This chapter presents a review of the available literature relevant to the topic and the research questions. First the chapter discusses about the definitions of each the variables, second it discusses the different theories related to the variables. Lastly, it discusses the relationship that exists between them.
Organizational Commitment
The concept of organizational commitment has been of great interest for researchers interested in organizational behavior (Jaros, 1997) .This interest is due to the prediction that employees with high organizational commitment are more likely to have a better performance, and to remain loyal to the organization, thus improving the overall performance of the organization. Also a lot of studies have demonstrated the connection that exists between organizational commitment, job satisfaction, turnover intention and actual turnover.
Definitions of Organizational Commitment
There are several definitions for organizational commitment (Morrow, 1983). Robbins and Judge (2015, p. 102) define organizational commitment as ―The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization‖. O‘reilly and Chatman (1986) simply defined commitment as the ―individual‘s psychological attachment to the organization‖ (p. 492). Another widely use definition is that of Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979) they defined organizational commitment as the degree of identification and involvement an individual has with his organization. This definition has three related factors, first, a strong belief and acceptance of the organization‘s goals and values, second the willingness of employees to make an extra effort on benefit of the organization, lastly, the strong desire to remain in the organization. This last definition does not see organizational commitment as mere loyalty and identification but also as the actions and effort individuals make in benefit of the organization. Meyer and Allen (1997) also mentioned that a committed employee is the one who will stay with the organization through bad and good times, attends
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work regularly, works through the whole day or even extra time, protects the assets of the organization, and who shares the mission and goals of the organization.
Table 2.1. 1
Definitions of Organizational Commitment Authors (s) Definitions O‘reilly & Chatman,
1986 (p.492)
Individual‘s psychological attachment to an organization.
Robbins &Judge, 2015 ―The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.‖
Mowday, Steers, &
Porter ,1979
Degree of identification and involvement an individual has with his organization.
The most widely used conceptual model for measuring organizational commitment is the one developed by Meyer and Allen (1991). According to them organizational commitment can occur in three different forms, these are, affective commitment, normative commitment, and continuance commitment. Employees with affective commitment experience an emotional attachment toward the organization, they remain in the organization because they want to, employees with normative commitment experience a feeling of obligation, they remain in the organization because they feel is the right thing to do, employees with continuance commitment remain in the organization because they need to, the cost of leaving the organization is not favorable to them (Allen & Meyer, 1997). The important common fact is that these three components should have an effect on employee´s intention and decision to remain in the organization. Roe, Solinger, and Van Olffen (2009) claimed that these three dimensions are the most applicable across a wide range of cultural contexts. This dimensional concept of organizational behavior is strongly supported by Dunham, Grube and Castañeda (1994) in their study of nine different samples, involving a total of 2734 employees. Also the data reported in the earlier study by Allen and Meyer (1996) strongly suggest the continued use of these three
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measures. This study will use Meyer and Allen conceptual model to measure organizational commitment.
According to Morrow (1993) this model plays a very important role within the study of work attitudes and behaviors. According to Meyer and Allen (1991) these three dimensions should develop from different causes, and different attitudinal and behavioral consequences should also result from it.
Affective commitment. This type of commitment can arise from positive experiences with the organization, when the employees feel that the organization supports and values them (Michael, Court & Petal, 2009). Other antecedents for this commitment are related to the five dimensions of job satisfaction, which are, the perceived task autonomy, task identity, task significance, and feedback from agents. It‘s also expected that age, and organizational tenure will also have a positive relation to affective commitment.
Normative commitment. This kind of commitment comes from internal pressures that result from norms and beliefs that the organization encourage for employees to have. The organizations transmit these norms and beliefs by means of organizational culture and continued training; these norms are about transmitting a sense of loyalty to act in a manner that‘s fits the goals of the organization (Dunham et al, 1994; Michael, Court & Petal, 2009; Weisner, 2003).
Continuance commitment. According Dunham, Grube and Castañeda (1994) this construct has two sub dimensions, these are, personal sacrifices and lack of alternatives. The employees have no chooses but to stay in the current organization, as a result employees sacrifices themselves to remain in the organization. Lack of alternatives refers, to the lack of job positions in the market, also age since older employees may prefer to stay seeing that is more difficult to find a job at their age, accumulated benefits since the employees may be afraid of losing the accumulated benefits they have with the present organization.
These three components are significantly and negatively related with turnover intentions.
According to various studies (Jaros 1997; Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993; Somers, 1995; Whitener
& Walz, 1993) employee‘s affective commitment is the stronger predictor of turnover intentions.
This implies that by fostering affective commitment organizations can reduce turnover behavior.
Thus, organizations have to put a great deal of effort to develop strategies in order to enhance and maintain affective commitment.
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According to Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch and Topolnytsky (2002) out of the three components, affective commitment also has the strongest correlation with desirable work behaviors such as organizational citizenship, job performance and increased attendance.
Therefore, those employees with strong affective commitment would be more willing to get involve in extra roles and make extra effort beyond what is required by the job (Katz, 1964).
These employees will show higher organizational citizenship behavior (Organ, 1988), better job performance, and lower absenteeism than those with low affective commitment. In the other side, continuance commitment is unrelated or negatively related to desired work behaviors. Thus, continuance commitment is the least desired by organizations (Wahn, 1993).
Organizational commitment is related to the way individuals respond to dissatisfaction.
There are three responses related to satisfaction which are: Loyalty, voice and neglect Individuals with strong affective and normative commitment are more willing to voice their opinion, and to follow things as they are, they show more obedience, flexibility and conformity (Farrell, 1983; Hirschman, 1970; Meyer, 1993). In the other side, employees with high continuance commitment are positively related to some unethical behaviors.
Job Stress
Definitions of Job Stress
Job stress can affect employees in different ways, managers and human resource professionals must be aware of the negative effects, which may affect employees‘ health and their job satisfaction and commitment. Stress may result of pressures from the external environment and the work environment, organizations cannot usually protect employees from the external forces, but instead they can protect them from excess pressure that arises from the workplace. Stress is the result of a range of different events and circumstances, but when employees feel that they have support from supervisors and colleagues and when they have control over their work, stress becomes less noticeable (Leka, Griffiths & Cox, 2003).
Work-related stress is defined as the response individuals could experience from the demands and pressures of their job that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to perform (Leka, Griffiths, Cox & 2003). According to the
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Occupational Safety and Health Service (2003) stress is one the many causes of fatigue in the workplace.
Work stress is when employees are being physically and psychologically disturbed due to some work related factors (Lu, 1997). Similarly, work stress refers to the symptoms of stress present in employees, as a result of work related factors (Cook & Ashcroft, 2015). Stress also refers as when individuals feel they are not being able to cope with the demands of the work environment; which causes concern to the person, and has a negative emotional response (Occupational Safety & Health Service, 2003).
Table 2.2. 2
Definitions of Job Stress
Authors (s) Definitions
Work Health organization, 2004
Work-related Stress is defined as the response individuals could experience from the demands and pressures of their job that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to perform.
Lu, 1997 Work stress is when employees are being physically and psychologically disturbed due to some work related factors.
Cook and Ashcroft, 2015
work stress refers to the symptoms of stress present in employees, as a result of work related factors.
Occupational Safety and Health Service,1998
Stress refers as when individuals feel they are not being able to cope with the demands of the work environment; which causes concern to the person, and has a negative emotional response.
The most cited factors of work stress are role conflict, role ambiguity and work overload (Fisher & Gitelson, 1983). These factors have a negative effect on employees, both physiological and physically. Role conflict is defined as the ―pressure to perform in two or more incompatible ways‖ (Bhatti, Shar, Shaikh & Nazar, 2010, p.4). Role conflict has been linked numerous times to job stress. Role conflict occurs when the person is asked to do two or more roles that include activities that are different among each other (Rahim, 1992).
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Role ambiguity refers to ―the lack of clear and specific information regarding work role requirements‖ (Bhatti , Shar, Shaikh & Nazar, 2010, p. 4). It has also been related repeatedly with work stress and low job satisfaction (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993; Hamner & Tosi, 1974; House
& Rizzo, 1972; Ivancevich & Donnelly, 1974). Work overload refers to the degree of difficulty or quantity of obligations or requirements an individual has to perform in a limited period of time.
There are many factors that can cause job stress, such as negative work relationships with coworkers or clients, long hours of work or shift work, pressure of the role or issues with the tasks, working conditions and economic pressures. A stressful workforce will result in low attendance, high turnover, customer dissatisfaction, low profits and low productivity (Cook &
Ashcroft, 2015).
However, it has been also found in many studies that experiencing a moderate level of stress can actually improve performance. Thus, low or high levels of stress can result in low performance and negative mental health (Raeissi & Tavakoli, 2002; Rice, 1998). Therefore, moderate levels of stress are necessary for achieving desirable and effective performance (Hamidi & Eivazi, 2010).
Medical studies suggest that there is a significant relationship between stress and some negative responses, such as heart disease, gastroenteritis, sleep disorders, low job performance, and absenteeism (McVicar, 2003; Mitoma et al., 2008; Muecke, 2005; Poissonnet & Veron, 2000). It has also been found that those individuals who are not satisfied with their salaries experience an increase job stress (Hamidi & Eivazi, 2010; Vafaei, 2000; Zahedi, Palahang, &
Ghafari, 2000).
According to a study by Michael, Court and Petal (2009), Job stress especially the factor of role conflict is related to organizational commitment. From the same study the results show that there is a negative relation between job stress, and affective commitment. Therefore, when individuals experience a high level of stress they will feel less attached to the organization.
However, there was no relation between job stress, normative and continuance commitment, this could be due to the fact that normative committed employees feel stress is part of their job and obligations, while continuance committed employees feel that they have no choose but to stay in the organization.
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Training and Development
Definitions of Training and Development
Training and Development refers to a systematic process that aims to maintain and improve employees‘ current and future performance by enhancing their ability to perform, by shaping their attitudes or improving their skills and knowledge with the objective to reach individual and organizational effectiveness (Belhaj, 2000; Buckley & Caple, 1990; Ensour & Kharagsheh, 2015). Training is also defined as the activities that help individuals to acquire specific skills and knowledge with the objective to improve their performance, whereas development relates to the future development of employees‘ throughout their carrier (Armstrong, 2006; Fairfield &
James, 1987; Hackett, 1997; Ensour & Kharagsheh, 2015). Swanson (1995) stated that the foundation for training or for any human resource development effort is to improve performance.
Hence, training can be seen as a human resource practice than can shape attitudes and behaviors, including, job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment.
Sadler-Smith (2006) referred to training as one of the fields of learning. He referred to training as a formal and systematic process of obtaining skills, organizational polices and attitudes with the objective to improve performance in another environment. Different from the other definitions this one mentions ―another environment‖ this refers that due to the changing environment, organizations need to be flexible in order to adapt to the changes, thus training is need it to provide employees with new skills, knowledge and attitudes (Buckley & Caple, 2004).
According to Maurer and Lippstreu (2008) one of the key functions of human resource that helps in shaping employee‘s behavior is that of support from the organization for personal development, it results as employees being involved and committed towards the organization.
When organizations offer opportunities for employee development employees experience a higher level of personal satisfaction (García-Bernal et al., 2005). According to Gazioglu and Tansel (2006) those employees who received job training were more satisfied than those who did not have training opportunities. In addition of the above findings another study conducted in America and Canada pointed out that receiving training to improve skills and abilities was a key component of what potential candidates expected from their jobs (Community Banker, 2001).
According to the findings is clear that organizations have to provide adequate employee
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development initiatives to attain a high level of employee satisfaction and to avoid turnover.
Employees appreciate the fact that the organization freely provides training.
Table 2.3. 3
Development refers to a systematic process that aims to maintain and improve employees‘ current and future performance by enhancing their ability to perform, by shaping their attitudes or improving their skills and knowledge with the objective to reach individual and organizational effectiveness.
Armstrong, 2006;
Fairfield& James, 1987;
Hackett, 1997; Ensour &
Kharagsheh, 2015)
Training is also defined as the activities that help individuals to acquire specific skills and knowledge with the objective to improve their performance, whereas development relates to the future development of employees‘ throughout their carrier.
Sadler-Smith, 2006 The systematic process of obtaining skills, organizational polices and attitudes with the objective to improve performance in another environment.
In this study Training and Development will be measured by four dimensions which are:
Training motivation, perceived support of training from colleagues, perceived support from management, and the training benefits. All these variables have been found in previous studies to influence participation in training (Bartlett, 2001; Noe & Wilk, 1993; Tharenou and Conroy, 1994; Tharenou, 1997).
Training motivation. ―Training motivation is the level of motivation toward participation in training and development activities‖ (Bartlett, 2001, p. 340). It is frequently cited as one of the most important attitudes that affect participation in training and training outcomes (Fleishman and Mumford, 1989). Thus, motivated employees are more likely to apply the skills they acquired in training back to their work (Cannon-Bowers, Salas, Taneenbaum, & Mathieu, 1993).
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Perceived support of training from peers. It refers to the motivation and assistance trainees get from their co-workers (Blanchard, 2010). Thus, the opinion and reaction other members have towards training will have an influence over other team members, thus affecting motivation towards the training. If a team is motivated towards training the team will transmit this motivation to the other team members, thus team members will be motivated to actively participate in the training and acquired all the necessary skills and content from the training and apply them in the daily work routine.
Perceived support of training from managers. If managers believe and are motivated towards training, they will transmit and communicate this to the employees; as a result employees will show better reactions towards training. According to Noe and Wilk (1993) the perceived support for training from co-workers, colleagues, and managers has been shown to influence the decision to participate in training and development activities. Tharenouu (1997) also finds that social support and career development are important indicators for training participation.
Training benefits. The perceived benefits of training have also been shown to influence the decision to participate in training (Bartlett, 2001). According to him those employees who think positively on training benefits are more likely to show stronger feeling of commitment towards the organization that provided the training. According to Nordhaug (1989) there are three kinds of benefits that employees get from participation in training, these are: personal, career, and job related benefits.
Job Satisfaction
Definitions of Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is the general attitude an employee has towards their job. Job satisfaction is one of the most important and significant variables in organizational behavior and in organizations. Job satisfaction is of great importance due to the fact that most of individuals spend a large part of their life at work (Curtis, 2007). It is very important for human resource professionals to understand the factors that affect job satisfaction in order to improve the well-being of employees. According to Wang and Feng (2003) the higher the job satisfaction, the higher the positive attitude and behaviors employees will have toward their job. Also individuals
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with high job satisfaction are more likely to be committed to the organization (Wang & Feng, 2003).
The most widely used definition of Job satisfaction is that of Locke (1976) who described job satisfaction as ―A pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisa1 of one's job or job experiences‖ (P.1304). Previous studies have demonstrated the mediator effect job satisfaction and affective commitment has between dispositional traits and turnover intentions.
To measure this variable the Job Diagnostic survey (JDS) was adopted, this scale provides measures of six core dimensions, these are: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback from the job itself and from agents. This scale measures the employees‘
reactions to their work (Hackman & Oldham, 1974). According to the theory of Turner and Lawrence (1965) jobs that provide different job characteristics and attributes such as variety, identity, and feedback result on positive job outcomes such as: high job motivation, high job commitment, increased attendance, and high job satisfaction. Managers and human resource professionals should design tasks that are identifiable and meaningful to employees in order to increase the sense of ownership of their work and to encourage employees to view their work in a more meaningful and important way. (Choge, Chepkiyeng & Chelimo, 2014).
In the Following table 2.4 are the respective definitions of the six dimensions:
Table 2.4. 4 different tasks, and a range of different abilities and skills are needed to perform them.
Skill Identity Refers to the extent to which a job requires completion from beginning to end of an identifiable piece of work, and when this work has a
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Task Autonomy Refers to the extent to which a job provides a considerable freedom and
Task Autonomy Refers to the extent to which a job provides a considerable freedom and