdom.com/research/QualitativeVersusQuantitativeResearch.html
Nyhan, R. C. (1999). Increasing Affective Organizational Commitment in Public Organizations:
The Key Role of Interpersonal Trust. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 19(3), 58-70. doi: 10.1177/0734371X9901900305
Nyhan, R. C., & Marlowe, H. A. (1997). Development and Psychometric Properties of the Organizational Trust Inventory. Evaluation Review, 21(5), 614-635. doi:
10.1177/0193841X9702100505
Paliszkiewicz, J. O. (2011). Trust management: Literature review. Management, 6(4), 315-331.
Retrieved from http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1854-4231/6_315-331.pdf Preacher, K. J., MacCallum, R. C., (2002). Exploratory factor analysis in behavior genetics
research: Factor recovery with small sample sizes. Behaviour Genetics, 32(2). doi:
10.1023/A:1015210025234
Punch, K. F. (2000). Developing effective research proposals. London [etc.: Sage.
83
Reeve, C. L., & Smith, C. S. (2001). Refining Lodahl and Kejner's job involvement scale with a convergent evidence approach: Applying multiple methods to multiple
samples. Organizational Research Methods, 4(2), 91-111. doi:
10.1177/109442810142001
Reynolds, L. (1997). The trust effect: creating the high trust, high performance organization.
London: Nicholas Brealey Pub.
Rhoades, L., Eisenberger, R., & Armeli, S. (2001). Affective commitment to the organization:
The contribution of perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5), 825-836. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.86.5.825
Robinson, S. L., & Rosseau, D. M. (1994). Violating the psychological contract : Not the exception but the norm. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 245-259. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/job.4030150306/pdf
Sager, K. L. (2008). An exploratory study of the relationships between eheory X/Y assumptions and superior communicator Style. Management Communication Quarterly, 22(2), 288-312. doi: 10.1177/0893318908323148
Sapru, R. K. (2006). Douglas McGregor: Theories X and Y for human motivation.
In Administrative theories and management thought. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India.
Saunders, M., Skinner, D., Dietz, G., Gillespie, N., & Lewicki, R. J. (2010). Organizational trust:
a cultural perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. (2007). An integrative model of organizational trust: Past, present, and future. Academy of Management Review, 32(2), 344-354.
Retrieved from http://catta.labcc.ch/tesi/Mayer_et_Al-2007.pdf
Retrieved from http://catta.labcc.ch/tesi/Mayer_et_Al-2007.pdf