Organizational commitment profiles and job satisfaction among Greek private and public sector employees

Recent research into organizational commitment has advocated a profiles-based approach. However, with the exception of Wasti, published findings are confined to North American samples. This article examines the relationships between organizational commitment profiles and job satisfaction in Greece. Greek organizations have rarely been the subject of detailed examination, so the study provides baseline information regarding levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction in Greece. Both private sector (N = 1119) and public sector (N = 476) employees in Greece were surveyed, as this sectoral distinction is regularly associated with different patterns of job-related attitudes. The contrasts between Greek and Anglo-American values present a new challenge to the profiles approach. The results confirm the utility of the profiles approach to the study of organizational commitment. Affective organizational commitment was found to be most influential with respect to levels of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. This concurs with other studies of the behavioural outcomes of commitment. Copyright © 2007 Sage Publications.

The role of commitment in foreign-Japanese relationships:mediating performance for foreign sellers in Japan

A lack of commitment between Japanese buyers and their foreign trading partners is often attributed as the cause of failure for foreign sellers in Japan. Due to Japanese idiosyncrasies, commitment plays a dominant, but poorly understood, role in the business relationship between foreign sellers and Japanese buyers. This research examines the role that the attachment bond between U.S. sellers and Japanese buyers plays in mediating the impact of exchange characteristics on performance in the domestic Japanese market. An analysis of 198 U.S. sellers in Japan demonstrates the complex web of calculative, social, and normative factors that account for the commitment existing in this foreign–Japanese trading relationship. The results highlight the importance of specific investments and cultural sensitivity for the seller’s commitment and the role of trust and switching costs in the buyer’s commitment.

Two sides to attitudinal commitment:the effect of calculative and loyalty commitment on enforcement mechanism in distribution channels

Previous conceptualizations of attitudinal commitment are extended by considering two very different components of a manufacturer’s attachment to an independent channel intermediary. Relying on commitment theory, a model is developed that describes how attitudinal commitment may reside in either the instrumental or the social strain of a manufacturer’s relationship with its distributor. For each strain, the developmental role played by key facets of the channel setting—relative dependence, pledges, and trust—are shown. Furthermore, the nature of the attachment bond is posited to motivate very different governance mechanisms as the distribution agreement is enforced by either social or contractual means. Empirical support for the model demonstrates that an expanded view of attitudinal commitment is important in understanding the complex nature of attachment in channel relationships.

A rhetoric-in-context approach to building commitment to multiple strategic goals

There are still few explanations of the micro-level practices by which top managers influence employee commitment to multiple strategic goals. This paper argues that, through their language, top managers can construct a context for commitment to multiple strategic goals. We therefore propose a rhetoric-in-context approach to illuminate some of the micro practices through which top managers influence employee commitment. Based upon an empirical study of the rhetorical practices through which top managers influence academic commitment to multiple strategic goals in university contexts, we demonstrate relationships between rhetoric and context. Specifically, we show that rhetorical influences over commitment to multiple goals are associated with the historical context for multiple goals, the degree to which top managers' rhetoric instantiates a change in that context, and the internal consistency of the rhetorical practices used by top managers. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications.

Determining consumer satisfaction and commitment through self-service technology and personal service usage

This paper expands research into self-service technology in the service encounter. Self-service technology is where customers deliver service themselves using some form of a technological interface. There is still a great deal unknown about self-service technology, in particular its impact on consumer satisfaction and consumer commitment. With that in mind, this empirical study explores the relative impact of self-service technology on consumer satisfaction and on a multidimensional measure of consumer commitment containing affective commitment, temporal commitment and instrumental commitment. The results reveal that in a hotel context personal service still remains very important for assessments of satisfaction, and affective and temporal commitment. What is particularly interesting is that self-service technology, while impacting these constructs, also impacts instrumental commitment. This suggests that positive evaluations of self-service technology may tie consumers into relationships with hotels. A discussion and implications for managers are provided on these and other results, and the paper is concluded with further potential research.

Building user commitment to implementing a knowledge management strategy

In the IS literature, commitment is typically considered to involve organizational or managerial support for a system and not that of its users. This paper however reports on a field study involving 16 organizations that attempted to build user involvement in developing a knowledge management strategy by having them design it. Twenty-two IT-supported group workshops (involving 183 users) were run to develop action plans for better knowledge management that users would like to see implemented. Each workshop adopted the same problem structuring technique to assist group members develop a politically feasible action plan to which they were psychologically and emotionally dedicated. In addition to reviewing the problem structuring method, this paper provides qualitative insight into the factors a knowledge management strategy should have to encourage user commitment. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

"High commitment" strategies:it ain't what you do; it's the way that you do it

Purpose: This paper sets out to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, particularly with regard to the processes of implementation and the role of managers engaged in such high commitment strategies and work practices. Design/methodology/approach: This study is part of a research project investigating the extent to which employee involvement predicts job performance (as well as job satisfaction, wellbeing and organisational commitment) in the NHS, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The main focus of this paper is to present evidence from four of the 20 case studies to show the barriers to implementing employee involvement as well as highlighting the techniques and practices that have proven to be most successful. Findings: Employee involvement is used successfully by management and has enabled frontline staff to contribute their knowledge to their work. Research limitations/implications: The ethical issues of confidentiality and anonymity permeated the research process throughout. Practical implications: The link between "high commitment" strategies and organisational performance is of great interest to academics and practitioners alike. One of these "high commitment" strategies, namely employee involvement, has been an important HR strategy for the NHS in the UK. Originality/value: Other organisations can learn from the findings by implementing the successful parts. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Determinant of broadband internet adoption and continuance in Singapore

In spite of increasing significance of Broadband Internet, there are not many research papers explicitly addressing issues pertaining to its deployment and continuance. Previous research on Broadband has mainly focused on the supply side aspect at the national level, ignoring the importance of the demand side which may involve looking more deeply into the factors impacting organizational and individual uptake. In an attempt to fill this gap, the current study empirically verifies the IS continuance model to examine factors influencing Broadband Internet post-adoption behavior of some 1,500 organizations in Singapore. Strong support for the model has been manifested by our results, providing insight into influential factors. Results of the study suggest that that perceived usefulness is the strongest predictor of users' continuance intention, followed by satisfaction with Broadband Internet usage as a significant but weaker predictor.

An evaluation of motivations for studying pharmacy, career commitment and future career plans

It has been predicted that there will be a full time pharmacist workforce shortage of over 15,000 by 2013. It is therefore necessary to recruit more students of a suitable calibre to undergraduate pharmacy degree courses. This study was designed to investigate the motivations of pre-university and MPharm students for studying pharmacy. A series of focus groups was conducted with Year 12 students and a national survey of Year 13, 1st year MPharm and 4th year MPharm students was undertaken. The study found that amongst Year 12 students, pharmacy is perceived as a background profession and was also perceived as being of a lower status than medicine and dentistry. It was concluded that there was a need for greater promotion of pharmacy as a career amongst pre-university students, including the provision of structured work experience placements. Analysis of UCAS applicant data for pharmacy shows that the applicant pool is buoyant and that the majority of applicants are female. Female respondents to the surveys were significantly more likely than males to wish to work part time if they had a family. This could lead to further shortages in the full time workforce. The largest ethnic group of applicants to pharmacy degree courses were Asian. Business ownership and self-employment were motivations for entering the procession of pharmacy and career aims for significantly more Asian than White respondents. Ownership of independent pharmacies is declining and this could be a barrier to future recruitment to pharmacy degree courses. A high degree of interest in locum working may present a problem for continuity in commissioned services within community pharmacy practice. Further work is needed to examine the motivations for working as a locum pharmacist.

Job satisfaction and organizatinal commitment in Greece

In Study 1 this research investigated research hypotheses based on the moderating role of the economic sector to job satisfaction/organizational commitment relationships, and especially to the forms of commitment and the facets of satisfaction – extrinsic satisfaction and intrinsic satisfaction. Overall, 618 employees successfully completed the questionnaires (258 from private sector companies and 360 from the public administration). Then, distinguishable organizational commitment profiles developed and constructed from the forms or constructs of commitment. Two different samples were used in Study 2 in order to test the relevant hypotheses – 1,119 employees from the private sector and 476 from the public sector. Study 3 used the concept of regulatory focus, where the two foci relate differently to forms of organizational commitment and these two states moderate the satisfaction/commitment relationship and furthermore, individuals develop four separable regulatory focus characters based on the two major regulatory foci. Moreover, the moderating intervention is crucially influenced by the employment status of the individuals. The research hypotheses developed in this part were tested through two samples of employees: 258 working in the private sector and 263 in the public sector. Study 4 examined the mediating role of job satisfaction on the organizational commitment/organizational citizenship behaviours relationship. It argued that job satisfaction mediates more strongly the relationship between these forms and loyal boosterism (one of the OCB dimensions). The relevant hypotheses were tested through a combined sample of 646 employees, equally drawn from the two sectors.