----- MALAYSIAN VALUES AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT A STUDY OF DIFFERENCES AMONGST VARIOUS RACES by LAU CHAI CHOO :I. A r·esear·ch--r·epor·t-- su-bmitted in partial fulfillment of the for the of Masten of Business Administration School of Management Science Malaysia October 1994
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MALAYSIAN VALUES AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
A STUDY OF DIFFERENCES AMONGST VARIOUS RACES
by
LAU CHAI CHOO
:I.
A r·esear·ch--r·epor·t-- su-bmitted in partial fulfillment
of the ~equirements for the de~ree of
Masten of Business Administration
School of Management
U~iversity Science Malaysia
October 1994
Acknowled~ements ____ ,. __
The preparation of a dissertation requires a great deal of
concentrated personal assistance by individual faculty
members. My sincere appreciation lS extended to my
colleagues. A sp~cial word of gratitude goes to Professor , ..
Mirza Saiyadain who served as dissertation supervisor and
who has been generous with his interest and ideas
th~oughout my career· af University Science Malaysia. I am
also indebted to Professor Mirza for· his unlimited
contributions of time, effort and encouragement. -~
___ ... .----
CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgement-
Abs tr.ac t
CHAPTER 1 fNTKODUCTION 1
l.f Introduction 1
1.2 Literature Review 2
1 • 3 P u r p o s e o f R e s e a i-"c h f1
.; ..
-CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 12
2.1 Metholiology 12
2.1.1 Organizat'ional Commitment 12
2.1.2 Collectiv:ism 13
2.t.:J Respect Vor· Elders '
13
2.1.4 Harmony 14
2.2 Population and Sample 15 -,
2.3 Data Collection 16
CHAPTER 3 RESULTS 18
3.1 Results 18
-3.1.1 Sample Piofile. 18
3.1.2 Organizational Commitment 20
:3.1.3 Values Measures 21
•" . ~ ..
'i
CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Discussion
4 • 2 I rn p I i c <!_ l i o n
4 • :l L i m i t a t i o n a n d R e c o 111111 e n d a t i o n s
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES
Appendix-A
Appe11dix B
qn c s l i on n a i I' e o I' R e s c a I' c h ( Eng- 1 i s h )
Q ll c s l i ()II II a i I' c () r R c .s (! a I' c h
tBaiws'a Malaysia)
.L.l..S.I QE TABLES
TABLE Pag
3. 1 Sample Profile 1
3.2 Inter-item Correlation -
(Organizational Commitment) 2
3.3 Inter-item Correlation
(Col lccli\1ism) 2
. ' Inter-item Cor·relat ion
( Res r> e c t -f' o-r E-l de r· s ) 2
:L5 Inter·-i t:em Corndat.ion
.. ( H a nn on y, ) 2
3.6 Averages and Standard Deviation Estimates
(Organiz.ational Commitment Ily Races) 2
3.7 Analysis; of Variance
' (Organiz:ational Commitment By Races) 2
3.8 Averages and Standard Deviation Estimates
(Race X :values) 2
3 . 9 An a l y s i s: o f V a r i an c e
(Race X Collectivism) 2
3.10 Analysis of Variance
(Race X Respect for Elders) 2
Analysis of Variance
(Race X Harmony) 2
~---·
ABSTRAK
Tu j uiin kajian I 11 I adalah u n l 11 k 111 eng k a j i p e I' h u bung· an d
an tara nilai Malaysia s epe I' t i kolektiviti
menghormati orang t na -dan harmon i dengan t anggung j awal
dalam organisasi di antara tiga bangsa : Melayu~ China ~aJ
India. Data-:-data telah dikumpulkan da1·ipada 236 Ol'an,
~ekerja yang bekerja di beberapa organisasi yang terleta:
di. kawasan Utara Semenanjung Malaysia. Daripada 236 oran1
pekerja i n i , t e r· d a p a t H 4 o ,. a n g M e I a y u , 8 5 o r· a n g C h i 1 ,.a' d a J I
57 orang India. K'eputusan kajian 1111 menunjukkan bahaw:
pekerja-pekerja India adalah lebih bertanggungjawab kepad:
organisasi diikuti 1
oleh orang Mclayu dan China~ Kolektivit
rnenunjukkan perhub'ungan yang negatif dan tidak berert
dengan t an g gun g j a w; a b d a l am o I' g an i s a s i . T e t a p i , men g h o r m a t
orang tua dan harmoni menunjukkan perhubungan yang positi .•
dan be1·ert i dengan tanggungjawab dalam o1·ganisasi.
lindakbalas di antara nilai dan bangsa tidak men~~jdkkaJ
p e I' hub u n g an yang be1·erti dengan tanggungjawab dal ar
organisasi. Walau bagaimanapun, orang China dalam golonga1
harmoni yang r e11(rah rnenun j ukkan tanggungjawab dal ar
o r g- an i s a s i y a n g I' e n d a h s e k a l i .
---------
ABSTRACT
The objective of tl1is study was to exami11c Mala,ysian val1
of Collectivism, Respect for Elders and Harmony and th1
r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h o r g an i z a t i on a l co mm i t m en t among s t t h 1
races Malay, Cfiincsc and Indians. Data was col lee
. ' f I'Oill 23G employees working in several organizati1
oper·a t i ng- Peninsular Malays
Of these 23G r·es:pondents, !J4 wct·e Malay, HS Chinese and
Indian. The r es1u I t s of t.he study showed that Ind
employees at'e more committed to organizati'
followed by Mala,Y and Chinese respectively. Collectiv
showed negative1 but i ·n s i g n i f i can t t' elations hip w
organizational commitment. On the other hand, Respect
Elders and Harmony were found to be positively correlil.
with organizational commitment beyond the ~ c o-11 vent i o
levels of significance. Values in interaction with r
fa i led to show any significant variation by and lar
-
though Chinese low on Harmony showed lowest organizatio
commitment.
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
L...l INTRODUCTION
The culture of a country moulds, directs and sanctions th
way people b(~have.-.... It also plays a significant role i:
,,_determining and developing the culture of an organizat:ion
As Malaysia has often 'been described as a "minefield o
multicultural sen~itivities'' (Abdullah, A. 1992c) due ;
t
its diverse racial 'and eth11ic composition, organizations
Malaysia e 111 p I o y i r~ v a r y i n 14 p r· o p o r· l i o 11 s l h e d i f f c r e n t r a c e
and ethnic gToups i
(Malays, Chinese and l nd i ans). Eac
e l h n i c g 1-'o-u p s b r i H gi s l o o r g an i z a t i on s i t s r i c h and d i s t i n c
culture which has ~een handed down from one generation t~
the next tluough the age-old beliefs, traditions
pra~tices. The cultural tradi lions of all the ma-jor· ethni
gr·oups have woven their intricate threads into th
Mal~ysian management fabric.
In a multi-racial society like Malaysia, culture has
str~ng influence on the way work is done by employees. I
is demonstr:.ated by thei1· behavior·. Employees tning into th
workplace differ·ing syst'ems of values whCch have a bearin1
on their mot ivai ion and needs, and how they per-form thei
daily work. As a corollary, i t is believed tha
.. o r ~an i z a t i on a l ~ c o mm i t men t: i s a f f e c t e d by. d i v e r s e c u 1 t u r a 1
f a c t or s s u c h as a t t i t u d e s and v a 1 11 e s , p e r s on a 1 b c 1 i e f s and
aspirations, interpersonal relationships and social
s t l'tl c t ur e . T IH~ p r i 111 a r .Y c~_b j c c t i v e of t h i s ~~ t u d y t here fore i !
to examine if differeuc<'s iu culllll'al o r i l~ n t a t i on
among the Malaysiaus of different ethnic origins and t (
' ascertain if such differences influence the o I' g an i z a t i on a
commitment.
L..2. LITERATURE REV I'Ew
0 I' g· an i z a t i on a l co mn1 i t men t h a s L e en d e f i n e d and me a s u r e d i 1 . - '·
a wide variety o:f ways. However, there seems to be a1
agreement amongst most defini I ions that o ,. g· a n i z a t i on a
commitment as an attitude includes th1·ee things. These ar
( 1) a st1·ong desi'rc to remain as members of pattiGula
organization, ( 2 ) a willingness to exert high levels 0
efforts on behalf of the organization and (3) a definit
belief in, and acce_ptar.ce of, the values and the goals 0
the organizations (Mowday, Port e1· and Steers, 1982)
Research in the area of organizational commitment has, b
and ,large focused on these co1nponents.
Despite incrl!asing inte,rest in o.I::_g.anizat-i.-<HH\1 commitment
the understanding of comm i tmen t to WOI'k o J'gan i z at·~,-;-;-,
rema1ns l imi tell. Althoug-h p rog·r· ess has been made
clarifying the meaning of this construct, a general!
accepted model of organizational commitment has yet . ~-·
emerge.
A large numbers of studies <He published that have tried
<~ x amine the I' e 1 a t i o 11 s h i p o I' o r g an i z a t i o 11 a I c omm i tm en t w •
individual and si~uational variables. Steers (1977) fo1 '
···,L that personal characteristics influence the OI'ganizatioJ
commitment g r- e a t 1-.Y • - S u c h p e r· s o n a l characteristics
(Hrebiniak, 1 9 7 4·) , o p p or tun i t i e s f o ,. advancement-~ (Bro'
19iiH; Hall, Schn.eider, and Nyg1·en, 1H70), education
and S tee,. s, 1976), •·ole tension (Hrebiniak and Alut
1(}72) and I i f e interest (Dubin, Champoux
I
Porter·,' 1975) l1av;e been found to relate significantly w i
o I' g an i z a l i on a I c <;rom i l m c n l .
Certain organi:l,ational conditions, such ~ a-s rew
structures (Bennis et al., 1958; Grusky, 1966) and
design (Hall, 1968) appear to be linked to the membe
o r g an i z a t i o n a l - c o mm i t 111 e n t . As studied by Oscar Gru
(1966), the gr·eater the rewa1·ds •·eceived as a result
u~ward career mobility, the stronger the commitment to
organization.
Par· soilS (1~)()4) s llf.4' g- P s I (~ d I h a I t h P w o I' k orientation ... _ --~-
behavior of illdivi-Ju-ills result I'I'Olll the interaclioh
persollality a n d o r· I{ a n i z a t i o n a I I' a c t o r· s • Two personal
character is lies lha t could be l' e I at ed l o the level
organizational commitment are interpersonal trust
aud1ori tarianism. Levels of interpersonal trust, f'c
example, r·eveal the extent to which individuals see the:
social envi ronrnent ·a!o>'- benign, cooperative or friend
(Hrebiniak, 1971). The less an o1·ganizafion l s seen
these lel'lns, tlw less one is likely to be committed to
.Other studies have sug-gested that interpersonal trust
important fo1· the st1·ucture of social systems and tl
attitudes and behavio1·s of participants within them. (Nedc
1 9 'i' 1 ; A 1m o n d a n d V e r b a , I B () :~ ) • A s f a I' as a u t h o r i t a ·r i a n i :