A Study on Factors affecting Affective Organizational Commitment among Knowledge Workers in Malaysia Muhiniswari Govindasamy Bachelor of Applied Science (Applied Physics) Hons University Sains Malaysia Malaysia 1999 Submitted to the Graduate School of Business Faculty of Business and Accountancy University of Malaya, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administration April 2009
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A Study on Factors affecting Affective Organizational Commitment among
Knowledge Workers in Malaysia
Muhiniswari Govindasamy Bachelor of Applied Science (Applied Physics) Hons
University Sains Malaysia Malaysia
1999
Submitted to the Graduate School of Business Faculty of Business and Accountancy
University of Malaya, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administration
April 2009
ii
ABSTRACT
In 2002, Datuk Tan Chai Ho (Tan, 2002) from the Ministry of Energy,
Communications and Multimedia had said that Malaysia should attract
knowledge workers and technopreneurs in order to make Malaysia the global
test bed for technology. The cry for knowledge workers in knowledge
organizations has been the result of a knowledge-based economy or K-
economy. One of the biggest challenges for most knowledge organizations
in these highly competitive times comes from changes in work behaviours of
the new generation of workers – knowledge workers (Amar, 2002).
Understanding knowledge workers and what makes them stay and continue
to contribute to the organization is a formidable task for most managers.
In this context, knowledge workers affective organizational commitment is a
measurement which determines if the employee will still continue to work with
the current organization. Thus is the nature of this study as it aims to
determine the factors which will influence affective organizational commitment
among knowledge workers. This research has identified and will examine
how five factors of organizational practices namely Knowledge Sharing
Practices, Task Orientation, Fairness of performance management and
promotion, Opportunities of training and development and finally
Compensation will influence affective organizational commitment among
knowledge workers. Thus, this research will contribute significantly to
organizations wanting to encourage knowledge workers to be committed and
continue their service with them in this knowledge–based economy.
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ACKNOWLEDEMENTS
This thesis is a significant milestone in my long journey in obtaining my
degree in MBA. This work would not have been possible without the
presences of those who have contributed significantly towards my endeavour
and made this journey a successful one.
Ms. Sharmila Jaysingam, my project supervisor, who has been a great
inspiration for me. I thank her for her tireless efforts, continuous guidance,
support and mostly for her constructive comments and suggestions during the
course of this project. I am indeed grateful to her for her patience with me in
the most trying times throughout this project.
My deepest appreciation goes to my husband, Mr. Kumaravelu for his love,
support and constant encouragement towards my pursuit of life-long learning.
This is a tribute to him.
My parents, Mr & Mrs Govindasamy, have always been a source of inspiration
to me throughout my life. They have seen me through thick and thin and I
know that they have always prayed for only the best for me.
My sincere thanks go to all my friends for all their continuous moral support.
Finally, to all the respondents who have been willing to participate in this
survey, thank you for participation.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF FIGURES vii LIST OF TABLES viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.0 Chapter Overview 1 1.1 Introduction / Background of the Study 2 1.2 Purpose of the Study 4 1.3 Significance of the Study 4 1.4 Research Questions / Objectives of the Study 6 1.5 Scope of the Study 7 1.6 Organization of the study 8 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.0 Chapter Overview 10 2.1 Definitions and Concepts 10 2.1.1 Knowledge Workers 10 2.1.2 Organizational Commitment 15 2.2 The importance of Affective Organizational Commitment 19
2.3.1 Leadership 25 2.3.2 Employee Relation 26 2.3.3 Task Orientation 27 2.3.4 Compensation and Incentives 28 2.3.5 Performance Management and Promotion 29 2.3.6 Training and Development 30 2.3.7 Knowledge Sharing 31 2.4 Moderating effect of gender 33 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 35 3.0 Chapter Overview 35 3.1 Theoretical Framework / Research Model 35 3.2 Research Instrument 39 3.3 Selection of Measures 40 3.4 Sampling Design 42 3.5 Date Collection Procedure 43 3.6 Data Analysis Techniques 44 3.6.1 Factor Analysis 44 3.6.2 Cronbach's Alpha 46 3.6.3 Descriptive Statistical Analysis 46 3.6.4 Pearson’s Correlation Test 46 3.6.5 Multiple Regression 47 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS 49 4.0 Chapter Overview 49 4.1 Response Rate 50 4.2 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents 51 4.3 Goodness of Measures 56 4.3.1 Independent Variables 56 4.3.2 Dependent Variable 62 4.4 Revised Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis 64 4.5 Multiple Regression Analysis 67
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 71 5.0 Chapter Overview 71 5.1 Summary and Conclusions 71 5.2 Discussion 72 5.3 Limitation of the Study 77 5.4 Suggestions for Future Research 79 5.5 Implications of the Study 81 5.6 Conclusion 84 BIBILIOGRAPHY 85 APPENDICES 96
Appendix 1 Key Steps in Data Analysis Appendix 2 KMO and Bartlett’s Test on IV
Appendix 3 Items of Independent Variables Dropped after Factor Appendix 4 Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient Values for Independent Appendix 5 KMO and Bartlett’s Test on DV
Appendix 6 Items Dropped after Factor Analysis on DV
Appendix 7 Outliers cases dropped from the analysis Appendix 8 SPSS Results from Multiple Regression Analysis Appendix 9 The survey questionnaire
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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE FIGURE TITLE PAGE NO
3.1 Theoretical Framework for Affective Organizational
4.4 Correlation Coefficients and Descriptive Statistics (sample Size= 259)
62
4.5 Factor Loadings on DV 64
4.6 Revised Hypothesis 66
4.7 Hierarchical Regression Results Using Gender as a Moderator in the Relationship between the Independent Variables and Affective Organizational Commitment
69
4.8 Result of the Hypothesis testing 70
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.0 Chapter Overview
This initial chapter will focus on the introduction and background of Affective
Organizational Commitment in a general sense. Subsequently, it will discuss
the purpose of the study, the objectives, its scope, and its limitations before
concluding with the organization of the study.
1.1 Introduction / Background of the Study
Organizational commitment is an important area of study to many researchers
and organizations because the outcomes of this behaviour or value may help
to determine many work related interaction of the employees. It is mainly
related to the employee’s desire to continue working with the particular
organization. As such, researchers and practitioners are ever so keen and
interested to understand the factors that may influence an individual's decision
to stay or leave the organization. Here, affective commitment most often tends
to be the most highly related to the desire to leave an organization.
Affective Organizational Commitment is one of the most prominent work
attitudes examined in the work and organizational literature. The study of
organizational commitment is an important and integral part of the literature
on management and organizational behaviour for a long time, since as late as
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the 70’s. Among the first studies on organizational commitment were
conducted by Porter, Steers, Mowday and Boulian (1974), where they studied
on Organizational commitment and turnover among psychiatric technicians.
Mowday, Richard, and Porter (1979) also studied on the measure of
organization commitment. Since then, there have been many studies by
researchers on organizational commitment but mostly amongst salespersons.
These studies encompassed how Affective Organizational Commitment
affects salespersons (Agarwal and Ramaswami, 1993), salespersons job
satisfaction (Bhuian and Menguc, 2002) and salesperson’s the rate of
turnover (Johnston, Varadarajan, Futrell and Sager, 1987).
Studies have shown that Organizational Commitment have received
considerable attention due to the importance that managers place on retaining
personnel (Johnston, Parasuraman, Futrell, and Black, 1990; Mathieu,
Bruvold and Ritchey, 2000; Boles, Madupalli, Rutherford and Wood, 2007).
However, the importance of retaining employees or personnel is not only
confined to any single industry, as many employers place great importance to
employee retention and to reduce employee turnover as this may involve high
costs in terms of induction, training and productivity (Firth, Mellor, Moore and
Loquet 2004).
In today’s world, we see an increase in the use of knowledge in organizations
in various industries. This is the era of k-economy where knowledge is
deemed an important factor that may contribute to the success of an
individual as well as the organization. As such, these individuals whose work
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primarily consists of having the updated knowledge within their area of
speciality and apply it to bring benefits for the organization (Amar, 2002), are
called knowledge workers. The behaviour and attitudes of a knowledge
worker is very different from an average white collar worker and as such, the
behavioural outcomes will also be different.
Therefore, it becomes pertinent that the behavioural outcomes of the
knowledge worker are understood especially with regards to the employee’s
affective organizational commitment. At present, we do not know how
knowledge workers’ organizational commitment is affected by the
organizations leadership traits, nor do we know how the organizations’ view
on knowledge sharing affects the employees’ affective organizational
commitment. Various other aspects of the organizational practices which
affects affective organizational commitment such as the extent of employees
relations, the perception of compensation and incentives, which
encompasses not just salary but inclusive of profit sharing, bonuses and
rewards, opportunities of training and development, the nature of their task
orientation or the perception of fairness of performance management and
promotion practices in their organization is still not established on how it is
related to the affective organizational commitment. We also do not know if
there is a difference between male and female knowledge workers and their
level of affective organizational commitment.
With so much of uncertainties associated with knowledge workers’
behavioural patterns, it is increasingly pertinent that the study on these new-
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age employees is absolutely vital and necessary in this era of growing
competitiveness.
1.2 Purpose of the Study
This purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between various
organizational practices in predicting affective organizational commitment
among knowledge workers in Malaysia. The study also seeks to explore the
role of gender as a moderating factor between the relationship of
organizational practices and affective organizational commitment.
This study aims to make the following contribution to the existing literature, to
study various aspects of Organizational Practices, a very board research area,
in predicting affective organizations commitment among knowledge workers in
the Malaysian context.
1.3 Significance of the Study
One of the biggest challenges for most knowledge organizations in these
highly competitive times comes from changes in work behaviours of the new
generation of workers – knowledge workers (Amar, 2002). These employees
have superior knowledge and skills, at times more than the manager or
superiors supervising them. These managers have the responsibility to
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create policies and establish organizational practices which will influence the
working environment for these knowledge workers. As such, it becomes very
pertinent for the management to understand these knowledge worker’s
psychological and sociological needs, so as to gain maximum benefits from
maintaining them in their employment. Typically a large number of managers
still continue to rely on outdated behavioural theories and practices without
realising knowledge workers are a different breed of employees altogether.
As such, it become pertinent for these managers to understand how some of
the polices and organizational practices affect these knowledge workers’
affective organizational commitment – a measurement which determines if the
employee will still continue to work with the current organization. It is also
interesting to note that, according to Daft (2006), today’s successful managers
aim to cherish people for their ability to think, create, share knowledge and
build relationships rather than seeing employees as factors of production.
The significance of this research is aimed to produce some kind of guidance
and benefits to policy makers and managers in the private organizations to
help them to better plan and move towards retaining their knowledge workers
through specific organizational practises. This study is hoped to provide
some valuable insights to these organizations which seeks to create the
appropriate enabling working environment or establish the significant
organizational practises to encourage knowledge workers to be committed to
their current organization and continue their service with them.
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1.4 Research Questions / Objectives of the Study
The following questions were proposed as part of this research:
1. What is the relationship between the knowledge workers’ perception of
their organization’s top management leadership traits and affective
organizational commitment?
2. What is the relationship between the knowledge workers’ perception of
their organization’s outlook towards knowledge sharing and affective
organizational commitment?
3. To what extent do knowledge workers view of employees relations
have an interactive effect on affective organizational commitment?
4. Do knowledge workers find compensation and incentives having an
effect on their perception of affective organizational commitment?
5. To what extent do opportunities of training and development affect
affective organizational commitment among knowledge workers?
6. Does task orientation affects affective organizational commitment
among knowledge workers?
7. Are knowledge workers concerned about the fairness of performance
management and promotion practices in their organization and is it
related to the affective organizational commitment?
8. Does gender of knowledge workers affect the relationship of the
independent variables and affective organizational commitment?
The ultimate objective of the study is of course to develop a better
understanding of affective organizational commitment especially among
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knowledge workers in Malaysian private sector. As such, specifically, this
study hopes to achieve the following objectives:
1. To determine the relationship between the seven variables identified in
influencing affective organizational commitment among knowledge
workers.
2. To determine whether gender of knowledge workers, as a moderating
variable, affects the relationship between the seven independent
variables and affective organisational commitment.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This academic study was conducted on the private sector knowledge workers
in Malaysia, specifically within the Klang Valley. The industries targeted were
known to employ knowledge workers such as manufacturing, finance and
consultation, retail and distribution, engineering as well as services. The
respondents were selected within the Klang Valley as most of these
organizations would have set up their head offices within the Klang Valley. A
survey instrument of questionnaire was used to collect data and response to
conduct this research study. Approximately 400 copies of questionnaire were
distributed both electronically and by hand to the selected respondents and
their networks, all within the knowledge worker scope.
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1.6 Organization of the study
This research study report is structured into five chapters. Chapter 1 seeks to
present the introduction and the background of the study, highlighting the
interest to study knowledge workers in the Malaysian private sector. It will
also provide an overview of the nature of the knowledge worker as
established by past researchers. Besides that, this chapter will also focus on
the purpose and significance of the study, specifying the objectives of the
study while exploring some relevant research questions. This chapter then
covers the scope of the study and identifies as the various limitations
associated to this study to begin with before concluding with the component
covering the organization of the study.
Chapter 2 is the literature review which seeks to define the term knowledge
worker, affective organizational commitment and the various related
terminologies which will be used in this study as well as critically review the
existing literature pertinent to the study.
Chapter 3 will provide the Research Methodology used in this study. It will
cover the theoretical or conceptual framework model which will be drawn out
to show the relationship of the various variables being studied in this research.
This chapter will also focus on the detailed explanation about the research
instrument; the sampling design, the data collection procedure as well as the
various techniques used to process and analyze the data obtained.
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Chapter 4 will discuss the research results and the analysis. This chapter will
highlight the findings obtained from the study. This chapter will also present
key findings as well as summarizing the statistics available about the
respondents, present the results of the hypotheses testing and conclude with
the discussion of the research findings.
Chapter 5 will conclude the research by confirming the key findings and the
implication of the results derived from this study. It will also highlight on how
these findings contributes towards new knowledge to relevant individuals,
policy makers, manager as well as organizations. Recommendations for
future research will also be included in this final chapter.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Chapter Overview
In this chapter, the definitions and concepts about knowledge workers,
organizational commitment and the various factors affecting organizational
commitment as well as a review of existing literature in support of the entire
research study will be discussed.
2.1 Definitions and Concepts
2.1.1 Knowledge Worker
‘Knowledge work’, is a term coined by management guru, Peter Drucker,
more than 40 years ago in 1959 (Daft, 2006) generally describes an employee
whose job activities are associated with the refining, manipulating and trading
of information (DiGiovanni, 2004). However, a knowledge worker has defined
an employee who applies theoretical and analytical knowledge acquired
through formal education to develop new products or services and required
continuous learning (Scott, 2005). Knowledge workers also are known to
make their living by accessing, creating and using information in way that add
value to an enterprise and its stakeholders (Tymon and Stumpf, 2002).
Gregerman, (1981) has identified some unique characteristics of a knowledge
worker as below:
1. A knowledge worker has total authority in deciding how to do what.
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2. Tasks of a knowledge worker are usually non-repetitive job tasks
where the methods used to resolve problems or issues encompass
numerous different approaches and techniques.
3. The output of a knowledge worker is difficult to quantify.
4. The ‘production rate’ of knowledge workers is dependent upon the
complexity of the issue at hand and the influences of the environment.
5. Projects or tasks being assigned to knowledge workers maybe mid to
long term as it may span over months or years.
6. The effectiveness of the knowledge worker depends greatly on the
extent of knowledge application and innovations employed.
7. Knowledge workers job often impact on other employees’ job as well
as the organization.
8. Knowledge workers respond well to organizational recognition.
9. Knowledge workers show high level of interest in participative work or
team work.
10. Knowledge workers desire the work to be challenging, interesting and
worthwhile to the organization.
11. Knowledge workers show high tendency to personnel development
opportunities to improve themselves.
Although the characteristics of knowledge workers were outlined by
Gregerman in the early 80’s, most of the characteristics hold true in the
present times. The review on knowledge workers by present researchers
shows that knowledge workers deal with complex and often with new
technologies. They daily work may be unpredictable, multi-disciplinary and
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usually non-repetitive (Scott, 2005). The jobs assigned to them have long
term goals and due to the relative complexity of the task, they may need to
collaborate with co-workers in the accomplishment of their task (Beyerlein,
Johnson and Beyerlein, 1995; Scott, 2005). Their work usually has very little
structure and mostly cannot be standardized as they are required to be
unique and exercise ingenuity in accomplishing their tasks (Amar, 2002).
Since knowledge workers are people whose work is primarily intellectual and
non-routine in nature, and which involves the utilizations and creation of
knowledge (Hislop, 2005), based on this definition, a large range of
occupations may be classified as knowledge-intensive, including lawyers,
Agarwal and Ramaswami (1993) Benkhoff (1997) Benson and Brown (2007) Boles et al (2007) Boselie and van der Wiele (2002) Churchill et al (1974) Currivan (1999) Johnston et al (1990) Joiner and Bakalis (2006) Lee (2005) Lee and Ahmad (2009) Rowden (2000) Savery and Syme (1996) Stallworth (2004)
- team interdependence - team participation - Co-worker relationship
Agarwal and Ramaswami (1993) Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) Ansari, Hung and Aafaqi (2000) Boselie and van der Wiele (2002) Benkhoff (1997) Benson and Brown (2007) Boles et al (2007) Cho, Woods, Jang and Erdem (2006) Churchill et al (1974) Currivan (1999) Ferres, Connell and Travaglione (2004) Hung, Ansari and Aafaqi (2004) Joiner and Bakalis (2006) Lee-Kelley, Blackman and Hurst (2007) Stallworth (2004)
Agarwal and Ramaswami (1993) Benkhoff (1997) Bhuian and Menguc (2002) Boselie and van der Wiele (2002) Cho et al (2006) Chew and Chan (2007) Chow (1994) Churchill et al (1974) Currivan (1999) Firth et al (2003) Savery and Syme (1996) Stallworth (2004)
4 Salary and Compensation on performance
Ansari et al (2000) Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) Benson and Brown (2007) Boles et al (2007) Boselie and van der Wiele (2002) Chew and Chan (2007) Cho et al (2006) Chow (1994) Churchill et al (1974) Lee-Kelley et al (2007)
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Table 2.1: Factors Influencing Organizational commitment (continued) Factors: Researcher 5 Job Satisfaction (overall) Ansari et al (2000)
Benkhoff (1997) Bhuian and Menguc(2002) Boles et al (2007) Falkenburg and Schyns (2007) Firth et al (2003) Johnston et al (1990) Kalbers and Cenker (2007) Lee and Ahmad (2009)
6 Performance Management and Promotion
Ansari et al (2000) Benkhoff (1997) Benson and Brown (2007) Boles et al (2007) Cho et al (2006) Lee-Kelley et al (2007)
7 Training and development
Ansari et al (2000) Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) Chew and Chan (2007) Cho et al (2006) Churchill et al (1974) Stallworth (2004)
8 Role Ambiguity Agarwal and Ramaswami (1993) Benson and Brown (2007) Currivan (1999) Firth et al (2003) Johnston et al (1990)
9 Role Conflict Agarwal and Ramaswami (1993) Benson and Brown (2007) Currivan (1999) Firth et al (2003) Johnston et al (1990)
10 Secondary working conditions
Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) Benkhoff (1997) Boselie and van der Wiele (2002) Cho et al (2006) Lee-Kelley et al (2007)
11 Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Management
Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) Boselie and van der Wiele (2002) Cho et al (2006) Massingham and Diment (2009)
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Table 2.1: Factors Influencing Organizational commitment (continued) Factors: Researcher 12 Years of tenure,
experience Benkhoff (1997) Joiner and Bakalis (2006) Kalbers and Cenker (2007)
13 Organizational culture and policy on hiring
Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) Ansari et al (2000) Boles et al (2007)
14 Resource adequacy Benson and Brown (2007) Joiner and Bakalis (2006) Lee-Kelley et al (2007)
15 Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX)
Hung et al (2004) Morrow, Suzuki, Crum, Ruben and Pautsch (2005)
16 Procedural Justice Benkhoff (1997) Cho et al (2006)
17 Job Security Benson and Brown (2007) Ahmad and Schroeder (2003)
18 Gender Elizur and Koslowsky (2001) Savery and Syme (1996)
For the purpose of this research, six of the top variables identified as key
factors in influencing affective organizational commitment as well as the
knowledge sharing factor will be studied. Therefore the seven variables that
will be used are as follows: Leadership, Employee relation, Task orientation,
Compensation and Incentives, Performance Management and Promotion,
Opportunities of Training and Development and finally Knowledge Sharing.
These seven variables will be tested against affective organizational
commitment to study if their influence is significant.
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2.3.1 Leadership
In an organization or a department, the top management team, the manager,
department leader or supervisor is usually the mediator between the
employees and the organization itself. Thus, the role of these key people is
vital in establishing the sort of relationship an employee establishes with the
organization. The level of interaction, the trust, the relationship is build
through this interaction. A study by Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison and
Sowa, (1986) has shown that employees’ organizational commitment is
strongly influenced by perceived organizational support received through the
managers in that organization. As such, more often, employees are more
likely to feel an obligation to return the supportive behaviour in terms of
affective commitment (Shore and Wayne, 1993). It has also been found from
Mottaz’s (1988) study of 1,385 employees from various occupations found
that employees who perceived a friendly and supportive relationship with their
management team had a strong, positive commitment to their respective
organizations. This was also seen in a study by Joiner and Bakalis (2006),
where supervisor support indicated in high affective commitment among
employees.
Leadership in this context is the support shown and the approach by the top
management team as well as the department heads to ensure that the
employees are well taken care of. In other words, the organization is showing
efforts of being committed towards having a supportive relationship with the
employees.
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2.3.2 Employee Relation
In any organization, the group of employee working together will constitute the
working environment in that organization. This working environment
encompasses the inter-relationship between employees and the support level
of team members in working together in everyday tasks. According to Lee-
Kelley et al, (2007) team work encompasses the process of creating results
through communication and collaboration amongst employees. This allows
the employees to produce a collective result larger than the sum of the
individuals’ ideas.
Working in teams allows employee relation to flourish and may give some
employees greater job satisfaction. In a constructive and effective team
context and environment, fellow team-mates are more likely to be helpful,
friendly and willing to share information and equipment. Teams are also quite
likely to share authority and responsibility, thus increasing the level an
individual employee experiences (Lee-Kelley et al, 2007)
According to Joiner and Bakalis (2006), it was found that employees who
perceived a friendly and supportive relationship with their co-workers develop
a strong, positive commitment to their respective organizations (Mottaz, 1988).
This is further confirmed in a study by Hung et al, (2004) where it was found
that employee relations is positively associated with affective organizational
commitment. As such, for the context of this research, employee relations
reflect cooperation and team work among the employees in the organization.
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2.3.3 Task Orientation
Task Orientation basically means the nature of the job or task of an employee.
This includes the type of work, the level of challenge, the freedom to work and
the range of activities involved. Agarwal and Ramaswami (1993) have
described this as task variety and task autonomy which encompasses
characteristics of a job which allows the employees to undertake a wide range
of activities in their work and the extent an employee has a say in how their
job is carried out, respectively.
Studies have shown that an opportunity to work on challenging assignment
has been shown to be positively related to organizational commitment
(Idaszak and Drasgow, 1987; Pil and Macduffie, 1996; Price and Mueller,
1981; Udo et al., 1997; Workman and Bommer, 2004). It is evident from the
vast literature available which has that employees who are offered challenging,
exciting and interesting work tend to be more involved and satisfied, and are
in turn more committed to their organization and are less likely to leave their
organization.
Task autonomy denotes a sense of power or control over the task at hand
(Dubinksy and Skinner, 1984) which allows the employee freedom to manage
his or her task at hand. The employee has freedom to plan, decide and carry
out the tasks associated with his or her job function as seen fit.
Agarwal and Ramaswami (1993) have further confirmed that attachment to
organization or organizational commitment is greatest among the employees
28
with considerable task variety (Hunt et al, 1985; Glisson and Durick 1988) and
task autonomy (Hunt et al., 1985) in their research.
Thus for the scope of this study, task variety and task autonomy is combined
in a single construct as task orientation which reflects nature of the job, the
range of activities involved and the extent of freedom to plan, decide and
carry out the tasks associated with his or her job function as seen fit by the
employee.
2.3.4 Compensation and Incentives
Remuneration or compensation is one of the important contractual and
implied agreements between an employer and an employee (Chew and Chan
2007). Willis (2000) describes compensation as ‘the most critical issue when
it comes to attracting and keeping talents.’ As such, sometimes, some
companies may even provide remuneration packages that are well above the
market rate to attract and retain critical talents (Parker and Wright, 2000),
which may include special pay premiums, stock options or bonuses. In
addition to that, some organizations give profit sharing and group-based
incentive pay (Bassi and Van Buren, 1999) to performing employees.
Past researchers have recognized pay or compensation as a potential
antecedent of organizational commitment (Parker and Wright, 2000). As such,
employees may express greater commitment and tend to remain with the
organization when they feel that their capabilities, efforts and performance
contributions are recognized and appreciated (Davies, 2001; Mercer Report,
29
2003) and is shown through the compensation package offered. In a study by
Mercer Report (2003), states that employees will stay if they are rewarded
fairly and adequately. Most often these compensation packages are in line
with the company’s strategies and are usually made known to the employees.
So, this goes to show that if an organization does not pay equitably compared
to others, it may risk losing the employees because of the non-competitive
compensation package (Adams 1965). In recent studies by Ansari et al,
(2000), the results have shown that employees were more likely to
demonstrate high affective commitment if they perceived the compensation as
fair.
2.3.5 Performance Management and Promotion
Performance management as proposed by Sparrow et al. (1994), consists
performance evaluation and appraisal, followed by rewards for enhancing
skills and knowledge, rewards for business needs and gains, merit philosophy,
and flexible benefit schemes which may be considered as promotion.
Ansari et al, (2000) cited Lawler, (1989) having noted that distribution of
organizational rewards such promotion, status, and performance evaluations
have tremendous impact on organizational commitment. Hung, et al (2000),
citing Kwon (2001) has also found that career development and promotion
opportunities to be predictive of greater affective commitment among
employees.
30
In a study by Ansari, et al (2000), results have suggested that employees
were more likely to express high affective commitment when they perceived
the performance management and promotion as fair.
2.3.6 Training and Development
Training and development are a common form of human capital investment
for individual and organizational improvements (Chew and Chan, 2007).
Training and development can be used to enhance job specific skills,
correction of deficiencies in job performance and development of employees
with abilities the organization might need in the future (Wood and De
Menezes, 1998, Chew and Chan, 2007).
There have been instances where trained individuals become more
marketable and consequently might leave the organization; contemporary
studies have demonstrated that training and development affect job attitudes
(Chew and Chan, 2007). Studies have shown that training and development
has contributed towards organizational commitment (Detoro and McCabe,
1997). Literatures have shown that employee empowerment through training
activities not only help to develop these employees but also help to enhance
their commitment to the organization (McEvoy, 1997). The findings in a
research by Ansari et al, (2000) have also shown that training is positively
associated with affective organizational commitment. This generally is
consistent with earlier researches (Greenberg 1990; McFarlin and Sweeney
1992; Sweeney and McFarlin 1993) conducted, that training and development
does contribute as a significant predictor of organizational commitment.
31
Further to that, it has also been found that when the training and development
needs of employees and employers are met, the employees will more likely
stay in their organizations (Bassi and Van Buren, 1999; Sheridan, 1992;
Wood, 1999).
In the context of this study, training and development is considered the
commitment shown by the organization towards providing training and
development for the employees.
2.3.7 Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge is an organizational element possessed by organizational
members, which includes practical knowledge, high-level technical capabilities,
perceptions of systems and creative abilities (Quinn, Anderson and
Finkelstein, 1996). Sarmento (2005), has described knowledge as ‘the
combination of data and information, to which is added expert opinion, skills
and experience, resulting in a valuable asset which can be used to aid
decision making’.
As such, knowledge sharing is defined as the movement of knowledge within
an organization (Massingham and Diment, 2009). Lee (2001) has defined
knowledge sharing as activities of transferring or disseminating knowledge
from one person, group or organization to another. Song (2001) has indicated
that through effective knowledge sharing, organizations may improve
efficiency, reduce training cost, and reduce risks due to uncertainty. Bartol
and Srivastava (2002) have defined knowledge sharing as individuals sharing
32
organizationally relevant information, ideas, suggestions, and expertise with
one another. Knowledge sharing can also be viewed as a set of behaviours
that involve the exchange of information or assistance to others (Connelly and
Kelloway, 2003).
It is a process of knowledge exchanges between the source and recipient
units over several stages. It is not a random process but more of an effort
instilled by the organization through internal policies, structures, and
processes to facilitate this exchange of knowledge (Inkpen, 1998). Typically,
employees would begin searching for knowledge if they have a problem they
cannot resolve by themselves or if they want to learn something new with
regards to their job (Massingham and Diment, 2009). Knowledge sharing
maybe done in a formal way enables by the organization or through an
informal experiences between co-workers or from the management to the
employees.
As knowledge workers thrive on knowledge and deal with knowledge sharing
and knowledge improving, it would be an interesting fact to study the extent of
knowledge sharing towards affective organizational commitment. However,
according to Hislop (2003) there has been limited research commitment and
knowledge-sharing attitudes and behaviours. Nonetheless, Massingham and
Diment, 2009 have found in their research that Knowledge sharing does
contribute towards organizational commitment among employees. As such, in
the context of this study, knowledge sharing is termed as the organization’s
33
efforts and policies towards encouraging the exchange of knowledge among
employees.
Table 2.2 shows the constructs pertinent to this study as well as the
definitions for each of them
2.4 Moderating effect of gender
According to Elizur and Koslowsky, (2001), one of the most popular
demographic variables studied in the work value or behavioural construct is
gender. It is known that men and women have different behavioural
tendencies. Past studies have shown the existence of some difference in
organizational commitment between men and women (Hartmann, 2000;
Marsden, Kalleberg and Cook, 1993; Mason, 1995; Wiersma, 1990; Mathieu
and Zajac, 1990; Savery and Syme 1996). These studies do indicate some
gender differences of organizational commitment for various reasons.
Although there are studies which indicates otherwise (Russ and McNeilly,
1995) leading to believe that there are no gender differences in organizational
commitment. Gender is also found to act as a moderator in the study
organizational commitment (Mellor et al., 1994). In the study by Elizur and
Koslowsky, (2001) results do confirm that gender is a moderating factor in
determining affective organizational commitment.
34
As such, in the context of knowledge workers, it would be interesting to
understand if there are any gender differences in affective organizational
commitment. For the purpose of this study, gender will be used as a
moderating factor.
Table 2.2: Definition of Constructs used in the Model
Employee’s emotional attachment to the organization
Leadership The organization is showing efforts of being committed towards having a supportive relationship with the employees.
Employee relation Reflects cooperation and team work among the employees in the organization.
Knowledge sharing Organization’s efforts and policies towards encouraging the exchange of knowledge among employees
Task Orientation Reflects nature of the job, the range of activities involved and the extent of freedom to plan, decide and carry out the tasks associated with his or her job function as seen fit by the employee.
Opportunities of Training and Development
Commitment shown by the organization towards providing training and development for the employees.
Compensation and Incentives
Compensation and incentives provided by the organization for employees and a system which is aligned with the organization’s goals and objectives.
Fairness of Performance Management and Promotion
Fairness of performance appraisal process and the likelihood of promotion.
35
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Chapter Overview
This chapter will provide details of the research model, design and
methodology used in this study. The theoretical framework or the research
model and the related research hypothesis will also be discussed in this
chapter. It will also describe the research instrument, sampling design, data
collection procedures and the data analysis techniques used.
3.1 Theoretical Framework / Research Model
The theoretical framework or the research model is a conceptual model on the
theory or the logical sense of relationships among the several factors that
have been identified as pertinent to the study. This research will explore
seven factors or independent variables namely leadership (LS), knowledge
sharing (KS), employee relation (ER), task orientation (TO), fairness of
performance management and promotion (PP), opportunities of training and
development (TD), and finally compensation and incentives (CI). Figure 3.1
displays the theoretical framework for this study.
36
Figure 3.1: Theoretical Framework for Affective Organizational
Commitment of Knowledge Workers
Hypothesis development was based on the literature review.
Previous studies by past researchers (Eisenberger et al, 1986; Mottaz, 1988;
Shore and Wayne, 1993; Joiner and Bakalis, 2006) have shown that
employees’ organizational commitment is strongly influenced by perceived
Number of Years in Current Organization Less than 2 yrs 77 29.73 2 or more but less than 5 yrs 101 39.00 5 or more but less than 10 yrs 44 16.99 10 yrs or more 37 14.29 Total 259 100.00
Industry or Nature of Business Manufacturing 91 35.14 Financial / Consultation 32 12.36 Retail, Sales and Distribution 18 6.95 Engineering 21 8.11 Transportation and Logistics 2 0.77 Services 60 23.17 Others 35 13.51 Total 259 100.00
56
4.3 Goodness of Measures
4.3.1 Independent Variables
Factor analysis, a data reduction method, was utilised on the seven
Orientation (TO), Fairness of Performance Management and Promotion (PP),
Opportunities of Training and Development (TD) and Compensation and
incentives (CI) to examine the correlation between the different variables in
the study.
This means, through factor analysis, the inter-relationships among the
variables are studied to find a new set of variables, usually fewer in number
than the original set of variables, which represents a common or shared
variation. It was also suggested that factor analysis is only considered
appropriate if the coefficient values is 0.3 and above in the correlation matrix,
when running this test. Bartlett’s test of sphericity and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
(KMO) measure of sampling adequacy are both used to determine the
factorability of the matrix as a whole. If Bartlett’s test is sphericity is large and
significant, and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure is greater than 0.6,
then factorability is assumed (Coakes and Steed, 2007). Tables 4.3 will
display the findings for the factor analysis pertinent to this study.
According to Hair et al, (2006), only factors with eigenvalues of more than 1.0
in the Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings will be considered as significant
57
factors. As a result of the factor analysis, the KMO and Bartlett’s Test results
are generated and in this study, the KMO measure of sampling adequacy was
0.902 and the Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was significant (Chi-Square =
2853.658, p < 0.01 at 0.000).
The factors were rotated using KMO normalizations method because the
factors were first assumed to be related. This way, which ever factor with
cross loadings may be dropped off from the analysis for this study. There
were ten factors initially, although the number of IVs were only seven, but
after running the factor analysis test, only six were retained, out of which three
of the factors were combined into one new factor and one factor was split into
two. Twelve items (Q4 - CI 1, Q5 - TD 1, Q6 - TO 1, Q8 - LS 2, Q10 - ER 2,
Q12 - TD 2, Q13 - TO 2, Q15 - LS 3, Q21 - PP 3, Q29 - LS 5, Q35 - TD 5,
Q37 - PP 5) were dropped after the factor analysis . However, there was one
item, PP4 which had cross loading but the loading values were very far apart
indicating low or minimal affect to factor 6, therefore, and this item was
maintained in the analysis. As such, a new conceptual framework will be
developed to accommodate this result.
Therefore, based on the remaining factors and items after following through
from the process of dropping the items which had cross loading, the analysis
retained the six new factors with the coefficient value of 0.3 and above so that
they were of practical significance. Based on the items that were loaded on
each factor, the six new factors for this study were then renamed as follows
with the effective questions paired to each factor. The renaming of these
factors was done based on the effective questions which were loaded to each
58
of them. As such, three of the independent variables; Leadership (LS),
Knowledge Sharing (KS) and Employee Relation (ER) were combined into a
new factor as Knowledge Sharing Practices (KSP). The independent variable;
Compensation and Incentives (CI) were split into two new factors being
Compensation (C) and Incentives (I). Table 4.3 shows the Factor Loadings
as well as the six new renamed factors.
Table 4.3 Factor Loadings on IV
No Items Factors 1 2 3 4 5 6
KSP TO C PP TD I 1 LS 1 The top management
members in this organization friendly and approachable.
0.43 0.34 0.19 0.29 -0.08 -0.09
2 KS 1 The organization shares business proposals and reports with each other.
0.53 0.22 -0.09 0.06 -0.06 0.09
3 ER 1 The organization stimulates cooperation within the business units.
0.65 0.19 0.15 -0.01 0.09 0.03
4 KS 2 The organization shares manuals, models and methodologies with employees.
0.49 -0.03 0.18 0.16 0.20 0.00
5 KS 3 The organization shares know-how from work experience with each other.
0.67 0.09 0.25 0.31 0.11 -0.06
6 ER 3 The organization actively promotes exchange of knowledge within the business units
0.66 0.12 0.23 0.16 0.15 0.11
59
Table 4.3 Factor Loadings on IV (continued) No Items Factors
1 2 3 4 5 6 KSP TO C PP TD I
7 LS 4 The management looks out for the welfare of employees.
0.40 0.09 0.27 0.07 0.19 0.13
8 KS 4 The organization shares expertise obtained from education and training with each other.
0.62 0.18 0.18 0.11 0.29 0.08
9 ER 4 The organization appreciates exchange of knowledge within the business units
0.66 0.12 0.15 0.23 0.25 0.03
10 LS 6 There is effective communication between management and employees
0.47 0.27 0.29 0.11 0.16 0.08
11 LS 7 The management stimulates development of skills among the employees.
0.55 0.24 0.33 0.20 0.24 0.08
12 ER 5 There is sufficient co-operation between various business units within the organization.
0.62 0.33 0.31 0.07 0.06 -0.01
13 TO 3 The organization often allows me to decide which tasks to perform
0.29 0.61 0.14 0.12 0.08 0.01
14 TO 4 The organization allows me enough freedom to do what I want on my job.
0.25 0.71 0.20 -0.02 0.19 0.02
15 TO 5 The organization often allows me freedom of choice on how I do my work.
0.10 0.65 0.14 0.12 0.14 0.06
16 CI 2 The organization’s incentive system is fair at rewarding people who accomplish organization objectives
0.33 0.20 0.62 0.10 0.15 0.22
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Table 4.3 Factor Loadings on IV (continued) No Items Factors
1 2 3 4 5 6 KSP TO C PP TD I
17 CI 3 The organization’s reward system really recognizes the people who contribute the most.
0.29 0.24 0.67 0.21 0.11 -0.07
18 CI 4 The organization’s incentive system encourages us to reach organization goals
0.34 0.25 0.61 0.07 0.28 0.06
19 PP 1 There is favouritism in performance evaluation in this organization
0.08 0.09 0.09 0.58 0.13 0.14
20 PP 2 The management follows a “pick-and-choose” policy for promotion
0.26 0.15 0.09 0.61 -0.01 0.04
21 PP 4 Yearly assessment depends upon the kind of relationship employees have with their supervisor, not the work they perform
0.16 -0.02 0.07 0.66 0.06 0.36
22 TD 3 Organization employees receive training and development in work-place skills on a regular basis
0.22 0.19 0.18 0.02 0.60 -0.10
23 TD 4 The management at this organization believes that continual training and upgrading of employees’ skills is important
0.23 0.16 0.14 0.14 0.76 0.12
24 CI 5 The organization’s incentive system is at odds with our organization goals
0.00 -0.04 -0.01 0.10 0.01 0.56
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Table 4.3 Factor Loadings on IV (continued) No Items Factors
1 2 3 4 5 6 KSP TO C PP TD I
25 CI 6 In this organization, persons (and/or teams) who achieve organization goals are rewarded the same as those who do not achieve organization goals.
0.13 0.16 0.13 0.22 0.01 0.66
Eigenvalue 4.58 2.09 2.00 1.68 1.48 1.06
Percentage of variance 18.31 8.37 7.99 6.70 5.94 4.23
KMO : 0.902
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (Chi-Square = 2853.658, p < 0.01 at 0.000).
Cronbach’s Alpha (Reliability Coefficients) is a reliability measurement used to
ensure that the developed factors will measure consistently the items which
were intended to be measured in the first place. The data was reliable and
acceptable for further analysis if the alpha coefficient were more than 0.7
(Hair et al, 2006). Further to that, the alpha coefficients obtained of all the
variables were above 0.7 except for Incentives (I) which only registered 0.56.
Therefore, to improve the reliability coefficient of the items, items CI 5 and CI
6 were both dropped and this factor was not included in the study. Otherwise,
all the other variables have shown that the factors and items developed in this
study are reliable and acceptable at moderate to high levels.
Correlation analysis was used to describe the strength and direction of the
linear relationship between the IVs and the DV. As such, Pearson Product
62
Moment Correlation coefficient was used to test the relationship and the
strength of each independent variable in influencing the dependent variable
being studied in this research. Table 4.4 shows the complete overview of the
descriptive statistics and the correlation coefficients as well as the reliability
coefficients for the independent and dependent variables.
Table 4.4: Correlation Coefficients and Descriptive Statistics (sample
Compensation (C) and Opportunities of Training and Development (TD), while
the remaining 54% is not explained. This is somewhat typical in a behavioural
study, nonetheless, this low figure shows that there are limitations in the
model and future research is definitely recommended.
Multiple regression analysis was continued with the analysis on gender as a
moderator of the measurement of affective organizational commitment. The
interaction of each factor to gender was tabulated and the multiple regression
analysis was performed on these new scales.
Table 4.7 shows the summary for the Hierarchical Regression Results Using
Gender as a Moderator in the Relationship between the Independent
Variables and Affective Organizational Commitment.
69
Table 4.7: Hierarchical Regression Results Using Gender as a Moderator in the Relationship between the Independent Variables and Affective Organizational Commitment Independent Variable Std Beta
Compensation (C) and Opportunities of Training and Development (TD) in this
research, while the remaining 54% is not explained. This low figure shows
that there are limitations in the model and future research is definitely
recommended to identify other factors to complete this model.
5.4 Suggestions for Future Research
The following suggestions will be proposed for the benefit of future research in
the study of affective organizational commitment among knowledge workers.
Future research could cover on specific type of industry to get a better
understanding of knowledge worker’s behaviours unique to each industry.
The sample size of 259 respondents may not be representative of the overall
population in Malaysia and there are restrictions in the generalization of the
research findings as non-probability sampling was employed. Perhaps future
studies should explore into a more robust sampling methodology.
Future research on knowledge workers and their affective organizational
commitment may be carried out using different constructs to study the
relationship such as role ambiguity, secondary working conditions or leader-
80
member-exchange (LMX). This would certainly expand the existing
knowledge base in understanding knowledge workers.
Future research on knowledge workers and their affective organizational
commitment may also explore other factors as moderator such as tenure or
secondary working conditions.
This study may also be expanded to do a comparison on the same variables
between knowledge workers and non-knowledge workers to further
understand the difference in behaviours between these two distinct classes of
workers.
The suggestions given above would enable the expansion of the existing
knowledge base and contribute further to the body of knowledge in the
endeavour of understanding knowledge workers.
5.5 Implications of the Study
The results of this research no doubt have several implications to theory and
implications to practice. These implications do provide some indications to
researchers and to show the organizations and practitioners the salient
factors which influence affective organizational commitment among
knowledge workers.
81
The implication to theory is that, through this research it has been suggested
that a configuration of a new factor called Knowledge Sharing Practices has
shown that it influences a knowledge worker’s affective organizational
commitment. This new factor comprises of, organizational support and also
policies that create an enabling environment for knowledge sharing by
working in teams, through close relationship with members of the
management team as well as promoting knowledge sharing activities in the
organization.
It has also been suggested that Task Orientation was significant in influencing
knowledge worker’s affective organizational commitment as this allows
knowledge workers to have the freedom of deciding the best method for
accomplishing the task at hand.
Opportunities for training and development also are found to influence
affective organizational commitment among knowledge workers. Although this
has been confirmed by past studies but now with this research this factor may
be expanded to include its significance for knowledge workers as well.
This research also indicates that knowledge workers’ commitment is affected
by the compensation system which is aligned with the organization’s goals
and objectives. Previous studies which have found similar relationship
however were not in the context of knowledge workers. Yet, this research
suggests that this factor may be expanded to hold true for knowledge workers
as well.
82
Finally, gender was not significant as a moderating variable in this study and it
can be suggested that the relationship of the various factors and affective
commitment level among knowledge workers is not affected by the
employee’s gender.
This research also has provided some useful insights and implications to
organizations and practitioners involved in managing knowledge workers. It
has revealed the various factors and their affect or influence on the construct
of affective organizational commitment. Given the growing demand of
knowledge workers in the future, policy makers may use the salient points
highlighted in this study in order to formulate the organizational practices and
policies aimed at keeping the knowledge workers continuously committed with
the organization.
Organizations wanting to retain knowledge workers and expect them to
develop higher levels of affective organizational commitment should consider
to promote and encourage knowledge sharing amongst employees through
organizational support, policies that create an enabling environment for
knowledge sharing, promoting knowledge sharing activities, encourage team
work amongst employees and forge close relationship between members of
the management team and the employees.
They may also look into ensuring that knowledge workers have the freedom
and the empowerment in completing their assigned tasks as long as this
83
freedom is not abused and in-line with the organization’s policies. Further to
that, the variety of tasks assigned to knowledge workers need to be highly
challenging and involves innovation as well as worthwhile to the organization.
These can be achieved by including these specifications in the employees’ job
description. This would give the employee the reassurance that he or she has
the task autonomy as well as the task variety aspect to his or her benefit.
Organizations should also need to ensure that knowledge workers are
constantly allowed and given the opportunity to improve themselves through
training and development. This may include attending seminar, conferences
and as well presenting their latest achievement and findings with the team,
the management team and organization. This may boost the morale of the
knowledge workers as well as increase the level of their affective
organizational commitment.
Organizations also need to ensure that the compensation system offered to
the knowledge workers is such that their achievement toward organizational
goals and objectives are fairly compensated as well as their efforts are
recognised as knowledge workers are suggested to thrive on these stimulus.
84
5.6 Conclusion
This research study had set out to study the relationship of several
independent variables to affective organizational commitment among
knowledge workers. The overall findings suggests fours factors which have
been found to influence affective organizational commitment among
knowledge workers include Knowledge Sharing Practices, Task Orientation,
Opportunities of Training and Development and Compensation. These
findings have resulted in providing some valuable insights on the behaviours
of knowledge workers as well as in providing some useful implications to
theory and practice. At the same time, it has also contributed towards
expanding the existing knowledge base about knowledge workers and their
level of affective organizational commitment. Nonetheless, there are
limitations in this study so recommendations for future research were also
included.
Needless to say, knowledge is an expensive and a hard to replace commodity
and knowledge workers are an asset to any organization looking for
competitive advantage in the open market. As Malaysia is looking at
becoming triumphant in the world of k-economy, organizations need to ensure
that they understand and manage the key catalyst i.e. knowledge workers
which will ensure their success during these competitive times.
85
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APPENDIX
Appendix 1: Key Steps in Data Analysis
Scan and treat data for errors and missing values
Reverse negatively worded statement scores using
‘Transform’ function
Factor Analysis
Check for Reliability using
Cronbach’s Alpha
Perform Descriptive Statistics
Analysis
Pearson’s Correlation Test
Multiple Regression Analysis
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Appendix 2: KMO and Bartlett’s Test on IV
KMO and Bartlett's Test on IV
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .902
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity
Approx. Chi-Square 2853.658
do 300 Sig. .000
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Appendix 3: Items of Independent Variables Dropped after Factor
Analysis
No Question Number
Items Question Reason for Dropping
1 4 CI 1 The organization’s incentive system encourages the employees to vigorously pursue organization objectives
No factor loading
2 5 TD 1 Our organization has a low skill level compared with our industry
No factor loading
3 6 TO 1 In this organization, the nature of my job is non-repetitive.
Single item factor
4 8 LS 2 The top management members in this organization try to make employees’ job more pleasant.
No factor loading
5 10 ER 2 The organization appreciates cooperation within the business units.
Cross loading
6 12 TD 2 At this organization, some employees lack important skills
No factor loading
7 13 TO 2 The organization allows me the little freedom to make work decisions.
Cross Loading
8 15 LS 3 The management treats all employees as equals.
Cross Loading
9 21 PP 3 Only certain individuals are entertained for promotional opportunities
Cross Loading
10 29 LS 5 Members of the management team are always available when their help and support is needed by the employees.
Cross Loading
11 35 TD 5 Employees at this organization have skills that are above average in this industry
Single item factor
12 37 PP 5 Promotion in this organization largely depends upon what kind of relationship one has with the top management.
Cross Loading
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Appendix 4: Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient Values for Independent
Variables
Variables Cronbach's Alpha
No of Items Originator
Cronbach's Alpha
obtained by
originator KSP Knowledge
Sharing Practices
0.90 12 Agarwal and Ramaswami, (1993)
0.70
Pai, (2006) 0.86 Boslie et al (2002)
0.81
TO Task Orientation
0.67 3 Agarwal and Ramaswami, (1993)
0.85
C Compensation 0.82 3 Ahmad and Schroeder, (2003)
0.92
PP Fairness of Performance Management and Promotion
0.71 3 Ansari et al (2000)
0.89
TD Opportunities of Training and Development
0.71 2 Ahmad and Schroeder, (2003)
0.78
I Incentives 0.55 2 Ahmad and Schroeder, (2003)
0.92
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Appendix 5: KMO and Bartlett’s Test on DV
KMO and Bartlett's Test on DV
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .923
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity
Approx. Chi-Square 1443.231
do 36 Sig. .000
Appendix 6: Items Dropped after Factor Analysis on DV
No Items Question Number
Reason for
Dropping Question
1 AOC 3 3 No factor loading
I would accept almost any type of job assignment in order to keep working for this organization.
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Appendix 7: Outliers cases dropped from the analysis