Factors Affecting Employee Commitment in Nonprofit Organization in Taiwan

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(1)CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION This chapter discusses about background, statement and purposes of the study. The research question states in question of study section. Delimitation, limitations and definition of terms also discussed in this chapter.. Background of the Study Nonprofit organization as the third sector plays an important role in the world (McHargue, 2003). Nonprofit organizations provide a broad range of critical services to our nation’s communities. “A nonprofit organization is an organization whose goal is something other than earning a profit for its owners. Usually its goal is to provide services” (Anthony & Young, 1988). Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have been vital to society for over a century. They play an important role in providing education, social services, housing, and health care. As the number of nonprofit organizations grows, the challenges they face also grow. One challenge is the increased competition for funding and employees. “Recruitment, motivation, and retention of qualified staff and volunteers have become harder due to increased competition. The resulting work environment is most demanding” (Barbeito & Bowman, 1998). Another challenge is the aging of the nonprofit workforce. Nonprofit organization will find recruiting more difficult (Joslyn, 2002). It is important for researchers to give more attention to these challenges in order to sustain and improve the nonprofit community. “The range of essential nonprofit contribution to our communities from healing the sick to showcasing artistic expression depends on the vitality of our nonprofit workforce” (Peters, Fernandopulle, Masaoke, Chan, & Wolfred, 2002). Organizations are realizing that it is important to retain their current employees and to consider the importance of employee commitment to their organization. According to Herman (2005), an employee who is affectively committed strongly identifies with the goals of the organization and has the desire to remain a part of the organization. To maintain the sustainability of the nonprofit workforce, it is important to conduct research on the impact of employee commitment to the organization. Recent changes in the internal and external work environment have created challenges for nonprofits in the 21st century (Salamon, 2002). These challenges to nonprofits include decreases in government support, rapid technological change, and increased competition from for-profit. -1-.

(2) organizations for highly skilled workers. This has also happened in Taiwan. Cheng (2004) in his report “Doing business with China: Taiwan’s three main concerns” stated that the “…unemployment rate declined through the mid-1990s… the share of the manufacturing sector in Taiwan’s GDP decreased and the share of the service sector increased...” (p. 17). As demand in the workforce increases for highly skilled workers, nonprofits will need to attract and retain the best and brightest workers. Factors such as job satisfaction and job quality will become critical determinants in enabling nonprofits to respond to the challenges associated with employee retention and recruitment. The nonprofit organization sector will need to understand the factors that affect an employee’s commitment to the organization. To fill this gap, the researcher intends to conduct a research study on the antecedents of employee commitment in nonprofit organizations in Taiwan as this area has not been investigated yet.. Statement of the Problem This study focused on affective commitment and continuance commitment. Affective commitment concerns employees’ emotional attachments to their organization. Employees with strong affective commitment believe their values match those of their employer and feel emotionally attached to and identify with their company. These stronger attachments result in more favorable job performance (Riketta, 2002). Continuance commitment concerns the individual’s commitment to the organization because of the perceived high costs of losing organizational membership.. Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors that influence employee commitment in nonprofit organizations and their effect on the employee. In this study, employee commitment was examined in terms of the objective measure antecedents of affective commitment and continuance commitment.. -2-.

(3) Questions of the Study Considering the importance of employee commitment in nonprofit organizations, the researcher states the purpose of this research is to explore the factors affecting employee commitment in nonprofit organizations. Since the researcher at the moment stays in Taiwan, this research was conducted in Taiwan and took employees who work for nonprofit organizations in Taiwan as the sample. This research inquiry is expected to make a contribution to the understanding of the leaders of NPOs about the importance of employee commitment toward the organization and how to improve it. So the research questions for this research inquiry are: 1.. What are the factors that influence employee commitment in nonprofit organizations in Taiwan?. 2.. How does the antecedent of organizational commitment affect employee commitment in nonprofit organizations in Taiwan?. Significance of the Study A nonprofit organization is formed for the purpose of serving a public or mutual benefit other than the pursuit or accumulation of profits for owner or investor (Luckert, 2007). The nonprofit sector represents a variety of organizations that make important contributions to society. A nonprofit organization is charitable by nature and does not focus on profit. On the other hand, just like a for-profit organization, a nonprofit organization also needs a human workforce to achieve its goal and mission. Since the 1980s, nonprofit organizations have come under increasing pressure to be efficient and effective. As a result, nonprofit managers need to utilize stronger leadership techniques to manage staff and to raise funds (Barbeito & Bowman, 1998). While nonprofit employers are not always able to compete on the basis of wages or financial security, they often attract people with a desire to do socially meaningful work. As the number of employees in the nonprofit sector is expected to increase, employers, particularly those in management, are becoming more aware of the direct link between the employee’s commitment and the desire to remain a part of the organization. Due to this condition, it is important for NPOs to have employees whose priority is to serve the organization and the community.. -3-.

(4) In order to determine the factors that may relate to organizational commitment, we need to understand the concept of commitment first. Porter et al. (1974) states that organizational commitment may be generally defined as a strong belief in and acceptance of organizational goals and values, a willingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization, and a desire to maintain organizational membership. Nonprofit organizations depend on their workers to maintain the sustainability of the organization. Job quality affects job satisfaction, worker morale, and the scope workers have to apply their skills and abilities to the job, which are all key contributors to productivity and performance. Other factors that contribute to increase job quality and satisfaction are morale and productivity, good relationships with colleagues, and a sense of enjoyment or fulfillment in going to work each day. McMullen and Schellenberg (2003) contend that an understanding of these factors by nonprofit employers will become essential as the need for well-educated and highly skilled workers continues to increase. Organizations should strive to have a more highly committed workforce, because research results show that organizational commitment leads to important outcomes such as decreased turnover, higher motivation, higher organization, citizenship behavior and organizational support (Kwon & Banks, 2004). Managers could benefit from understanding the predictors of committed manpower because they can initiate the interventions when a problem arises. Research shows that understanding organizational commitment can provide insight into how organizational commitment is related to the intention to leave. The turnover is always costly to organizations in all sectors, given the large investment made in the selection, training and development of personnel (Stallworth, 2003, 2004). Also there are some findings that any effort to improve organizational commitment is beneficial in lowering stress levels in the job and the perceived pressure of the job (Savery & Syme, 1996). From the interviews with the employees of nonprofit organizations, the researcher found that the employees mentioned that their jobs in nonprofit organizations had put lots of stress and pressure on them. Meyer and Allen (1990, 1997) developed a widely accepted commitment framework in which people develop affective, continuance and normative commitments conceptualized such that employees may form strong attachments on none, some or all three dimensions.. -4-.

(5) Delimitation and Limitation Delimitation This study is delimited to analyze commitment of employees who are working in nonprofit organizations in Taiwan. Due to the geographic limitation, the researcher focused on nonprofit organizations in Taiwan. This research also needs to assess the importance of personal background characteristics (gender, age, education & organizational tenure) and organizational commitment (job characteristic, job satisfaction, job stress, role fit and extrinsic reward) in predicting affective organizational commitment. Turnover intention is also investigated in this research to predict continuance commitment. So the results of the research can only be applied to conditions similar to the ones described in this research.. Limitation The researcher also considered limitation in the study. A quantitative research approach is adopted for this research. A questionnaire is the data-collection method for this research. The questionnaires were distributed to employees of nonprofit organizations; no questionnaires were distributed to volunteers in nonprofit organizations to avoid non-objective opinions from the volunteers. As the limitation for the research is based on the framework, the researcher identified only a limited number of factors as organizational commitment antecedents. There might be other important variables which can influence organizational commitment. For example, job performance and organizational support could also affect organizational commitment. It might be desirable to study those factors in nonprofit organizations. The sample in this research consisted of employees in nonprofit organizations in Taipei city and Taipei county; it might not be sufficiently representative of the general employee population of all nonprofit organizations. Further research could test this model with a more varied population. This research didn’t test organizational commitment as a mediator between organizational commitment antecedents and turnover intention. Wong, Hui, and Law (1995) and Lum et. al. (1998) found a significant negative relationship between organizational commitment and intention to leave. It would be an interesting research inquiry to conduct for future studies.. -5-.

(6) The subject of this study is only limited to the employees of nonprofit organizations. It was assumed that one must be cautious in generalizing for other positions.. Definition of Terms Organizational commitment-Refers to Meyer and Allen’s (1991) three- component model of commitment. Affective commitment is defined as the employee’s positive emotional attachment to the organization. The continuance commitment is defined as the individual’s commitment to the organization because of the perceived high costs of losing organizational membership. The researcher used a 5 points Likert scale to measure organizational commitment as a dependent variable. The researcher used the term of employee commitment to describe organizational commitment. Nonprofit organizations- A diverse set of private institutions that mobilize individual initiative for the common good. It also known as the Third Sector, these institutions as being charitable organizations, and are therefore tax-exempt. Job Characteristic- Refers to skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. The researcher used a 5 points Likert scale to measure job characteristic as an independent variable. Job satisfaction- Job satisfaction is generally viewed as the degree to which a person likes his or her job and is frequently studied across a wide array of disciplines (Cranny, Smith & Stone, 1992; Spector, 1996). The researcher used a 5 points Likert scale to measure job satisfaction as an independent variable. Job stress- Job stress is generally defined in the literature as an employee’s feeling of job-related difficulty, tension, anxiety, frustration, worry, emotional exhaustion and distress (Cartwright & Cooper, 1997). The researcher used a 5 points Likert scale to measure job stress as an independent variable. Role fit- Right position for the employee or how well the employee fits in and works. The researcher used a 5 points Likert scale to measure role fit as an independent variable. Extrinsic reward-Refers to pay, fringe benefits, and promotions. The researcher used a 5 points Likert scale to measure extrinsic reward as an independent variable. Turnover intention-Turnover is a behavior directed toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position as well as resigning (Robbins, 1998). The researcher used a 5 points Likert scale to measure turnover intention as an independent variable.. -6-.

(7) CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW Chapter II gives an introduction about nonprofit organizations as the field of the research. Organizational commitment and its antecedents also discuss in this chapter.. Introduction to the Nonprofit Organization The purpose of the nonprofit organization (NPO) is explained by Drucker (1992) as “The non-profit organization exists to bring about a change in individuals and in society.” The nonprofit sector is often referred to as the third sector, independent sector, voluntary sector, philanthropic sector, social sector, tax-exempt sector, or the charitable sector. NPO is a legally constituted organization whose primary objective is to support or to actively engage in activities of public or private interest without any commercial or monetary profit purposes. NPOs are active in a wide range of areas, including environment, humanitarian aid, education, charities, health, politics, religion and others. NPOs often are charities or service organizations, and are sometimes also called foundations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to the law. Like for-profit corporations, nonprofit corporations also must file a statement of corporate purpose and pay a fee, create articles of incorporation, conduct regular meetings, and fulfill other obligations to achieve and maintain corporate status. The primary difference between a nonprofit and profit corporation is that a nonprofit does not issue stock or pay dividends and may not enrich its directors. However, like profit corporations, nonprofit corporations still have employees and can compensate their directors within reasonable bounds. The funds acquired by nonprofit corporations must stay within the corporate accounts to pay for reasonable salaries, expenses, and the activities of the corporation. NPOs must have board members, steering committee members, or trustees who owe the organization a fiduciary duty of loyalty and trust. In many countries, nonprofits may apply for tax exemption; the organization itself may be exempt from income tax and other taxes, so that financial donors may claim back any income tax paid on donations, or deduct from their own liability the amount of the donation (Fishman & Schwarz, 2006). On the other hand, the NPO’s employees still have to pay income tax from their salary - the same as the employees of a for-profit corporation. An NPO is an association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a nonprofit organization are often tax deductible as well.. -7-.

(8) In NPOs, decisions made by management are intended to result in providing the best possible service with the available resources; success is measured primarily by how much service the organizations provide and by how well these services are rendered. More basically, the success of a nonprofit should be measured by how much it contributes to the public well-being. Membership organizations are those whose purpose is to render service to their members. They include religious organizations, labor unions, trade associations, professional associations, fraternal organizations, social and country clubs, and political organizations. To the extent that they are supported by dues from the membership, fluctuations in the amount of such dues is an indication of the perceived value of services rendered by the organizations, even though there is rarely a direct connection between an individual’s dues and the services received by that individual. Many are dominated by professionals and have weak governing boards. Certain membership organizations, such as religious organizations and certain labor organizations, face strong competitive pressures; others, such as professional associations, have no effective competition. Until recently, many religious organizations have had notoriously weak management control systems. In recent years, however, several denominations have developed good systems and have encouraged their use at local levels. Religious organizations have a particularly difficult problem in deciding on the programs to be undertaken and in measuring the value of services rendered (Anthony & Young, 1988). There are several problems faced by NPOs. Most NPOs rely on external funding (government funds, grants from charitable foundations, direct donations) to maintain their operations and changes in these sources of revenue may influence the reliability or predictability with which the organizations can hire and retain staff, sustain facilities, or create programs. Due to this, most NPOs cannot afford to give high salaries or benefits to their employees. The nonprofit context is distinct, though nonprofits also share several characteristics with for-profits that affect their ability to increase efficiency, effectiveness, job quality, and satisfaction. Basini and Buckley (1997) described four attributes that summarize the key characteristics of the nonprofit sector. 1.. NPOs do not necessarily exist to generate profits for the owners, but they may generate income that is spent.. 2.. NPOs are outside of the realm of government and private enterprises; they may rely on both for funding or expertise, etc. -8-.

(9) 3.. NPOs’ staffing may be made up of unpaid volunteers as well as paid employees.. 4.. NPOs may be exempt from taxation of income or property, and may generate revenues through charitable donations.. Some organizational characteristics, specifically issues like employee reward and appraisal, do not mirror those present in the public sector (Basini & Buckley, 1992). There is an assumption that the nature of the actual work and the goals of the employees differ between NPOs and the public sector. NPOs pay considerably less than private and public sector organizations, and there is a tradeoff that exists between extrinsic remuneration and intrinsic satisfaction gained (Basini & Buckley, 1992). Most NPOs are small and have few amenities, scarce supplies, a casual environment, and flexible job descriptions. The salary scale is often lower in NPOs than in the public sector. From the explanation above we can see that in an organization not based on profit, the workers who work for the organization will hopefully have the same goal as the organization’s to serve the community.. Types of Nonprofit Organizations NPOs divides into many types, it based on the purpose and the mission of the organization. Below is the explanation of different types of NPOs and the example of the organization in Taiwan. 1.. Charitable organization Is an organization with charitable purposes. Trusts, foundations, unincorporated. associations and, in some jurisdictions, specific types of companies, may be established for a charitable purpose or may acquire such purpose after establishment. Charities are all non-profit organizations. However, not all non-profit organizations are charities. Organizations that are only partly dedicated to charitable purposes are sometimes considered as charities, depending on specific regulations in a given jurisdiction. Some charitable organizations may be established by companies as part of a tax planning strategy (John, 2004). For example in Taiwan, the “Chinese Culture and Social Welfare Fund” (財團法人中華文化社會福利事業基金會) is a foundation which works with domestic nonprofit organizations and the government to provide different forms of social welfare and to promote development of Chinese culture for the society. The “Tzu Chi” (慈濟) foundation is a non-profit organization which has been contributing to better. -9-.

(10) social and community services, medical care, education and humanism in Taiwan for nearly 40 years.. 2.. Fundraising Is the process of soliciting and gathering money or other gifts in-kind, by requesting. donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gather funds for nonprofit organizations, it is sometimes used to refer to the identification and solicitation of investors or other sources of capital for-profit enterprises. These operations can involve a very broad array of concerns such as religious or philanthropic groups, research organizations, public broadcasters, political campaigns, and grant making foundations. (Salamon & Anheier, 1994). For example in Taiwan: “Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps” (台灣路竹會) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving quality of life through provision of medical services and health education. By providing primary health care and disseminating health information, Taiwan Root offers temporary relief as well as builds foundations for sustainable health care systems in the future. “Taiwan Mobile Foundation” ( 台灣大哥大基金會 ) provides an environment to learn more about telecommunication and promotes telecommunication technology development. Besides that, it assists the education of poor children.. 3.. Religious organizations Equally important are fundraising efforts by virtually every recognized religious. group throughout the world. These efforts are organized on a local, national, and global level. Sometimes, such funds will go exclusively toward assisting the basic needs of others, while money may at other times be used only for evangelism. Usually, religious organizations mix the two, which can sometimes cause tension. In Taiwan there are many religious organizations. Examples include “Fouzang Foundation” (佛藏山), “Faith Hope Love” (信望愛), and “Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference” (台灣地區主教團).. - 10 -.

(11) 4.. Political campaigns Fundraising also plays a major role in political campaigns. Despite numerous. campaign finance reform laws, this continues to be a highly controversial topic in politics. Some advocacy organizations conduct fundraising for or against policy issues in an attempt to influence legislation. Political organizations also include political parties, political actions committees, multipurpose political organizations, support and service organizations, auxiliaries, councils, and governance organizations (Salamon & Anheier, 1994). In Taiwan, political campaigns also play an important role in local and national politics (Rawnsley, 2003). For example: 財團法人陳隆志新世紀文教基金會, 南社基金會.. 5.. Social service Social workers are concerned with social problems, their causes, their solutions and. their human impacts. Social workers work with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. Social work is the profession committed to the pursuit of social justice, to the enhancement of the quality of life, and to the development of the full potential of each individual, group and community in society. These include women’s organizations which are public foundations focused solely on the needs of women and girls. They leverage time, talent and treasure to engage the power of every woman as a force for change in the lives of all women. Beside women’s organizations, there are some organizations which provide social services for children like child welfare, child services, and day care. There are also organizations for family services, self-help and other personal social services as well as organizations for the handicapped and elderly (Salamon & Anheier, 1994). Most social service organizations are dedicated for women. For example in Taiwan: Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (婦女救援基金會), Pearl Buck Foundation (賽珍珠基金會), Legal Aid Foundation (法律扶助基金會), The Garden of Hope Foundation (勵馨社會福利事業基金會).. - 11 -.

(12) 6.. Mutual organization or mutual society It based on the principle of mutuality. Unlike a true cooperative, members usually do. not contribute to the capital of the company by direct investment, but derive their right to profits and votes through their customer relationship. A mutual organization or society is often simply referred to as a mutual. A mutual exists with the purpose of raising funds (or money), from its membership or customers, which can then be used to provide common services to all members of the organization or society. United Way Taiwan (聯合勸募) is a good example in Taiwan. United Way is an internationally organized system, which includes approximately 1400 community-based organizations in over 47 countries and territories. United Way Taiwan devotes itself to identifying community needs and gaps in service delivery, raising funds for programs, and working as a partner with other social welfare agencies to strengthen the community.. 7.. Nonprofit technology Comprises information and communication technologies that support the goals of. nonprofits, NGOs, and the third sector, etc. Practitioners within nonprofits are varied and include nonprofit IT staff, and program staff. Providers to nonprofits providing technology support are sometimes known as eRiders or circuit riders, or more broadly as NTAPs (nonprofit technology assistance providers) (Peizer, 2005).. 8.. International Cooperation and Development Fund “Taiwan ICDF” (財團法人國際. 合作發展基金會(國合會) ICDF cooperates with other international development agencies, as well as foreign governments, financial institutions, non government organizations and diverse businesses. ICDF core competencies include technical assistance, investment and lending operations, education and training, and humanitarian assistance. It uses these skills to help partnering nations develop their economies, alleviate poverty, strengthen international human resources, expand agricultural output and rebuild after natural disasters.. - 12 -.

(13) Organizational Commitment Organizational commitment for many years has been identified as a central construct in understanding the relationship between the employee and the employer (e.g. Meyer & Allen, 1996; Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch & Topolnytsky, 2002). According to Meyer and Herscovitch (2001) the definition of organizational commitment indicates its significance in “a force that binds an individual to a course of action that is of relevance to a particular target.” Indeed, if we consider its use in everyday language, we see that the term commitment is generally reserved for important actions or decisions that have relatively long-term implications (e.g., commitment to a marriage; commitment to improving employee productivity or satisfaction). Commitment has been conceptualized in term of behavioral patterns, intentions, motivations, or attitudes (Goulet & Frank, 2002). The attitudinal approach, which has been the most widely used, describes commitment as “the relative strength of an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular organization” (Mowday et al., 1979). Many research studies continue to find significant correlations between attitudinal commitment and numerous organizational outcomes, including job performance (Meyer et al., 2002; Riketta, 2002). Meyer and Allen (1991) initially developed their three-component model to address observed similarities and differences in existing uni-dimensional conceptualizations of organizational commitment. There was a belief that commitment binds an individual to an organization and thereby reduces the likelihood of turnover. The main differences were in the mindsets which reflected three distinguishable themes: affective attachment to the organization, obligation to remain, and perceived cost of leaving. To distinguish among commitments characterized by these different mindsets, Meyer and Allen (1990) labeled them “affective commitment,” “normative commitment,” and “continuance commitment,” respectively. Through the research of these scholars, it was found that employees with strong organizational commitment show three types of tendencies toward an organization, including a strong belief and acceptance of organizational objectives and values; willingness to dedicate more effort to the organization; and the desire to remain a part of the organization.. - 13 -.

(14) As this research is focused on investigating the factors that influence “Affective commitment”, the researcher provides the following definitions: The affective component of organizational commitment…refers to the employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization. The continuance component refers to commitment based on costs that the employee associates with leaving the organization. Finally the normative component refers to the employee’s feelings of obligation to remain with the organization (Meyer & Allen, 1990). Affective commitment in particular develops when an individual becomes involved in, recognizes the value-relevance of, and/or derives his or her identity from association with an entity or pursuit of a course of action such as, in the case of organizational commitment, to one’s employer. Employees might have strong affective commitment to the organization because the company culture is compatible with their personal values (Meyer, Becker & Vandenberghe, 2004). When individuals’ values correspond with those of their organization, they tend to have greater job satisfaction and organizational commitment, less stress and fewer turnover intentions (Meglino & Ravlin, 1998). Extending on this, Riketta (2000) and Meyer, et al. (2002) found through meta-analyses that demographic variables of age, gender, education, job level and organizational tenure had only minor relationships with affective commitment. Normative commitment is based on a feeling of obligation toward an organization and has overtones of moral responsibility. Those with high normative commitment continue to participate with an organization out of a sense of duty; they feel that they ought to continue. In their original scale for this construct, Meyer and Allen (1990) used items that tried to identify an individual’s values with the assumption that these values exist a priori to organizational membership. Continuance commitment refers to an organization member’s intention to continue his or her membership in or employment with an organization based on the costs and benefits associated with his or her current and potential future employment or volunteer possibilities. Continuance commitment is based largely on economic reasoning, but may include an assessment of both tangible and intangible benefits. Individuals with high levels of continuance commitment intend to continue their participation in the organization because they need to continue. Some researchers have found that this need to continue may be based on two distinct dimensions: a lack of available alternatives or a high degree of personal sacrifice (Meyer and Allen, 1997; Iverson & Buttigieg, 1999).. - 14 -.

(15) In this study, the researcher identified the existence of both dimensions of commitment - affective commitment and continuance commitment. Affective commitment in this study is defined as the employee’s level of emotional attachment to and identification with the organization. Continuance commitment is defined as the willingness of the employee to remain with the organization. Past studies of organizational commitment typically look for relationships between commitment levels of employees and various consequences of value to the organization, such as turnover, absenteeism, and job effort (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Riketta, 2000; Wright and Bonnett, 2002). Mathieu and Zajac (1990) found a significant positive correlation between organizational tenure and employees’ levels of continuance commitment. In the case of employees, this relationship is thought to be based largely on the existence of the tangible benefits (e.g., health care benefits and pension plans) and intangible benefits (e.g., personal relationships and job satisfaction) derived from continued employment. The basic assumption is that the longer an employee has been with an organization, the greater the accumulated value of the benefits; leaving an organization becomes more costly and therefore continuance commitment based on personal sacrifice increases. Meyer and Allen (1991) found empirical support for the idea that, of the various types of commitment, affective commitment is most likely to exhibit a positive effect on job performance. This is because employees that want to be working at their job are more likely to exert effort than those who merely feel they need to (continuance commitment) or ought to (normative commitment) continue with their job. The researcher argues that this same type of relationship will hold among nonprofit employees. Employees that are emotionally attached to the organization will be motivated to make greater contributions to the organization than those who lack an emotional attachment. Colbert and Kwon (2000) noted that organizational commitment has been related inversely to both intent to search for job alternatives and intent to leave one’s job (Quarles, 1994). Also, it reduces absence frequency (Farrell & Stamm, 1988). In addition, organizational commitment has been related to more positive organizational outcomes, including job satisfaction (Meyer & Allen, 1996) and attendance motivation (Burton et al, 2002). These studies underscore organizational commitment’s importance and thus the need to understand better its antecedents. Price (1990) also mentioned that many issues concerning organizational commitment remain poorly understood.. - 15 -.

(16) Antecedents of Organizational Commitment This part reviews the literature relevant to employee commitment antecedents and theories of the independent variables and dependent variables.. Job Characteristic The definition of job characteristics for this study means the attributes of a job. The researcher adopts the opinions proposed by Hackman and Oldham (1975) on job attributes. Within the Job Characteristic Model, there are 5 core job dimensions of internal employee job motives: 1. Skill Variety: the degree to which a job allows employees to undertake a wide range of options in their work. 2. Task identity: whether the task is featured with completeness and how to recognize the achievement after a task section is done. 3. Task Significance: the extent of the influence of job completion on others’ lives or jobs. 4. Autonomy: the extent to which employees have a say in scheduling their work and the freedom to do what they want on the job. 5. Feedback: the extent to which completing a task provides understandable and timely performance feedback. Workers tend to be appreciative of those organizations that provide them with jobs that allow them to experience and learn new things. This, of course, allows the organization to be seen in a more positive light, which translates into higher levels of organizational commitment. According to the Job Characteristic Model of Hackman and Oldham (1975), based on the job design, jobs with more challenges and changes that give employees greater autonomy will inspire employees, enhancing job satisfaction and reducing resignation rates. Within organizational behavior, there is much research about job attitudes such as job satisfaction, employee transferring and organizational commitment. Steers (1977) found job characteristics to be antecedents of organizational commitment. And in later research, Steers (1981) mention that job characteristic and work environment positively related to organizational commitment, which in turn reduces the intention turnover. Glisson and Durick (1988) focused on manpower service workers and found job characteristics to be closely correlated with organizational commitment.. - 16 -.

(17) Among these job characteristics, skill variety and task identity showed the most significant influence. Ramaswami et al. (1993) provided support for the direct influence of autonomy, variety and feedback on organizational commitment (Bhuaian & Menguc, 2002). The effect these job characteristics have on the organizational commitment of social and human service workers has received little attention in the empirical literature, and as such the impact of these job characteristics is not fully understood, particularly for organizational commitment. Bhuaian and Menguc (2002) provided support for the direct influence of job characteristics on organizational commitment. To investigate the relationship between job characteristics and organizational commitment in nonprofit organizations in Taiwan, the researcher conducted an analysis of human service workers in Taiwan. Hypothesis 1: Job characteristic of the nonprofit organization employee in Taiwan has a positive impact on organizational commitment.. Job satisfaction Job satisfaction is simply how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their jobs. It is the extent to which people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) their jobs. As it is generally assessed, job satisfaction is an attitudinal variable. Job satisfaction can be considered as a global feeling about the job or as a related constellation of attitudes about various aspects of the job. The global approach is used when the overall or bottom line attitude is of interest (Spector, 1997). Besides that, job satisfaction is more simply conceived of as the response of an individual to the conditions of work as these perceptions are shaped by objective differences in work conditions and different interpretations of the conditions. Job satisfaction has attracted the attention of specialists in many fields including vocational guidance, management training, economics and government (Stanton & Crossley, 2000). From the nonprofit organization side it can be said that without dedicated, motivated, committed, satisfied, and skilled staff, a nonprofit organization will not succeed in its mission in the long run. It is important to understand how job characteristics impact social workers. Thus, there is a need to study the impact of job satisfaction and organizational commitment among social workers simultaneously.. - 17 -.

(18) It is generally theorized that the work environment influences employees mainly through their attitudinal states, and these attitudinal states in turn shape staff’s intentions and behaviors. Job satisfaction is generally viewed as the degree to which a person likes his or her job and is frequently studied across a wide array of disciplines (Spector, 1996; Cranny, Smith & Stone, 1992), including social and human services professions. Organizational commitment is generally defined as having the core elements of loyalty to the organization, identification with the organization (e.g., pride in the organization and internalization of the goals of the organization), and involvement in the organization. A number of researchers suggest that job satisfaction has a special significance for an understanding of the effects of various antecedent constructs on commitment. This researcher assumes that job satisfaction is a causal antecedent of commitment. Job satisfaction is predicted to have a positive effect on commitment as has been consistently shown in previous research on the determinants of commitment (e.g., Williams & Anderson, 1991; Meyer & Allen, 1996). High levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment have been linked to extra work effort, creativeness, innovativeness, productivity and positive employee social responsibility (Witt, 1990; Tremble, 2006). Conversely, low levels of job satisfaction have been associated with reduced performance, psychological withdrawal, burnout, tardiness, absenteeism, and turnover (Farrell & Stamm, 1988). There is a lack of empirical research on job satisfaction in the nonprofit (NPO) or third sector even though these unique organizations assume a huge responsibility for meeting public needs that neither the government nor public sector businesses can meet. While funders and the general public expect efficiency of administration and effectiveness of service outcomes, little attention has been paid to the relationship between job satisfaction and the factors that influence worker recruitment and retention within the nonprofit context (Light, 2001; McHargue, 2003). Many causal models of organizational commitment have found that job satisfaction mediates. the. relationship. between. other. factors. (e.g.,. empowerment,. supervisor-subordinate relationships, role ambiguity and conflict, job motivating potential) and organizational commitment (Williams & Hazer, 1986; Lum et al., 1998; Lok & Crawford, 2001). Williams and Hazer (1986) in their paper found support for relationships between several personal and organizational antecedents and job satisfaction, and between satisfaction and commitment. Their findings indicated that antecedents like personal characteristics, work experiences, job motivating potential, organizational - 18 -.

(19) factors, and role-related factors may influence commitment only indirectly. Later studies conducted by Cetin (2006) have also yielded similar results. Based on these previous studies and their findings, this researcher predicts that job satisfaction will play a significant mediating role between other antecedents and organizational commitment. The research of Deshpande (1996) indicates that when employees show enhanced job satisfaction, their organizational commitment is also enhanced. These employees are willing to put forth more effort for their organizations in order to excel in their performance. The research of Porter et al. (1974) indicates that job satisfaction influences organizational identity and shows positive correlation with organizational identity. From the existing literature, it was found that analysts often define job satisfaction with reference to the needs and values of individuals and the extent to which these needs and values are satisfied in the workplace. To investigate the impact of job satisfaction on organizational commitment, the researcher makes an assumption that: Hypothesis 2: Job satisfaction of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a positive impact on organizational commitment.. Role fit In many career fields, there is a tendency to try to find the right person for the job instead of trying to make the job right for the person. Koeske and Kirk (1995) wrote, “Social work administrators presume that there are certain characteristics of human service workers that predispose some of the workers to thrive in a particular job while workers with other characteristics are more likely to dislike the job or do poorly”. In the real world, it seems that organizations appear to be more concerned with the impact of workers on their organizations rather than the impact of the organization on workers. Judge & Bretz (1992) examined the influence of work values on job choice decisions. Generally, they found that people whose primary value orientations were concern for others, achievement, and fairness preferred organizations with similar value orientations and were more likely to accept a job offer from these organizational types. To understand more about the impact of role fit on organizational commitment, the researcher makes an assumption that: Hypothesis 3: Role fit of the nonprofit organization employee in Taiwan has a positive impact on organizational commitment.. - 19 -.

(20) Extrinsic reward Work might be considered necessary or required, and in another sense, a contribution, part of being human. The type of work one chooses is as unique as the person performing it. Work might be in the form of a paid position within an organization, self-employment, volunteerism, or dedication to one’s family needs, such as raising children (Facendini, 2003). Human motivation at work is the heart of the field of organizational behavior. In work and other contexts, motivation is often described as being “intrinsic” or “extrinsic” in nature (Sansone & Harackiewicsz, 2000). Intrinsic motivation, deriving from within the person or from the activity itself, positively affects behavior, performance, and well being (Ryan & Deci, 2000). But externally administered consequences, or extrinsic behavioral contingencies, also are powerful determinants of motivated behavior. Extrinsic motivation is the attainment of externally administered rewards, including pay, material possessions, prestige, and positive evaluations from others (Bateman & Crant, n.d). Mathieu and Zajac (1990) also reported a positive correlation between salary and organizational commitment. The reasons according to their findings were that higher salary levels increase feelings of self-esteem. In addition, employees with high income might have more to lose in leaving the organization. The researcher assumes that employees in nonprofit organizations may also be affected by their pay satisfaction. Worklife Report (2003) in a study of Canadian nonprofit organizations found that “Almost 40% of nonprofit employees are dissatisfied with their pay and benefits. Only 20% of for-profit employees feel likewise.” Furthermore it mentioned that performance-based pay systems are rare in the nonprofit sector and common in the for profit sector. Intrinsic benefits of work in the nonprofit sector include benefits that come from commitment to a cause, or doing socially valued work. But it becomes a question whether those benefits should be expected to compensate for disadvantages especially in competitive labor markets. This research study focuses on nonprofit organizations in Taiwan. It investigates how employees in Taiwanese nonprofit organizations feel about the extrinsic rewards (payments) that they receive from their organizations. To achieve this goal the researcher builds a hypothesis: Hypothesis 4: Extrinsic reward of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a positive impact on organizational commitment. - 20 -.

(21) Job stress As the number of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) increases, the number of employees needed in these fields has also increased. Even many institutes like schools and universities have opened colleges in Social Work studies to give people opportunities to learn more about NPOs and to have the experience of working with these kinds of organizations. The popular view is that these persons are attracted by the ideals of selfless service and work fulfillment, and have chosen to avoid competitiveness of profit-making firms, and the impersonality of government bureaucracy. But the view also holds that low pay, job pressures, and lack of resources cause these workers to seek employment in other sectors. Job stress is generally defined in the literature as an employee’s feeling of job-related difficulty, tension, anxiety, frustration, worry, emotional exhaustion and distress (Cartwright & Cooper, 1997). There have been several studies that have explored the causes of job stress and its impact. Cushman, Evans & Namerow (1995) and Gellis (2001) observed that job stress was negatively correlated with job satisfaction among hospital social workers. Worklife report (2003) observes that “Government off-loading has meant increasing demands on the sector. But resources may not be adequate for the new responsibilities. Workload problems, stress, work/life conflict, job insecurity, lower pay and benefits and a high level of dissatisfaction are all warning signals.” The author acknowledges that the intrinsic benefits of work in the non-profit sector, the benefits that come from commitment to a low salary, lack of social approval, and few career opportunities had a risk 2.4 times higher than those in low-stress jobs. The study shows that work stress leads to health problems that may be precursors of heart disease. The study also shows that it is the interaction between high work demand and low job control and between high effort and low reward that leads to stress and heart problems. Stress at work is a well known factor for low motivation and morale, decrease in performance, high turnover and sick-leave, accidents, low job satisfaction, low quality products and services, poor internal communication and conflicts etc. (Schabracq & Cooper, 1998; Lambert, et.al., 2006; Lou, et.al., 2007). McHugh (1997) suggested that stress should be included in the change management agenda. She argued that people involved in the management of change need to acknowledge the fact that increased pressure and stress are put on employees because of continuous organizational change and that it is necessary for organizations to think of incorporating a stress management - 21 -.

(22) program within the change management program. Moreover, Armenakis & Bedeian (1999) considered stress as an obstacle to change planning and implementation and they argued that: Receptivity, resistance, commitment, cynicism, stress, and related personal reactions are clearly relevant criterion variables to be considered in the framework of planning and implementing an organizational change. Change can obviously cause cynicism and stress, thereby inhibiting success. Stress may be categorized into three types (Beehr & Franz, 1987). The first type is stimulus-based which considers stress as a situational or environmental based stimulus impinging on the person. The second type is response-based, defining stress as an individual’s psychological response to environmental or situational forces. The third definition, which is adopted for the purposes of the present study, applies an interactive approach often called the stressor-strain approach. It brings together the concepts put forward in the first two definitions in the sense that it defines stress as both the stimulus (sources of stress or stressor) and the response (outcome or manifestation of stress or strain). Job stress is hypothesized to have an inverse effect on social and human service staff job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job stress is a negative condition for most people. As the level of stress from the job increases, the more likely it is an individual will see the job negatively and blame the organization. Conversely, an employee who experiences little stress from work will probably be more likely to hold favorable views toward his/her job and see the organization in a more favorable light. Since social and human service workers are expected to accord top priority to client’s problems and intervene in a timely manner when necessary, time-based conflicts are possible. Lambert et al., (2006) mention that working undesirable hours, too many hours, or working during times of family or social obligations, all can lead social service workers to view their jobs in a less favorable light. Hypothesis 5: Job stress of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a negative impact on organizational commitment.. - 22 -.

(23) Turnover intention Organizational commitment has often been studied in conjunction with employees’ intentions to leave the organization, with a number of studies reporting a significant and negative association between the two variables (Wong, Hui & Law, 1995). Employees’ turnover is a very critical issue in human resource management. According to Robbins (1998), turnover is a behavior directed toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position as well as resigning. People switch jobs because they have an itch to try out new things or simply because it is fun doing (Khatri et al, 2001). Studies have found that satisfied employees live longer, healthier lives and are happier, more cooperative, more dependable, less critical and less likely to quit their jobs (e.g., Porter et al, 1974; Whiteacre, 2006). According to data from several nonprofit organizations in Taiwan, the employees in nonprofit organizations tend to have high turnover. When employees are emotionally attached to the organization, they are less likely to intend to leave the organization. Considerable research has treated organizational commitment as a major antecedent of intention to leave, and many studies have reported a significant negative relationship between the two (Lum et al., 1998; Griffeth, Hom & Gaertner, 2000). According to Karsh, et al (2005) role conflict, work overload, age and job level had direct effects on perceived stress, satisfaction and/ or commitment. None of the job, organizational or demographic factors had direct effects on intention to leave, but job satisfaction and organizational commitment had direct effects on intention to leave. A meta-analysis generally confirmed the findings of the two studies (Irvine and Evans, 1995). Eleven studies with approximately 4000 participants made up the sample examining satisfaction, intentions and turnover. The result showed, intent to turnover was more strongly related to actual turnover than job satisfaction, while job satisfaction was strongly related to intentions. Many researchers have investigated the relationship between organizational commitment and turnover intention (Trimble, 2006; Takase, Yamashita & Oba, 2007). Existing literature suggests that organizational commitment and intention to leave are two important predictors of employee turnover (Griffeth & Hom, 1995; Griffeth, Hom & Gaertner, 2000). In this research the researcher used the term of turnover intention as the antecedent of normative commitment. So the researcher investigates the relationship of turnover intention towards organizational commitment.. - 23 -.

(24) Previous researchers proved that employee turnover represents a practical problem to an organization in term of loss of talent and additional recruitment and training cost. So it is a challenge for the leader of a nonprofit organization to decrease turnover intention and increase the employee’s commitment toward the organization. High levels of turnover normally create more problems than benefits in terms of the cost of hiring replacement staff, re-training, and organizational readjustments (Lee & Mitchell, 1994). Grieffeth, Hom and Gaertner (2000) have stated that the relationship between commitment and ‘remaining with the organization’ is weak but consistent. Consistent with the previous literature, the researcher hypothesizes that: Hypothesis 6: Intention to leave of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a negative impact on organizational commitment.. Summary The relationship between organizational commitment antecedents and organizational commitment has discussed in previous pages. In Chapter III the researcher described the relationship in a research framework and explained the research procedure. In Chapter IV the researcher processed the data collected from the questionnaires and from the result, the researcher made conclusion, suggestion and recommendation.. - 24 -.

(25) CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY Chapter two discussed about the organizational commitment and its antecedents. In Chapter three, the researcher built a research framework which describes the relationship between organizational commitment and its antecedents. Hypothesis for the relationship, research procedure and research method also includes in this chapter.. Research Framework A survey study was carried out to test the proposed theoretical model. Since most of the constructs used in this study have been proposed in the literature before, instruments for these constructs were reused from the past literature as much as possible. Drawn from organizational commitment and nonprofit organization literature, the conceptual model could be presented as the following:. Job characteristic H1 (+) Job satisfaction. H2 (+). Job stress. H3 (-). Role fit. H4 (+). Extrinsic reward. Affective Commitment. Organizational Commitment. H5 (+) H6 (-). Turnover intention. Continuance Commitment. Figure 3.1. Research framework. - 25 -.

(26) The research framework in figure 3.1 explains about the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable. There are six independent variables in the research, they are job characteristic, job satisfaction, role fit, extrinsic reward, job stress and turnover intention. The independent variable is organizational commitment. Table 3.1 describes the relationship between them.. Table 3.1. Hypothesis Research Hypothesis Hypothesis 1. Job characteristic of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a positive impact on organizational commitment.. Hypothesis 2. Job satisfaction of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a positive impact on organizational commitment.. Hypothesis 3. Role fit of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a positive impact on organizational commitment.. Hypothesis 4. Extrinsic reward of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a positive impact on organizational commitment.. Hypothesis 5. Job stress of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a negative impact on organizational commitment.. Hypothesis 6. Intention to leave of nonprofit organization employees in Taiwan has a negative impact on organizational commitment.. Research Procedure A questionnaire was chosen as the data-collection method for the research. From survey on the field, the researcher found the research question. Then researcher identified the potential variables by reviewing the prior research on the topic. The participants came from ten nonprofit organizations in Taiwan. The related literature was the main source in designing the questionnaire. The research process is described in the scheme below: 1. From observations in nonprofit organization, the researcher determines the topic for the research and reviews the literature relevant to the research question. 2. After reviewing the literature, the researcher summarized it in the research framework for this research and develops a hypothesis.. - 26 -.

(27) 3. Then the researcher selects and chooses the questionnaire from the previous literatures as the previous researchers have tested the validity of the questions, then distributes the questionnaire and collects the results. 4. The researcher uses the data collected from the questionnaire to examine the hypothesis and analyze it. 5. According to the data gathered from the analysis, the researcher presents the discussion of the findings, a conclusion and a proposal for future research. The research procedure is presented in figure 3.2.. Research question. Literature Review. Research framework. Select & choose questionnaire from previous literatures. Distribution of questionnaire. Collect the data & analysis. Conclusion & suggestions Figure 3.2. Research procedure. - 27 -.

(28) Research Methods A mainly quantitative approach was adopted for performing the research. This study was a non-experimental quantitative method, because in this study the researcher did not manipulating the variables (Johnson & Christensen, 2004). There were six independent variables and one dependent variable used in this study. This study investigates the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables and what variables affect dependent variables. The researcher used SPSS program to process the data. Linear regression and correlation variable analysis were used to process and examine the effect of the variables mentioned in the research. The limitation for the participants in this research is that they had to have experience working as a full time employee for a nonprofit organization.. Measurement Variable To measure the organizational commitment variable and its antecedents, the researcher used a scale based on existing literature. The questionnaire used the five-point Likert scale anchored by ‘1= strongly disagree’, ‘2= disagree’, ‘3=no idea’, ‘4=agree’ and ‘5= strongly agree’. The items are listed in Table 3.2.. Table 3.2. Measurement scale items Variable. Items. Job characteristic. 7 items. Job satisfaction. 7 items. Role fit. 5 items. Extrinsic reward. 3 items. Job stress. 9 items. Turnover intention. 4 items. Organizational commitment Total questions. 8 items. Literature Reference. Scale. Allen, Lambert, Pauspuleti, Cluse, & Ventura Five-point (2004); Robertson, Lo, & Tang (2003) Likert scale Welch, Scott, & Hartley (2003) Five-point Likert scale Robertson, Lo, & Tang (2003) Five-point Likert scale Robertson, Lo, & Tang (2003) Five-point Likert scale NIOSH (2002), Quality of Work Life Modul Five-point Likert scale Iverson & Buttigieg (1998) Five-point Likert scale Iverson & Buttigieg (1998) Five-point Likert scale. 43 items. - 28 -.

(29) Sampling Procedure The researcher adopts a questionnaire as the tool to collect data for research analysis. The focuses for this research is nonprofit organizations. To have a description of the number of nonprofits organizations in Taiwan, the researcher provides a statistical report of nonprofit organizations. The data comes from Ministry of Interior survey. Table 3.3 shows the number of nonprofit organizations in Taiwan from period 2001-2007.. Table 3.3. National wide civic - associations Year. Academic Social Internati Economic & Medical Religious Sports Services Others onal Business Cultural & Charity. 2001 1,049 390 355 443 918 130 899 2002 1,173 426 397 486 1,049 136 990 2003 1,295 471 455 531 1,135 142 1,109 2004 1,428 514 524 574 1,239 147 1,203 2005 1,570 591 574 624 1,345 149 1,321 2006 1,707 641 633 668 1,475 161 1,443 2007 1,838 698 683 718 1,661 166 1,546 Source: Department of civil and social affair, Ministry of Interior, 2008.. 223 273 329 368 391 422 486. For the reason of accessibility, the research focuses on the nonprofit organizations in Taipei city and Taipei county. The numbers of nonprofit organizations in Taipei is shown in table 3.4. The questionnaire is administered by reviewing the related literature and distributed with a convenience sampling process. Samples were introduced through friends and recommendation from the organization where the researcher works. In order to get samples, the researcher contacted several numbers of nonprofit organizations in Taipei city and Taipei county. After making phone calls to the CEO of the organization and got the approval to distribute the questionnaires, the researcher sent the cover letter and questionnaires. The participants returned the questioner by email or collected by the researcher personally. The challenge faced by the researcher in getting the sample was some organizations refused to participants in the research with the reason that they have work load burden and dateline.. - 29 -.

(30) Table 3.4. Statistic of civil organizations in Taipei Year 2001 2002 2003 Total 2140 2227 2334 Profession organization 446 451 462 Administration 211 213 217 Academic 235 238 245 Social organization 1694 1776 1872 Cultural 140 158 180 Medical 28 31 36 Religious 82 98 118 Sports 136 149 155 Social service & Charity 358 357 391 International 361 379 381 Economic Business 89 102 108 Women Others 500 502 503 Source: Social Affair department, Taipei, 2008.. 2004 2454 466 220 246 1988 199 39 127 169 366 392 131 44 521. 2005 2527 468 220 248 2059 217 45 146 172 388 404 142 44 501. 2006 2605 472 221 251 2133 238 46 151 180 409 411 152 46 500. 2007 2704 472 220 252 2232 249 52 161 198 434 417 168 48 505. From the sampling process, the data is collected from 10 nonprofit organizations. After collecting the data, the researcher categorized them into types of organizations. The researcher found out that there were two major categories of nonprofit organizations, they are social service organizations and Taiwan ICDF. The participants categorized as social service organizations are Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (婦女救援基金會), the Pearl Buck Foundation (賽珍珠基金會), the Legal Aid Foundation (法律扶助基金會), the Tzu Chi Foundation (台灣佛教慈濟基金會), the Garden of Hope Foundation (勵馨社會福利事業基金會), the Chinese Floral Art Foundation (中華花藝文教基金會), the Christian Union Foundation (社團法人台北市基督教教會聯合會), the Migrants Family Service Center Taipei County (新住民家庭服務中心), and the Education Foundation (育成社會福利基金會). The other independent participant is the International Cooperation and Development Fund (財團法人國際合作發展基金會(國合會)). The questionnaires were distributed in a period of about six weeks from April 12th until May 30th, 2008. 105 samples were collected from social service organizations and 60 samples were collected from ICDF. In total, 165 samples were received and 162 samples could be used.. - 30 -.

(31) Validity & Reliability Reliability and validity are two different concepts that attempt to ensure that measurement instruments are kept stable and actually measure what the research intends to determine. In this sense, all items measuring the same construct should correlate with the items in the same scale (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988). For this research, the researcher first analyzed data using linear regression. For reliability analysis, the researcher used Cronbach Alpha to measure the reliability.. Validity By definition, a measuring instrument is valid to the extent that differences in scores among objects reflect the objects’ true differences in the characteristics that the instrument tried to measure (Churchill, 1999). Content validity is the representativeness of sampling adequacy of the content (Kerlinger & Lee, 2000). Due to the importance of the validity of the research, the researcher adopts the questionnaire items according to measurements that have been tested in previous research.. Reliability Reliability assesses the issue of the similarity of results provided by independent but comparable measures of the same object. The coefficient alpha method will be adopted in the research to estimate the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Coefficient alpha provides a summary measure of the inter correlations that exist among the items. If items have a high inter correlation it means that they are designed from the same domain of concepts and the measure tool is more reliable and has few random errors (Churchill, 1999). In this study, the researcher tested the correlation between items and since the questionnaire items were designed by using previous research, the reliability of the research results was expected to be high.. - 31 -.

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(33) CHAPTER IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Chapter IV discusses about the finding of this research. Data analysis of participants demographic discussed in general characteristic of the sample. The core of this chapter discusses about analysis of reliability and validity and data analysis of relationship between organizational commitment and its antecedents.. General Characteristic of the Sample The questionnaire was distributed in nonprofit organizations in Taipei City and Taipei County with the requirement that respondents are full time employees at the nonprofit organizations. A total of 165 questionnaires were received via hard copy and online. Cases with missing values and incomplete data were dropped. In total, 162 questionnaires were used for the final analysis. Among the sample size of 162 there were 31 males and 131 females (19.10% males and 80.90% females). The distribution of the sexes was four times as many females as males. The requirement to fill in the questionnaire was that the respondent is a full time employee of a nonprofit organization. So the researcher assumed that females are more interested than males in working for nonprofit organizations. The group in the age range of 26-30 years old and university- educated accounted for the largest percentage of the sample. Most of the respondents are staff with tenure less than 1 year. Sampling structure is shown in table 4.1. Gender was found to be related significantly to organizational commitment, with females forming the majority of nonprofit employees. The data in this study shows females fill 80.90% of positions in nonprofit organizations. A survey conducted of Canadian nonprofit organizations also shows that “Women make up 75% of nonprofit employees” (Worklife, 2003). As explained by Mosley (2002), “organizations that were portrayed to be committed to cultural diversity were more attractive to women and minorities than men and non-minorities.” Age was found to be related significantly to organizational commitment, with 26-30 years-old employees being the highest represented age range in the nonprofit organizations studied.. - 33 -.

(34) Table 4.1. Demographic data analysis Variable Gender. Frequency 31. Percent 19.10. Valid Percent 19.10. Female. 131. 80.90. 80.90. Total. 162. 100.00. 100.00. 21-25 years. 22. 13.60. 13.60. 26-30 years. 59. 36.40. 36.40. 31-35 years. 21. 13.00. 13.00. 36-40 years. 16. 9.90. 9.90. 41-45 years. 18. 11.10. 11.10. >46 years. 26. 16.00. 16.00. Total. 162. 100.00. 100.00. S. High School. 13. 8.00. 8.00. University. 100. 61.70. 61.70. Master. 49. 30.30. 30.30. Total. 162. 100.00. 100.00. Staff. 123. 75.90. 75.90. Manager. 39. 24.10. 24.10. Total. 162. 100.00. 100.00. Type of. Social service. 107. 66.00. 66.00. organization. NGO. 55. 34.00. 34.00. Total. 162. 100.00. 100.00. <1 year. 51. 31.5. 29.3. 1-2 year. 26. 16. 16.6. 2-3 year. 24. 14.8. 15.3. 3-4 year. 12. 7.4. 7.6. 4-5 year. 5. 3.1. 3.2. 5-6 year. 12. 7.4. 7.6. >6 year. 32. 19.8. 20.4. Total. 162. 100. 100. Age. Education. Position. Tenure. Item Male. - 34 -.

(35) Academic education has a positive impact on organizational commitment. It was found that the higher the worker’s education, the greater the worker’s commitment. High-level human resources are reported in the research literature as influencing occupational mobility (Culpepper, 2000). Tenure has a negative relationship and is not significant towards organizational commitment. Social service organizations are less likely to reflect a typical age distribution, where junior employees are younger. The interesting finding from the data collected shown that turnover rate in nonprofit organization is pretty high and most of the employees are workers with the working period less than one year. The explanation is presented by recent research from Lambert et al. (2006) “Though tenure may offer stability, if the work is not stimulating and challenging, the tenured may not be highly enthusiastic about their jobs despite stable income.” The literature shows that younger employees generally have less commitment to their jobs. It could be that younger employees have high, perhaps unrealistic, expectations that are not being met. Older employees may have less career mobility due to family obligations and may be less risk-taking than their younger counterparts. Older workers tend to look for more stability in income and tend to like a place to live permanently (Lambert, et.al., 2006). Income was found to be not significantly related to organization commitment in nonprofit organizations. It means that for the respondents in the survey income is not the most important reason to stay with the organization. Previous studies have revealed that age, tenure, and being married are positively related with organizational commitment (Ketchand & Strawser, 2001; Meyer et al., 2002) but negatively associated with turnover intention (Bamber & Iyer, 2002; Batt & Valcour, 2003).. Reliability and Validity Analysis. Reliability Analysis The Coefficient alpha method was adopted in the research to estimate the internal consistence of the questionnaire. Coefficient alpha provides a summary measure of the inter correlations that exist among a set of items. Reliability for this research is shown below in table 4.2.. - 35 -.

(36) Table 4.2. Reliability analysis Variable. Cronbach Alpha (α) 0.761. Job Characteristic Job Satisfaction. 0.816. Role Fit. 0.607. Extrinsic Reward. 0.807. Job Stress. 0.755. Turnover Intention. 0.607. Organizational Commitment. 0.902. Validity Analysis The questions for this research questionnaire were designed according to previous literature. Since past research measurement guidelines were used, the researcher didn’t measure again the validity for independent and dependent variables in this research study. Based on the previous literature, the researcher built a research framework and designed measurements so that the research content had sufficient validity.. Relationship between Organizational Commitment and its Antecedents In order to test the relationship between organizational commitment and its antecedents the researcher did correlation variable analysis. Mean, standard deviation and correlation between variables are shown in the table 4.3 and table 4.4. Table 4.3. Mean and standard deviation Variable. Number of participants 162. Mean. Standard deviation. 3.60. 0.68. Job Satisfaction (X2). 162. 3.46. 0.67. Role Fit (X3). 162. 4.06. 0.54. Extrinsic Reward (X4). 161. 2.93. 0.89. Job Stress (X5). 162. 2.76. 0.58. Turnover Intention (X6). 162. 3.08. 0.73. Organizational Commitment (Y). 162. 3.46. 0.76. Job Characteristic (X1). - 36 -.

(37) Table 4.4. Correlation between variables X1. X2. X3. X4. X5. X6. Y. X1 X2. 0.522** (0.000). X3 X4 X5 X6 Y. 0.240**. 0.332**. (0.002). (0.000). 0.116. 0.221**. 0.58. (0.142). (0.005). (0.465). -0.306** -0.529** -0.207** -0.245** (0.000). (0.000). (0.008). (0.002). 0.173*. 0.309**. 0.178*. 0.254**. -0.250**. (0.028). (0.000). (0.024). (0.001). (0.001). 0.247**. 0.325**. 0.250**. 0.384**. -0.412** 0.497**. (0.002). (0.000). (0.001). (0.000). (0.000). (0.000). ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). From the table above we discover a significant relationship between organizational commitment and job characteristic (r=0.247, p<0.01). It shows that the job characteristic of the Nonprofit Organization employee in Taiwan probably has a positive impact on Organizational Commitment. Organizational commitment and job satisfaction showed a significant relationship (r=0.325, p<0.01). It shows that job satisfaction of Nonprofit Organization employees in Taiwan probably has a positive impact on Organizational Commitment. Organizational commitment and role fit have a significant relationship (r=0.250, p<0.01), which shows that role fit of the Nonprofit Organization employee in Taiwan probably has a positive impact on Organizational Commitment. Organizational commitment and extrinsic reward have a significant relationship (r=0.384, p<0.01), showing that extrinsic reward of Nonprofit Organization employees in Taiwan probably has a positive impact on Organizational Commitment.. - 37 -.