Do we really behave the same way?

Assessing the three dimensions of organizational

commitment as antecedents of human resource practices in a non-western context

Michel Zaitouni Ph.D

Assistant professor of management
College of business administration
Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST), Kuwait
E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the underlying processes and the mechanisms by which HR practices exert influence on the
three dimensions of commitment-affective, continuance and normative- in a non-western context focusing on the
banking sector of Lebanon.

Data were collected as part of a more general survey of job-related attitudes among various levels of employees
of the participant banks. Of the 1000 questionnaires distributed in the different banks, 460 employees responded,
generating an overall usable response rate of 39.8% (62 non-usable responses).

Findings As expected, the findings from the hierarchical regression analysis reveal that HRM practices did not
contribute significantly to the prediction of the three dimensions of commitment, except for information sharing.
Some hypotheses have been rejected because of cultural differences between eastern and western societies. The
present results bring to the forefront the element of risk involved in human resource investments, and what may
be the most significant predictors of commitment dimensions among a host of human resource management
practices

This is one of few studies to provide insight into human resource practices and its relationships with the
dimensions of organizational commitment in a country that has a very different culture from that of the US and
other western societies, where most of the research on organizational commitment has been conducted.
Commitment has long been assumed to be an essential outcome of work-related behaviour, yet this study shows
that its effectiveness may be contingent on national culture.

Keywords HRM practices, banking sector, organizational commitment, cultural differences.

Organizations see their employees as a critical source of competitive advantage (Gottschalk& Zollo, 2007) and
consider them as valuable sources of performance (Zheng, Morrison & O’Neil, 2006; Beck & Wilson, 2000; Parker
et al., 2003). Therefore, a myriad of challenges are faced by organizations to effectively manage and implement

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their human resource management practices (Anakwe, 2002).Despite few exceptions, Guest (1992) contends that
many organizations adopt human resource practices intended to maximize employee commitment.

Meyer and Allen (1997) believe that the relationship between human resource practices and employee
commitment should be examined more fully. They asserted that additional research is needed to identify the
antecedents associated with the multiple domains of employee commitment.

It is imperative that management retains its best workers and keeps them committed to the organization in order
to attract other quality employees. Therefore, this concept should be the primary focus of researchers in their
studies of employment, organizations, and related fields (Scarpello, Ledvinka, & Bergman, 1995).

The concept of organizational commitment has been investigated and proven to be a consequence of HRM
practices in many studies (DeCotiis &Summers, 1987; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). Delaney and Huselid (1996)
empirically suggested that fair rewards, competence development, empowerment, recognition and information
sharing all affect organizational commitment. Although several studies have been conducted about organizational
commitment, ambiguity still exists about the factors affecting the development and promotion of it (Beck &
Wilson, 2001).

Empirical studies are still needed to detangle the factors leading to organizational commitment. Therefore, based
on the deficiency of the prior research, this study attempts to add a valued work to explain the causal linkage
between HRM practices and employees’ affective, normative, and continuance commitment, supplemented with
more appropriate statistical methods to conduct this causal reasoning.

My focus here is on specific human resource management practices, many of which have seldom or have never
been investigated in relation to organizational commitment. Hence, rather than investigate bundles of practices
(Delery and Doty, 1996; MacDuffie, 1995; Wright et al. 1999; Yalabik et al. 2008), the present study considers
specific human resource management practices designed to (1) praise and appreciate employee achievements
(recognition); (2) develop employee skills (competence development); (3) elicit motivation and commitment (fair
rewards); and (3) provide employees with knowledge to make decisions (information sharing).

The primary objective of the present study is to explore the underlying processes and the mechanisms by which
HR practices exert influence on employees’ commitment. Moreover, this study aims at extending the existing
research on organizational commitment by conducting it in a non-western work context focusing on the banking
sector of Lebanon.

In this study, I choose the banking industry for many reasons. First, the Lebanese banking sector is a highly
competitive industry, facing a rapidly changing environment, and therefore, is considered as a fertile land for
researchers and practitioners to study employee commitment. Second, because of the high rate of turnover
resulting in hue costs of recruiting and training new employees, banks in Lebanon should retain employees and

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keep them committed to their organization. Third, the banking sector as a service industry focusing more on
customer satisfaction reveals a stronger relational and emotional component than many other industries.

The following sections will present some theoretical foundation on the organizational commitment and will draw
hypotheses for its relationships with various HR practices. Next, data , measures, methodology, analysis, and
results will be discussed. Finally, a conclusion presentation with a discussion section will address limitations,
contributions of the study, and the implications for future research.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The concept of organizational commitment has been subject to numerous studies. These studies have shown that
organizational commitment predicts important variables, such as competence, recognition, information sharing
and fair rewards (e.g., Allen & Meyer, 1990; Koys, 1988; Paré & Tremblay, 2007; Smith, 1995; Whitener,
2001).Previous research also have supported the positive relationship between organizational commitment and
selected HR practices (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Porter, Steers, Mowday& Boulian, 1974).

Relationship between personal variables and organizational commitment

Some research drew results that male employees are more committed than their female counterparts (Knoke,
1988), while other studies found no significant link between the genders (Igbaria & Wormley, 1992; Van Dyne &
Ang, 1998). With regard to the education level, some research showed a negative relationship with normative
and continuance commitment (Cohen, 1999; Mayer & Schoorman, 1998), but others showed no obvious
relationship (Knoke, 1988).

Many scholars in the field considered age as an important factor to predict commitment. Mathieu and Zajac
(1990) and Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993) revealed a significant positive correlation mean, 0.2 and 0.36, between
commitment and age. Kaldenberg, Becker and Zvonkovic (1995) indicated that current job attractiveness
increases as the employee ages due to fewer other employment options. Hawkins (1998), on the other hand,
found an insignificant statistical correlation (r = -.004) between age and affective commitment for a sample of 396
high school principals.

Meyer and Allen (1997) stated that organizational tenure can lead to contemplative organizational commitment
due to the fact that uncommitted workers leave early while the committed ones stay. In another study by Meyer,
Allen and Smith (1993), it was found that the new and the senior-tenured employees are more committed than
the middle-tenured ones. In addition, Liou and Nyhan (1994) concluded that affective commitment has a negative
relationship with tenured employees and continuance commitment had no correlation at all.

Dimensions of organizational commitment

In previous years, organizational commitment has been a major focus of interest for many researchers and
practitioners(Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001; Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch& Topolnytsky, 2002). The increasing

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interest in the area has generated a great deal of research and comments. Since researchers have not always
been clear about the concept of commitment, some misunderstandings are bound to arise, resulting in a lack of
consensus on the definition of organizational commitment. In the following, we will attempt to overview the
various inferences and theoretical propositions concerning components of OC by past researchers.

Organizational commitment is defined as an attitude of emotional attachment to the organization that may
engender a sense of belonging and a stronger personal commitment (Mowday et al., 1982; Meyer & Herscovitch,
2001). Buchanan (1974) defines organizational commitment as an effective attachment of employees to the
organization that results in their willingness as social actors to give their energy and loyalty to a social system
apart from the purely instrumental worth of the relationship. Commitment is a psychological state that binds
individuals attachment or bond to the organization (O'Reilly & Chatman, 1986; Porter et al.,1974 ; Meyer et al.,
1993). Organizational commitment can be characterized by an important work-related attitudes and behaviors to
foster among employees to attach and identify them with the organization (Hackett, Lapierre & Hausdorf 2001;
Mathieu & Zajac ,1990).Committed employees are those who believe in and accept the organization’s goals and
values, are willing to exert an extensive effort on the behalf of the organization, and have a desire to stay (Porter
et al., 1974).

In this study, I explore the model of Allen and Meyer (1990) that gained a substantial popularity, and reflected
employees’ psychological state that has an implication on their intention to stay or to leave the organization.
Allen and Meyer (1990) identified three distinct components of commitment: affective, continuance and
normative commitment. The affective component refers toemployees’ emotional attachment to, identification
with, and involvement in the organization. The continuance component refers to commitment based on the costs
that employees associate with leaving the organization. Finally, the normative component refers to employees’
feelings of obligation to remain with the organization.

HR practices and organizational commitment

Prior research demonstrated a great deal of support for predicting a positive relationship between organizational
commitment and HR practices, trying to empirically show the development of a causal relationship (Paul &
Anantharaman, 2004; Ulrich, 1997; Wimalasiri, 1995). For example, McEnroe and Hechler (1985) and Paré and
Tremblay (2007)found that opportunities for promotion and the fairness of the process (recognition practices)
were positively associated to organizational commitment. Other researchers (Maurer & Tarulli, 1994; Bartlett,
2001) posited that providing employees with the necessary skills and abilities and encouraging them to apply
what they have learned in their daily work (competence development) were found to be positively related to
organizational commitment. Further, several researchers (Oliver, 1990; Rousseau & Greller, 1994) argued that fair
rewards are an indication of how much the organizations values its employees. Thus, they speculated that
fairness in distributing rewards creates the norm of positive reciprocity associated with commitment. Meyer and
Allen (1997) contended that sharing information has a direct and positive influence on the variables associated

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with commitment by enhancing trust and building employees’ self-worth and perceptions of importance.
The present study attempts to examine the role of HR practices in predicting commitment, and thus fill this void
in the literature.

Recognition practices and organizational commitment

Monetary compensation is important, but not sufficient, to keep employees. Non-monetary recognition plays the
same role as compensation does. Praise, appreciation, and positive feedback from managers and peers for a job
well done is imperative to generate job satisfaction and commitment (Park, Erwin & Knapp, 1997; Davies, 2001).
Recognition is needed in the social and organizational environment as a motivational tool to bring about a good
work outcome. In high professional jobs, recognition is considered as a main objective to maintaining the feeling
of high involvement and being an important element of the organization (Agarwal & Ferratt, 1999).Paré and
Tremblay (2007) confirmed that recognition is positively related to continuance and affective commitment in their
study which targeted 2,398 “Quebec members of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)”.
Accordingly, the following hypotheses were formed:
H1: Recognition is positively related to Affective Commitment
H2: Recognition is positively related to Continuance Commitment
H3: Recognition is positively related to Normative Commitment

Competence development practices and organizational commitment

Investment by the organization in employee training is intended to send a commitment message to its employees
that individual development is a valued goal of the organization (McElroy, 2001). The employee’s commitment
might be influenced more by the message HRM practices convey to the employee than by the practices
themselves (Guzzo & Noonan, 1994; Iles, Mabey & Robertson, 1990). Training is used to enhance specific skills
and correct performance issues to empower employees with the skills needed for the current and future job
requirement (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 1995: Gold, 2001; Wood & De Menezes, 1998).

Koys (1988, 1991) found that workers’ commitment is related directly to their faith in the intention of the
organization’s HRM practices to keep skilled employees and treat them fairly. The employee’s skill, training, and
personal development practices, including job redesign/enrichment, have shown positive results in building the
employee’s confidence level, a sense of control, and identification of their work, therefore, as result of affective
commitment (Meyer, Becker & Vandenberghe, 2004).Building employees’ skills to perform their job would
establish a higher level of confidence as well as the employees’ perception that the organization values their
presence, therefore establishing employees’ long-term commitment (Smith, 1995). Accordingly, the following
hypotheses were formed:
H4: Competence development is positively related to Affective Commitment
H5: Competence development is positively related to Continuance Commitment
H6: Competence development is positively related to Normative Commitment

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Fair reward practices and organizational commitment

Previous studies on the influence of human resource practices on organizational commitment revealed a causal
relationship between rewards and benefits and commitment. Pay can be used as an incentive to boost
employees’ motivation and commitment to achieve organizational goals (Pfeffer, 1994, 1995, 1998).Many
employees look at pay allocation with suspicion and as unfair practice among peers (Trevor, Gerhart & Boudreau,
1997), which explains why the relationship between pay and commitment was found insignificant (Motowildo,
1988; Currall, Towler, Judge & Kohn, 2005; Tekleab, Bartol & Liu, 2005; Trevor et al., 1997).

When employees perceive, believe, and understand that the pay program intends to provide “internal pay
equity”, they tend to have high organizational commitment (Stum, 1999). Attractive benefits packages are viewed
by employees as a sign that the organization cares and supports its employees, resulting in the development of a
strong affective commitment and the belief that the loss of such a package would be costly. This feeling results in
a greater experience of a continuance commitment, indebted attachment to the workplace, leading in turn to a
stronger normative commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1997). More and more research revealed a positive link
between benefit packages and employee commitment (Grover & Crooker, 1995).

Reward practices would link employees’ performance level to the expected rewards. Therefore, management
should implement a “performance-contingent” reward system to predict an employee’s output and performance
commitment in the organization (Gagne´ & Deci, 2005). The equity theory suggested that employees weigh their
effort (output) with the compensation they receive. If viewed as a fair package, employees see justice is being
provided, become satisfied, and therefore commit with a long-term relationship in the organization (Adams,
1965). Multiple studies (Pillai, Schriesheim & Williams, 1999; Folger & Konovsky, 1989; Gopinath & Becker, 2000)
have confirmed this relationship between fair compensation and organizational commitment. Accordingly, the
following hypotheses were formed:
H7: Fair Rewards are positively related to Affective Commitment
H8: Fair Rewards are positively related to Continuance Commitment
H9: Fair Rewards are positively related to Normative Commitment

Information sharing practices and organizational commitment

Many researchers have identified a relationship between information sharing and organizational commitment for
many years. Management adopts information sharing as an important and effective tool to enhance and
strengthen the employee’s commitment to the organization (Allen,Shore & Grieffeth, 2009). The information
sharing process involves the way the organization sends and receives knowledge among the organization
members in order to strengthen the decision making process (Őzgan, 2011). This practice ensures that employees
are being recognized as part of the decision making process and management are treating their views or opinions
with respect.

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Meyer and Allen (1997) reported that information sharing is positively correlated to affective commitment by
building management-employee trust and workers’ self-worthiness. Aligned with Meyer and Allen, Trombetta
and Rogers (1988), Thornhill, Lewis and Saunders (1996), and Guzley (2001) confirmed this relationship, stating
that open and transparent communication along with access to adequate information and participative decision
making involvement build a positive affective commitment. On the other hand, fostering downward and upward
flow of communication among different levels of the organization would influence the level of employee
commitment and comfort in the workplace (Young & Worchel, 1998).

Parker and Kyi (2006) and Postames, Tanis and De Wit (2001) shed light on what is called vertical and horizontal
communication and information sharing. Vertical information flows from top management to employees at the
lower level, while vertical information is about social communication. Both findings showed only vertical
information sharing reveals a positive and significant association with organizational and performance
commitment. By involving employees with this knowledge sharing, management would build a healthy
environment in which employees gain self-confidence, recognition of their ideas, and a feeling of control over
what they are doing; this would lead to mutual respect, which positively impacts the employees’ level of
commitment (Leana & Florkowski, 1992; Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999; Cook, 1994; Campbell, 2000). In the meantime,
sharing information does not mean sacrificing trade secrets. Management has to decide what type and how
much information to share with employees. Usually upper level management possesses more information than
lower level employees. The organization would not share information if “it carries high efficiency cost” (Ronde,
2001). Accordingly, the following hypotheses were formed:
H10: Information sharing is positively related to Affective Commitment
H11: Information sharing is positively related to Continuance Commitment
H12: Information sharing is positively related to Normative Commitment

METHODS

Sample and Procedures

The relationships between Human Resource practices and the three dimensions of commitment were examined
in a field study conducted in the banking sector in Lebanon. The data were collected as part of a more general
survey of job-related attitudes among various levels of employees of the participant banks via the internal mail
system through the HR director. Meetings were scheduled to inform employees about the general purpose of the
study, to emphasize confidentiality, and to administer questionnaires. Employees were asked to participate in the
research and received questionnaires, which were filled out during work time and returned via the internal mail
system. Of the 1000 questionnaires distributed in the different banks, 460 employees responded, generating an
overall usable response rate of 39.8% (62 non-usable responses).

Of this final sample of 398 respondents, there was a fairly close split between male (56.55%) and female (43.5%)
participants and a fair distribution among age groups (28% between 21-25 years, 52% between 26-35years, 13%
between 36-45 years, 5.5% between 46-55 years, 0.9% between 56-60 years and 0% over 65 years). The sample

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was relatively young in terms of age since the majority (80%) was less than 35-years-old. Regarding the
educational level, the majority of respondents (86%) held a diploma and higher degree. Furthermore, 48.3% of
respondents had been in their position for five years and above, and 18.3% of respondents had been working in
the present organization for over five years. In terms of positions, 262 respondents were non-managerial (66%);
the remaining respondents were managerial (34%). Table 1 details the sample proportion with respect to gender,
age, educational level, job tenure, organizational tenure and position level.

Measures
The items comprising the scales described generally below are detailed in tables 2 and 3, in the results section.

Human Resource management practices: The HR practices were assessed by administering scales for measuring
recognition, competence development, fair rewards, and information sharing. The intended outcomes included
affective, continuance, and normative commitment. Tremblay, Rondeau and Lemelin (1997) assessed all HR
practices but one using a five-point likert scale (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree), indicating the extent to
which the four practices were used in their organization. The first HR practice, labeled ‘recognition’, included five
items measuring the recognition of employees’ suggestions and efforts from supervisors and peers (Cronbach
alpha=0.812). The second HR practice, labeled ‘competence development’, included six items measuring
employees’ development skills and their chances for promotion (Cronbach alpha=0.855). The third HR practice,
labeled ‘fair rewards’, included five items measuring employees’ perception of their compensation level
(Cronbach alpha=0.811). The last HR practice, labeled ‘information sharing’, adopted from a survey done by
Lawler, Mohrman and Ledford (1992), included six items measuring employees’ involvement in the
communication process at all levels. The resulting Cronbach alpha for information sharing was 0.879.

Organizational commitment The three dimensions of the employee organizational commitment were assessed
using the scale developed by Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993). The affective commitment scale included seven
items measuring the emotional reasons for which employees would stay in the organization. The resulting
Cronbach alpha for affective commitment is 0.678. The continuance commitment scale included seven items
measuring the economic reasons for which employees would stay in the organization. The resulting Cronbach
alpha for continuance commitment is 0.750. The normative commitment scale included five items measuring the
ethical and the moral reasons for which employees would stay in the organization. The resulting Cronbach alpha
for normative commitment is 0.526.

Covariates
To control for the possibility that sociodemographic differences in the predictor and outcome variables might lead
to spurious relationships, gender (1 = male, 2 = female), age (in years), educational level ( 1 =High school ….4 =
Post graduate ), Job tenure and organizational tenure ( in years ) and Position level (1 = Manager, 2 = Non-
Manager ) were entered as covariates of their jobs.

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Response Bias
From the initial sample of 460 respondents, 62 were excluded as a result of missing information, leading to a final
sample of 398 respondents systematically differed from the excluded respondents with respect to their scores on
the four HR practices and the three dimensions of commitment. We conducted a multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA). The results of the MANOVA did not demonstrate significant differences, minimizing concern about
potential sampling bias.

Exploratory Factor Analysis

Before testing the hypotheses, we conducted two exploratory factor analyses in order to get some evidence for
the measures’ discriminant validity. First, the items of the self-reported measures of recognition, competence
development, fair rewards and information sharing were submitted to a principal components analysis with
oblique rotation. As can be seen in Table 2, four factors emerged accounting for 60.728 percent of the variance.
Each item “ loaded” on its appropriate factor, with primary loadings exceeding .47 and cross-loading lower than
.35. The items of organizational commitment measures were submitted to a principal components analysis with
oblique rotation. As shown in table 3, the three factors that emerged appropriately represented the affective ,
continuance and normative commitment items, whereby primary loading exceeded .365 while cross-loadings
were lower than .35. The three factors accounted for 60.143 percent of the variance.

TEST OF THE HYPOTHESIZED MODEL

Table 4 shows the three subscale items of commitment, Cronbach’s alpha and the total explained variance,
omitting factors loading less than .035.

Hierarchical regression analyses consisting of two successive steps were conducted to test Hypotheses 1 to 12. In
the first step, the sociodemographic variables were entered as covariates to control for relationships with
affective, continuance and normative commitment. In the second step, we included recognition, competence
development, fair rewards and information sharing practices to test their hypothesized effects on the three
dimensions of commitment.

As shown in table 4,The first set of regression analyses was conducted with affective commitment as the
dependent variable. The results provide support for the Hypotheses: H1, H7 and H10. (Overall model: F=23.402,
P<.001; adjusted R-square=.302.) As expected, recognition, fair rewards, and information sharing were positively
and significantly related to affective commitment (B=.16, P<.05; B=.21, P<.01; and B=.18, P<.05). In conflict with
previous studies, the relationship between competence development and affective commitment (H4) was found
to be positive but did not exhibit a statistical significance.

Furthermore, as hypotheses 8 and 11 predict, fair rewards and information sharing were found to be positively
and significantly related to continuance commitment (F= 5.688, p < .001, Adjusted R square= .031; B= .12, p<.10
and B=.20, p< .001 for H8 and H11 respectively)when the latter was entered as a dependent variable. Contrary to

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hypothesis 2, recognition was found to be positively but not significantly related to continuance commitment.
Moreover, in conflict with hypothesis 5, competence development was found to be negatively related to
continuance commitment.

Finally, the overall model was significant when normative commitment was entered as the dependent variable
(F=6.323, P<.001; adjusted R-square=.077). Since recognition was not significantly related to the outcome
variable of normative commitment, the results provided no support for the hypothesis 3.Competence
development was found to be negatively but not significantly related to normative commitment (H6).
Furthermore and contrary to hypothesis 9, fair rewards was found to be negatively but significantly related to
normative commitment ( B=-.12, p< .001). In line with hypothesis 12, information sharing was found to be
positively and significantly related to continuance commitment ( B=.28, p< .001).

DISCUSSIONS

This study provides insight into human resource practices and its relationships with the dimensions of
organizational commitment in a country that has a very different culture from that of the US and other western
societies, where most of the research on organizational commitment has been conducted. Commitment has long
been assumed to be an essential outcome of work-related behavior, yet this study shows that its effectiveness
may be contingent on national culture.

Consistent with previous studies, recognition and affective commitment were found to be positively related. This
finding suggests that greater recognition of employees’ efforts may provide greater attachment to the
organization. According to the social exchange theory (Whitener, 2001), employees excel at work when their
supervisors provide them with positive considerations. Davies (2001) stated that employees tend to be more
emotionally attached to the organization when they fell that their capabilities and efforts are recognized and
appreciated. According to Meyer and Smith (2001), employees consider the provision of benefits as part of the
employer’s obligation within the psychological contract and the benefit programs offered in the organization as
the most important predictor of their attachment to the organization.

Surprisingly and contrary to our expectations, competence development was found to be negatively and
insignificantly related to affective commitment. Competence development practices are all activities which invest
in human capital and provide employees with the needed resources and opportunities to improve and develop
their skills, enabling them to work in an environment that promotes career development and initiative-taking.
Commitment and intention to stay in the organization occur when HR practices produce in them a feeling of
autonomy and competence (Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001; Meyer et al., 2004). The negative and non-significant
association could be due to the fact that employees are not provided with the suitable training or to some
organizational constraints such as time, personnel, budget, training facilities and more probably the attitude of
senior management toward training (Gomez-Mejia et al., 1995)

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Results supported the hypothesis that fair rewards are positively related to affective commitment. The Mercer
report (2003) demonstrated that employees who are rewarded fairly will be more committed and stay (I
estimated my salary as being fair internally). Companies that use the reward budget effectively to distribute the
rewards adequately among employees receive an increased consideration than other companies (The pay
increases and/or bonuses I received in the last two years adequately reflect my recent performance
evaluations).Furthermore, these results are in line with the findings of previous studies conducted in the western
societies which support a positive association between rewards and employees commitment (Malhotra et al.,
2007; Mottaz, 1988 ). One can conclude that the antecedents of employees’ commitment in the Lebanese
organizational setting may emanate from similar factors to those for employees in the western countries.

I found that the information sharing practices are more likely to significantly increase the emotional attachment
of employees to the organization (affective commitment). Such a practice is likely to reflect a work environment
that allows employees to express their concerns rather than to exit the workplace. Information sharing practices
include all organizational practices implemented to transmit and receive information, and therefore to support
decision-making (Haines, Jalette and Larose, 2010 ).Nevertheless, many companies would worry about sharing
critical information (employees are regularly informed of financial results) with their employees because of the
possibility of losing control of them (Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999).

Furthermore, I found that the best predictors of continuance commitment in this study were Fair rewards and
information sharing. I speculated that these practices might affect continuance commitment due to the
assumption that employees perform their work and will be more committed to the organization if the employer
reciprocates by providing compensation and other positive considerations. Like fair rewards, information sharing
was found to be associated positively with continuance commitment. Organizations that inform regularly its
employees of future projects, financial results, technological orientation, level of customer satisfaction and ways
to improve their work unit’s effectiveness reflect a work environment where employees feel the obligation to stay
(continuance commitment) rather than to quit.

Results pertaining the non-significant effect of competence development and recognition on employees’
attitudes toward their obligation to remain with the organization indicate that improving employee’ skills and
knowledge and recognizing their efforts do not necessary increase continuance commitment. Also, having fewer
alternatives available to them outside their current organization will force them to be more committees. Our
findings are consistent with the human capital theory (Becker, 1975), which dictates that employees stay because
of the fewer opportunities they have elsewhere due to the difficulties in exporting the acquired knowledge
outside the company. In the context of specific human resource management practices, my findings clearly
indicate that employer-provided training may actually increase voluntary turnover rates (Batt, 2002; Lincoln and
Kalleberg 1996; Shaw et al. 1998). This leads to conclude that more research is needed to understand the specific
association between competence development and recognition and continuance commitment.

The HRM practices did not contribute significantly to the prediction of normative commitment, except for
information sharing. Of the HRM practices measured in this research, information sharing practices were found to

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be significantly related to normative commitment. This relationship could be explained in the context of the social
values system held by employees from the Middle East in general and the Lebanese context in particular.
Employees feel morally and ethically committed to stay within the same organization based on employees-
management personal relationships within a high context environment. They tend to develop social memberships
around the workplace so that leaving the organization for materialistic endeavor somewhere else is considered
morally unacceptable among their peers. Mystudy shows that the obligation to remain in the organization
(normative commitment) is developed independently of desire. These findings indicate that otherforces are at
work shaping the associations between the above-mentioned HR practices and normative commitment. As Batt
(2002) suggested, more attention should be given to the financial uncertainty, job security and efforts
recognition rather than social values. Lebanese employees are more concerned about the dollar value of their job
than being morally and ethically committed to the organization. Apparently, there is more at work here than
mere conventional wisdom would suggest, pointing to the need to investigate financial and job insecurity aspects
of commitment.

Despite substantive and theoretical contributions, my study had some limitations. The data were cross-sectional,
which limits any conclusions that can be made about the causal relations between human resource practices and
organizational commitment. Also, I measured HR practices and organizational commitment only from employee’s
perspective. Future research might assess these variables from both the organization and employees to examine
whether measurement perspective may act as a moderator between HR practices, organizational commitment,
and their correlates. In addition, all variables were obtained from the same source, which might raise concerns
about common-method bias, particularly a consistency between their cognitions and attitudes.

The sample used in this study was collected from the Lebanese banking industry only. Therefore, the results may
not be generalizable to other industries and countries, which explain why some hypotheses have been rejected
because of cultural differences between the countries mentioned in the literature and the sample country.
Further, only four HR practices were investigated in this study. There are probably other HR practices that have a
significant impact on the level of employee commitment and which are not taken into consideration in this
research (organizational support, decentralization, selective hiring, job security, procedural justice…).

A final limitation was that participation in this study was voluntary and some members chose not to participate.
The research hypotheses in this study would have been accurately tested with data collected from a large number
of employees. It was not possible to test the assumption that non-respondent did not differ on such critical
variables as HR practices and organizational commitment.

Further research could clarify the causal relationship between HR practices and organizational commitment.
Much of the research on HR practices has been conducted in Western societies; thus, the findings of this study
can be useful in future comparative studies. Another direction for future research is to examine HR practices and
organization commitment in sets, not as separate components, in order to assess their collective effect.

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Moreover, a new direction in this research on organizational commitment can be opened up by mediating the
relationship between HR practices and commitment with new variables such as procedural justice and trust
which may provide more positive work-related attitudes and a numerous benefits for both the organization and
its employees.

Although, this study provides a detailed theory-based assessment of the influence of human resource
management practices on organizational commitment For people involved in human resource management
decisions, my findings bring to the forefront the element of risk involved in human resource investments. This
study also brings to light what may be the most significant predictors of commitment dimensions among a host of
human resource management practices.

Specifically, my findings suggest that organizations need to focus upon developing policies and instituting
practices that allow employees to voice their concerns about their future within the organization. In addition,
business leaders need to consider how they invest in their human capital because the often-mentioned fear of
losing those you invest in may not be that unreasonable. In sum, the findings we obtained from a large database
of the banking sector suggest a complex pattern of relationships between human resource management practices
and organizational commitment, one that deserves further empirical scrutiny.

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Table 1 Sample frequencies

Variables Sample (n=398) Variables Sample (n=398)
Gender Job tenure
Male 56.5 0-5 51.7
Female 43.5 6-10 37.11
Above 10 11.19
Age Org.tenure
21-25 28.4 0-5 81.7
26-35 52.2 6-10 13.42
36-45 13 Above 10 4.88
46-55 5.5 Position level
56-60 9 Manager 34
Above 65 0 Non-Manager 66
Edu.Level
HS 12.6
Diploma 14.4
Degree 71.7
Post.Graduate 1.3

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Table 2 Exploratory factor analysis for HR practices

Variables 1 2 3 4 Cronbach’s α
Recognition practices 0.812
1.Employees’suggestions are seriously taken into 0.692
consideration
2.In my work unit, employees’ suggestions are 0.635
followed up regularly
3.When an employee does good quality work, his 0.590
colleagues regularly show him their appreciation.
4.In my work unit, supervisors tangibly recognize 0.731
employees’ efforts (e.g. giving tickets to cultural or
sports events, dinners at restaurants)
5.In my work unit, employees receive written 0.667
recognition from their supervisors.(e.g. memos)
unit, supervisors regularly
Competence development practices 0.855
1.Employees can develop their skills in order to 0.712
increase their chances of being promoted
2.Employees can rotate jobs to develop their skills 0.681
3.Several professional development activities (e.g. 0.704
coaching, training) are offered to employees to
improve their skills and knowledge.
4.Proficiency courses such as specialized technical 0.668
courses and professional certification are
encouraged by management
5.I am able to apply new skills in my work 0.680
6.Managers encourage employees to apply their 0.583
new abilities and skills in the context of their daily
work
Fair reward practices 0.811
1.I estimate my salary as being fair internally 0.842
2.My salary is fair in comparison with what is 0.870
offered for a similar job elsewhere
3.In my work unit, our supervisors assign 0.587
mandates in a fair manner
4.In my work unit, employees consider that their 0.473
compensation level adequately reflects their level
of responsibility in the organization
5.The pay increases and/or bonuses I received in 0.711
the last two years adequately reflect my recent
performance evaluations
Information sharing practices 0.879
1.Employees are regularly informed of future bank 0.691
projects (e.g. major investments, acquisitions, new
technologies...)
2.Employees are regularly informed of financial 0.756
results
3.Employees are regularly informed of their work 0.761
unit’s performance
4.Employees are regularly informed of 0.820
technological orientations
5.Managers regularly inform employees of the 0.714
level of customer satisfaction for products or
services offered
6. Employees’ suggestions concerning ways to 0.480
improve our work unit’s effectiveness are seriously

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taken into account.

Total explained variance: 60.728% 16.88% 15.98% 14.91% 12.96%
Note. Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis; Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization;*
Factor loading less than 0.35 are not reported

Table 3 Exploratory factor analysis for organizational commitment

Variables 1 2 3 Cronba
ch’s α
Affective commitment .678
1- I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this .813
organization
2- I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own .835

3- This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me .810

4- I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization .000
5- Even if it were to my advantage, I do not feel I would be right to .648
leave my organization
6- I would feel guilty if I left my organization now .576
7- This organization deserves my loyalty .607
Continuance commitment .750
1- It would be very hard for me to leave my organization right now .593
even if I wanted to
2- Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to .721
leave my organization now
3- Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as .759
much as desire
4- I believe that I have too many options to consider leaving this .365
organization
5- One of the few negative consequences of leaving this organization .616
would be the scarcity of available job alternatives
6- One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is .745
that leaving would require considerable personal sacrifice- another
organization may not match the overall benefits I have here
7- If I had not already put so much of myself into this organization I .645
might consider working elsewhere
Normative commitment .526
1- If I got another offer for a better job elsewhere, I would not feel it .503
was right to leave my organization
2- I was taught to believe in the value of remaining loyal to one .371
organization
3- Things were better in the days when people stayed with one .463
organization for most of their career
4- I do not think that wanting to be a “company man” or “company .657
woman” is sensible anymore
5- Employees generally move from organization to organization too .603
often
Total explained variance: 60.143% 28.57% 11.20% 7.839%
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis; Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization; * Factor
loading less than 0.35 are not reported

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Table 4 Means, Standard Deviations, Reliabilities and correlations (340)

Variables Means SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1.Gender 1.40 .491 (…)
2.Age 1.98 .845 -.189** (…)
*
3.Edu 2.80 .712 -.089 .099 (…)

4.Pos. 1.24 .532 -.063 .533** -.061 (…)

5.Org. .33 .472 -.085 .306** .331** .134** (…)
6.Rec 3.142 .918 .029 .080 .022 .049 .060 (0.812)
7.CD 3.486 .896 .056 .070 .043 .072 .076 .614** (0.855)
** * **
8.FR 2.859 .927 -.022 .149 .066 .066 .120 .484 .471** (0.811)
* **
9.IS 3.342 .931 .138 .023 .056 .034 .040 .643 .625** .382** (0.879)
* ** ** ** **
10.AC 3.277 .963 -.139 .220 .049 .164 .042 .435 .438 .406** .435** (0.678)
* ** ** **
11.CC 3.184 .903 -.093 -.041 .001 -.047 -.116 .206 .238 .238 .240** .465** (0.750)
** * **
12.NC 3.266 .771 -.021 -.011 -.026 -.015 .011 .151 .104 .060 .250 .335** .368** (0.526)
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 lev2l (2-tailed); *Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
Note. AC=Affective Commitment; CC=Continuance Commitment; NC=Normative Commitment; Rec=Recognition; CD=Competence Development;FR=Fair Rewards;
IS=Information Sharing; Gen=Gender; Edu=Educational Level; Pos= Positional Tenure; Org=Organizational Tenure.
Cronbach α coefficient appears in parentheses

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Table 5 Hierarchical regression analysis of HR practices predicting organizational commitment

Variables Affective Commitment Continuance Commitment Normative Commitment
Standardized Beta Standardized Beta Standardized Beta
Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2
Step 1
Gender -.099 -.130* -.093 -.100 -.038 -.097
Age .170* .117ᵗ -.040 -.060 -.154ᵗ -.116
Educational level .017 .006 -.017 -.013 -.035 -.036
Positional tenure .014 -.011 -.098 -.114ᵗ .080 .080
Organizational .080 .034 -.026 -.035 .122 .109
Tenure
Step 2
Recognition .165* .080 .007
Competence .102 -.003 -.082
development
Fair Reward .211** .123ᵗ -.151
Information .180* .208*** .345***
sharing
Adjusted R Square .050 .302 .004 .031 .001 .077
R Square Change .069 .258 .023 .041 .020 .088
Notes: *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001; ᵗp < .10

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