The interactional effect between employees’ perceived materialistic rewards and marital status on attitudinal and behavioral outcomes: An empirical investigation

Abstract

This study investigates whether the degree of materialistic rewards perceived by employees leads to creative behavior for organizational change, and identifies possible mechanisms, focusing on normative change commitment. We tested the hypothesis that the relationship between material compensation provided by an organization and employees’ normative change commitment varies depending on marital status. We conducted surveys at two different times and collected multi-sourced data in an organization that was undergoing large-scale organizational change. Specifically, 237 employees completed a self-report questionnaire that measured the level of their perceived materialistic rewards; this was followed by a second-round questionnaire to measure the employees’ normative change commitment. In the second round, we asked the team leaders of the respondents to evaluate their employees’ creative behavior toward change. As a result, we verified that employees’ normative change commitment has a mediating effect on the relationship between their perceived materialistic rewards and their creative behavior toward change. We also found that the marital status of employees is an important moderating variable in the relationship between the employees’ perceived materialistic rewards and their normative change commitment.