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Committed employees are increasingly becoming a valued asset in organisations. For the purpose of this study employee commitment is viewed as commitment to the organisation as well as employees' commitment to their occupations. The purpose of the research was to determine whether there is a correlation between perceived self-efficacy and employee commitment in a South African sugar manufacturing company. Self-efficacy, a social cognition construct, which refers to a person's self-beliefs in his/her ability to perform specific tasks, has been shown to be a reliable predictor of both motivation and task performance and to influence personal goal setting. Despite this, little attention has been given to its organisational implications. The General Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (GSE), and an Employee Commitment (CM) questionnaire based on the Conversion Model were used as measuring tools. The results of this study indicate that there is a positive correlation between self-efficacy and employee commitment (Ambassador, Career oriented, Company oriented). Uncommitted employees show a lower level of self-efficacy. The implications of these results are discussed. Further research from a predictive validity perspective is suggested in order to substantiate the findings and to improve the generalisability thereof. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial Psychology)

Employee retention of an organization's most talented and skilled employees is vital to success. A lack of managerial strategies for motivating teams and a lack of understanding employees' needs adds to an increased rate of employee turnover in banking organizations. Some bank managers do not possess the abilities and strategies required to reduce employee turnover. Grounded by the motivation-hygiene theory; the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore successful strategies some bank managers used to reduce employee turnover. The population consisted of 5 banking managers in 3 banking organizations located in Toronto GTA, Ontario Canada in which successful retention strategies have been implemented in the last 5 years. Data were collected from semistructured face-to-face interviews and employee handbooks. Member checking aided to assure the credibility of the analysis and interpretations. Data were analyzed by using coding techniques to identify keywords, phrases, and concepts. The process led to the following 4 themes: (a) the motivational effect to retain bank employees, (b) management traits to retain bank employees, (c) effective strategies to retain bank employees, and (d) trends shaping future retention of bank employees. The implications for social change include the potential to reduce turnover by improving the employee work experience and retaining talent by building a positive work environment and a positive customer experience.

Committed employees are increasingly becoming a valued asset in organisations. For the purpose of this study employee commitment is viewed as commitment to the organisation as well as employees' commitment to their occupations. The purpose of the research was to determine whether there is a correlation between perceived self-efficacy and employee commitment in a South African sugar manufacturing company. Self-efficacy, a social cognition construct, which refers to a person's self-beliefs in his/her ability to perform specific tasks, has been shown to be a reliable predictor of both motivation and task performance and to influence personal goal setting. Despite this, little attention has been given to its organisational implications. The General Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (GSE), and an Employee Commitment (CM) questionnaire based on the Conversion Model were used as measuring tools. The results of this study indicate that there is a positive correlation between self-efficacy and employee commitment (Ambassador, Career oriented, Company oriented). Uncommitted employees show a lower level of self-efficacy. The implications of these results are discussed. Further research from a predictive validity perspective is suggested in order to substantiate the findings and to improve the generalisability thereof. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial Psychology)

Individuals with different personal demographics and job-based factors have different attitudes and behaviors, which can influence their levels of commitment to their organizations. These differences in organizational commitment increase as their cultural backgrounds differ significantly. Personal demographics and job-related factors are reliable predictors of employees' commitment to their employing organizations. The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate if there is a difference in the level of employees' commitment to Saudi petrochemical companies on the basis of differences in their personal demographics and job-related factors.

“Agenda 2030” and UN’s 17 sustainable development goals have increased the interest of sustainability in society. Pressure from different stakeholders implicates that organizations must act responsible in these questions. A conception that has grown in the area of sustainability, and something that many organizations work with today is Corporate Social Responsibility, also referred to as CSR. Organizations can meet the wishes of the stakeholders by integrating sustainable commitments into policies. The risk is that these policies decouple from practice and are used as a marketing tool rather than something that permeates the actual business. The implementation of the CSR-policy is therefore important, but the actual work does not stop there, it should continue to be integrated into the organizations' daily practice. Therefore, it is important to involve the employees in the organization to make these documents significant. Previous research has implied that internal communication and corporate culture is important to engage and motivate the employees, and therefore it is interesting to study how organizations can work with these to make the CSR-policy present.  The research question for this study is: How do large organizations work to create participation among employees that contribute to the CSR policy being present in the daily practice? To answer the research question, a qualitative study was conducted within two large companies operating in two different industries. One sustainability manager and three employees were interviewed in each company. The interview questions were founded in the four research areas of the study, CSR, employee commitment, internal communication, and corporate culture, which previously has been highlighted as important areas. Based on the results, several conclusions could be drawn. Internal communication has been highlighted as an important aspect to create employee commitment to the organizations’ CSR-policy. The vertical “bottom-up" communication, which is inclusive and symmetrical, and where employees are encouraged to provide with opinions and viewpoints, turns out to be important to a successful employee commitment. The respondents advocate a policy that is conducted into a concretized message and is relevant to the recipient. Also, the study has proven the advantage of using many internal communication channels. Furthermore, the corporate culture is important, and organizations should work actively to ensure that the CSR policy and its commitments permeate the culture. This can be achieved by focusing on the recruitment process by attracting employees that share the same values, or by leading by example as a manager or as an employee.

Although there have been many previous studies done on the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in organizations, there has been relatively less research on the impact of CSR on the organization’s employees. Studies conducted in this topic have looked at various industries such as banking, manufacturing and others but very minimal studies on the Information Technology(IT) industry Considering the research gaps, this thesis examines the employee’ perceptions and attitudes towards CSR and its impact on organizational commitment in the IT industry in the context of Sweden. In order to study this further, it was hypothesized that CSR has a positive impact on organizational commitment (OC) of employees in the IT companies of Sweden. In order to empirically test this, the questionnaire method was employed, and 164 completed surveys were conducted. The findings of this study support hypothesis that CSR has a positive correlation with employee commitment towards their companies. These conclusions indicate that IT firms require to strengthen and integrate CSR to attract and retain motivated, engaged labour force.

The lack of employee commitment costs retail organizations billions of dollars annually in the form of decreased effectiveness, profits, and retention rates. The purpose of this case study was to identify effective strategies used by retail store managers that lead to employee commitment to increase business performance. The study population was 8,230 retail store managers in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. The conceptual framework for this study was the Meyer and Allen 3-component model of commitment. Participants were purposefully selected for their knowledge, experience and success in implementing effective retention strategies. Data were collected via face-to-face semistructured interviews, indirect participant observations, and archival document reviews with 5 retail store managers. The data analysis process involved organizing the interviews, color coding themes, and using NVivo software to interpret the data. Three themes emerged: Employee engagement increased employee commitment to the organization, managers decreased employee turnover by taking a personal interest in employees, and employee empowerment increased organizational commitment. Increasing employee commitment contributes to social change by providing organizational managers and leaders with important insights. Enhancing employee commitment contributes to society through increased organizational profitability resulting from improved retention strategies.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is a widely used strategy, however, the failure rate is high, and especially in the acquired firm, acquisitions often result in higher turnover rates. There is a lack of understanding of psychological processes causing employee turnover. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of employees’ psychological processes that determine employee retention following an acquisition, which will be achieved by studying the relationship between perceived psychological ownership and employee retention from the perspective of employees at the acquired firm. Nine interviews were conducted with employees at two acquired firms, one finance firm and one IT consultancy firm. Using a conceptual model, employees’ psychological processes are analyzed. The data illustrates that psychological ownership, commitment, and involvement decreased due to loss of control and changed feelings towards the organizations. In conclusion, it was found that there was a loss in psychological ownership for most respondents, which further decreased their commitment and involvement, leading to their resignation. The respondents who chose to stay indicated higher psychological ownership and higher commitment. The findings support the conceptual model and contribute to more understanding of employees' psychological processes in acquisitions.

Challenges and opportunities due to a reorganisation while working remotely are here investigated by conducting a case study, based on the individual perspective of employee commitment. Reorganisation is becoming common practice to maintain competitiveness on the market and to adjust changes in the internal and external environment. To succeed with a reorganisation, trust, qualitative communication and leadership are needed to engage the employees to feel the need of change, otherwise the risk of failure is great (Burnes 2009). The company, where the study was performed, drastically moved its entire project management business from the office to the employees' homes in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and few months later they began a reorganisation that had been planned for some time. This research aims to fill the gap in the existing literature for remote implementation of a reorganisation. To answer the research question, qualitative research methods were employed, including participant observations and in-depth interviews with a diverse group of managers and employees. The data collected were analysed using thematic analysis and a review of literature on change management, remote working and knowledge worker productivity has been included in the analysis. While the work environment in the office used to be social, with managers and colleagues within reach, the digital work environment is characterised by a feeling of distance to colleagues and managers, where most of the communication takes place synchronously. Various productivity aspects that are important during a reorganisation are affected as knowledge is not shared in the same way as before and a creative environment is difficult to achieve. In conclusion, the main challenge found from a reorganisation carried out while working remotely is to create a sustainable digital work environment with numerous opportunities for social interactions and a dynamic environment where new ideas are born and employees can discuss openly. On the other hand, balance between work and private life are improved, as well as the chances of employee retention. / Den här undersökningen är en fallstudie där utmaningar och möjligheter att genomföra en omorganisation medan man anställda arbetar på distans undersöks. Den baseras på det individuella perspektivet medarbetarengagemang. Att omorganisera en verksamhet blir vanligare för att hålla sig konkurrenskraftig på marknaden men också för att anpassa sig till förändringar i den interna och externa miljön. För att lyckas med en omorganisation krävs förtroende, kvalitativ kommunikation och ledarskap som engagerar de anställda till att känna behovet av förändring, annars är risken för misslyckande stor (Burnes 2009). Företaget för denna fallstudie gjorde en drastisk övergång från att arbeta på kontoret till att arbeta hemifrån för hela projektledningsverksamheten i mars 2020 då Covid-19 pandemin bröt ut, och några månader senare inledde de en omorganisation vilken var planerad sedan tidigare. Den här forskning syftar till att undersöka något som gjorts innan vilket är att omorganisera en verksamhet medan anställda arbetar hemifrån. Kvalitativa forskningsmetoder användes för att besvara forskningsfrågan, och data samlades in genom deltagarobservationer och fördjupade intervjuer med en varierad grupp av chefer och anställda. Därefter genomfördes en tematisk analys och forskning inom områdena förändringsarbete, hemarbete och produktivitet granskades för att användas i analysen av empirin. Resultatet visar att arbetsmiljön på kontoret brukade vara social, med chefer och kollegor inom räckhåll medan den digitala arbetsmiljön kännetecknas av en känsla av distansering till kollegor och chefer, där den största delen av kommunikationen sker synkront. De slutsatser som kan dras angående utmaningar och möjligheter vad gäller genomförande av en omorganisation under distansarbete är att de största utmaningarna att är att skapa en hållbar digital arbetsmiljö med många möjligheter till social interaktion och dynamisk miljö där nya idéer föds och anställda kan diskutera öppet. De mest framträdande möjligheterna är förbättrad balans mellan arbete och privatliv och goda möjligheter till förbättring av lojalitet bland arbetstagare.