Organizational commitment has been linked to several important outcomes, including employee turnover and work performance. Despite that the antecedents of organizational commitment have been a subject of research for several decades, the relation between personality and organizational commitment is relatively unexplored. The aim of this study was to examine the relations between the personality traits in the five-factor model (Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, and Extraversion) and organizational commitment. Personality was measured by the IPIP30 questionnaire. Three types of organizational commitment (affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment) were measured by the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. The respondents (N = 303) consisted of workers from both the public and the private sector in Sweden. Multiple linear regression analyzes showed that Conscientiousness was statistically significantly related to affective commitment. Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Extraversion were statistically significantly related to continuance commitment. Practical implications of the results as well as future research directions are discussed.

The concept of customer orientation is becoming increasingly more important to managers, especially in service industries. Given the premise of the study that a customer-oriented employee has a critical role in enhancing service quality, little research has investigated the antecedents of the customer orientation construct. The objective of this study was to develop a theoretical model of customer orientation, and to test the hypothesized relationships between customer orientation and its antecedents of empowerment, job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. To measure these hypothesized relationships at the individual level of analysis, 217 employee responses from a multi-unit chain restaurant were analyzed. The model was evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM) utilizing SAS CALIS (SAS system 1989). Evaluation was conducted using a two-stage procedure, in which the construct measurements (a measurement model) were evaluated first, and then the structural relationships (a structural model) between the constructs were evaluated. Results indicated that empowerment and job satisfaction were found to have positive, direct effects on customer orientation, whereas job involvement had a negative, direct effect on customer orientation. Job satisfaction was found to be a positive antecedent of organizational commitment. Employee empowerment was found to positively influence job satisfaction. Moreover, the path from empowerment to organizational commitment, which was not hypothesized in the initial model, was found to be positively significant. However, the direct relationship between job involvement and organizational commitment, as hypothesized in this study, was not supported. The findings contribute to a better understanding of customer orientation by identifying antecedents of customer orientation among employees in the hospitality industry. The managerial implications of these research findings were discussed. The limitations of the study were explored, and suggestions were given for future research. / Ph. D.

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Relatively little is known in existing research about how cooperative education (co-op) students experience mentoring. The parameters within which co-op students are employed are different from those of full-time professionals. Co-op students are temporary employees, and they are typically younger and have less professional experience than full-time employees. Co-op students also may complete each of their three work terms at a different company site. These unique characteristics of co-op students and co-op employment could prevent the direct application of known mentoring practices to the co-op setting. Further research on the intricacies of mentoring as it is experienced by co-op students could yield a set of mentoring best practices to be used by co-op employers and university co-op administrators. The purpose of this study was to compare organizational commitment, mentoring satisfaction, and mentoring function levels of co-op students according to mentoring type (formal and informal) and work term number. Participants were undergraduate engineering students at a large public land-grant university in the Southeast United States. The research design was causal-comparative; an online survey composed of existing instruments was used to capture student perceptions of mentoring experiences during recently completed work terms. Mentoring activity was found to be high, with 92.8% of students reporting involvement in a mentoring relationship. Students who were mentored showed higher organizational commitment than students who were not mentored. Students who reported higher levels of organizational commitment also reported an intention to stay with the company after graduation if offered a full-time position, but student satisfaction with mentoring did not share a relationship with intention to stay. Students were also equally satisfied with their mentors regardless of mentoring type (formal or informal). Student perceptions of psychosocial support increased as the number of work terms completed increased, and students in formally arranged mentoring relationships reported higher levels of psychosocial support than students in informal mentoring relationships. The type of mentoring was not related to any differences in mentoring outcomes. The researcher concluded that companies that want to convert co-op students into full-time employees should ensure that these students receive positive mentoring experiences during their co-op work terms.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether transformational leadership behaviors were significantly related to the variables of teaching efficacy, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment as perceived by special education teachers. One hundred twenty-one special education teachers from region seven of the Commonwealth of Virginia completed surveys for this study. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that administrative support was the transformational leadership behavior most frequently recognized by participants of this study. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that administrative support was significantly related to the factors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, administrative support was not significantly related to teachers' sense of teaching efficacy. Teaching efficacy did share a significant relationship with teachers' job satisfaction. This finding suggests that the higher teachers report their perceived their sense of teaching efficacy, the higher they report their level of job satisfaction. The highest correlation in this study was between the factors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. These findings suggest that as special education teachers' perceptions of administrative support increases, so do their levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment; thereby increasing the likelihood that special education teachers will remain in their current teaching positions. / Ph. D.

Submitted by Isaac Francisco de Souza Dias (isaac.souzadias@ufpe.br) on 2016-03-02T18:33:06Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO George de Almeida Andrade.pdf: 1069618 bytes, checksum: 836da70d27a97e37f383643dff840b32 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-02T18:33:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO George de Almeida Andrade.pdf: 1069618 bytes, checksum: 836da70d27a97e37f383643dff840b32 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-01-29 / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo principal analisar como os componentes e antecedentes de comprometimento organizacional são percebidos pelos servidores técnico-administrativos do Centro Acadêmico do Agreste, da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Para tal propósito, procurou-se identificar como são percebidos os níveis das dimensões afetiva, instrumental e normativa e os principais antecedentes de comprometimento organizacional sob a análise de importância e percepção na realidade laboral. O estudo teve como lócus de pesquisa o Centro Acadêmico do Agreste da UFPE, localizado no município de Caruaru, na região do agreste do estado. A população do estudo foi de setenta e cinco servidores, sendo a amostra da investigação composta por cinquenta e nove participantes. Realizou-se um levantamento teórico acerca do tema envolvido no problema de pesquisa, o comprometimento organizacional, tendo os seguintes focos de análise: o comprometimento em si, suas origens, bases, dimensionalidades e seus antecedentes. Os dados da pesquisa foram coletados por meio de um questionário composto por três partes: a primeira apresentava o modelo tridimensional de comprometimento organizacional desenvolvido por Meyer e Allen (1991; 1997). A segunda parte apresentava o modelo de antecedentes de comprometimento desenvolvido por Medeiros (2003). Os itens foram analisados em escala do tipo Likert de cinco pontos sob duas óticas distintas: a importância e a percepção na realidade laboral. A terceira parte foi composta por perguntas sociodemográficas e funcionais. Para análise dos resultados utilizaram-se procedimentos estatísticos descritivos simples (frequências, médias e desvios-padrão). Os resultados revelaram um moderado grau de comprometimento geral dos respondentes (60%) e um relevante grau de não-comprometimento na dimensão normativa (48%) e na instrumental (44%). Acerca do modelo de Meyer e Allen (1991; 1997), percebeu-se que, na dimensão afetiva, todos os itens foram mais bem pontuados na análise de importância do que na percepção real; já na dimensão instrumental, todos os itens apresentaram maiores pontuações na percepção de realidade. E por fim, a dimensão normativa apresentou valores bem aproximados entre importância e percepção no trabalho. Os resultados do modelo de Medeiros (2003) apontaram que, dos 28 itens estudados, 26 foram mais bem avaliados na escala de importância do que na escala de percepção no trabalho. Pode-se concluir que, para a amostra estudada, os servidores da instituição consideram como importante ou muito importante os itens de comprometimento afetivo, e como pouco importante ou importante os itens das dimensões instrumental e normativa. Na realidade laboral, os servidores estão mais comprometidos na dimensão afetiva do que nas dimensões instrumental e normativa. Acerca dos antecedentes de comprometimento, foi percebida uma alta diferença entre os escores de importância e percepção no trabalho, principalmente nas dimensões de políticas de recursos humanos e valores da organização. / This thesis aims to analyze how the components and antecedents of organizational commitment are perceived by technical and administrative staff of the Centro Acadêmico do Agreste, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. For this purpose, it was identified how they perceived levels of affective, instrumental and normative dimensions of organizational commitment and the main antecedents, in importance analysis and insight into working reality one. The study was researched at Centro Acadêmico do Agreste, UFPE, located in Caruaru, agreste region of the state. The study population was seventy-five servers, and the sample of the research consists of fifty-nine participants. It was made a theoretical survey on the subject involved on the research problem, organizational commitment, with the following focuses: the commitment itself, its origins, bases, dimensionalities and antecedents. Survey data were collected via a questionnaire consisting of three parts. The first one featured the three-dimensional model of organizational commitment developed by Meyer and Allen (1991; 1997). The second part presented the model of antecedents of commitment developed by Medeiros (2003). The items were analyzed in the Likert scale of five points on two distinct points of view: the importance and perceived reality in the workplace. The third part consisted of sociodemographic and functional questions. For data analysis it was used descriptive statistical procedures simple (frequencies, means and standard deviations). The results show a moderate degree of commitment overall respondents (60%) and a significant degree of non-commitment in the normative dimension (48%) and instrumental (44%). About the Meyer and Allen model (1991; 1997), it was realized that the affective dimension, all items were better scorers in the analysis of importance than the actual perception; on the contrary the instrumental dimension, all items had higher scores in perceived reality. Finally, the normative dimension presented well approximated between importance and perceived work values. The results of the Medeiros model (2003) showed that, of the 28 items studied, 26 were best evaluated on the scale of importance than the scale of perception at work. At the conclusion, for the studied sample, the servers of the institution consider it as important or very important items of affective commitment, and how minor and major items of instrumental and normative dimensions. At the labor reality, the servers are more committed in the affective dimension than instrumental and normative ones. About the antecedents of commitment is high perceived difference between the scores of importance and perception at work, particularly in the dimensions of human resource practices and values of the organization.

This study explored benefits of providing employee training and development beyond the specific content covered in such interventions. The relationship between training and development opportunities, and associated factors (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intent) were significant among participants. Implications for training and development investment returns are considered. Previous research has identified training and development as an antecedent to perceived organizational support. Results failed to confirm perceived organizational support as mediating the relationship between training and organizational commitment. Age was found to be significantly correlated with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intent, while education level was not found to have an impact. Limitations of this study, practical implications and recommendations for further study are discussed.

The Three-Component Model of organizational commitment (TCM) by Meyer and Allen (1991, 1997) is widely regarded as the most dominant model in organizational commitment research (Cohen, 2003, 2007). However, recent research by Solinger et al. (2008) questioned the legitimacy of the TCM as a general model of organizational commitment. More specifically, the authors criticized the TCM for grouping affective commitment as an attitude toward target with continuance and normative commitment as attitudes toward behaviors under one general label of attitudinal construct. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), Solinger et al. (2008) argued that we should consider organizational commitment strictly as an attitude toward the organization (i.e., affective commitment). Based on Eagly and Chaiken's (1993) composite attitude-behavior model, the current study tested the reconceptualization of organizational commitment as a unidimensional construct reflecting employees' attitudes toward the organization (i.e., affective commitment) in predicting several organizational behaviors (i.e., considerate voice, production deviance, and behavioral engagement). In addition, I also investigated whether these organizational behaviors could be better explained by adding different classes of behavioral expectancies (i.e., utilitarian, normative and self-identity expectancies) as antecedents. Finally, I tested the mediating roles of attitude toward behaviors in the relationship between affective commitment and three behavioral expectancies and the three organizational behaviors. A sample of 258 employees in a large-sized organization in China was obtained for this study. The results suggested that none of the hypotheses of the current study was supported by the evidence in the current study. In particular, affective commitment and three classes of behavioral expectancies did not significantly predict their corresponding behaviors. In addition, I also did not find the evidence for the indirect effects from affective commitment and the behavioral expectancies on the behaviors. Several alternative explanations were provided for the results. Among those, the lack of compatibility between affective commitment and the behaviors, the existence of moderators (e.g. national culture), the lack of necessary control to perform the behaviors successfully are key factors that might lead to the current findings. Although none of the hypotheses was supported, I found limited empirical supports for the reconceptualization of organizational commitment strictly as the attitude toward the organization and that organizational behaviors could be better explained by adding appropriate behavioral expectancies to the model (Solinger et al., 2008). Finally, theoretical and practical implications of the current study as well as directions for future research are discussed.

There exists a huge amount of quantitative research about organizational commitment, the psychological contract and its relevance for retention. We do, however notice a lack of qualitative research when it comes to commitment, the psychological contract and how different factors cooperate to achieve retention. Because of this, we would like to highlight the expectations employees have as well as which factors that make them committed to their organization, using a qualitative method. Through 15 semi-structured interviews with managers at IKEA Kalmar, we tried to identify what matters most för their wish to stay. We made the decision based on the assumption that managers will provide better inputs for our purpose thanks to a better insight regards to longer employment. One interview was held with the HR manager to provide the study with the organization's perspective. This study shows that professional and personal development and the work with employer branding and culture develop commitment and are a part of the psychological contract and important for managers’ willingness to stay. We also noticed that employee development is a part of the organization's culture, and that the factors cooperate to increase retention. These factors are important to uphold, as this study shows that they can increase over time in relevance, and continually affects commitment. We have also seen that what most affects retention in this context is the emotional bond between employee and organization, affective commitment. / Det finns stora mängder forskning om organizational commitment, det psykologiska kontraktet och dess relevans för anställdas önskan att stanna i en organisation av kvantitativ karaktär. Dock återfinns det en avsaknad av kvalitativ forskning ifråga om vad det är som har betydelse för att man vill stanna i en organisation i ljuset av organizational commitment, det psykologiska kontraktet och hur olika faktorer samspelar till det. Därför ville vi med en kvalitativ studie belysa vilka förväntningar anställda har och vilka faktorer som gör anställda committed till deras organisation. Vi genomförde 15 semistrukturerade intervjuer på IKEA Kalmar där chefer fick beskriva deras upplevelser och tankar kring vad som hade betydelse för att de ville stanna. Vi valde att fokusera på grupp- och avdelningschefer då IKEA är känt för sin internrekrytering och då vi ansåg att dessa är väl insatta i organisationen och har en bra erfarenhet då de har arbetat där en längre tid. En utav intervjuerna gjordes med en HRchef för att få organisationens perspektiv på varför anställda stannar och hur de arbetar med att behålla dem. Studien visar att kompetens- och karriärutveckling och arbetet med employer branding och organisationskultur, utvecklar commitment och ses som en del av det psykologiska kontraktet och har betydelse för chefernas vilja att stanna. Vi har även sett att aspekter såsom utveckling som har betydelse, inkluderas i organisationskulturen. Resultatet visar på att kompetens- och karriärutveckling och employer branding samverkar till viljan att stanna. Studien visar också på att de betydelsefulla aspekterna är viktiga att upprätthålla då de ökar i betydelse över tid och att commitment utvecklas över tid. Vi har också sett att det som mest förklarar att man vill stanna är att man känner ett känslomässigt band, affective commitment, till organisationen.

Clientelism is a form of informal relations between political parties and other agents, based on the exchange of benefits and favors in return for political support and loyalty. It is a legacy from the socialist era that has been shaping Serbian economic and political life for decades. These clientelistic practices could have a harmful impact on organizations if it affects employees’ organizational commitment negatively. Teachers are especially important for the economy of a country since the quality of teaching has an impact on future generations of individuals who will work, live, and contribute to the local communities and the society. The aim of this study is therefore to find out if and how teachers in the public sector perceive clientelism and how this affects their organizational commitment. A case study was made on one prominent school in Serbia, where interviews were held with eight teachers. The findings suggest that clientelism affects teachers’ organizational commitment negatively in some cases, indicating that the impact of clientelism on teachers’ organizational commitment is person specific. Clientelism does not have a direct impact on teachers’ organizational commitment but impacts commitment through proxies, i.e. antecedents to organizational commitment.