Exploring employee’s work engagement in relation to organisational commitment in a developing country 15TH European Congress of Psychology, Amsterdam 11-14 JULY 2017 Presented by: Jeremy Mitonga-Monga & Frans Cilliers Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, University of South Africa

Table of contents Introduction Research context Theoretical perspectives Research Question, Aim And Contribution Method Results Discussion

Introduction Globalisation, changing workforce and the need for productivity. Organisations facing the challenge of high turnover intention and poor performance. Organisations focusing on human resource initiatives for enhancing employee’s commitment, job satisfaction and engagement. Human Resources Practitioners are striving to improve staff engagement, performance and well-being.

Research context This research was conducted within a railway organisation in the DRC. As many African countries, the DRC is facing political, economic and social challenges characterised by political conflict, hyperinflation, corruption and unethical behaviour. These challenges have negatively affected the economic growth of the country for many decades. Presently, the DRC government is desperately speeding up institutional, infrastructure, economic and social reforms to ensure growth and reduce high levels of corruption and impunity. To reach growth status in the turbulent businesses world, public and private industries are urged to contribute by producing quality goods and services. This can be realised if DRC organisations can retain qualified employees who are psychologically engaged and committed. The perceived lack of commitment may impede on the performance of public and private organisations and can slow down economic growth (Mitonga-Monga & Cilliers, 2016).

Theoretical perspectives Independent variable Independent variable (IV) Dependent variable Work engagement (WE): defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigour dedication and absorption. Vigour (physical component); Dedication (emotional component); and Absorption (cognitive component) (Shaufeli, Salanova, Gonzàlez-Romá & Bakker, 2002). Organisational commitment (OC): defined as the degree to which an individual identifies with an organisation and is committed to its goals. Affective commitment (emotional attachment); Continuance commitment (awareness of the cost involved for the organisation); and Normative commitment (the obligation to continue commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991).

Work engagement and organisational commitment relationships Previous studies have revealed that WE relates to employee outcomes such as job satisfaction, commitment and OCB (Coetzee, Schreuder & Tladinyane, 2014). Subsequent studies established that employees’ work engagement predicted their level of commitment (Albdour & Altarawneh, 2014). Although previous studies evidenced that employees’ perceptions of work engagement relate to organisational matters (Coetzee et al., 2014), the nature in which this relationship is manifesting in a developing county such as DRC is unknown.

Research Aim, Question And Contribution The aim of this study was to explore to what extent employees’ work engagement influence their level of organisational commitment in a railway organisation. What is the predicted contribution of work engagement on organisational commitment? This study makes a contribution at both theoretical and practical levels. On the theoretical level, the study contributes to the body of knowledge in the discipline of management as well as human resource management and industrial and organisational psychology, relating to the association between the constructs of work engagement and organisational commitment. On the practical level, the study add value by providing recommendations for retention and employee wellbeing practices within a developing workplace setting.

Research design This study used a quantitative approach and a cross-sectional survey design. Questionnaires were mailed to 3000 permanently employed employees in a railway organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli et al 2002) and the Organisational commitment Scale (Allen & Meyer, 1991) were used. Responses were received from 839 of 3000 employees for an initial rate of 27.9%. Multivariate and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. In stage one Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the reliability and the validity of factors, and structural equation modelling analysis was conducted to test the model fit with AMOS 24. To assess whether a good fit exists between the constructs the two-step approach advocated by Anderson and Gerbing (1988) was used, namely to determine a measurement model prior to investigate a structural model relationship.

Biographical characteristics (N=839)

Table 1:Descriptive statistics, reliability & Validity Construct/dimension Descriptive statistics R2 Values α Value C.R. Value AVE. Factor Loading M SD Vigour V1  4.57    .92 0.000 0.908 0.884 0.718 0.827 V2 V3 0.804 Dedication DE1  4.47  .87 0.068 0.877 0.852 0.658 0.845 DE2 0.818 DE3 0.768 Absorption AB1  4.44 0.585 0.864 0.917 0.787 0.927 AB2 0.894 AB3 0.839 Affective commitment AC1  4.09  0.54 0.081 0.823 0.879 0.592 0.810 AC3 0.800 0.776 AC4 0.752 AC6 0.705 Continuance commitment CC1  4. 07  0.55 0.107 0.878 0.623 0.868 CC2 CC3 0.825 CC4 0.773 CC5  0.745 CC6  0.669 Normative commitment NC1  4.13  0.59 0.264 0.862 0.893 0.594 0.830 NC2 NC3 0.813 NC4 0.763 NC5 0.692 NC6 0.687 Scores: 1 – Strongly disagree; 5 Strongly agree. CR: Composite reliability; AVE Avarage variance extracted. Measurement model fits: X2 = 8.826/df =4; GFI = 0.996; CFI = 0.999; RFI = 0.990; NFI = 0.997; NNFI =0.982 and RMSEA = 0.038

Inter-correlations between Constructs Research constructs VI DE Ab AC CC NC Vigour (VI) 1   Dedication (DE) .51*** Absorption (AB) .54*** .60*** Affective commitment (AC) .55*** .45** Continuance commitment (CC) .58*** .61*** Normative commitment (NC) .59*** .56*** .57*** .66*** Note: n= 839; *** Inter-correlation is significant at the 0.05 level. VI = vigour, DE = dedication, AB = absorption; AC = affective commitment; CC = continuance commitment; NC = normative commitment

Core findings The Average extended variances (AVEs) of constructs were higher than the suggested value of 0.50, demonstrating that more than half of variances in the constructs are explained by their corresponding measures (Fornell& Larcker, 1981). Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing the squared correlation (R2) of the paired constructs with the AVEs of each construct. The condition was met each (R2) between a pair of constructs is less than the AVE for the corresponding construct, demonstrating each construct shared with other constructs (i.e. discriminant validity) (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).

Test of the Structural equation modelling and hypothesis Table 4 Summary of hypotheses Test and Model Fit Indices Hypotheses Path Standardised Coefficient t-value Result H1 WE AC 0.74 6.817 supported H2 WE CC 0.84 6.838 H3 WE NC 0.82 6.638 The structural equation modelling analysis was conducted with AMOS 24 to examine the goodness-of-fit of the model and the relationships between the variable in the model. Chi-square = 8.826,df = 4; GFI =0.99; AGFI = 0.98; CFI = 0.99; IFI = 0.99; NFI = 0.98; and RMSEA = 0.038). All the Goodness-of fit indices values indicated the model fits the data very well (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 1994).

Managerial implications, Limitations and conclusion This study examined the extent to which WE influence employees’ level of OC in a railway organisation in the DRC. Managerial implications: top management should develop and encourage higher level of work engagement among staff which in turn will lead them to be committed and contribute to the functioning and performance of the organisation. Work engagement as a psychological variable is important and considered as a driver of organisational performance and worker’s retention, even in the developing country context. Work engaged employees are cognitively, affectively and motivationally connected to their work and this influenced them to decide to not only stay with the organisation but also perform. Limitations and suggestions for future research: The finding of the present study do not imply causality; the data was collected at one point in time, although SEM analysis provides information about the possible direction of the relationships among the variables, the cross-sectional does not allow conclusions about the causality studied variables.

Conclusions, Limitations and Managerial implications (cont.) Thus, for future research, longitudinal designs model testing could validate our findings over time and provides insights on causal relationships. Data were exclusively collected using self-reported questionnaires, so a concern with the responses that might have been affected by the common method variance (Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). Attention should be given to the qualitative study to explore the lived experience by staff members about work engagement and possibly explain different results with a developing and more western country. These findings led to the conclusion that work engagement variables of vigour, dedication absorption influences employees level of organisational commitment (affective, continuance and normative) commitment. The results indicated that should work engagement be developed among employees in the organisation this could positively influence their level of commitment and performance.

References Anderson, J.C., & Gerbing, D.W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 411–423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.103.3.411 Albdour, A. A., & Altarawneh, I.I. (2014). Employee engagement and organisational commitment: Evidence from Jordan. International Journal of Business, 19 (2), 192-212. Mitonga-Monga J., & Cilliers, F. (2016). Perceived ethical leadership: Its moderating influence on employees’ organisational commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 26(1), 35-42. Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organisational commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 1(1), 61–89. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/1053-4822(91)90011-Z Podsakoff, P.M., Mackenzie, S.B., Lee, J.Y., & Podsakoff, N.P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioural research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879-903. Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., Gonzàlez-Roma, V., & Bakker, B. A. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: Two sample confirmatory analytic approaches. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 71–92.

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