Investigating the organisational commitment of knowledge workers

Abstract

The main objective of this research project is to test a framework of the relationship between Human Resource Management practices and organisational commitment, developed in previous theoretical studies, within a representative group of local knowledge workers. In order to achieve the above mentioned objective, the researcher conducted an empirical study. A self-administered, online questionnaire targeting a representative sample of knowledge workers was made available during the first two weeks of May 2014. A typical case, purposive, non-probability sampling method generated 103 complete questionnaires. The responses to the questionnaire were subjected to statistical analysis to test a set of six research hypotheses. The results suggest that Human Resource Management practices can increase normative and affective commitment, but not continuance commitment. Moreover, the practices that can predict an increase in organisational commitment are those that fall under organisational support and organisational reputation. The study is based on a non-probability sample; consequently, the findings cannot be generalised to the whole population of local knowledge workers. The relevance of Human Resource Management needs to be acknowledged, even in small-to-medium organisations. Organisations must protect their reputation and ensure that they are attracting the ideal candidates for jobs as well as retaining the key employees. Moreover, organisations need to build a culture based on trust, respect and support. Additionally, organisations need to recognise that the unspoken employer-employee contract is changing. As a consequence, organisations need to be proactive in their approach to succession planning and knowledge management. As few previous studies have investigated the relationship between Human Resource Management practices and the organisational commitment of local knowledge workers in general, this research adds useful insights. Implications of the findings with regards to practices that might be useful to local organisations to retain their key employees will be explained, whilst proposing guidelines for future research.