HOW IS ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT AFFECTED BY WORKER FLEXIBILITY? - A quantitative report exploring the effects of worker flexibility on affective organisational commitment in a Swedish context.
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore if, and how, affective organisational
commitment (AOC) is affected by worker flexibility. Previous research usually
promotes affective organisational commitment as a whole, whereas this study
explores how each component of affective organisational commitment is influenced.
This study explores three types of worker flexibility: working from home, working
hours, and organising work and how they influence the feelings of emotional
attachment, identification, and involvement in an organisation, i.e., the components of
AOC. In addition, whether job satisfaction acts as a mediator between the focal
relationship is explored.
Theory: This study derives from Meyer & Allen’s (1991) theory on organisational commitment
to elaborate three components of affective organisational commitment: emotional
attachment to organisation, identification with organisation, and involvement in
organisation.
Method: The study utilises a quantitative method building on data from “Work Orientations
2015” by the International Social Survey. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses are
conducted on nine focal relationships to test how the three components of AOC are
affected by three types of worker flexibility.
Result: The main findings in this study suggest that those who have some type of worker
flexibility do generally also have some component of affective organisational
commitment. More specifically, affective organisational commitment is significantly
enhanced by the ability to decide how work is organised, even after controlling for
covariates. Additionally, the relationship between having emotional attachment to an
organisation and the ability to decide how work is organised is indicated to be
mediated by the experienced job satisfaction. The ability to organise work might serve
as an important, yet often overlooked, flexibility factor to promote affective
organisational commitment.
Degree
Student essay
Date
2023-02-03Author
Oxelman, Ida
Poon, Emely
Keywords
Affective Organisational Commitment, Worker flexibility, Organisational Commitment
Language
eng