EFFECT OF EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA
2.1 Concept of Commitment and its Effect on Productivity
In general, commitment is defined as the psychological attachment of workers to their workplaces (Becker, Billings, Eveleth, and Gilbert 1996, Allen and Meyer, 1990, O’ Reilly and Chatman, 1986). In fact, few empirical studies have examined a public sector employee’s commitment and its relationship to productivity variables, such as extra-role behavior, desire to remain, absenteeism, and willingness to support productivity improvement strategies. Much of the literature regarding organizational performance and productivity places the emphasis on securing the commitment of employees to organizational goals and purposes (Balfour and Wechsler, 1991, 1996, Bass 1985).
Employee commitment literature is huge and most studies have centered on organizational commitment and its relationship to job performance, turnover intent, and other motivational outcomes. The common findings and implications of those studies are that employee commitment is the key to achieving productivity and performance in any organization (Mowday, Porter, and Steers, 1982, Reichers, 1985, Becker, Billings Eveleth and Gilbert, 1996, Becker, 1992; Meyer, Allen and Smith, 1993; Reichers, 1986, Lion, 1995, Balfour and Weschler, 1991, 1996).
There have been numerous efforts to identify and divide the concept of organizational commitment among organizational behavior scholars in both public and private sectors, Mathieu and Zajac (1990) categorize the definition of organizational commitment into three types: Attitudinal Commitment, Calculative Commitment, and Normative Commitment. The most commonly studied type of OC has been attitudinal commitment (Mowday, Steers, and Porter, 1979; Steers, Mowday, & Boulian, 1974).
In the public sector, following O’Reilly and Chatman’s definition, Balfour and Wechsler (1991, 1996) have tried to see organizational commitment as multiple constructs: affiliation commitment (belongingness), compliance commitment (exchange commitment), and identification commitment (value congruence). Robertson and Tang (1995) also divide the concept of commitment into two types.
(1) Identification or involvement commitment from an organizational behavior perspective, and
(2) Exchange commitment from a rational choice perspective.
By using multiple dimensions of organizational commitment, they tried to find out some meaningful relationships between multiple commitments and key dependent variables. Those relationships, however, have varied with regard to researchers, samples, and subjects. Studies have differed regarding whether or not organizational commitment was positively associated with job satisfaction, job performance, tenure, and educational attainment.
