Predicting different commitment components: The relative effects of how career development HRM practices are perceived

Organizations today expect employees to manage their own career development although some will provide extra opportunities. We do not know exactly how career self-management impacts on employees' organizationalcommitmentin terms of affective, normative and continuance components. This paper is based on the model of organizationalcommitmentput forward by Meyer and Allen (1997). We propose that organizational HRM and career self-management influence employee perceptions (such as perceived support) and the three components ofcommitmentindifferentways. Data from 196 managers showed that organizational career development (OCD) practices, were positively related to employee perceptions and the three components ofcommitment. On the other hand, career self-management was negatively correlated with normativecommitment. These results have implications for the career development alternatives that organizations provide to employees.ABSTRACTOrganizations today expect employees to manage their own career development although some will provide extra opportunities. We do not know exactly how career self-management impacts on employees' organizationalcommitmentin terms of affective, normative and continuance components. This paper is based on the model of organizationalcommitmentput forward by Meyer and Allen (1997). We propose that organizational HRM and career self-management influence employee perceptions (such as perceived support) and the three components ofcommitmentindifferentways. Data from 196 managers showed that organizational career development (OCD) practices, were positively related to employee perceptions and the three components ofcommitment. On the other hand, career self-management was negatively correlated with normativecommitment. These results have implications for the career development alternatives that organizations provide to employees.Keywords: organizationalcommitment, career self-management, career development, perceptions, affective, normative, continuanceOrganizations value employees for gains in individual performance which lead to organizational effectiveness (Skerlavaj, Stemberger, Skrinjar & Dimovski 2007; Zheng, Morrison & O'Neil 2006; Beck & Wilson 2000; Parker et al. 2003; Suliman & Iles 2000) and see them as a critical source of competitive advantage (Gottschalg & Zollo 2007). Organizations utilize human resource management (HRM) practices such as training and development to enhance employee organizationalcommitment(Ulrich 1997). A major contributor to a committed workforce is career development which organizations provide through opportunities that advance their employees' future career prospects (i.e. organizational career management; De Vos, Dewettinck & Buyens 2008; Sturges, Guest, Conway & Mackenzie Davey 2002).Although organizations may provide opportunities for employees to develop their careers, increasingly the responsibility for career management lies with the individual (i.e. career self-management; Lips-Wiersma & Hall 2007). The trend is for employers to offer formal interventions, such as training, to help employees learn to manage their own careers (Brockner & Lee 1995). Organizations gain greater flexibility and minimize their internal labor market costs if they devolve career management to the employee (Van Buren 2003; Baruch 2006 & Lips-Wiersma & Hall 2007). However, this practice may undermine employeecommitmentto the organization. Consequently, the main focus of this paper was to investigate and compare the effects of the two types of career management practices (i.e. organizational and self-management) on organizational commitment.There is a lack of direct evidence that career self-management impacts negatively oncommitment, although indirect evidence points to this effect. For example, studies examiningcommitmentlevels of employees with a careerist orientation (i.e. those who pursue career advancement through self-interest and are assumed to manage their own careers) have found that this orientation is negatively related to organizationalcommitment(Feldman & Ng 2007). In addition, research shows that employees with a history of career mobility (employees who frequently change jobs) and who are assumed to manage their own careers, tend to have low normative commitment(i.e. lower obligation to stay; Kondratuk et al. 2004). These findings imply a negative relationship between career self-management and organizationalcommitment. However, there is lack of research evidence on the effect of employee career self-management oncommitmentto an organization. In particular, there is lack of research comparing organizational career management with career selfmanagement. This research question has high practical relevance given the importance of talent retention. While organizations may derive staffing flexibility when employees are responsible for their own careers, they should also be aware of the possible negative consequences of this practice.Our research was guided by Meyer and Allen's (1997) model ofcommitment. Meyer and Allen proposed thatcommitmenthas three components: affective (staying with an organization because of the 'emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization' (1997: 11), normative (staying with an organization because of a feeling of moral obligation) and continuance (staying with an organization because it is too costly to leave). Further, Meyer and Allen's (1997) model ofcommitmentproposes that the three components ofcommitmentdevelop as a result ofdifferentperceptions. For example, affectivecommitmentdevelops when employees perceive support from the company. Normativecommitmentdevelops when employees appreciate what they have received from the organization and perceive a need to reciprocate. Finally, continuancecommitmentresults when individuals feel they will lose current benefits on transfer to another organization and perceive a high cost associated with leaving.Meyer and Allen's (1997) model also proposes that it is organizational HRM practices that create employee perceptions. This means that perceptions mediate the relationship between HRM practices andcommitment. For example, training provided by the organization may enhance employee perceptions of being supported and, in turn, lead to affectivecommitment; the perceived support mediates the training-affectivecommitmentrelationship. Similarly, training by the organization as an investment in the employee development can make the employee feel obliged to reciprocate, in turn creating normativecommitment; perceived need to reciprocate mediates the training-normativecommitmentrelationship. Finally, training that offers employees benefits which are perceived as non transferable to another organization make it too costly to leave; the perceived cost of loss mediates the training-continuancecommitmentrelationship.Based on this model, we propose that two types of career management practices (i.e. organizational and self-management) will create perceptions of support, reciprocation or cost of loss. These perceptions will in turn lead to affective, normative and continuancecommitment, respectively. Further, we examine inter-relationships among the mediating variables. Although previous research made some progress in identifying antecedent variables that influence affective, normative and continuancecommitment, empirical evidence for the mediating mechanisms outlined above is scarce. We extend research on the antecedents ofcommitmentby considering ways in which a perception of HRM practices could engender more than one component ofcommitment.This investigation extends the literature in three ways. First, we provide empirical evidence to show that the development ofcommitmentis dependent on how employees perceive HRM practices (e.g. the development of affectivecommitmentis dependent on how supportive employees perceive the organization's practice of career development to be). Second, we present evidence for the cross-over effects of perceptions in terms of influence over thedifferentcomponents ofcommitment(e.g. the effects of perceived support on normative and continuancecommitment). Finally, although empirical evidence shows organizational career development practices can encourage organizationalcommitment, the effect of career self-management practices oncommitmentis underresearched (De Vos, Dewettinck & Buyens 2008; Sturges et al. 2002). Our research extends the understanding of career management by illustrating the negative implications for organizations in terms of employeecommitmentwhen they promote career self-management (e.g. career self-management has a negative effect on employees' normativecommitmentto the organization).In the following sections we review the literature on each of the variables and develop specific hypotheses linking organizational career development and career self-management with perceptual mediators and the three components ofcommitment.Organizational career development andcommitmentOrganizational career development (OCD) is defined as the opportunities provided by the organization to advance an individual's career prospects, such as challenging assignments, career counseling and being kept informed. Assisting individuals in their career development is valuable because it encourages staff with high potential to stay (King, Xia, Quick & Sethi 2005). This is particularly useful in the current flattened organizational structures (Bridges 1995). Employee concern for employability and marketability (Fugate, Kinicki & Ashforth 2004) has encouraged organizations to assist employees to develop their careers through a number of activities which are beneficial for both employees and organizations. The literature reveals a variety of activities provided by organizations to assist career development, including challenging work assignments, new learning opportunities (Kinnie et al. 2005), career counseling (Leung 2002), and access to information about the organization (Gubbins & Garavan 2005) and the industry (Gubbins & Garavan 2005).Career development opportunities have been shown to result in higher levels ofcommitmentamong employees (Bashir & Ramay 2008; Paul & Anantharaman 2004). Affectivecommitmenthas been shown to be enhanced particularly by training (Browning 2006), developing skills and competencies (Mahatanankoon 2007; Pettijohn, Pettijohn & Taylor 2007; Lee & Bruvold 2003), career development (Paul & Anantharaman 2003), opportunities for growth (Armstrong-Stassen & Scholler 2008; Allen 2003), the provision of challenging assignments (Walsh & Taylor 2007; Allen & Meyer 1990), career counseling and improved communication (Van Vuuren, de Jong & Seydel 2007).Perceptions of support mediate the relationship between employee development and affectivecommitment. For example, Tansky and Cohen (2001) and Meyer and Smith (2001) demonstrated the mediating role of perceived support between developmental activities and affectivecommitmentwith a sample of both managerial and non-managerial employees. Stinglhamber and Vandenberghe (2003) and Wayne, Shore, and Liden (1997) reported similar findings from studying a large sample of alumni and salaried employees respectively.The mediating role of perceived support between OCD practices and normativecommitmentis not as clear. Allen and Meyer (1990) found possible proxies for support, such as management receptiveness and organizational dependability, which were positively related to normativecommitment. This suggests that OCD practices that engender perceived support may also elicit normativecommitment. Therefore we propose that career development opportunities lead to perceptions of support. This in turn, will be related to normative commitment.As with normativecommitment, research showing that perceived support mediates between OCD practices and continuancecommitmentis limited and sometimes contradictory. For instance, Bartlet (2001) argued that supportive practices (support for training from senior staff) are positively correlated with continuancecommitment, while Van Dam (2004) noted a negative relationship between perceived organizational support and continuancecommitment. Furthermore, Smith (1995) demonstrated significant negative correlations between meetings with supervisors and continuancecommitment. While the precise direction of the relationship seems to vary across studies, it seems that perceptions of support do have a role to play in the OCD-continuancecommitmentrelationship.Overall, the literature reviewed above suggests that perceived support plays a role in the relationship between OCD and the three components ofcommitment. Therefore we propose the following hypotheses:Hypothesis 1: The relationship between OCD practices and affective, normative and continuancecommitment will be mediated by perceptions of being supported.It has also been suggested that supportive developmental employment opportunities lead to normative commitmentas a consequence of affectivecommitment(Meyer & Smith 2001). This means that, to some extent, a sense of obligation to stay with the organization (normativecommitment) may arise from a liking of and wanting to be part of the organization (affectivecommitment). We therefore hypothesize that perceived support will result in normativecommitmentthrough the agency of affectivecommitment.Hypothesis 2: The perceived support-normativecommitmentrelationship will be mediated by affectivecommitment.When employees perceive organizational experiences as positive, they feel obliged to remain with the organization (Eisenberger et al. 2001; Meyer, Allen & Smith 1993). Nurses' positive work experiences and a sense of obligation to others have been shown to be positively correlated with normativecommitment(Meyer et al. 1993). The feeling of obligation has also mediated the relationship between HRM practices andcommitment(Smith 1995). Smith (1995) has illustrated the mediating effect of felt obligation between opportunities for career development and affective and normativecommitment. Meyer and Allen (1997: 68) suggest that the sense of obligation will hold individuals in organizations 'long enough to allow them to reciprocate'. Thus, we suggest that career development that affects employees' perceived need to reciprocate also influences their affective and normativecommitment.Hypothesis 3: A perceived need to reciprocate mediates the relationship between OCD practice and both affective and normativecommitment.Continuancecommitmentis usually linked to time-based variables such as age and tenure (Meyer & Smith 2001). Direct evidence for the impact of OCD practices on continuancecommitmentis sparse, yet indirect evidence points to this relationship. For example, Barksdale et al. (2003) and Bhuian and Shahidulislam (1996) found that training, an HRM practice assumed to enhance career development increased the level of employees' continuancecommitment. In other words, the individuals' investment or the perceived limited availability of an alternative made it too costly for them to leave (continuancecommitment). An organization's career development opportunities may constrain an individual's future activity, binding him or her to the organization (Wallace 1997). Employees may perceive that the loss incurred by leaving the career development opportunities offered by the organization is too costly. This suggests that career development practices may increase the investments made and reduce alternative career opportunities, while increasing the cost of leaving and the perceived cost of losing something employees value. We therefore propose that individuals perceive that organizational career development opportunities are scarce and valuable, raising the personal cost of leaving the organization.Hypothesis 4: The relationship between OCD practices and continuancecommitmentwill be mediated by the perceived cost of loss.Career self-management andcommitmentOrganizations currently expect staff to play a role in managing their own careers (Adamson, Doherty & Viney 1998; Gratton & Hope Hailey 1999). Specifically, past research emphasized that individuals who manage their own careers consider their strengths and weaknesses, and skills and attributes, and plan their developmental needs according to the changing environmental needs (Herriot & Pemberton 1995). The literature suggests that employees attempt to manage their own careers by self-exploration and assessment (Noe 2002) of their interests, skills and values (Hogan & Warrenfeltz 2003; Kossek, Roberts, Fisher & Demarr 1998), and by career planning, in which they assess their career goals and establish development plans (Greenhaus, Callanan & Godshalk 2000; Orpen 1994).Research on career self-management has gained momentum (De Vos, Dewettinck & Buyens 2008; Adamson et al. 1998) with investigations into some employee attitudes towards the organization (Guest & Mackenzie Davey 2000; Sturges et al. 2002). However, consequences such ascommitmentand career satisfaction are frequently overlooked (Sturges, Conway & Liefooghe 2008; Sturges & Guest 1999).Direct evidence of the impact of career selfmanagement oncommitmentis sparse, yet indirect evidence points to this effect. For example, Kondratuk et al. (2004) examinedcommitmentlevels of employees with a career mobility history (i.e. those who have a history of job changes and are assumed to manage their own careers) and found that career mobility is negatively related to affective and continuancecommitment. Similarly,commitmentlevels of employees who had higher levels of autonomy (i.e. those who are left on their own to do their work and who are believed to be able to manage their own careers) found that increased levels of autonomy were associated with lowered levels of normativecommitment(Smeenk et al. 2006). This suggests direct negative relationships amongst career selfmanagement and affective, normative and continuancecommitment.Hypothesis 5: Career self-management will be negatively correlated with affective, normative and continuancecommitment.As we have indicated above, the perception of support is related to affective, normative and continuancecommitment. However, there is a deficit in research on the relationship between career self-management and proposed perception- based mediators. The expectation that individuals manage their own careers suggests a reduction of the perceived supportive behaviour on the part of the organization, thus lessening the strength of the relationship between the individual and the organization. We suggest that being responsible for one's own career may have a negative influence on the individual's perception of support. This in turn would negatively influence their attachment to the organization.This is supported in part by Smeenk et al. (2006) who found some support for this when studying a group of Dutch academic staff who valued freedom and autonomy, indicative of staff who managed their own careers. Although perceived support was not investigated, the provision of on-the-job skills training (an indirect form of supportive behaviour) was negatively related to the staff's affectivecommitment. This suggests that staff managing their own careers did not feel supported or affectively committed.In addition, indirect evidence illustrates that there may be a negative effect for staff managing their own careers on perceptions of support and normativecommitment. For example, Smeenk et al. (2006) note that the level of autonomy and number of working hours were negatively related to normativecommitment. As these staff valued career advancement and financial rewards, they may not have felt supported working long hours within a constrained budget situation. This implies that staff managing their own careers do not feel supported or normatively committed, and are readily negatively influenced by difficult organizational circumstances. Additionally, Smeenk et al. (2006) noted that there was a negative relationship between the number of working hours and continuancecommitmentfor this group of academics. This suggests that the long working hours combined with the budget constraints may have also contributed to staff not feeling supported or finding it costly to leave. In other words, staff managing their own careers did not feel supported or committed.Overall we expect that perceptions of support will mediate between career self-management and the three components ofcommitment.Hypothesis 6: The relationship between career self-management and affective, normative and continuancecommitmentwill be mediated by perceptions of being supported.As noted previously, evidence suggests that career self-management may result in decreased levels of affective and normativecommitment. It follows that when employees manage their own careers (i.e. career self-management) there will be no need to repay the organization. As a result, career self-management will be negative related to perceived need to reciprocate which, in turn, will lead to lower affective and normative commitment.Hypothesis 7: The relationship between career self-management and affective and normativecommitmentwill be mediated by perceived need to reciprocate.Sturges et al. (2000) suggest that employees may not welcome the responsibility for managing their own careers. Although career development opportunities may contribute to the individual's cost of losing benefits if they leave, career self-management may have the opposite effect, because individuals themselves are responsible for finding opportunities that advance their career prospects. Career development opportunities that increase the perceived investment in the organization while reducing the alternative opportunities outside the organization bind the individual to the organization, making it costly to leave (Becker 1960). In contrast, managing one's own career may reduce the individual's investment in one organization, as the individual's investment is in promoting his or her own career rather than a career tailored to one particular organization. We might expect a reduction in the constraints individuals perceive binding them to the organization and a fall in the perceived costs associated with losing something when leaving the organization.Hypothesis 8: The relationship between career self-management and continuancecommitmentwill be mediated by perceived cost of loss.Figure 1 represents the proposed relationships between OCD, career self-management on employee perceptions andcommitment.METHODParticipants and procedureData were gathered from managers who were members of a professional association of general managers, the Australian Institute of Management, in a south-eastern state in Australia. The self-report survey questionnaire included a stamped addressed envelope, assured participants of anonymity and encouraged their voluntary participation. Reminders were sent four weeks after the initial survey and three weeks after the first reminder. From a total of 420 mailed questionnaires 211 were returned and 196 were usable for the purposes of the study, resulting in a response rate of 47%. Of the 196 respondents 140 (71%) were male and 97% worked full-time. The majority of managers (66.4%) were from the top levels of management, and there was a smaller segment of general and middle level managers (20.9%). This could be indicative of recent downsizing, where middle management has been reduced in response to dynamic environmental conditions (Cave 1994). Most of the respondents were located in medium-sized organizations of up to 1000 employees, with structures that accommodate up to four levels of management. They had been in the workforce for approximately 26 years and for the most part were mobile, moving to new positions and/or organizations, no less frequently than every five years.MeasuresThe study employed several previously published measures (perceived support, perceived need to reciprocate, perceived cost of loss, affective, normative and continuancecommitment), and others that were developed specifically for this study (career self-management, organizational career development). In this case constructs were evaluated prior to the testing of the hypothesized structural model. The main purpose of this analysis was to ensure discriminant validity between the eight variables in the model.First, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to determine con generic measures for each variable (Joreskog 1971). Discriminant validity was estimated on one pair of variables at a time (Anderson & Gerbing 1988). Reliability was then calculated for each of the variables. Below is a description of each of the measures. All survey items had response options ranging from (1) to (5), representing 'strongly disagree' (1) to 'strongly agree' (5) or 'never' (1) to 'very frequently' (5). Variables were measured using previously established scales where possible.Based on the appraisal of the literature four items were developed to measure the individual's career self-management and four to measure OCD. The way the multi-item measures assess each of the variables is presented below. A fivepoint Likert scale was used to indicate the degree of experience of both the individual's career selfmanagement and OCD. These ranged from (1) 'never' to (5) 'very frequently'.Career self-management was measured by the degree to which individuals were responsible for establishing their career goals and plans. The four items that made up this measure concentrated on individuals in organizations being encouraged to assess their own interests, skills and values and develop their competencies in order to improve their future job prospects (see Appendix 1). Respondents considered items such as 'In my organization the practice is for managers to establish his/her career goals'. The scale's Cronbach's alpha was 0.88.Organizational career development was measured by the type of assistance organizations offered individuals in their career development. Four items constituted this measure. It investigated career development practices such as the provision of challenging assignments, career counseling and support for career development (Garavan & Coolahan 1996; Gunz, Jalland & Evans 1998). Respondents considered statements such as: 'In my organization the practice is for managers to be provided with career counseling'. The scale yielded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.78.Perceptions andcommitmentwere measured with a five-point Likert scale to indicate the level of agreement, ranging from (1) 'strongly disagree' to (5) 'strongly agree'.Perceived support was assessed using six items taken from Eisenberger et al's (1986: 501) support measure. The items chosen considered how the organization assisted career development. An example is 'The organization strongly considers my goals and values'. Other items conveyed: consideration for the employees' goals and opinions, job enrichment; use of employees' talents, and employee problems. The scale's Cronbach's alpha was 0.93.Perceived need to reciprocate was assessed using three items from Smith's (1995) measure but modified slightly in the context of the study. The scale included items from Smith's measure such as 'Given what it offers its employees in the way of benefits and opportunities, this organization should not expect its employees to be loyal and hard working' (reversed). The scale yielded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.77.Perceived cost of loss was measured by the perceived loss associated with leaving the organization. It was made up from three items from the felt investment/lack of alternatives scale constructed by (Smith 1995). Respondents considered the frequency of items such as, 'Few other organizations offer what this organization offers in HR policies'. The scale's Cronbach's alpha was 0.73.Control variables were demographic characteristics such as gender, age and tenure.Affectivecommitmentwas measured using six items from Meyer and Allen's (1997) affectivecommitmentscale. A sample item is 'This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me'. The scale yielded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.89.Normativecommitmentwas measured using six items from Meyer and Allen's (1997) normativecommitmentscale, which identifies a moral responsibility to stay. An example is 'I would feel guilty if I left my organization now'. The scale's Cronbach's alpha was 0.85.Continuancecommitmentwas measured using the six-item continuancecommitmentscale designed by Meyer and Allen (1997). An example is 'I believe that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization'. The scale's Cronbach's alpha was 0.84.RESULTSThe means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations for the study variables are displayed in Table 1. Zero-order correlations were all in the predicted direction.In order to test the hypothesized relationships of our model we utilized AMOS 6 and a twostep approach for Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) (Anderson & Gerbing 1988). A full measurement model of all the constructs was first evaluated to demonstrate discriminant validity. This was followed by SEM testing the hypothesized model.Several indicators were used to test the fit of the model and the observed data as well as the hypothesized and actual models. Five indicators were utilized, including chi-square (^sup 2^). As chisquare is greatly affected by sample size, normed chi-square (^sup 2^/df ), a more widely used indicator, was also utilized, values close to 1 indicating a good fit. Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Tucker- Lewis Index (TLI), with values between 0 and 1 were acceptable, indicating a reasonable fit (Byrne 2001). Lastly, the Root Mean-Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) should be less than.05 for a good fit (Kline 1998).Initial analysis of the measurement model suggested a moderate fit with the observed data: ^sup 2^ (674, N = 196) = 1217.91, p = .000, ^sup 2^/df = 1.81, CFI = .88, TLI = .87, RMSEA = .07. To maintain uni-dimensionality (Anderson & Gerbing 1988), measurement items with correlated error terms were removed. This led to the removal of two items from the affectivecommitmentmeasure and three items from each of the normative and continuancecommitmentmeasures. The removal of these items led to a considerable improvement of the fit: ^sup 2^ (377, N = 196) = 506.034, p = .000, ^sup 2^/df = 1.34, CFI = 0.96, TLI =0.95, RMSEA =0.05. All the standardized path estimates of the manifest indicators were significant, with values ranging from 0.18 to 0.74. Against this baseline eight-factor model, we tested seven alternative models. Results suggested that the eight-factor model had the best fit based on all fit indicators.In testing for our hypothesized structural model and consistent with the test for mediation models (Anderson & Gerbing 1988) a comparison was made between a fully mediated and a partially mediated structural model. The hypothesized fully mediated model had a reasonable fit: ^sup 2^ (388, N = 196) = 568.82, p = .000, ^sup 2^/df = 1.48, CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.05. All the predicted paths except for five were significant at p