The hypothesised relationships between the variables

It has emerged throughout the literature review that effective HRM is essential for the quality of service delivery. To be more precise, fair and humane HRM practices (Brewer & Kellough 2008) were shown to be critical for service organisations such as municipalities if they are to deliver services that meet customer (community) quality requirements. However, effective and fair HRM depends on the causes and conditions that an organisational setting provides (Senyucel 2009:14). The point was made in section 2.5 that in South Africa, municipalities are characterised by political polarisation, and this has exposed the HRM practices of municipalities to practices such as ‘jobs for pals’ and undeserved promotions. Thus, from an organisational justice perspective, municipal employees might develop low justice perceptions of their organisations as a result of perceived political interference.

Several studies confirmed both a direct and an indirect relationship between HRM practices and quality of service delivery (D’Annunzio-Green, Maxwell & Watson 2002:9; Burke & Cooper 2005:213; Irfan, Mohsin & Yousaf 2009:1223). Zhang

(2009:55) argued that the service expectations and service perceptions of customers play a very important role in evaluating the quality of service rendered by service organisations. It was pointed out in Section 4.5.2 that, because employees are the people that must render service to communities, their behaviour affects how communities perceive the quality of the service. Kandampully (2007:186) confirmed this by pointing out that no service is truly intangible, because services are almost always accompanied by physical evidence, and physical evidence cues could have a profound impact on a customer’s impression in evaluating a service.

Furthermore, it was stated in Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 that from an organisational fairness perspective, if HRM activities are perceived to be unfair by service-rendering employees, it may affect the employees’ motivation and commitment. A lack of motivation and commitment on the part of employees is likely to lead to development of negative attitudes and behaviour, such as negative employee citizenship behaviour (ECB), which could, in turn, impact negatively on the quality of service that employees deliver to communities. For example, Bagraim’s (2007) argument supports Adams’ (1963) equity theory of motivation. Bagraim (2007:88) argued that employees might be motivated to change their attitude for the worse if they perceived injustice in, for example, HRM practices. In a similar way, equity theory argues that employees will react negatively if they perceive injustice in their organisations, specifically when employees make comparisons between efforts and rewards, and they perceive unfairness, injustice, or inequity.

It is therefore possible that when municipal employees compare their input/output ratio in terms of HRM practices, and they perceive unfairness, it could lower their motivation, employee organisational commitment (EOC), and ECB.

Meanwhile, EOC is reported to predict ECB (Kreitner & Kinicki 2008:160). Ambreen (2011:41) found that employee commitment is critical, as the success of the organisation is strongly correlated with employee commitment. Employee commitment (EOC) has been found Sanders, Dorenbosch and De Reuver (2008); Kreitner and Kinicki (2008:160); and Van Dyne and Ang (1998) to predict ECB. Fischer (2004) found that employee commitment is critical for organisational success, while Morrison

(1996) identified ECB as the missing link between HRM practices and quality of service delivery (QSD). It is thus contended that ECB will impact on quality of municipal service delivery in municipalities. Based on these facts and the other literature that has been reviewed, Figure 5.1 illustrates the hypothesised relationships between the variables of perceived political interference (PPI), perceptions of HRM fairness (PHF), employee motivation (MOT), employee organisational commitment (EOC), employee citizenship behaviour (ECB), and quality of service delivery (QSD) in municipalities.

Figure 5.1: The hypothesised relationships between perceived political interference (PPI), perceptions of HRM fairness (PHF), employee organisational commitment (EOC), employee citizenship behaviour (ECB), and quality of service delivery (QSD) by municipalities.

Based on the above conceptual framework, the following ten hypotheses arise, where Hio stands for the null hypothesis, and Hia represents the alternative hypothesis, with i taking values from 1 to 10.

Hypothesis 1: H1o – Perceived HRM fairness (PHF) will be negatively correlated with perceived political interference (PPI) in HRM practices; H1a - Perceived HRM fairness

(PHF) will not be negatively correlated with perceived political interference (PPI) in HRM practices.

Hypothesis 2: H2o – Citizens’ rating of quality of service delivery (QSD) in municipalities will be positively correlated with perceived HRM fairness (PHF); H2a – Citizens’ rating of quality of service delivery (QSD) in municipalities will not be positively correlated with perceived HRM fairness (PHF).

Hypothesis 3: H3o – Employee citizenship behaviour (ECB) will be positively correlated with perceived HRM fairness (PHF); H3a – Employee citizenship behaviour (ECB) will not be positively correlated with perceived HRM fairness (PHF).

Hypothesis 4: H4o – Employee organisational commitment (EOC) will be positively correlated with perceived HRM fairness (PHF); H4a – Employee organisational commitment (EOC) will not be positively correlated with perceived HRM fairness (PHF).

Hypothesis 5: H5o – Employee motivation (MOT) will be positively correlated with perceived HRM fairness (PHF); H5a – Employee motivation (MOT) will not be positively correlated with perceived HRM fairness (PHF).

Hypothesis 6: H6o – Employee citizenship behaviour (ECB) will be positively correlated with employee organisational commitment (EOC); H6a – Employee citizenship behaviour (ECB) will not be positively correlated with employee organisational commitment (EOC).

Hypothesis 7: H7o – Employee citizenship behaviour (ECB) will be positively correlated with employee motivation (MOT); H7a – Employee citizenship behaviour (ECB) will not be positively correlated with employee motivation (MOT).

Hypothesis 8: H8o – Citizens’ rating of quality of service delivery (QSD) will be positively correlated with employee organisational commitment (EOC); H8a – Citizens’

rating of quality of service delivery (QSD) will not be positively correlated with employee organisational commitment (EOC).

Hypothesis 9: H9o – Citizens’ rating of quality of service delivery (QSD) will be positively correlated with employee motivation (MOT); H9a – Citizens’ rating of quality of service delivery (QSD) will not be positively correlated with employee motivation (MOT).

Hypothesis 10: H10o – Citizens’ rating of quality of service delivery (QSD) will be positively correlated with employee citizenship behaviour (ECB); H10a – Citizens’ rating of quality of service delivery (QSD) will not be positively correlated with employee citizenship behaviour (ECB).

5.5 TARGET POPULATION AND SAMPLING