Organizational Commitment and Job Insecurity in a Changing Public Service Organization

Abstract

This article presents a case study of a large establishment (employing over 600 staff), which had undertaken a planned programme of organizational change. The establishment itself was a particular subunit of a national, public service organization. The case study and related research are used to explore relationships between attitudes to change, organizational commitment, and job insecurity about six months after the initial consultation process had started. Unlike most previous research, which tends to focus on the magnitude of commitment, the interviews and survey were used in part to examine the qualitative nature of commitment. Commitment was found to focus on immediate colleagues, with interviews showing that commitment was seen by staff as being expressed through behavioural indicators such as dependability and enthusiasm. In the survey of 167 employees, it was hypothesized that employees with particularly high or low organizational commitment would express the least need for change (due to either very optimistic or very disillusioned views about the organization). However, those employees with moderate organizational commitment expressed the least need for change in the organization. Reasons for this finding are examined in the article. In addition, it was found that “them and us” attitudes were negatively correlated with organization commitment and with subjective involvement in change. Job insecurity was associated with a greater felt need for change, but also with lower organizational commitment. Implications for organizational change and development are discussed.