Organisational commitment in developing countries : the case of Nigeria

Ogba, Ike (2007) Organisational commitment in developing countries : the case of Nigeria. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

This study investigates the effective measurement of employee commitment within the Nigerian banking sector. The relevance of the research originates from various research findings that shows that in most organisations, evidence abounds of employees' emotional and physiological distancing of themselves from their organisation even when the pay is highly competitive. In addition, there are also evidences of inconsistencies in research outcomes when Western commitment scale is employed within non-Western organisation. This study is therefore aimed at filling literature gaps on identified inconsistencies from the use of Western scales in measuring commitment in non-Western organisations and also to comprehend employee commitment behaviour in organisations within non-Western culture. In exploring the above issues, this research developed a 28-item, 7-point Likert scaled questionnaire, distributed to 200 participants with a 42% response rate. The research also employed exploratory factor analysis in the form of PCA and Varimax for factor extraction and scale reduction and Cronbach's Coefficient alpha internal consistency measure for reliability assessment. To take the study a step further, the scale was additionally subjected to statistical test using One Way ANOVA, Pearson's Chi-Square test, and Spearman' s rank order correlation in measuring employee commitment behaviours, using two variables: income and age. The outcome from the study was two-fold. The 28 items were reduced to 18 usable items with 3-factor extractions representing three components of commitment. Scale reliability was also measured. The first outcome shows that the scale is indeed a culturally suitable and usable (valid and reliable) scale for the assessment of employee commitment to their organisation in Nigeria with an alpha score of .930, evidence of strong scale reliability. The second outcome was from the test aimed at assessing the behavioural aspect of employee commitment to their organisation in relation to the two variables income and age. The outcome shows that the higher income earning Nigerian employees (employees within the income band 1.1 million and above), and employees within the age group 31-35 are likely to be less committed to their organisations than their counterparts. The study concludes with the view that to effectively measure employee commitment to organisations in non-Western Nigerian cultures, requires the development and use of an appropriate and culturally motivated usable and suitable (consistent and dependable) scale. The conclusions are also discussed in terms of the links between income, age and commitment. It identified that high income and age are not necessarily indicators of commitment; rather some factors associated with culture might have stronger influence on employee expression of commitment to their organisation.

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