Developing Organizational Commitment Via ‘Employee-driven HRM’ in a Knowledge-Intensive Firm

Abstract

Employee turnover is a serious issue for all firms, but especially critical for knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs) that depend exclusively on their human capital to survive and prosper. The literature recognizes that characteristics of knowledge workers differ from those of the general workforce population, yet theories and models aimed at ensuring employee retention do not fully account for these differences. In this paper, we present data from a longitudinal study in a Danish KIF in which employees were both highly satisfied with and deeply engaged in their work, yet lacked organizational commitment. We demonstrate through an action research based process how providing knowledge workers with opportunities to become involved in developing and implementing an “Employee driven HRM system” engendered high levels of organizational commitment that effectively resolve the turnover issue. These findings contribute to the literature focusing on relationships between job satisfaction, employee engagement, organizat...