Organisational Commitment

Over the years organisational commitment is conceptualised and measured in many ways (Becker 1960; Buchanan 1974; Porter et al. 1974) such as employer commitment (Sturges & Guest 2001) and firm commitment (Meyer et al. 1993; Clugston et al. 2000). Early studies of organisational commitment view the concept as consisting of a single dimension related to loyalty, willingness to exert effort to achieve organisational goals and acceptance of organisational values (Porter et al. 1974).

Organisational commitment can decrease levels of employee turnover, because employees who are strongly committed to an organisation are less likely to leave (Porter et al. 1974; Lee et al. 1992; Wasti 2003). Moreover, employees who remain in the organisation and commit themselves, provide greater service quality on behalf of the organisation (Chen 2007). Therefore, employee commitment has a positive result for both individuals and organisations (Simon 1976; Stevens et al. 1978; Mowday et al. 1982).

Organisational commitment is studied over the last thirty years by several scholars (Meyer & Herscovitch 2001; Herscovitch & Meyer 2002). Organisational commitment can be defined as a psychological state that binds the individual to the organisation (Allen & Meyer 1990). Allen and Meyer (1990) develop a three-component model of commitment comprising affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. These three forms are based on different ‗mindsets‘ and different implications for organisational behaviour (Meyer & Allen 1991).

Figure 2.1 below presents a conceptualisation of organisational commitment developed by Meyer and Allen (1991), where the three components of affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment have a positive influence on employee behaviour. Additionally, there are some antecedents that lead to an impact on each dimension of organisational commitment including work experience, personal

29 characteristics, investment, alternatives, socialisation and overall organisation commitment. Further details of each dimension will be explained in the next section.

Figure 2.1: Three Component Model of Organisational Commitment by Meyer and Allen (1991)

 Affective Commitment

Affective commitment refers to the employee‘s emotional attachment to, involvement in, identification with, and enjoyment as a member of the organisation. Porter et al. (1974, p. 604) also describes affective commitment as having ―a strong belief in the

Behaviour Commitment On-the job Behaviour Performance Absenteeism Citizenship Affective Commitment Continuance Commitment Normative Commitment Work experience - Comfort - Competence Personal characteristics Investment/ side-bets Alternatives Socialisation - culture/family - organisational Organisational investment

30 organisation‘s values and goals thereby willing to devote a great deal of energy to attain them, and be willing to remain in that organisation to see them fulfilled.‖

Therefore, affective commitment involves four aspects including (i) the emotional attachment to an organisation, (ii) identification with the organisation, (iii) the desire to remain a member of the organisation and, (iv) willingness to exert effort in the interest of the organisation‘s goals and values. Research shows those employees who want to remain with an organisation will exert considerable effort on behalf of that organisation (Mowday et al. 1982; Meyer et al. 1989).

Jaros et al. (1993) also state that affective commitment is the most widely discussed form of psychological attachment to an organisation because of the association between affective commitment and organisational outcomes. Meyer and Herscovitch (2001) identify that affective commitment is found to relate to a wide range of outcomes such as employee turnover, job performance and organisational membership behaviour.

Affective commitment is the strongest component and certainly the most popular of the three organisational commitment components in term of research focus (Allen & Meyer 1990; Wallace 1995; Swailes 2002; Snape & Redman 2003). In the context of the current study, based upon employees in the hospitality industry, employees should ideally have a strong desire to serve customers on behalf of the organisation. Moreover, working in hospitality tends to be a highly autonomous work experience (Buchanan 1974), which supports the need for affective commitment. It can be concluded that with strong affective commitment employees remain with the organisation because they ―want to‖ (Meyer & Allen 1991).

 Continuance Commitment

Continuance commitment is based on side bet theory by Becker (1960), which states that if individuals remain in the employment of the organisation for a long period, they gain a cumulative investment that becomes costly to lose (Becker 1960). These investments refer to time spent, job effort, organisational specific skills that might not be transferable, or greater cost of leaving the organisation that discourage employees

31 from the desire to seek alternative employment, due to friendships with colleagues and political deals.

Employees with a large accumulated investment in an organisation and with a lack of employment alternatives will have a high leaving cost, and will therefore have a high level of continuance commitment to an organisation (Allen & Meyer 1990; Swailes 2002). It can be concluded that employees with a strong continuance commitment remain in the organisation because they ―need to‖ (Meyer & Allen 1991).

Employees committed to the organisation because of the monetary, social, psychological and other costs associated with leaving the organisation are similar to those experiencing affective commitment in that continuous commitment involves an emotional attachment by the employee (Somers & Birnbaum 1998; Hackett et al. 1994).

Thus, continuance commitment is useful for this study because in the hospitality industry once employees engage, time accumulation is a significant factor influencing employee salaries. This aspect is most evident in Asian countries where the opportunity to be considered for a higher position takes into account years of service.

 Normative Commitment

The last component of organisational commitment is normative commitment. Allen and Meyer (1990) define normative commitment as ―a feeling of obligation to continue employment‖ (p.67). Jaros et al. (1993) concludes that normative commitment refers to a moral commitment that reflects a sense of duty or obligation. The employee stays with the organisation and commits to it because they believe that it is the right thing to do (Allen & Meyer 1990; Mueller et al. 1992). Moreover, normative commitment arises from social behaviour and group force, where group thinking impacts on employee thinking in the sense of what is the right or wrong thing to do.

Normative commitment is conceptualised as the congruence between the individual employee and the organisation, which is influenced by both the employee‘s experience pre (family values/cultural socialisation) and post (organisational socialisation) entry to

32 the organisation (Allen & Meyer 1990). It can be summarised that an employee with strong normative commitment remains with their organisation because they ―ought to‖ (Meyer & Allen 1991).