The Effects of Attitudes and Perceptions of Training and Development on Organizational Commitment with Workplace Well-being as a Mediator: A Study on the Belize Public Sector.

Abstract

In this competitive and developing world, organizational commitment is considered an imperative and pivotal factor in the workplace. Throughout the years, scholars have identified the existence of several factors, antecedents and predictors of organizational commitment. However, there is minimal focus on the relationship between employee attitudes and perceptions of training and development; (i) training motivation (ii) perceived training support and (iii) perceived training benefits and its impact on organizational commitment, particularly within public sectors of developing countries. Similarly, there is limited research on how the concept of workplace well-being can influence organizational commitment in organizations. As a result, this study examined the relationship between public officers’ attitudes and perceptions of training and development and organizational commitment, with a focal point on workplace well-being as a mediator to the relationship of these variables within the Belize Public Sector. The data collected via online survey from 268 full time public officers was analyzed with SPSS and AMOS. The results of the linear and hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that attitudes and perceptions of training and development had positive relationships with workplace well-being. Results also showed that these attitudes and perceptions had positive, but lower associations with organizational commitment and that perceived training benefits had no relationship with organizational commitment. Lastly, the results obtained revealed that workplace well-being only mediated the relationships between training motivation, perceived training support and organizational commitment, but not that of perceived training benefits and organizational commitment. The findings of this study provide practitioners in the Belize Public Sector with information on public officers’ attitudes and perceptions with respect to training and development, workplace well-being and commitment.