• 沒有找到結果。

The background, statement, purposes and questions of the study were discussed in this chapter. This chapter also discusses about delimitations, limitations and definition of terms.

Background of the Study

Today, the managerial issues of employees in the nonprofit organizations have received increasing attention. In addition to enterprises and business sectors, the issue of retention, staffing and the turnover of employee (Ashcraft & Kedrowicz, 2002; Dewhust, Guthridge &

Mohr, 2010; Laczo & Hanisch, 1999) on nonprofit organizations(NPOs) also has been widely discussed in the eras of globalization (Chiu, 2002; Moxham & Boaden, 2007; Netting et al., 2005; Tsai, 2002).

From 1990s, these situations of employees were discussed within the organizations in Taiwan, the social services of policies and institutional environments had increasingly received more attentions on the development of NPOs (Kuan, 2000). In recent years, according to the statistical data from the middle of 1990s to June, 2010, the numbers of nonprofit organizations has increasingly grown with the relationship of multiple (Ministry of the Interior, 2010). Therefore, the board executives in NPOs could face many continuous challenges as well as the change of employees’ working attitudes (Kathryn & Grant, 2003). It is so important for organizations to create their organizational values that can associate with implementation of social and administrative affairs in the workplace on employees’

perceptions.

Due to existing problems of external and internal environments in NPOs, such as work overloading and role conflict that caused by organizational size and budget in many NPOs(Chiu, 2002; Hsiao, 2000; Kuan, 2000; Shepherd, 2010; Tsai, 2002), The employees in the nonprofit organizations felt that those pressures were produced in their hearts during

working time. After producing pressures, the employees will inevitably affect the psychological level of employees as well as stresses or burnouts (Koh & Lim, 1996; Laczo &

Hanisch, 1999; Maslach and Leiter, 2005; Thomas and Lan lau, 2009). Also, the reality of tight resource constraints and environmental uncertainty can make employees have more tensions in the workplace. And the commitment cannot easily translate to the organizations (Alatrsta & James, 2004).

In current trends, studies showed that a significant relationship between affective commitment and stress (Chang, 2010; Johnson & Cooper, 2003; Leong et al., 1996; Meyer &

Allen, 1991; Meyer et al., 1993). Job stress plays an important factor that can affect affective commitment in NPOs. Simultaneously, employees play vital asset on providing sufficient operations in the nonprofit organizations (Gindling, 2004).

Therefore, it is important for organizations to retain existing employees to service in the organizations. Moreover, from some result of studies, organizations also consider the employees how to depict the relationship of commitment to the organizations through environmental factors. Such as social support, supervisor rand coworker supports (Fabian et al., 1993; Frost, B, 2003; Jayaratne & Chess, 1984; Robbins, 1988; Rousseau & Aube, 2010;

Whitener, 2001) and, it is also vital for NPOs’ broad executives to reflect themselves that the organizations take steps that related to the quality of work on employees’ affective commitment. Ultimately, it is essential to create the connectivity between employee and organizations where would affect their affective commitment within the organizations ( Cuskelly & Boag, 2001; Meyer et al., 2002; Trimble,2006).

Most literature about managerial issues was conducted by quantitative research, Therefore, the researcher involved two qualitative studies understand more needs from NPO employees’ perspective before conducting this research. First, Kuo and Chang (2011) found that workplace training in NPOs as an important phenomenon is significantly affecting

system, financial environment and the climate of learning. In addition, Kuo (2011) also found that employees need to resolve challenges from organizations and themselves when concerning about staff trainings in order to motivate and retain them as valuable human resource in complicate working environment. Therefore, the rationale of this study for selecting quantitative method was to confirm and improve this phenomenon on the effect of employees’ job stress, social support and affective commitment.

Moreover, since there lacks of studies that focus on job stress through moderator of environmental factors on affective commitment (Jayaratne & Chess, 1984; Lin et al., 2011;

Whitener, 2001). Employees from the nonprofit organizations in Taiwan need to understand the relationship of perceived of social support that affect affective commitment under stressful environments. To figure out this gap, the researcher focuses on NPO’s employees under the stressful environments and discusses how they commit to the organizations through the social support. Such a relationship has not been clearly investigated now in Taiwan.

Statement of the Problem

In Taiwan, there have been many incidents about job situation and retention on employees of nonprofit organizations. Because the employees are so few due to their organizational size in many NPOs, it is not difficult to hardly figure out that the distributions of human resource are so tight (Chiu, 2002; Hsiao, 2000; Kuan, 2000; Tsai, 2002). The results show extreme discrepancies on the human scale in different types of foundations, hiring the employees is a very important for foundations to operate something within the organization as operational mode of human resource (Chang, 2010). For employees, the relationship between stress and psychological attachment can be assumed to the working situations. Also, affective commitment refers to the emotional attachment to the organizations (Meyer et al., 1993), which means the continuation of a commitment of behavior. The employees in the organizations feel stress in the working environment, this emotional change

affects how to increase or decrease their commitments to the organizations. Reviewing the studies, there are some debates about descriptions of relationship between job stress and affective commitment (Moorman et al., 1998; Wayne et al., 1997). Moreover, Rousseau and Aube (2010) indicated that the environmental factors may be constrained to the affective commitment, which means that organizations need to cope with strategies in order to make employees stay and adjust to the works in the organizations. Because, the NPO’s employees are very important assets to the organization (Seetoo, 1999),

The main problem in this study has investigated the employees how to attach to their psychological connection in the organizations through varies of social supports, and to continue contributing their efforts to the job positions. Accordingly, the researcher stated that it is important for NPO managers to know how to retain employees within the organizations (Dewhurst et al., 2010).Moreover, according to literatures, the relationship between job stress and affective commitment has examined it before. However, the results of their relationship are unstable because of external and internal factors (Backer & Billings, 1993; Moorman et.

Al., 1998; Wayne et. Al., 1997).

Therefore, the researcher wants to know how importantly maintain and explore the employees’ affective commitment through social support in their organizations under the pressure of situations. Also, the study further explains that the employees who received social support are considered as a moderator which would create the positive, negative or indirect relationships between the job stress and affective commitment.

Research Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the job situations about employees of nonprofit organizations. In doing so, this study aimed to help create the good working environments and increase job productivity through an analysis of quantitative research. It is to focus on examining relationship between job stress and affective commitment in the nonprofit orpganizations. Also,

job stress and affective commitment. An employee commitment will be only examined in terms of antecedent of affective commitment. Accordingly, research purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among job stress, social support and affective commitment.

Research Questions

Based on above purpose, therefore, the researcher wants to address the issues already outlined and to begin to fill the research gap, the present study was designed to state the following research questions:

1. Is job stress significantly related to the affective commitment?

2. Does social support have significant moderating effect on the relationship between job stress and affective commitment?

Hypotheses of the Study

Based on above research questions, the study has following research hypotheses, including two hypotheses and six sub-hypotheses based on the literature review.

Hypothesis 1: Job stress is negatively related to affective commitment.

Hypothesis 1-1: Role ambiguity is negatively related to affective commitment.

Hypothesis 1-2: Role conflict is negatively related to affective commitment.

Hypothesis 1-3: Role overload is negatively related to affective commitment.

Hypothesis 2: There is a moderating effect of the social support on the relationship between job stress and affective commitment.

Hypothesis 2-1: There is a moderating effect of the social support on the relationship between role ambiguity and affective commitment.

Hypothesis 2-2: There is a moderating effect of the social support on the relationship between role conflict and affective commitment.

Hypothesis 2-3: There is a moderating effect of the social support on the relationship between role overload and affective commitment.

Significance of the Study

First of all, According to Anton’s (2009) study, “The Good economic health of an organization depends on the control and prevention of role stress at work (p.193).” the researcher hopes the board executives to aware that the organizations can understand employees how importantly attached their psychological commitments to the organizations through examining the relationship between the job stress, and affective commitment. Also, the organizers can better develop training programs to help employees to indentify obstacles during their works and to increase their retentions within the organizations. And then it also enforces the interaction between employees and organizations (Rousscan & Aube, 2010). The organizations look deeply at employees of behaviors which caused by personal and environmental factors in deciding whether the kinds of social supports can be assist in gaining the knowledge of working and draining the bad emotions or not in the organizations.

Therefore, getting social supports will better improve employees’ behaviors and enhance good relationship between affective commitment effects and job stress to the organizations. (Lin et al., 2011; Kidd & Smewing, 2001; Rafferty & Griffin, 2004; Stinglhamber & Vandenberghe, 2003 )

Secondly, Anton (2009) also observed that role stress did not have a direct effect on workers’ affective commitment, therefore, the study is also significant in that it would prove and provide the important perspectives what social support should NPOs’ managers or supervisors consider about when employees continually stay to face with varies of job stress in the internal organizations. This is important because by realizing what affects employee of intention to the organizations. The organizations will notice the employees of nonprofit organizations who are able to balance between the life quality and working environment and to enhance the awareness of emotional connections through different training programs. Ultimately, the study will also provide some point of views to further researchers who are curious about this area as references in the future.

Delimitation

Regarding to the delimitations of this study, the study delimits to analyze the job stress of employees working in the NPOs. The study needs to assess the employees through moderating of social support on job stress and affective commitment.

First of all, for sampling of participants, the researcher only focuses on adopting the employees of non-profit organizations. Furthermore, the source of organizations mainly comes from social welfare foundations and different types of cultural and educational foundations. The results may not apply to all types of non-profit organizations in Taiwan.

Secondly, to realize that the role of employee and work situations in the organizations, the study aims to conduct quantitative method to understand the relationship among job stress, social support and affective commitment. For the arrangement of delivering questionnaires, the area on nonprofit organizations was divided into two parts, including volunteers and employees. Because the subject of this study is employees of nonprofit organizations, any questionnaires would not be distributed to the volunteers of nonprofit organizations. The research only adopts the point of views from employees and excludes any point of views from volunteers in NPOs. It will avoid receiving statistical biases about final result of analysis in the study.

The Definition of Terms

Non-Profit Organization

NPO is an organization that can provide the many varieties of information and helps for those people who seek to deal with some situations, rather than focus on the orientation of money, Also, a diverse set of private institutions that mobilized individual initiative for the common good. It is also known as the Third Sector, these institutions as being charitable organizations, and therefore tax-exempt (Wolf, 1990).

Affective Commitment

Allen and Meyer (1991) indicated that organizational commitment refers to three-component model of commitment, including affective, continuance and normative commitment. The affective commitment component of organizational commitment refers to the employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization. Zain and Gill (1999) used an affective commitment as a dependent variable to measure the employee commitment in the workplace through using a 5 points Likert scale.

Social Support

Social support is defined as an exchange of resources between two individuals perceived by the provider or the recipient to be intended to enhance the well-being of the recipient (Shumaker & Bronell, 1984: p.13)

Job Stress

Negative emotions as a result of work specifically the psychological aspect of role properties classified as role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992). And the job stress is generally defined as an employee’s feeling of job- related difficulty, tension, anxiety, frustration, worry, emotional exhaustion and distress (Cartwright

& Cooper, 1997). The researcher measured job stress as an independent variable through using 5 points of Likert scale.

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