CORRELATES OF PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS ON ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT OF WORKERS OF PRIVATE SECTORS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Organizational commitment (OC) has been in existence for many years and had
been identified as a central construct in understanding the relationship between the employee and the employer (Allen & Meyer 1996). Definitions of the construct indicate its significance in binding the individual both to the organization and to courses of action which are relevant to the target of the commitment (Meyer & Herscovitch,
2001). With regard to the former, analyses consistently indicate significant correlations between OC and job satisfaction as well as emotional intelligent, motivation coupled with highly esteemed personnel that will reflect the banner of the organisation (Randall 1990). With regard to the latter, further relationships have been identified between components of OC and a range of discretionary and extra-role positive behaviours of employees (Meyer &
Herscovitch, 2001). As used here, organizational commitment is a psychological state that categorizes the employees’ relationship with the organization or as viewed to be the aggregate internalized normative demands to
perform in a manner which meets organizational objectives and interests, it is understood as a commitment to the
entire organization.
However, three components of commitment have been identified, each of which ties the employee to their
organization but the nature of the “psychological-bonding” is different. Affective commitment (AC) ties people through
their emotional attachment, involvement, and identification with the organization. Continuance commitment (CC)
depends on employees’ awareness of the costs of leaving the organization. Normative commitment (NC) rests on
employees’ obligatory feelings towards co-workers or management. Each component might have different
antecedents and, while all lead to a reduced intention to leave the organization, result in different outcomes for
employees’ discretionary extra-role behaviour (Gautam, van Dick & Wagner, 2001).
Researchers believed that Nigerian workers are not committed to their organizations (Olugbile, 1996). Others
believed that they are committed to organizational goals but it is the organizations that do not show commitment to
the plight of the workers (Alarape & Akinlabi,2000). They believed that organizational commitment reflects one side of
the reciprocal relationship between the employer and the employee and as such each party has to play its role.
Organizations need committed workers in order to face the world wide economic competition. Indeed, some
researchers found that organizational commitment is a function of several variables such as job satisfaction,
motivation, participative decision making, organizational support, financial reward, communication, promotion
prospect and leadership style (Alarape & Akinlabi, 2000; Brown,2003; Salami & Omole, 2005).
The management of people at work is an integral part of the management process. To understand the critical
importance of people in the organization is to recognize that the human element and the organization are
synonymous. The thought of organizational commitment is an important point in management. The thought is one of
basic values on which organizing depend upon, and the staff is evaluated regarding to commitment criteria (Angle, &
Perry, 1983.)
Organizational commitment is an attitude towards employee’s loyalty to organization and a consistent process in
which people’s cooperation with organizational decisions depicts their attention to organization and its success. The
concept of organizational commitment has attracted considerable attention over recent years and has become a
central objective of human resource management. Commitment can be described as attachment and loyalty which
individual can display at a variety of levels: their job, profession, department, boss or organization. More specifically,
organizational commitment has been defined by Mowdray,(1992 as consisting of three components: an identification
with the goals and values of the organization, a desire to belong to the organization and a willingness to display effort
on behalf of the organization.
The term commitment can be defined in various ways. For example, O’Reilly, (2006) focus on the psychological bond
that ties the employee to the organization. Motivation is a basic psychological process. Managers and management
researchers have long believed that organizational goals are unattainable without the enduring commitment of
members of the organization. Motivation is a human psychological characteristic that contributes to a person’s degree
of commitment. Stoke in Adeyemo,(1999) goes on to say that there are basic assumptions of motivation practices by
managers which must be understood. First, motivation is commonly assumed to be a good thing but one cannot feel
very good about oneself if one is not motivated. Is one of the several factors that stimulate effectiveness to be
released by an employee such as human ability, resources and conditions under which one performs are also
important. Furthermore, researchers alike assume that motivation is in short supply and in need of periodic
replenishment. Fourth, motivation is a tool which managers can use in the organizations. If managers know what
drives the people working for them they can tailor job assignment and rewards to what makes these people “tick”.
Motivation can also be conceived of as whatever takes to encourage workers to perform by fulfilling or appealing to
their needs. According to Olajide (2000), it is goal-directed and therefore cannot be outside the goals of any
organization whether public, private or non-profit. Luthans (1998) asserts that motivation is the process that arouses,
energizes, directs and sustains behavior and performance. That is, it is the process of stimulating people to action
and to achieve a desired task. Motivation is a human psychological characteristic that contributes to a person’s
degree of commitment (Stoke, 1999).
Work motivation is a process used to encourage and inspire workers to perform their jobs thoroughly and well. It is
done by owners, managers and other employees of a company, complimenting and encouraging employees. It is also
accomplished through employee reviews where strong points of employee’s performance and personalities are
pointed out. Job motivation begins with selecting the right employees for the company and delegating the best duties
suited for each individual. The purpose of job motivation is to boost employee morale by encouraging and influencing
them in a positive way. When employees’ morale is high, they perform their job duties more efficiently. Job motivation
gives employees initiative to want to perform well. It also keeps employees interested in their job. Part of job
motivation is making the employees feel valuable to the company. When employees feel like they are an important
commodity to the company, productivity increases.
The term emotional intelligence was not introduced as a research mainstream until the 1990s. The concept of
emotional intelligence has emerged as a growing research topic among organizational and business research. In
general, emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize and regulate emotions in ourselves and in others
(Goleman, 1995).Emotional intelligence is claimed to influence various work behaviors, such as teamwork,
development of talent, innovation, quality of service, customer loyalty and employee commitment (Zeidner, Matthew,
& Roberts, 2004). Emotionally competent staffs are an important asset to the private industry, because they likely
possess skills and abilities to create rapport with private members and build relationships with them and also their coworkers (Ashkanass & Daus, 2005; Goleman 1995). Emotionally intelligent people may be more aware of their own
feelings as well as the feelings of others, including co-workers and may be able to identify and manage them
according to the theories of emotional intelligence. Understanding and managing one’s own and others emotions are
likely to influence job attitudes and behavioral choices in the workplace (Rozell, Pettijoh, & Parker 2004). In literature,
emotional intelligence is considered very important for success in the world of work (Bellamy & Bellamy,2003; Adeyemo &Aremu, 2005,2007; Aremu &Lawal, 2009; Adeyemo (2009).
CORRELATES OF PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS ON ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT OF WORKERS OF PRIVATE SECTORS