Thesis Relationship Training and Organizational Commitment

The relationship between training and organizational commitment

Name: Michel J. Schats ANR:

259237

Supervisor 1: Drs. J. De Jong Supervisor 2: Dr. T. Goessling

Tilburg, March 2007

Preface

This literature study is part of the study Organisation Studies of the University of Tilburg. Also this bachelor thesis is part of the circle 'Permanent employment in contemporary society', with the following central question; what does it mean to workers to have an open-ended employment relationship in contemporary organizational, societal, economic and labour market conditions? This research investigates the literature in the field of the relationship between training and organizational commitment. Organizational commitment is an interesting predictor for the willingness to remain in the company. Training is a HRM practice that is influencing the organizational commitment. Regardless my parents and friends I want to thank Jeroen de Jong and Tobias Goessling for their feedback and Naomi Schmitt for the English level of my thesis.

Michel Schats March, 2007

1

Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................3 1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM .......................................................................................................................3 1.2 RESEARCH GOAL .............................................................................................................................4 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION ......................................................................................................................4 1.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .............................................................................................................5 1.5 RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH........................................................................................................5 1.6 RESEARCH APPROACH .....................................................................................................................5 1.7 STRUCTURE .....................................................................................................................................6 2. METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................................7 2.1 INFORMATION SEARCH ....................................................................................................................7 2.2 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ............................................................................................................8 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK....................................................................................................9 3.1 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT (OC)...........................................................................................9 3.2 TRAINING ......................................................................................................................................11 4. DATA ANALYSIS............................................................................................................................14 4.1 OVERVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL RESEARCH......................................................................................14 4.2 CONCEPT-CENTRIC APPROACH OF THE RELATIONS ........................................................................17 4.3 THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIATORS AND MODERATORS.......................................................................18 4.4 THE INTEGRATION OF THE DATA ANALYSIS ...................................................................................20 5. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................22 6. DISCUSSION, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................24 6.1 DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................24 6.2 LIMITATIONS .................................................................................................................................24 6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................................................................25

References

2

1. Introduction 1.1 Research Problem In the contemporary business the talents and skills of the employees become more important. In the past lifetime employment was the status quo, however nowadays the employability of the individual employee is the leading thought. In the large meaning of word employability refers to the skill to get a job or to keep the job (Forrier & Sels, 2003a; McQuaid & Lindsay, 2005). There can be made a difference between internal employability and external employability (Sturges, Guest, Conway & Mackenzie, 2002). Internal employability is the capability of the individual to hold the job (Sanders & De Grip, 2004). External employability is the capability of the individual to find another job (Sanders & De Grip, 2004). Individuals experience an increasingly competitive and hostile job market in which they must be concerned with developing and marketing their human capital (Hall, 1996). Individuals need to develop general skills to increase their mobility to other jobs. Development of individual skills is now seen as an integral part of the employment relationshop (Rousseau, 1995). Employers should come across inventive manners to retent the employees. A method to commit your employees as employer is to provide training. In the case of decisions around investments in the employability through training and development of employees, employers must take into account the effects on the employees. Because of the different interests of the employer and the employee – the employer wants to retent the employee and the employee wants to develop his skills and talents for the competitive labour market – this research field is interesting to investigate more closely. The challenge for employers is to discover ways to retent the employees and to increase the organizational performance. Training has been identified as an example of a human resource management practice that contributes to gains in competitive advantage (Schuler and MacMillan, 1984) Researchers have long argued that the importance of training extends beyond the skills and knowledge needed to carry out one’s job (Tannenbaum, Mathieu, Salas, & Canon-Bowers, 1991). Theories form management, psychology and labor economics show different and sometimes contrary predictions about the impact of training on employee’s attitudes

3

and the willingness to stay within the company. The importance of the recruitment and retention of qualified and quality employees is enormous. In the most organizations’ Human Resource Development systems personnel training is the cornerstone (Nordhaug, 1989). In times of notable changes many organizations change their policies and procedures related to training. This may have consequences for the many work-related attitudes. Organizational commitment is increasingly valued as a predictor of work behaviors and behavioral intentions (Jaros et al. 1993) Studies of Human Resource Development practices, including training, have shown to influence organizational commitment (Iles et al. 1990; Meyer and Smith 2000; Whitener 2001) To specify the research problem, the research question will focus on the so called employee Human Resource investment – training - in relation with the organizational commitment of employees. Organizational commitment refers to the “psychological link between an employee and his of her organization that makes it less likely that the employee will voluntarily leave the organization” (Allen & Meyer, 1996, p. 252) 1.2 Research goal The aim of the thesis is to describe the relationship between training and organizational commitment and the influencing workplace attitudes and work characteristics, in order to present a recommendation for future research. 1.3 Research Question What is according to the literature, the relation between the human capital investment training on the organizational commitment of the employee?

The sub questions are: •

What is the definition of organization commitment?

•

What is the human capital investment training according to the literature?

•

Which factors have the most influence on the relationship between training and organizational commitment?

4

1.4 Conceptual framework

Training

Organizational Commitment

Figure 1. Conceptual model relationship training and organizational commitment

1.5 Relevance of the research Practical relevance: This literature-based research will offer more insight in decisions regarding investments in the training of employees. As managers improve their knowledge, they learn how they can use training as a tactical instrument to commit the employees in turbulent economic times. In practice, managers should therefore be able to make better decisions concerning the education and training of employees.

Societal relevance: This research can contribute towards finding answers to the existing questions on the subjects of investments in human capital. When employers learn to invest in the right manner in employees, this can be an important contribution to the functioning of the society. By doing so, employers will contribute to getting the right people in the right position.

Scientific relevance: This thesis can contribute to further scientific research. In the case of advanced researches on the influence of training on organizational commitment researchers can use this thesis to learn more about the basic relationship between the concepts. While research on this topic is still within early stages, this study can make a contribution to the research process. 1.6 Research approach In this bachelorthesis the data is collected from already existing scientific research, to deduce generalizations (Baker, 1999). Based on the timeframe and size of this research, this study is not aimed at the development of theories. The aim is however, to present the relationship between the two concepts, according to the literature. Furthermore this thesis does not present all the causal relationships between the

5

interrelating concepts, but the author wants to provide recommendations for this research in the early stages. This thesis is based on a literature study, with presented data from earlier research. After the presentation of the data the author’s goal is to find relations. 1.7 Structure The purpose of this study is to provide the reader with an overview of contemporary literature, concerned with the relationship between the constructs training and organizational commitment. In chapter 2 a description will be given of the used methodology in this literature research. In chapter 3 the explanation of the two most important concepts training and organizational commitment will follow. The data analysis will be presented in chapter 4. The conclusion will be presented in chapter 5. Finally, in chapter 6 the reader will be provided with discussion, limitations and recommendations for further research.

6

2. Methodology 2.1 Information search Within this research, internet is used as the most important tool for the extraction of academic information. Webster and Watson (2002) states, that the major contributions are likely to be in the leading journals. Important sources on the Internet to accelarate identification of relevant articles are Google Scholar, Online Contents UvT, ABI Inform, JSTOR and ISI web or Science. The terms used for the sources are `training organizational commitment, `antecendents organizational commitment,` relationship training organizational commitment, ‘training’ and related terms. The articles found are criticised in relation to their relevance. The questions used for the review respectively are:

-

Is there a relation between the most important concepts of the article and the two concepts of this thesis?

-

Can the articles make a contribution to the articles, which is already found?

-

Describe the article the relation between the two concepts training and organizational commitment and the factors, which are correlating with the correlationship?

The articles will be summarised with a few terms / concepts. The most important articles will be the articles with the most important concepts / terms. When a collection of high quality articles was found, the method of ‘snowball sampling’ was used. First snowball sampling is searching for articles with the established conditions (the questions above and the amount of concepts). Second, snowball sampling is researching and using the references to find more specific information (Baker, 1999). Webster and Watson (2002) recommended to go backward by reviewing the citations for the articles to determine prior articles the author should consider. The next recommendation from them is to go forward by using the Web of Science to identify articles citing the key articles identified in the previous recommendations (start with journal databases and go backward). After this procedure I will decide which articles can be included.

7

With the use of all found articles, the thesis describes the relationship between the two concepts training and organizational commitment and the corresponding factors. The author’s goal is to discover the relationships in the found literature, to analyse them and to present conclusions and recommendations. 2.2 Reliability and validity A good qualitative study can help us ‘understand a situation that would otherwise be enigmatic or confusing’ (Eisner, 1991, p. 58). To guarantee the reliability it is important to registrate exactly which steps were taken during the writing of the thesis. While throughout the writing of this thesis the different steps of the process were carefully distinguished and listed, the reliability of this research is expected to be high. The concept of validity is described by a wide range of terms. The concept is not a single, fixed or universal concept, but ‘rather a contingent construct, inescapably grounded in the processes and intentions of particular research methodologies and projects’ (Winter, 2000, p.1). In this kind of research it’s difficult to achieve a high validity.

8

3. Theoretical Framework 3.1 Organizational Commitment (OC) Since the 1960's organizational commitment is an exciting issue for managers and researchers. The meaning of Organizational Commitment is a ‘psychological link between an employee and his of her organization that makes it less likely that the employee will voluntarily leave the organization” (Allen & Meyer, 1996, p. 252) A considerable amount of research in the field of organizational commitment, which is aimed at locating the antecedents and the correlations with variables like turnover and absenteeism, is at hand. Organizational commitment is increasingly valued as a predictor of work behaviours and behavioural intentions (Jaros et al. 1993). In order to have a good understanding of the construct organizational commitment, a table is constructed, which presents the historical definitions.

Authors

Definition

Brief (1998)

- emotional attachment (Affective Commitment) - the costs of leaving, such as losing attractive benefits or seniority (Continuance Commitment) - the individual’s personal values (Normative Commitment) - Affective commitment (AC) refers to the psychological attachment to the organization. - Continuance commitment (CC) refers to the costs associated with leaving the organization. - Normative commitment (NC) refers to a perceived obligation to remain within the organization - added in 1991 by Meyer and Allen A. The attitudinal approach refers to the attitude that an employee has towards one's organization. B. The behaviorial approach states that an employee becomes attached or committed to an organization based on one's individual investment of time, money or training that would be lost if one left the organization. The relative strength of an employee’s identification with and involvement in a particular organization. Three factors influencing organizational commitment: acceptance of the organization’s goals and values, willingness to work on behalf of the organization and strong

Meyer and Allen (1991), Bartlett (2001), Ahmad and Bakar (2003), Meyer and Allen (1984)

Liou & Nyhan (1994, p.100), Guffey, et al. (1997)

Porters, Steers, Mowday and Boulian (1974)

Extra

Ad. A) An employee who has a high organizational commitment will: - strongly belief in and accept the organization's goals and values; - exert a significant effort for the firm's benefit. - desire to remain a member of the organization Development of organizational commitment is a process that evolves through stages over a period of time.

9

motivation to remain in the organization.

Sheldon (1971), Buchanan (1974)

Positive evaluation of the organization and the intention to work toward its goals.

Hrebeniak and Alluto (1973)

The unwillingness to leave the organization for increments in pay, status, or professional freedom or for greater colleague friendship. Willingness of social actors to give energy and loyalty to the organization.

Kantor (1968)

Becker (1960)

Buchanan (1974) – a) identification – adoption as one’s own the goals and values of the organization, b) involvement – psychological immersion or absorption in the activities of one’s work role and c) loyalty – a feeling of affection for and attachment to the organization.

Employee's organizational commitment develops through their actions and choices over time. Commitment is viewed as a function of employee behavior.

Table 1. Overview definitions organizational commitment

The leading definition in contemporary scientific literature is the three-component model of Meyer and Allen (Allen & Meyer, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1991). Therefore this definition will be used in this thesis. Meyer and Allen (1991) state that both affective and continuance commitment represent psychological states that have implications for whether an employee remains with an organization. “Employees with a strong affective commitment continue employment with the organization because they want to do so. Employees whose primary link the organization is based on continuance commitment remain because they need to do so” (Meyer & Allen, 1991:67).

Most of the discussion and research concerning the influence of management practices on employees’ commitment has focused on affective commitment. First of all, recently multidimensional models of commitment and appropriate measures have been developed. Second, affective commitment is the most desirable form of commitment and the one that organzations are most likely to want to instill in ther employees (Meyer, 1997).

10

3.2 Training Training is an ideal way to learn a job. Management of individual skills is an important aspect of doing business today, and employee development will likely grow in the future (Noe, 1999). The benefits of employee development extend beyond the actual skills gained and their contribution to an individual’s productivity (Benson, 2002). A table is constructed to present an overview of the different historical definitions of the construct training.

Authors

Definition

A process of updating the knowledge, developing skills, bringing about attitudinal and behavioural changes and improving the ability of the trainee to perform his/her tasks efficiently and effectively Sparrow (1998), Bartlett Can be viewed as a management (2001) practice that can be controlled or managed to elicit a desired set of unwritten, reciprocal attitudes and behaviours, including job involvement, motivation and organizational commitment Smith and Hayton (1999)

Extra

Palo & Padhi (2003)

Variables Bartlett (2001): perceived access to training, training frequency, motivation to learn from training, perceived benefits resulted from training and supervisory supports for training

Factors appear to impact on the enterprise decision to train employees: - improvement of employee performance - improvement of the adaptibility and flexibility of the workforce - investments in new technology - the adoption of new work practices and moves towards the more sophisticated systems of HRM Buckley and Caple (1995) A planned and systematic effort to Several factors are known to affect the modify or develop knowledge, skill and effectiveness of training: behavior of attitude through learning experience to individual learner, the training program, achieve effective performance in an the environment in which the trainee activity or range of activities works and the support from the trainee's immediate supervisor (Montesino, 2002) Rainbird (1994) and Heyes Training and employee development as Development of organizational and Stuart (1996) a means of engaging the commitment of commitment is a process that evolves employees to the enterprise. through stages over a period of time. Schuler (1984)

and

MacMillan

Training has been identified as an example of a human resource management practice that contributes to gains in competitive advantage.

Table 2. Overview definitions training

11

Three groups of theories, which mention the role of training in companies can be identified (Smith and Hayton, 1999):

-

Human capital theories – Economists traditionally look to the construct training in terms of investment. Human Capital Theory has established training in terms of increased productivity (Becker, 1964; Mincer, 1974; Strober, 1990). The Human Capital theory developed the terms general and specific training. In the mid-1980s the neo-human capital approach states that companies train their employees in order to improve the adaptibility and flexibility of the workforces and their responsiviness to innovation (Bartel and LichtenBerg, 1987)

-

Human resource management theory has viewed training and employee development as a means of engaging the commitment of employees to the enterprise (Rainbird, 1994; Heyes and Stuart, 1996). The initial formulation of a theoretical framework for Human Resource Management came from the Harvard Business School in the early 1980’s (Beer et al., 1984). Training appears as one of a number of strategies for managing the human resource flow of an enterprise which, together with other Human Resource policies, produce the ‘four C’s’ of Human Resource outcomes; commitment, competence, congruence and cost-effectiviness.

-

Training and high performance organization - studies of skills trajectories in Britain and the USA have suggested that a process of polarization is at work, with some occupations becoming more skilled and others less skilled over time (Gallie and White, 1993; Cappelli, 1993). Studies of high-performance work practices and strategic HRM have been brought together in the concept of human resources ‘bundles’ (MacDuffie, 1995; Dyer and Reeves, 1995) which emphasize the importance of implementing a number of HRM practices together in ‘bundles’ in order to achieve a performance improvement for the enterprise. Training is always cited as a critical measure within the bundle.

The most used definition of training in relation with organizational commitment is ‘a 12

management practice that can be controlled or managed to elicit a desired set of unwritten, reciprocal attitudes and behaviours, including job involvement, motivation and organizational commitment’ from Sparrow (1998) and Bartlett (2001). Bases on this common use, this definition will be applied in this thesis as well.

13

4. Data Analysis For the data analysis the most important articles are selected and a short overview of the selected empirical research is given in the first part. Following the concept-centric analyzing technique of Webster and Watson (2002) the results of the analysis are presented in clear tables in the second part. In the third part an overview of the mediators in the relation between training and organizatational commitment is presented. The fourth part consists of the syntheses of the preceding overviews. 4.1 Overview of the empirical research After finishing the selection procedures for the articles, the six most important articles in the field of the relationship between training and organizational commitment were selected. The following overview should provide proper understanding of what kind of articles were used.

14

Author

Bartlett (2001)

Sample

337 registered nurses of five public hospitals in a midwestern state of the USA

Dependent

Independent

Moderators /

variables

variables

Mediators

OC – threecomponent

Procedure data collection

The moderators Training

job involvement

survey

and job satisfaction

204 white-collar workers, employed Ahmad

in the private and the public sector in

and Bakar

Malaysia, who participated in

(2003)

(in)formal training programs with

OC – threecomponent

Training

survey

their cuurent organization 94 individuals recruited through Meyer and

employee contacts at various (30)

Smith

organizations and 187 contacts within

(2000)

five small organizations (n=281) Canada

Employee commitment – three-

The mediators HRM practices

component

Perceived support

survey

and procedural justice The mediators

Roehl and Swerdlow (1999)

Five hotels with 190 employees USA

awareness of rules, OC

Training

survey

morale and perceived quality of management

Employee Benson (2002)

12360 current and former employees

commitment,

of a high-technology manufacturing

intent to

firm - USA

turnover and turnover.

232 new employees who joined the Hellman

company – USA – one newly formed

Newcomer’s

(2000)

company in the consumer and

OC

business information industry

Training Participation in

survey

development and rewards

Training – part of socialization

survey

strategies

Table 3. Overview empirical research relation training and OC (Organizational commitment)

Sample

The samples are selected from hotels, hospitals, private and public companies, a high technology manufacturing firm and a newly formed company. The diverse sample improves the reliability of the research. The research of Benson (2002) has the most respondents in the sample. In social science applies the larger the sample size, the smaller the sampling errors. Following this line of reasoning the chance of sampling errors is the smallest in the research of 15

Benson (2002). It is important however, to emphasise that the sample of Benson (2002) exists of one large organization. Other samples added more than one organization, to advance the generalizability of the study.

Dependent variables

Remarkable with regard to the dependent variables is the use of the three-component model of Meyer and Allen (1991). The first three studies have chosen to use this model, but the last three researches have chosen for the definition of Porters, Steers, Mowday and Boulian (1974): “the relative strength of an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular organization”, despite of the fact these researches took place in 1999, 2000 and 2002 after Meyer and Allen (1991) developed their modern definition. Benson (2002) has developed a complex research with several independent, dependent and control variables.

Independent variables

Noteworthy in the context of the independent variables, is the fact that in three studies the construct training is the major independent variable, but in the three other studies training is part of socialization strategies, Human Resource Management practices and several independent variables. The construct training is more figured out in the first mentioned studies.

Moderators

Three studies have included moderators or mediators in the analysis of the relationship. Bartlett (2001) has included the moderators job involvement and job satisfaction, Meyer and Smith (2000) and Roehl and Swerdlow the mediators perceived support, procedural justice, awareness of rules, moral and perceived quality of management. These studies are important for the completeness of the description of the relationship between the constructs training and organizational commitment. The authors came across too strong significant relations between these moderators or mediators and the two constructs training and organizational commitment, in order to

16

drop them.

Procedure of data collection

All the qualitative studies use the self-administered questionnaires as primary data collection technique. 4.2 Concept-centric approach of the relations According to Webster and Watson (2002) a literature review is always conceptcentric. In this study, the choice was made to summarise all the relations in one table with the dependent variable in the columns and the independent variables in the rows. The conclusions of the six studies are presented in one matrix below. Affective commitment

Continuance commitment

Normative commitment

Overall commitment

Perceived access

Positive (Bartlett, 2001 +

Positive (Bartlett, 2001 +

Positive (Ahmad and

to training

Ahmad and Bakar, 2003)

Ahmad and Bakar 2003)

Bakar, 2003)

Positive (Ahmad and

Positive (Ahmad and

Bakar, 2003)

Bakar, 2003)

Hours spent in training Training frequency

Positive (Bartlett, 2001)

Positive (Bartlett, 2001)

Motivation to

Positive (Bartlett, 2001 +

learn

Ahmad and Bakar 2003)

Perceived

Negative (Bartlett, 2001)

Negative (Bartlett, 2001)

Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Bartlett, 2001 +

Positive (Ahmad and

Ahmad and Bakar, 2003) Ahmad and Bakar, 2003) Ahmad and Bakar, 2003)

Bakar, 2003)

Training

Positive (Ahmad and

Positive (Ahmad and

Positive (Ahmad and

Positive (Ahmad and

environment

Bakar, 2003)

Bakar, 2003)

Bakar, 2003)

Bakar, 2003)

Positive (Bartlett, 2001 +

Positive (Ahmad and

Ahmad and Bakar 2003)

Bakar 2003)

benefits of training

Social support for Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + training

Ahmad and Bakar 2003)

Positive (Bartlett, 2001)

On-the-job-

Positive (Benson,

training

2002) Positive (Hellman

Overall training

Positive (Meyer and Smith, 2000)

(2002) and Roehl & Swerdlow (1999) indirect via moderators/mediators)

Table 4. Overview of the relations found by the researchers.

17

Affective commitment

The most and strongest relationships are found between training factors and affective commitment. Social support for training has got the largest influence on affective commitment.

Continuance commitment

Remarkable are the two negative relationships between ‘hours spent in training’ and ‘motivation to learn’. The more hours spent in training, the less the continuance commitment. Bartlett (2001) also found a negative but nonsignificant relationship between motivation to learn and continuance commitment. This fact supported his hypothesis, which states that employees with higher levels of training motivation would report higher levels of organizational commitment.

Normative commitment

Only the factors ‘hours spent in training’ and ‘training frequency’ showed no (positive) relationship with normative commitment.

Overall commitment

Some researchers have chosen for a single total construct for organizational commitment. Roehl and Swerdlow (1999) found an indirect relationship between training and organizational commitment via the mediatiors awareness of rules, morale and perceived quality of management. Other researchers subdivide the construct in affective, continuance and normative commitment.

4.3 The influence of mediators and moderators The moderators and mediators in the relationship form the outcome of the analysis.

18

The potential relationship between training and organizational commitment is most likely moderated by other workplace attitudes (Bartlett, 2001). Roehl and Swerdlow (1999) states there is also evidence to suggest that the relationship between training and organizational commitment is indirect. For the completeness of the description of the relationship between training and organizational commitment, there was chosen to give a short overview of some found mediators and moderators according to the six authors and their definitions of the mediators and moderators.

Mediators, Moderators Dependent variable

Independent

Supported

variable Moderator job Affective commitment

Access to training

NO (Bartlett, 2001)

Affective commitment

Access to training

YES (Bartlett, 2001)

Mediator perceived

Affective and normative

HRM practices like

YES (Meyer and Smith,

support

commitment

training

2000)

Mediator procedural

Affective and normative

HRM practices like

YES (Meyer and Smith,

justice

commitment

training

2000)

Organizational commitment

Training

Organizational commitment

Training

Organizational commitment

Training

involvement Moderator job satisfaction

Mediator awareness of rules Mediator morale Mediator perceived quality of management

YES (Roehl and Swerdlow, 1999) YES (Roehl and Swerdlow, 1999) YES (Roehl and Swerdlow, 1999)

Table 5. Overview of the influence of mediators and moderators on the relation between training and organizational commitment.

- Job involvement refers to the extent to which peope are psychologically attached to their jobs and the degree of importance that work holds in their life (Lodahl and Kejner, 1965; Keller, 1997) - Job satisfaction is frequently defined as an individual’s attitude toward his or her job (Moorhead and Griffin, 1997) - Perceived support is the employees’ belief that the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being (Eisenberger et. al., 1986)

19

- Procedural justice refers to the perceived fairness of the means used to determine those amounts (Folger and Konovsky, 1989) - Awareness of rules – a work characteristic. - Morale represents an “umbrella” notion that includes, in addition to satisfaction with the work environment, such attributes as enthusiasm, commitment or loyalty to the institution, willingness to work, and dedication to common goals (Johnsrud, 1996). - Perceived quality of management can be explained by the quality of performance with respect to specific primary stakeholders: owners, employees, customers and (marginally) communities (Waddock and Graves, 1997). 4.4 The integration of the data analysis For the overall presentation of the data analysis the data is shown in one large table. In the columns affective, normative, continuance and overall commitment, the related independent variables are displayed.

20

Author

Sample

Bartlett (2001)

337 registered nurses of five public hospitals in a midwestern state of the USA

Ahmad and Bakar (2003)

Meyer and Smith (2000)

Roehl and Swerdlow (1999)

Benson (2002)

Hellman (2000)

Dependent variables

OC – threecomponent

204 white-collar workers, employed in the private and the public sector in OC – threeMalaysia, who component participated in (in)formal training programs with their cuurent organization 94 individuals recruited through employee Employee contacts at various (30) commitment – organizations and 187 threewithin 5 small component organizations (n=281) Canada Five hotels with 190 employees - USA 12360 current and former employees of a hightechnology manufacturing firm USA 232 new employees who joined the company – USA – one newly formed company in the consumer and business information industry

Independent variables

Training

Training

HRM practices

Data collection

Moderators / mediators

Affective commitment

survey

The moderators job involvement (NOT SUPPORTED) and job satisfaction on affective commitment access to training

Perceived access to training, hours spent in training, training frequency, motivation to learn, social support for training and perceived benefits of training Perceived access to training, motivation to learn, perceived benefits of training, training environment and social support for training

survey

survey

The mediators perceived support and procedural justice on affective and normative commitment training The mediators awareness of rules, morale and perceived quality of management on training OC

Continuance commitment Motivation to learn (Negative), hours spent in training (Negative) perceived benefits of learning and social support for training

Perceived benefits of training and training enviroment

Normative commitment

Overall commitment

Perceived access to training, social support for training and perceived benefits of training Perceived access to training, motivation to learn, perceived benefits of training, training environment and social support for training

Perceived access to training, motivation to learn, perceived benefits of training, training environment and social support for training

Overall training

OC

Training

survey

Overall training

Employee commitment, intent to turnover and turnover.

Training Participation in development and rewards

survey

On-the-job training

Newcomer’s OC

Training – part of socialization strategies

survey

Overall training

Table 6. The integration of the data analysis

21

5. Conclusion First indications for relations between the constructs training and organizational commitment in the last age: increased organization commitment and other important outcomes may likely be the result of training programs (McMahan, 1993; Zuboff, 1988). The developments after the first indications are analysed in this thesis based on the research question: ‘What is according to the literature, the relation between the human capital investment training on the organizational commitment of the employee?’. We have found the most influential independent variables perceived access to training, motivation to learn, perceived benefits of training, training environment, social support for training, on-the-job training and overall training, with social support for training producing the highest correlations with organizational commitment. Providers of training – the employers – have the challenge to improve these independent variables to develop a high organizational commitment. Research with regard to the relationship between training and organizational commitment is still premature. This thesis supports prior research that has provided evidence which suggests that human resource practices such as training might have their greatest impact on affective commitment when it is believed that the organization is motivated by the desire to create a climate of concern and care (Kinicki et al., 1992). Bartlett (2001) states that the availability of training has been shown to have a strong relationship with affective and normative commitment, but no association with continuance commitment. The thought is that employees who recieve training might perceive that the organization values them as individuals and therefore develop a stronger affective commitment. Employees who are aware of the expense of training or appreciate the skilles they have acquired might develop a sense of obligation (normative commitment) that will keep them within the organization at least long enough to allow them to reciprocate (Meyer and Allen, 1997). The following conclusions can be presented in this thesis. First, training is related to organizational commitment. The strongest relationships are found with the affective form of organizatonal commitment. Social support for training produce the highest correlation with all forms of organizational commitment.

22

Second, the relationship between training and organizational commitment is mediated by perceived support, procedural justice, awareness of rules, morale and perceived quality of management, with the strongest correlation of perceived support. Third, the relationship between training and affective commitment is moderated by job satisfaction.

23

6. Discussion, limitations and recommendations 6.1 Discussion A remarkable issue is that all the researchers, except for Benson (2002), have used the same view of development practices like training. Theories from management, psychology and labor economics yield different and sometimes contrary predictions about the impact of development experiences on the employee’s attitudes and willingness to remain within the company (Benson, 2002). Management and psychology studies like those of Gaertner and Nollen (1989) generally assume that skill development and the oppurtunity to take training are viewed by employees as benefits, and as signals that they are valued by their employers. On the other hand labour economics predict that workers with upgraded general skills are likely to turnover unless their wages are increased (Becker, 1965). Turnover literature also suggests that development activities may have negative effects on attitudes and retention by increasing an employee’s perceptions of external job oppurtunities (Gerhart, 1990; Griffeth, Hom, & Gaertner, 2000). The challenge for organizations is to retent their employees through training and it seems to be sensible to combine these different theories in order to create equal development programs.

Most research in this thesis is done in the field of

management and psychology studies. 6.2 Limitations First of all, there is a need for more research in the field of organizational commitment and training. Not enough research has been done in order to describe the relationship completely. Only three authors in this thesis have chosen for the research in the constructs training and organizational commitment. The researchers use different independent variables and moderators and mediators to obtain insight in these relationships. Second it is remarkable that in all of the researches the relationship between training and organizational commitment is a positive one. The only negative relationship can be found between the independent variables ‘hours spent in training’, ‘motivation to learn’ and the dependent variable continuance commitment. It is not hard to imagine there can be more kinds of training situations or training variables can be identified,

24

which cause negative relationships. 6.3 Recommendations The conclusion that the strongest relationship exists between training and affective commitment, implies for organizations that they should focus on developing initiaves that matter most to the affective form of commitment, such as support given in training and benefits offered training (Ahmad and Bakar, 2003) The authors have used different kinds of independent variables to conceptualize the construct of training. For future research all the presented independent, dependent and moderator variables can be used in one research aimed at identifying in the relationship between the variables. There is a lot of evidence for an indirect relationship between training and organizational commitment. This research will be necessary to develop an overall view of the relationship between training and organizational commitment. In figure 2 this suggested model for future research.

25

Mediators J. K. L. M. N.

Perceived support Procedural justice Awareness of rules Morale Perceived quality of management.

Moderators Independent variables

O.

A. Perceived access to training B. Hours spent in training C. Training frequency D. On-the-job training E. Motivation to learn F. Perceived benefits of training G. Training environment H. Social support for training I. Overall training

Job satisfaction

Dependent variables P. Affective commitment Q. Continuance commitment R. Normative commitment S. Overall commitment

Figure 2. Conceptual model for future research

The affective component of organizational commitment is related to access to training when the moderating influence of job satisfaction is controlled for (Bartlett, 2001). Training and affective and normative commitment are mediated by perceived support and procedural justice (Meyer and Smith, 2000). Awareness of rules, morale and perceived quality of management are mediators in the relationship between training and overall organizational commitment. Roehl and Swerdlow (1999) have included these mediators and the overall form of commitment, and not the three-component model (affective, normative and continance). So, there is a need for more evidence in the indirect relationship between training and organizational commitment, the exact relationships between the mentioned independent variables and dependent variables, and the moderators, influencing the relationship.

26

Literature references

Ahmad, K.Z. and Bakar, R.A. (2003). The association between training and organizational commitment among white-collar workers in Malaysia. International Journal of Training and development 7:3 Allen, N.J., & Meyer, J.P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 1-18. Allen, N.J., & Meyer, J.P. (1996). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment: An examination of construct validity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 49, 252-276 Baker, T.L. (1999). Doing Social Research. California: McGraw-Hill College Bartel, A.P. and Lichtenberg, F. (1987). ’The comparative advantage of educated workers in implementing new technology’, Review of of economic and statistics, 66(1): 1-11. Bartlett, K.R. (2001). The relationship between training and organizational commitment: a study in the health care field. Human resource development Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 4 Becker, H.S. (1960). Notes on the concept of commitment. American Journal of Sociology, 66, 32-40 Becker, G.S. (1964). Human Capital: A theoretical analysis with special reference to education. New York: Columbia University Press Becker, G. (1965). Human Capital. Chicago, Il: University of Chicago Press Beer, M., Spector, B., Lawrence, P.R., Quinn Mills, D. And Walton, R.E. (1984) Managing Human Assets, New York: The Free Press Benson, G.S. (2002) Beyond skill development: the effects of training and development on the attitudes and retention of employees, University of Southern California Brief, A.P. (1998). Attitudes in an around organizations. Thousan Oaks, CA: Sage Buchanan, B. (1974). Building Organizational Commitment: the socialization of managers in work organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, p. 533-546 Buckley, R. and Caple, J. (1995), The theory and practice of training, 3rd Edition, London: Kogan Page Cappelli, P. (1993) ‘Are skill requirements rising? Evidence from production and clerical jobs’, Industrial and Labor Relations review, 46(3): 515-30 De Cuyper, N. & De Witte, H. (2006). Opleidingsbereidheid bij tijdelijke versus vaste werknemers in relatie tot attitudes, welzijn en gedrag. Gedrag en Ogranisatie, Volume 19, nr. 3, pp. 290-306 Dyer, L. and Reeves, T. (1995) ‘Human Resource strategies and firm performance: what do we know and where do we need to go’, International journal of human resource management, 6(3): 656-70 Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 500-507. Eisner, E.W. (1991). The enlighted eye: qualitative inquiry and the enchancement of educational practice. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company Folger, R., & Konovsky, M.A. (1989). Effects of procedural and distributive

27

justice on reactions to pay raise decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 32, 115-130 Forrier, A., Bollens, J. & Sels, L. Flexibiliteit, turnover en opleiding in Vlaamse bedrijven Opleidingsbereidheid in Vlaamse bedrijven: determinerende factoren en knelpunten. Retrieved 7 oktober, 2006 http://www.hiva.be/docs/paper/DO04.pdf

Gaertner, K.N. and Nollen, S.D. (1989), Career experiences, perceptions of employment practices and psychological commitment to the organization, Human Relations, 42, 975-991 Gallie, D. And White, M. (1993) Employee commitment and the skills revolution. London: PSI Gerhart, B. (1990). Voluntary turnover and alternative job opportunities. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75(5), 467-476 Guffey, C.J., West, J.E. and White C.S. (1997). Employer educational assistance: an assessment of the impact on organizational commitment. Management Research News 1997, 20, 1, pg. 12 Griffeth, R., Hom, P., & Gaertner, K. (2000). A meta-analysis of antecendents and correlates of employee turnover: Update, moderator tests and research implications for the next millenium. Journal of Management, 26, 463-488 Hall, D.T. 1996. Protean careers of the 21st century. Academic Management Executive 10 (4) 8-16. Heyes, J. and Stuart, M. (1996) ‘Does traing matter? Employee Experiences and attitudes’, Human Resource Management Journal, 6 (3): 7-21. Hellman, S.W. (2000) An evaluative study of the impact of new employee orientation on newcomer organizational commitment, Pepperdine University Hrebeniak, L.C, & Alutto, J.A. (1973) Personal and role-related factors in the development of organizational commitment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 18: 555-572 Iles, P. Mabey, C., and Robertson, I. (1990) ‘HRM practices and employee commitment: possibilities, pitfalls and paradoxes’, British Journal of Management 1, 147-57 Jaros, S. T., Jermier, J. M., Koehler, J. W. And Sincich, T. (1993) Effects of continuance, affective and moral commitment on the withdrawal process: an evaluation of eight structural equation models’, Academy of Management Journal 7 (1): 122:49 Johnsrud, L. K. (1996). Maintaining morale: a guide to assessing the morale of midlevel administrators and faculty. Washington, DC: College and university personnel association. Kantor, R.M. (1968) “Commitment and social organization: a study of commitment mechanisms in utopian communities”. American Sociological Review, 33: 499-517 Keller, R.T. (1997). Job involvement and organizational commitment as longitudinal predictors of job performance: a study of scientists and engineers. Journal of applied psychology, 82(4), 539-545 Kinicki, A.J., Carson, K.P. and Bohlander, G.W. (1992), Relationship between an organization’s actual human resource efforts and employee attitudes, Group and Organization Management, 17, 135-152 Liou, K., & Nyhan, R.(1994). Dimensions of Organizational Commitment in the

28

Public Sector: An empirical assessment. Public Administration Quarterly, 18, 99-118 Lodahl, T., & Kejner, M. (1965). The definition and measurement of job involvement. Journal of applied psychology, 49, 24-33 Louis, M.R., Posner, B.Z., & Powell, G.N. (1983). The availibility and helpfulness of socialization practices. Personnel Psychology, 36, 857866 MacDuffie, J.P. (1995) ‘Human Resource bundles and manufacturing performance: Flexible production systems in the world auto industry’, Industrial and labor relations review, 48(2): 197-221. McMahan, G.C. (1993). The effects of changing information technology: investigation of the motivational impact if information technology on jobs. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. McQuaid, R.W. & Lindsay, C. (2005). The concept of employability. Urban Studies, 42 (2), 197-219 Meyer, J.P., & Allen, N.J. (1984). Testing the “side-bet theory” of organizational commitment: Some methodological considerations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69:372-378 Meyer, J.P., & Allen, N.J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human resource management review, 1 , 61-89 Meyer, J.P. and Allen, N.J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace: theory, research, and application. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Meyer, J.P. and Smith, C.A. (2000) ‘HRM practices and organizational commitment: test of a mediation model’, Canadian Journal of Administrative sciences 17(4): 319-31 Mincer, J. (1974) Schooling, experience and earnings. New York: Columbia University Press. Montesino, M.U. (2002), 'Strategic alignment of training, transfer-enchanching behaviors and training usage: a post-training study', Human Resource Development Quarterly, 13, 1, 89-108 Moorhead, G., & Griffin, R.W. (1997). Organizational behavior (5th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Noe, R. (1999). Employee training and development, Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. Nordhaug, O. (1989) ‘Reward functions of personnel training’, Human relations 42 (5): 373-88. Palo, S. And Padhi, N. (2003), ‘Measuring effectiviness of TQM training: an Indian study’, International Journal of Training and Development, 7, 3, 203-16 Porter, L.W., Steers, R.M., Mowday, R.T., & Boulian, P.V. (1974). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover among psychiatric technicians. Journal of applied psychology, 59, 603-609. Rainbird, H. (1994) ‘Continuing Training’. In Sisson, K. (ed.) Personnel Management, 2nd edn. Oxford: Blackwell Roehl, W.L., Swerdlow, S. (1999) Training and its Impact on Organizational Commitment among Lodging Employees Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 23(2): 176 – 194 Rousseau, D. 1995. Psychological contracts in organizations: Understanding written and unwritten agreements. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

29

Publications Sanders, J., De Grip, A. (2004). Training, task flexibility and low-skilled workers’ employability. International Journal of Manpower, 2004, 25, 1, 73-89 Schuler, R.S., & Macmillan, I.C. (1984). Gaining competitive advantage through human resource practices. Human Resource Management, 23 (3), 241-255 Sheldon, M.E. (1971). Investments and involvements as mechanisms producing commitment to the organization. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16: 143-150. Smith, A. and Hayton, G. (1999). ‘What drives enterprise training? Evidence from Australia’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 10:2, 251-272 Soudijn, K. (1991). Scripties schrijven in de sociale wetenschappen. Bohn Safleu Van Loghum Sparrow, P.R. (1998), ‘Reappraising Psychological contracting’, International Studies of Management and Organization, 28, 1, 30-63. Strober, M. (1990) ‘Human Capital Theory: implications for HR managers’, Industrial Relations, 29(2): 214-39 Sturges, J., Guest, D., Conway, N., & Mackenzie Davey, K. (2002). A longitudinal study of the relationship between career manegement and organizational commitment among graduates in the first ten years at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 6, 731-748 Tannenbaum, S.L., Mathieu, J.E., Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J.A. (1991). Meeting trainees’ expectations: the influence of training fulfilment in the development of commitment, self-efficacy, and motivation. Journal of applied Psychology, 76, 759-769 Waddock, S. and Graves, S. (1997). Finding the link beteween stakeholder relations and quality of management. Journal of Investing, 1997 Webster, J., & Watson, R.T. (2000). Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review. MIS Quarterly, 26(2), 13-23 Whitener, E.M. (2001) ‘Do high commitment human resource practices affect employee commitment? A cross-level analysis using hierarchical linear modeling’, Journal of Management 27: 515-35 Winter, G. (2000). A comparative discussion of the notion of validity in qualitative and quantative research. The Qualitative Report, 4 (3&4). Retrieved 18-10-2006, from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR43/winter.html Zuboff, F. (1988). The age of the smart machine: The future of work and power. New York: Basic Books.

30