The Path from Ethical Organisational Culture to Employee Commitment: Mediating Roles of Value Congruence and Work Engagement

Mari Huhtala ,Taru Feldt

doi:10.16993/sjwop.6

Abstract

Following the Job Demands-Resources model’s motivational process, this study investigates the role of person-organisation fit and work engagement as mediating processes between ethical culture and employee commitment, where ethical culture is seen as an organisational resource. It was expected that the stronger the ethical values and practices are experienced to be, the more compatible employees feel with the organisation. A good person-organisation fit was further hypothesised to act as a personal job resource for the employees, who would consequently experience higher work engagement leading to stronger affective commitment and less turnover intentions. The study used questionnaire data gathered from 270 Finnish school psychologists. The analyses were performed by using SEM and mediation modelling with the bootstrapping method. Ethical organisational culture had a significant positive association with experienced person-organisation fit, which in turn was related to higher work engagement. Both person-organisation fit and work engagement were associated with higher affective commitment and with lower turnover intentions. This study contributes to understanding the mechanisms through which ethical culture affects employee commitment by integrating the concept of person-organisation fit with the Job Demands-Resources model. Organisations can retain committed and motivated workforce through fostering a strong ethical culture, which can support employees’ affective commitment to the organisation.

Highlights

There is strong empirical evidence that a good fit between the employee and the organisation, a fit between individual and organisational values, relates positively to employees’ affective commitment and intention to stay in the organisation
Based on the virtue ethics theory we suggest that ethical organisational culture has the potential to promote employee experiences of fulfilment of their psychological needs to feel comfortable within the organisation and competent in their work-role, which is a key component in promoting affective commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1987)
In line with the JD-R theory’s motivational process, we propose that ethical culture acts as a job resource that associates with higher value fit and higher work engagement, and associates with stronger employee commitment

Summary

Introduction

There is strong empirical evidence that a good fit between the employee and the organisation, a fit between individual and organisational values, relates positively to employees’ affective commitment and intention to stay in the organisation (for meta-analytical reviews, see Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005; Verquer, Beehr, & Wagner, 2003). Our first aim is to address these gaps in previous research by focusing on a specific organisational resource: ethical culture (i.e., ethical values and practices within the organisation). We will further contribute to the field by investigating a pathway leading from ethical organisational culture to affective commitment and turnover intentions. This answers to the unaddressed issue concerning the nature of the mechanisms that underlie the relationship between ethical organisational culture and employee outcomes (Mayer, 2014). We will test an integrative model with a positive attitudinal focus: whether organisations fostering ethical values can retain compatible, engaged, and more committed employees

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