The relationship between training and

organizational commitment

Name: Michel J. Schats

ANR: 259237

Supervisor 1: Drs. J. De Jong

Supervisor 2: Dr. T. Goessling

Tilburg, March 2007

Preface

This literature study is part of the study Organisation Studies of the University of
Tilburg. Also this bachelor thesis is part of the circle 'Permanent employment in
contemporary society', with the following central question; what does it mean to
workers to have an open-ended employment relationship in contemporary
organizational, societal, economic and labour market conditions?
This research investigates the literature in the field of the relationship between
training and organizational commitment. Organizational commitment is an interesting
predictor for the willingness to remain in the company. Training is a HRM practice
that is influencing the organizational commitment.
Regardless my parents and friends I want to thank Jeroen de Jong and Tobias
Goessling for their feedback and Naomi Schmitt for the English level of my thesis.

Michel Schats
March, 2007

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Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................3
1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM .......................................................................................................................3
1.2 RESEARCH GOAL .............................................................................................................................4
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION ......................................................................................................................4
1.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .............................................................................................................5
1.5 RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH........................................................................................................5
1.6 RESEARCH APPROACH .....................................................................................................................5
1.7 STRUCTURE .....................................................................................................................................6
2. METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................................7
2.1 INFORMATION SEARCH ....................................................................................................................7
2.2 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ............................................................................................................8
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK....................................................................................................9
3.1 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT (OC)...........................................................................................9
3.2 TRAINING ......................................................................................................................................11
4. DATA ANALYSIS............................................................................................................................14
4.1 OVERVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL RESEARCH......................................................................................14
4.2 CONCEPT-CENTRIC APPROACH OF THE RELATIONS ........................................................................17
4.3 THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIATORS AND MODERATORS.......................................................................18
4.4 THE INTEGRATION OF THE DATA ANALYSIS ...................................................................................20
5. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................22

6. DISCUSSION, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................24

6.1 DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................24
6.2 LIMITATIONS .................................................................................................................................24
6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................................................................25

References

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1. Introduction

1.1 Research Problem

In the contemporary business the talents and skills of the employees become more
important. In the past lifetime employment was the status quo, however nowadays the
employability of the individual employee is the leading thought. In the large meaning
of word employability refers to the skill to get a job or to keep the job (Forrier & Sels,
2003a; McQuaid & Lindsay, 2005).
There can be made a difference between internal employability and external
employability (Sturges, Guest, Conway & Mackenzie, 2002). Internal employability is
the capability of the individual to hold the job (Sanders & De Grip, 2004). External
employability is the capability of the individual to find another job (Sanders & De
Grip, 2004).
Individuals experience an increasingly competitive and hostile job market in
which they must be concerned with developing and marketing their human capital
(Hall, 1996). Individuals need to develop general skills to increase their mobility to
other jobs. Development of individual skills is now seen as an integral part of the
employment relationshop (Rousseau, 1995). Employers should come across inventive
manners to retent the employees. A method to commit your employees as employer is
to provide training. In the case of decisions around investments in the employability
through training and development of employees, employers must take into account the
effects on the employees.
Because of the different interests of the employer and the employee – the
employer wants to retent the employee and the employee wants to develop his skills
and talents for the competitive labour market – this research field is interesting to
investigate more closely. The challenge for employers is to discover ways to retent the
employees and to increase the organizational performance. Training has been
identified as an example of a human resource management practice that contributes to
gains in competitive advantage (Schuler and MacMillan, 1984) Researchers have long
argued that the importance of training extends beyond the skills and knowledge
needed to carry out one’s job (Tannenbaum, Mathieu, Salas, & Canon-Bowers, 1991).
Theories form management, psychology and labor economics show different and
sometimes contrary predictions about the impact of training on employee’s attitudes

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and the willingness to stay within the company.
The importance of the recruitment and retention of qualified and quality
employees is enormous. In the most organizations’ Human Resource Development
systems personnel training is the cornerstone (Nordhaug, 1989). In times of notable
changes many organizations change their policies and procedures related to training.
This may have consequences for the many work-related attitudes. Organizational
commitment is increasingly valued as a predictor of work behaviors and behavioral
intentions (Jaros et al. 1993) Studies of Human Resource Development practices,
including training, have shown to influence organizational commitment (Iles et al.
1990; Meyer and Smith 2000; Whitener 2001)
To specify the research problem, the research question will focus on the so
called employee Human Resource investment – training - in relation with the
organizational commitment of employees. Organizational commitment refers to the
“psychological link between an employee and his of her organization that makes it
less likely that the employee will voluntarily leave the organization” (Allen & Meyer,
1996, p. 252)

1.2 Research goal

The aim of the thesis is to describe the relationship between training and
organizational commitment and the influencing workplace attitudes and work
characteristics, in order to present a recommendation for future research.

1.3 Research Question

What is according to the literature, the relation between the human capital investment
training on the organizational commitment of the employee?

The sub questions are:

• What is the definition of organization commitment?

• What is the human capital investment training according to the literature?
• Which factors have the most influence on the relationship between training
and organizational commitment?

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1.4 Conceptual framework

Organizational
Training Commitment

Figure 1. Conceptual model relationship training and organizational commitment

1.5 Relevance of the research

Practical relevance: This literature-based research will offer more insight in decisions
regarding investments in the training of employees. As managers improve their
knowledge, they learn how they can use training as a tactical instrument to commit the
employees in turbulent economic times. In practice, managers should therefore be
able to make better decisions concerning the education and training of employees.

Societal relevance: This research can contribute towards finding answers to the
existing questions on the subjects of investments in human capital. When employers
learn to invest in the right manner in employees, this can be an important contribution
to the functioning of the society. By doing so, employers will contribute to getting the
right people in the right position.

Scientific relevance: This thesis can contribute to further scientific research. In the
case of advanced researches on the influence of training on organizational
commitment researchers can use this thesis to learn more about the basic relationship
between the concepts. While research on this topic is still within early stages, this
study can make a contribution to the research process.

1.6 Research approach

In this bachelorthesis the data is collected from already existing scientific research, to
deduce generalizations (Baker, 1999). Based on the timeframe and size of this
research, this study is not aimed at the development of theories. The aim is however,
to present the relationship between the two concepts, according to the literature.
Furthermore this thesis does not present all the causal relationships between the

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interrelating concepts, but the author wants to provide recommendations for this
research in the early stages. This thesis is based on a literature study, with presented
data from earlier research. After the presentation of the data the author’s goal is to
find relations.

1.7 Structure

The purpose of this study is to provide the reader with an overview of contemporary
literature, concerned with the relationship between the constructs training and
organizational commitment.
In chapter 2 a description will be given of the used methodology in this literature
research. In chapter 3 the explanation of the two most important concepts training and
organizational commitment will follow. The data analysis will be presented in chapter
4. The conclusion will be presented in chapter 5. Finally, in chapter 6 the reader will
be provided with discussion, limitations and recommendations for further research.

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2. Methodology

2.1 Information search

Within this research, internet is used as the most important tool for the extraction of
academic information. Webster and Watson (2002) states, that the major contributions
are likely to be in the leading journals. Important sources on the Internet to accelarate
identification of relevant articles are Google Scholar, Online Contents UvT, ABI
Inform, JSTOR and ISI web or Science.
The terms used for the sources are `training organizational commitment,
`antecendents organizational commitment,` relationship training organizational
commitment, ‘training’ and related terms. The articles found are criticised in relation
to their relevance. The questions used for the review respectively are:

- Is there a relation between the most important concepts of the article and the
two concepts of this thesis?
- Can the articles make a contribution to the articles, which is already found?
- Describe the article the relation between the two concepts training and
organizational commitment and the factors, which are correlating with the
correlationship?

The articles will be summarised with a few terms / concepts. The most important
articles will be the articles with the most important concepts / terms.
When a collection of high quality articles was found, the method of ‘snowball
sampling’ was used. First snowball sampling is searching for articles with the
established conditions (the questions above and the amount of concepts). Second,
snowball sampling is researching and using the references to find more specific
information (Baker, 1999). Webster and Watson (2002) recommended to go backward
by reviewing the citations for the articles to determine prior articles the author should
consider.
The next recommendation from them is to go forward by using the Web of Science to
identify articles citing the key articles identified in the previous recommendations
(start with journal databases and go backward). After this procedure I will decide
which articles can be included.

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With the use of all found articles, the thesis describes the relationship between the two
concepts training and organizational commitment and the corresponding factors. The
author’s goal is to discover the relationships in the found literature, to analyse them
and to present conclusions and recommendations.

2.2 Reliability and validity

A good qualitative study can help us ‘understand a situation that would otherwise be
enigmatic or confusing’ (Eisner, 1991, p. 58).
To guarantee the reliability it is important to registrate exactly which steps were taken
during the writing of the thesis. While throughout the writing of this thesis the
different steps of the process were carefully distinguished and listed, the reliability of
this research is expected to be high.
The concept of validity is described by a wide range of terms. The concept is not a
single, fixed or universal concept, but ‘rather a contingent construct, inescapably
grounded in the processes and intentions of particular research methodologies and
projects’ (Winter, 2000, p.1). In this kind of research it’s difficult to achieve a high
validity.

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3. Theoretical Framework

3.1 Organizational Commitment (OC)

Since the 1960's organizational commitment is an exciting issue for managers and
researchers. The meaning of Organizational Commitment is a ‘psychological link
between an employee and his of her organization that makes it less likely that the
employee will voluntarily leave the organization” (Allen & Meyer, 1996, p. 252)
A considerable amount of research in the field of organizational commitment, which
is aimed at locating the antecedents and the correlations with variables like turnover
and absenteeism, is at hand. Organizational commitment is increasingly valued as a
predictor of work behaviours and behavioural intentions (Jaros et al. 1993). In order
to have a good understanding of the construct organizational commitment, a table is
constructed, which presents the historical definitions.

Authors Definition Extra

Brief (1998) - emotional attachment (Affective
Commitment)
- the costs of leaving, such as losing
attractive benefits or seniority
(Continuance Commitment)
- the individual’s personal values
(Normative Commitment)
Meyer and Allen (1991), - Affective commitment (AC) refers to
Bartlett (2001), Ahmad the psychological attachment to the
and Bakar (2003), Meyer organization.
and Allen (1984) - Continuance commitment (CC) refers
to the costs associated with leaving the
organization.
- Normative commitment (NC) refers to
a perceived obligation to remain within
the organization - added in 1991 by
Meyer and Allen -
Liou & Nyhan (1994, A. The attitudinal approach refers to the Ad. A) An employee who has a high
p.100), Guffey, et al. attitude that an employee has towards organizational commitment will:
(1997) one's organization. - strongly belief in and accept
B. The behaviorial approach states that the organization's goals and
an employee becomes attached or values;
committed to an organization based on - exert a significant effort for
one's individual investment of time, the firm's benefit.
money or training that would be lost if - desire to remain a member of
one left the organization. the organization
Porters, Steers, Mowday The relative strength of an employee’s Development of organizational
and Boulian (1974) identification with and involvement in a commitment is a process that evolves
particular organization. Three factors through stages over a period of time.
influencing organizational commitment:
acceptance of the organization’s goals
and values, willingness to work on
behalf of the organization and strong

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 motivation to remain in the organization.

Sheldon (1971), Buchanan Positive evaluation of the organization Buchanan (1974) – a) identification –
(1974) and the intention to work toward its adoption as one’s own the goals and
goals. values of the organization, b)
involvement – psychological
immersion or absorption in the
activities of one’s work role and c)
loyalty – a feeling of affection for and
attachment to the organization.
Hrebeniak and Alluto The unwillingness to leave the
(1973) organization for increments in pay,
status, or professional freedom or for
greater colleague friendship.
Kantor (1968) Willingness of social actors to give
energy and loyalty to the organization.

Becker (1960) Employee's organizational commitment

develops through their actions and
choices over time. Commitment is
viewed as a function of employee
behavior.

Table 1. Overview definitions organizational commitment

The leading definition in contemporary scientific literature is the three-component

model of Meyer and Allen (Allen & Meyer, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1991). Therefore
this definition will be used in this thesis. Meyer and Allen (1991) state that both
affective and continuance commitment represent psychological states that have
implications for whether an employee remains with an organization. “Employees with
a strong affective commitment continue employment with the organization because
they want to do so. Employees whose primary link the organization is based on
continuance commitment remain because they need to do so” (Meyer & Allen,
1991:67).

Most of the discussion and research concerning the influence of management

practices on employees’ commitment has focused on affective commitment. First of
all, recently multidimensional models of commitment and appropriate measures have
been developed. Second, affective commitment is the most desirable form of
commitment and the one that organzations are most likely to want to instill in ther
employees (Meyer, 1997).

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3.2 Training

Training is an ideal way to learn a job. Management of individual skills is an

important aspect of doing business today, and employee development will likely grow
in the future (Noe, 1999). The benefits of employee development extend beyond the
actual skills gained and their contribution to an individual’s productivity (Benson,
2002). A table is constructed to present an overview of the different historical
definitions of the construct training.

Authors Definition Extra

Palo & Padhi (2003) A process of updating the knowledge,

developing skills, bringing about
attitudinal and behavioural changes and
improving the ability of the trainee to
perform his/her tasks efficiently and
effectively
Sparrow (1998), Bartlett Can be viewed as a management Variables Bartlett (2001): perceived
(2001) practice that can be controlled or access to training, training frequency,
managed to elicit a desired set of motivation to learn from training,
unwritten, reciprocal attitudes and perceived benefits resulted from training
behaviours, including job involvement, and supervisory supports for training
motivation and organizational
commitment
Smith and Hayton (1999) Factors appear to impact on the
enterprise decision to train employees:
- improvement of employee
performance
- improvement of the adaptibility
and flexibility of the workforce
- investments in new technology
- the adoption of new work
practices and moves towards
the more sophisticated systems
of HRM
Buckley and Caple (1995) A planned and systematic effort to Several factors are known to affect the
modify or develop knowledge, skill and effectiveness of training: behavior of
attitude through learning experience to individual learner, the training program,
achieve effective performance in an the environment in which the trainee
activity or range of activities works and the support from the trainee's
immediate supervisor (Montesino, 2002)
Rainbird (1994) and Heyes Training and employee development as Development of organizational
and Stuart (1996) a means of engaging the commitment of commitment is a process that evolves
employees to the enterprise. through stages over a period of time.
Schuler and MacMillan Training has been identified as an
(1984) example of a human resource
management practice that contributes to
gains in competitive advantage.

Table 2. Overview definitions training

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Three groups of theories, which mention the role of training in companies can be
identified (Smith and Hayton, 1999):

- Human capital theories – Economists traditionally look to the construct

training in terms of investment. Human Capital Theory has established
training in terms of increased productivity (Becker, 1964; Mincer, 1974;
Strober, 1990). The Human Capital theory developed the terms general and
specific training. In the mid-1980s the neo-human capital approach states that
companies train their employees in order to improve the adaptibility and
flexibility of the workforces and their responsiviness to innovation (Bartel and
LichtenBerg, 1987)

- Human resource management theory has viewed training and employee

development as a means of engaging the commitment of employees to the
enterprise (Rainbird, 1994; Heyes and Stuart, 1996). The initial formulation of
a theoretical framework for Human Resource Management came from the
Harvard Business School in the early 1980’s (Beer et al., 1984). Training
appears as one of a number of strategies for managing the human resource
flow of an enterprise which, together with other Human Resource policies,
produce the ‘four C’s’ of Human Resource outcomes; commitment,
competence, congruence and cost-effectiviness.

- Training and high performance organization - studies of skills trajectories in

Britain and the USA have suggested that a process of polarization is at work,
with some occupations becoming more skilled and others less skilled over
time (Gallie and White, 1993; Cappelli, 1993). Studies of high-performance
work practices and strategic HRM have been brought together in the concept
of human resources ‘bundles’ (MacDuffie, 1995; Dyer and Reeves, 1995)
which emphasize the importance of implementing a number of HRM practices
together in ‘bundles’ in order to achieve a performance improvement for the
enterprise. Training is always cited as a critical measure within the bundle.

The most used definition of training in relation with organizational commitment is ‘a

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management practice that can be controlled or managed to elicit a desired set of
unwritten, reciprocal attitudes and behaviours, including job involvement, motivation
and organizational commitment’ from Sparrow (1998) and Bartlett (2001). Bases on
this common use, this definition will be applied in this thesis as well.

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4. Data Analysis

For the data analysis the most important articles are selected and a short overview of
the selected empirical research is given in the first part. Following the concept-centric
analyzing technique of Webster and Watson (2002) the results of the analysis are
presented in clear tables in the second part. In the third part an overview of the
mediators in the relation between training and organizatational commitment is
presented. The fourth part consists of the syntheses of the preceding overviews.

4.1 Overview of the empirical research

After finishing the selection procedures for the articles, the six most important articles
in the field of the relationship between training and organizational commitment were
selected. The following overview should provide proper understanding of what kind
of articles were used.

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 Procedure
Dependent Independent Moderators /
Author Sample data
variables variables Mediators
collection
337 registered nurses of five public The moderators
Bartlett OC – three-
hospitals in a midwestern state of the Training job involvement survey
(2001) component
USA and job satisfaction
204 white-collar workers, employed
Ahmad in the private and the public sector in
OC – three-
and Bakar Malaysia, who participated in Training survey
component
(2003) (in)formal training programs with
their cuurent organization
94 individuals recruited through
Employee The mediators
Meyer and employee contacts at various (30)
commitment – Perceived support
Smith organizations and 187 contacts within HRM practices survey
three- and procedural
(2000) five small organizations (n=281) -
component justice
Canada
The mediators
Roehl and awareness of rules,
Five hotels with 190 employees -
Swerdlow OC Training morale and survey
USA
(1999) perceived quality of
management
Employee
Training -
12360 current and former employees commitment,
Benson Participation in
of a high-technology manufacturing intent to survey
(2002) development and
firm - USA turnover and
rewards
turnover.
232 new employees who joined the
Training – part of
Hellman company – USA – one newly formed Newcomer’s
socialization survey
(2000) company in the consumer and OC
strategies
business information industry

Table 3. Overview empirical research relation training and OC (Organizational commitment)

Sample

The samples are selected from hotels, hospitals, private and public companies, a high
technology manufacturing firm and a newly formed company. The diverse sample
improves the reliability of the research.
The research of Benson (2002) has the most respondents in the sample. In social
science applies the larger the sample size, the smaller the sampling errors. Following
this line of reasoning the chance of sampling errors is the smallest in the research of

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Benson (2002). It is important however, to emphasise that the sample of Benson
(2002) exists of one large organization. Other samples added more than one
organization, to advance the generalizability of the study.

Dependent variables

Remarkable with regard to the dependent variables is the use of the three-component
model of Meyer and Allen (1991). The first three studies have chosen to use this
model, but the last three researches have chosen for the definition of Porters, Steers,
Mowday and Boulian (1974): “the relative strength of an individual’s identification
with and involvement in a particular organization”, despite of the fact these researches
took place in 1999, 2000 and 2002 after Meyer and Allen (1991) developed their
modern definition. Benson (2002) has developed a complex research with several
independent, dependent and control variables.

Independent variables

Noteworthy in the context of the independent variables, is the fact that in three studies
the construct training is the major independent variable, but in the three other studies
training is part of socialization strategies, Human Resource Management practices and
several independent variables. The construct training is more figured out in the first
mentioned studies.

Moderators

Three studies have included moderators or mediators in the analysis of the

relationship. Bartlett (2001) has included the moderators job involvement and job
satisfaction, Meyer and Smith (2000) and Roehl and Swerdlow the mediators
perceived support, procedural justice, awareness of rules, moral and perceived quality
of management. These studies are important for the completeness of the description of
the relationship between the constructs training and organizational commitment. The
authors came across too strong significant relations between these moderators or
mediators and the two constructs training and organizational commitment, in order to

16
drop them.

Procedure of data collection

All the qualitative studies use the self-administered questionnaires as primary data
collection technique.

4.2 Concept-centric approach of the relations

According to Webster and Watson (2002) a literature review is always concept-

centric. In this study, the choice was made to summarise all the relations in one table
with the dependent variable in the columns and the independent variables in the rows.
The conclusions of the six studies are presented in one matrix below.
Continuance
Affective commitment Normative commitment Overall commitment
commitment

Perceived access Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Ahmad and
to training Ahmad and Bakar, 2003) Ahmad and Bakar 2003) Bakar, 2003)
Hours spent in
Positive (Bartlett, 2001) Negative (Bartlett, 2001)
training
Training
Positive (Bartlett, 2001)
frequency
Motivation to Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Ahmad and Positive (Ahmad and
Negative (Bartlett, 2001)
learn Ahmad and Bakar 2003) Bakar, 2003) Bakar, 2003)
Perceived
Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Ahmad and
benefits of
Ahmad and Bakar, 2003) Ahmad and Bakar, 2003) Ahmad and Bakar, 2003) Bakar, 2003)
training
Training Positive (Ahmad and Positive (Ahmad and Positive (Ahmad and Positive (Ahmad and
environment Bakar, 2003) Bakar, 2003) Bakar, 2003) Bakar, 2003)
Social support for Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Bartlett, 2001 + Positive (Ahmad and
Positive (Bartlett, 2001)
training Ahmad and Bakar 2003) Ahmad and Bakar 2003) Bakar 2003)
On-the-job- Positive (Benson,
training 2002)
Positive (Hellman
(2002) and Roehl &
Positive (Meyer and
Overall training Swerdlow (1999) -
Smith, 2000)
indirect via
moderators/mediators)

Table 4. Overview of the relations found by the researchers.

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Affective commitment

The most and strongest relationships are found between training factors and affective
commitment. Social support for training has got the largest influence on affective
commitment.

Continuance commitment

Remarkable are the two negative relationships between ‘hours spent in training’ and
‘motivation to learn’. The more hours spent in training, the less the continuance
commitment. Bartlett (2001) also found a negative but nonsignificant relationship
between motivation to learn and continuance commitment. This fact supported his
hypothesis, which states that employees with higher levels of training motivation
would report higher levels of organizational commitment.

Normative commitment

Only the factors ‘hours spent in training’ and ‘training frequency’ showed no
(positive) relationship with normative commitment.

Overall commitment

Some researchers have chosen for a single total construct for organizational
commitment. Roehl and Swerdlow (1999) found an indirect relationship between
training and organizational commitment via the mediatiors awareness of rules, morale
and perceived quality of management. Other researchers subdivide the construct in
affective, continuance and normative commitment.

4.3 The influence of mediators and moderators

The moderators and mediators in the relationship form the outcome of the analysis.

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The potential relationship between training and organizational commitment is most
likely moderated by other workplace attitudes (Bartlett, 2001). Roehl and Swerdlow
(1999) states there is also evidence to suggest that the relationship between training
and organizational commitment is indirect.
For the completeness of the description of the relationship between training and
organizational commitment, there was chosen to give a short overview of some found
mediators and moderators according to the six authors and their definitions of the
mediators and moderators.

Mediators, Moderators Dependent variable Independent Supported

variable
Moderator job
Affective commitment Access to training NO (Bartlett, 2001)
involvement
Moderator job
Affective commitment Access to training YES (Bartlett, 2001)
satisfaction
Mediator perceived Affective and normative HRM practices like YES (Meyer and Smith,
support commitment training 2000)

Mediator procedural Affective and normative HRM practices like YES (Meyer and Smith,
justice commitment training 2000)

Mediator awareness of YES (Roehl and

Organizational commitment Training
rules Swerdlow, 1999)

YES (Roehl and

Mediator morale Organizational commitment Training
Swerdlow, 1999)

Mediator perceived YES (Roehl and

Organizational commitment Training
quality of management Swerdlow, 1999)

Table 5. Overview of the influence of mediators and moderators on the relation between training and
organizational commitment.

- Job involvement refers to the extent to which peope are psychologically attached to
their jobs and the degree of importance that work holds in their life (Lodahl and
Kejner, 1965; Keller, 1997)
- Job satisfaction is frequently defined as an individual’s attitude toward his or her
job (Moorhead and Griffin, 1997)
- Perceived support is the employees’ belief that the organization values their
contributions and cares about their well-being (Eisenberger et. al., 1986)

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- Procedural justice refers to the perceived fairness of the means used to determine
those amounts (Folger and Konovsky, 1989)
- Awareness of rules – a work characteristic.
- Morale represents an “umbrella” notion that includes, in addition to satisfaction
with the work environment, such attributes as enthusiasm, commitment or loyalty to
the institution, willingness to work, and dedication to common goals (Johnsrud,
1996).
- Perceived quality of management can be explained by the quality of performance
with respect to specific primary stakeholders: owners, employees, customers and
(marginally) communities (Waddock and Graves, 1997).

4.4 The integration of the data analysis

For the overall presentation of the data analysis the data is shown in one large table. In
the columns affective, normative, continuance and overall commitment, the related
independent variables are displayed.

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 Dependent Independent Data Continuance Normative
Author Sample Moderators / mediators Affective commitment Overall commitment
variables variables collection commitment commitment
Perceived access to Motivation to learn
The moderators job
training, hours spent in (Negative), hours Perceived access to
337 registered nurses of involvement (NOT
training, training spent in training training, social support
Bartlett five public hospitals in a OC – three- SUPPORTED) and job
Training survey frequency, motivation to (Negative) perceived for training and
(2001) midwestern state of the component satisfaction on affective
learn, social support for benefits of learning perceived benefits of
USA commitment <-> access to
training and perceived and social support for training
training
benefits of training training
204 white-collar workers, Perceived access to Perceived access to
Perceived access to
employed in the private training, motivation to training, motivation to
training, motivation to
Ahmad and and the public sector in Perceived benefits of learn, perceived learn, perceived
OC – three- learn, perceived benefits
Bakar Malaysia, who Training survey training and training benefits of training, benefits of training,
component of training, training
(2003) participated in (in)formal enviroment training environment training environment
environment and social
training programs with and social support for and social support for
support for training
their cuurent organization training training
94 individuals recruited
through employee The mediators perceived
Employee
Meyer and contacts at various (30) support and procedural
commitment – HRM
Smith organizations and 187 survey justice on affective and Overall training
three- practices
(2000) within 5 small normative commitment <->
component
organizations (n=281) - training
Canada
The mediators awareness of
Roehl and
Five hotels with 190 rules, morale and perceived
Swerdlow OC Training survey Overall training
employees - USA quality of management on
(1999)
training <-> OC
12360 current and former Employee Training -
employees of a high- commitment, Participation
Benson
technology intent to in survey On-the-job training
(2002)
manufacturing firm - turnover and development
USA turnover. and rewards
232 new employees who
joined the company – Training –
Hellman USA – one newly formed Newcomer’s part of
survey Overall training
(2000) company in the consumer OC socialization
and business information strategies
industry

Table 6. The integration of the data analysis

21
5. Conclusion

First indications for relations between the constructs training and organizational
commitment in the last age: increased organization commitment and other important
outcomes may likely be the result of training programs (McMahan, 1993; Zuboff,
1988). The developments after the first indications are analysed in this thesis based on
the research question: ‘What is according to the literature, the relation between the
human capital investment training on the organizational commitment of the
employee?’.
We have found the most influential independent variables perceived access to
training, motivation to learn, perceived benefits of training, training environment,
social support for training, on-the-job training and overall training, with social support
for training producing the highest correlations with organizational commitment.
Providers of training – the employers – have the challenge to improve these
independent variables to develop a high organizational commitment.
Research with regard to the relationship between training and organizational
commitment is still premature. This thesis supports prior research that has provided
evidence which suggests that human resource practices such as training might have
their greatest impact on affective commitment when it is believed that the
organization is motivated by the desire to create a climate of concern and care
(Kinicki et al., 1992). Bartlett (2001) states that the availability of training has been
shown to have a strong relationship with affective and normative commitment, but no
association with continuance commitment.
The thought is that employees who recieve training might perceive that the
organization values them as individuals and therefore develop a stronger affective
commitment. Employees who are aware of the expense of training or appreciate the
skilles they have acquired might develop a sense of obligation (normative
commitment) that will keep them within the organization at least long enough to allow
them to reciprocate (Meyer and Allen, 1997). The following conclusions can be
presented in this thesis.
First, training is related to organizational commitment. The strongest relationships are
found with the affective form of organizatonal commitment. Social support for
training produce the highest correlation with all forms of organizational commitment.

22
Second, the relationship between training and organizational commitment is mediated
by perceived support, procedural justice, awareness of rules, morale and perceived
quality of management, with the strongest correlation of perceived support.
Third, the relationship between training and affective commitment is moderated by
job satisfaction.

23
6. Discussion, limitations and recommendations

6.1 Discussion

A remarkable issue is that all the researchers, except for Benson (2002), have used the
same view of development practices like training. Theories from management,
psychology and labor economics yield different and sometimes contrary predictions
about the impact of development experiences on the employee’s attitudes and
willingness to remain within the company (Benson, 2002). Management and
psychology studies like those of Gaertner and Nollen (1989) generally assume that
skill development and the oppurtunity to take training are viewed by employees as
benefits, and as signals that they are valued by their employers. On the other hand
labour economics predict that workers with upgraded general skills are likely to
turnover unless their wages are increased (Becker, 1965). Turnover literature also
suggests that development activities may have negative effects on attitudes and
retention by increasing an employee’s perceptions of external job oppurtunities
(Gerhart, 1990; Griffeth, Hom, & Gaertner, 2000).
The challenge for organizations is to retent their employees through training and it
seems to be sensible to combine these different theories in order to create equal
development programs. Most research in this thesis is done in the field of
management and psychology studies.

6.2 Limitations

First of all, there is a need for more research in the field of organizational
commitment and training. Not enough research has been done in order to describe the
relationship completely. Only three authors in this thesis have chosen for the research
in the constructs training and organizational commitment. The researchers use
different independent variables and moderators and mediators to obtain insight in
these relationships.
Second it is remarkable that in all of the researches the relationship between training
and organizational commitment is a positive one. The only negative relationship can
be found between the independent variables ‘hours spent in training’, ‘motivation to
learn’ and the dependent variable continuance commitment. It is not hard to imagine
there can be more kinds of training situations or training variables can be identified,

24
which cause negative relationships.

6.3 Recommendations

The conclusion that the strongest relationship exists between training and affective
commitment, implies for organizations that they should focus on developing initiaves
that matter most to the affective form of commitment, such as support given in
training and benefits offered training (Ahmad and Bakar, 2003)
The authors have used different kinds of independent variables to conceptualize the
construct of training. For future research all the presented independent, dependent and
moderator variables can be used in one research aimed at identifying in the
relationship between the variables. There is a lot of evidence for an indirect
relationship between training and organizational commitment. This research will be
necessary to develop an overall view of the relationship between training and
organizational commitment. In figure 2 this suggested model for future research.

25
 Mediators

J. Perceived support
K. Procedural justice
L. Awareness of rules
M. Morale
N. Perceived quality of
management.

Moderators

Independent variables O. Job satisfaction

A. Perceived access to
training
B. Hours spent in Dependent variables
training
C. Training frequency P. Affective
D. On-the-job training commitment
E. Motivation to learn Q. Continuance
F. Perceived benefits commitment
of training R. Normative
G. Training commitment
environment S. Overall commitment
H. Social support for
training
I. Overall training

Figure 2. Conceptual model for future research

The affective component of organizational commitment is related to access to training

when the moderating influence of job satisfaction is controlled for (Bartlett, 2001).
Training and affective and normative commitment are mediated by perceived support
and procedural justice (Meyer and Smith, 2000). Awareness of rules, morale and
perceived quality of management are mediators in the relationship between training
and overall organizational commitment. Roehl and Swerdlow (1999) have included
these mediators and the overall form of commitment, and not the three-component
model (affective, normative and continance).
So, there is a need for more evidence in the indirect relationship between training and
organizational commitment, the exact relationships between the mentioned
independent variables and dependent variables, and the moderators, influencing the
relationship.

26
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