Organisational commitment in the digital social innovation context: does qualitative comparative analysis add information to linear regression?

Abstract

Knowing the motivational factors that affect professionals is strategic for organisations with limited resources, especially those that develop initiatives in the field of digital social innovation (DSI). This article contrasts a regression and causal fuzzy qualitative comparative analysis based on necessity and sufficiency relations between motivational drivers. The study can help practitioners design specific motivation systems that foster commitment and retain human capital in vulnerable organisations that are sometimes totally starved of funds. FsQCA raises questions over the generalisation of the motivational factors and its relative relevance and shows that some causality elements traditionally assumed in regression analysis as motivational factors may not be such. The article opens up new avenues of motivational analysis that enrich the traditional Herzberg dichotomy between extrinsic and intrinsic factors by discriminating between the presence and the absence of factors that may explain organisational commitment and shed light on some of the discussions around antecedents of this construct.