Abstract
Employment and organisational commitment are widely endorsed as goals for labour market policy and organisations. However, there are few comparative studies that examine how, in addition to individual characteristics, dimensions of national culture affect employment and organisational commitment. This article compares employment and organisational commitment among employees in Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and Sweden. The main focus is on whether these commitments differ in Finland from those in four other European countries. Finland has seldom been included in this kind of comparative study. Individual-level data come from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), Work Orientation Module III, collected in 2005–2006. Employment commitment was the highest in Sweden, while organisational commitment was the highest among Germans. Finnish employees did not display particularly high levels of employment commitment: Finns were next to last in this category. Organisational commitment in Finland was on the same level as Spain and Sweden. In all five countries low subjective job insecurity among employees increased organisational commitment. Schwartz’s (2007) cultural dimensions accounted for a significant share of the variance in employment commitment. The data were analysed mainly by using standard multiple regression analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis.
Highlights
The European Union and its member states are attempting to address the economic challenge of the deteriorating economic dependency ratio by increasing the employment rate of citizens, among other things (Council of the European Union, 2008; Työministeriö, 2007)
Up to a point, high employment and organisational commitment are desirable goals for western societies, which build on work and productivity1
One can postulate that the relationship between subjective job insecurity and especially organisational commitment is more pronounced in Spain, Germany and Finland than in the other comparison countries
Summary
Employment and organisational commitment are widely endorsed as goals for labour market policy and organisations. There are few comparative studies that examine how, in addition to individual characteristics, dimensions of national culture affect employment and organisational commitment. This article compares employment and organisational commitment among employees in Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and Sweden. The main focus is on whether these commitments differ in Finland from those in four other European countries. Individual-level data come from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), Work Orientation Module III, collected in 2005–2006. Finnish employees did not display high levels of employment commitment: Finns were next to last in this category. Organisational commitment in Finland was on the same level as Spain and Sweden. In all five countries low subjective job insecurity among employees increased organisational commitment. Schwartz’s (2007) cultural dimensions accounted for a significant share of the variance in employment commitment.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
