Predicting employee commitment and satisfaction: the relative effects of socialization and demographics

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Predicting employeecommitment andsatisfaction: the relativeeffects of socializationand demographicsRobert J. TaorminaPublished online: 18 Feb 2011.

To cite this article: Robert J. Taormina (1999) Predicting employeecommitment and satisfaction: the relative effects of socialization anddemographics, The International Journal of Human Resource Management,10:6, 1060-1076, DOI: 10.1080/095851999340125

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Predicting employee commitment andsatisfaction: the relative effects ofsocialization and demographics

Robert J. Taormina

Abstract This study compared the relative in� uences of organizational socializationand demographic variables on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Organiza-tional variables were assessed by asking 193 Chinese employees in Hong Kong to evaluatesocialization within their companies, namely: (1) training received; (2) understanding ofthe organization; (3) co-worker support; and (4) future prospects within their companies.Dependent variables were standard measures of (affective, continuance and normative)commitment and of satisfaction (with co-workers, pay, promotion, supervisors and thework). Results revealed higher correlations between the socialization measures and jobsatisfaction and commitment than between the demographic measures and the dependentvariables. Although a few demographic measures had some predictive power, the regres-sion analyses con� rmed that the socialization variables were consistently stronger pre-dictors of both satisfaction and commitment. Strategic implications for human resourcemanagement are discussed.

Keywords Organizational socialization; organizational commitment; job satisfaction;strategic human resource management; HRM; China.

Employee commitment is a matter of concern to all organizations. Organizationalcommitment is generally conceived as an individual’s identi� cation with his or heremploying organization, such as sharing the corporate goals and values (Steers, 1977)and a willingness to exert effort on behalf of that organization (Mowday et al., 1979).Commitment has long been a matter of concern to managers because low commitmenthas been regarded as a major cause of employee turnover (e.g. Hom et al., 1979).Turnover, of course, has a high potential to impact negatively on an organization (e.g.Staw, 1980) since the loss of trained employees would mean a reduction in companyproductivity.

Job satisfaction among employees is also an important concern for companymanagers since it refers to the degree to which employees like (or dislike) their jobs.One reason that job satisfaction is a signi� cant concern is because it is often found tobe highly linked to commitment (e.g. DeConinck and Bachmann, 1994). As such, lowjob satisfaction can have a negative impact on corporate productivity because em-ployees who are not happy in their work cannot be expected to perform their jobs atpeak ef� ciency. Lower levels of employee job satisfaction have also been found to berelated to turnover intention (Berman and Nevo, 1994).

Robert J. Taormina, Department of Management and International Business, MasseyUniversity, Private Bag 102 904, NSMC, Auckland, New Zealand (tel: (649) 443 9799ext. 9579 (direct); tel: (649) 441–8123 (dept); fax: (649) 441–8109; e-mail:[email protected]).

Int. J. of Human Resource Management 10:6 December 1999 1060-1076

The International Journal of Human Resource ManagementISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online © 1999 Taylor & Francis Ltd

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Given these linkages, the question becomes one of which variables are able toin� uence commitment and satisfaction. Some studies have focused on demographicvariables, namely, individual differences such as age, gender, and the like (e.g. Dodd-McCue and Wright, 1996; Russ and McNeilly, 1995), while other studies have begunto examine organizational variables, such as promotion opportunities (Quarles, 1994),structural relations among organization members (Major et al., 1995) and entry-leveltraining (Saks, 1996).

Demographic variables

Demographic variables are many and some may play an important role in determiningan employee’s commitment (Kirchmeyer, 1995) or job satisfaction (Chow, 1995). Ingeneral, research has yielded ambiguous results, with some studies indicating that demo-graphics may have little or no effect (Shadur et al., 1995) and other research indicatingthat demographic variables are either signi� cantly related to or are strong predictors ofjob satisfaction and commitment (Fogarty, 1994).

While demographics may have some effect, research has been reluctant to stress thisbecause variables such as age and gender can not be altered by management, andselecting employees based on demographics can be challenged as discriminatory (Price,1995). On the other hand, it may be possible for managers to develop appropriatehuman resource strategies for improving satisfaction and commitment if it is known thatcertain groups of employees are not attaining high levels of these variables. Given suchconstraints, the present research is considered exploratory and no hypotheses aboutsample demographics will be postulated.

Organizational variables

Regarding the relationships between organizational variables and job satisfaction andcommitment, a considerable amount of research has been conducted. While there arenumerous variables that may conceivably play a role in predicting employee adjustmentto and intention to remain with an organization, this study focuses on aspects of organiza-tional socialization for at least two reasons. First, organizational socialization has longbeen theorized to have job satisfaction and commitment as two of its principal objectives(e.g. Buchanan, 1974; Schein, 1978). Second, the various facets of organizational social-ization are more directly under the control of management than are demographicvariables, and could therefore be manipulated.

Organizational socialization, as used in this paper, can be de� ned by severaldimensions. This follows the reasoning developed by recent research that argues forassessing employees’ views of their own socialization in order to better understand thesuccess of the socialization process (Chao et al., 1994; Taormina, 1994). For example,Chao et al. created six dimensions of socialization and found all of them to be positivelyand signi� cantly related to job satisfaction (commitment was not assessed). All thesedimensions � t into four larger, more generalized domains (Taormina, 1997), which willbe used in this study. These are: (1) training received; (2) the employee’s understandingof his or her role and of the company; (3) co-worker support; and (4) future prospectswithin the employing organization.

In general, socialization programmes are designed to foster employee adjustment.This is accomplished in part by company training since highly skilled employees will bemore effective. This translates into more success, which should yield more satis� edemployees. Likewise, since job satisfaction and commitment are often correlated,

Taormina: Predicting employee commitment and satisfaction 1061

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employees who highly value the training they received should also be more committedto the organization. It is therefore hypothesized that:

H(1) The higher the evaluations employees give to their company training, (a) themore satis� ed they will be on the job and (b) the more committed they will beto the organization.

Similarly, the orientations to corporate policies and operations that a company givesto its employees are also designed to facilitate employee adjustment. Understanding,like training, should also reduce mistakes and yield more effective employees, givingthem greater satisfaction. Also, assuming a credible administration, greater under-standing should lead to higher levels of organizational success, making employees morecommitted to the company. Therefore:

H(2) The greater the understanding employees believe they have, (a) the moresatis� ed they will be on the job and (b) the more committed they will be to theorganization.

Another genuinely integral aspect of organizational socialization is the interactionthat employees have with their co-workers (e.g. Feldman, 1981; Reichers, 1987). Theseinteractions need to be favourable for employees to function effectively (Katz, 1988),and such positive interactions have been found to be highly related to employees’organizational citizenship behaviour (Shore and Wayne, 1993). Consequently:

H(3) The higher the evaluations employees give to the support they perceivethemselves as receiving from their co-workers, (a) the more satis� ed they willbe on the job and (b) the more committed they will be to the organization.

The fourth major domain of socialization is employees’ perceptions about andacceptance of their prospects for a rewarding career within their employing organiza-tion. This can include such things as whether they will remain employed (Buchanan,1974), what their future assignments will be, and possible rewards that may be attained(Fisher, 1986), such as recognition and advancement (Betz, 1984). It is logical tosurmise that employees who are happy with their future prospects should be moresatis� ed and committed. Therefore:

H(4) The higher the evaluations employees give to their future prospects withintheir company, (a) the more satis� ed they will be on the job and (b) the morecommitted they will be to the organization.

Given the above arguments, some speculation can be made about the relative effectsof the socialization and demographic variables on job satisfaction and commitment.First, the � ndings from previous research on demographics can be characterized asgenerally mixed in that they sometimes do and sometimes do not yield signi� cantcorrelations with these dependent variables. Additionally, such correlations are typicallyunintended and are usually undesired. On the other hand, socialization programmes areintended to produce satis� ed and committed employees. Furthermore, high correlationsbetween socialization measures and these dependent variables are desired by manage-ment. Consequently, as regards the comparative effects of socialization and demo-graphic variables, it is generally expected that:

H(5) The socialization variables will be more predictive of (a) job satisfaction and(b) commitment than will the demographic variables.

1062 The International Journal of Human Resource Management

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The international context

These hypotheses could be tested best in a setting where employee job satisfaction andcommitment are in question. Hong Kong is one example because management com-plaints about the lack of commitment and high rates of employee turnover have beenparticularly prominent there during the 1990s (Burn et al., 1992; Lam, 1997).

Unfortunately, there has been very little empirical research published regardingorganizational socialization in cultures other than that of the USA. One exception is astudy comparing Hong Kong, Singapore and the People’s Republic of China (Taormina,1998). The three locations, although they are all based in the same Chinese (Confucian)culture, were found to differ on some of the socialization domains. In general, HongKong scored higher on the domains associated with personal advancements and rewards(such as training and future prospects) that could lead to � nancial gains for individualemployees. These differences suggest that Hong Kong would be a good location tolearn more about the effects of socialization.

Another reason for selecting this site is that Hong Kong is an important economiccentre in Asia, which makes it critical for managers to learn the dynamics of the factorsthat are related to keeping employees satis� ed on the job and fostering employeecommitment to the organization. That is, uncovering the variables that are associatedwith higher job satisfaction and increased organizational commitment should helpmanagers to � nd ways to increase these desired characteristics. In the long run, thisshould help managers maintain productivity and thereby strengthen the economicstability of their companies.

Method

Participants

Data were collected from 193 full-time employees in Hong Kong. All employees wereethnically Chinese. These included 89 males and 104 females (coded as 1 and 0,respectively). The ages of the respondents ranged from 18 to 56 years, with a mean of28.46 (SD 5 7.96). The sample had an average of 13.84 (SD 5 3.66) years ofeducation, with 86 per cent having no college degree, 12 per cent having a bachelor’sdegree and 2 per cent a master’s degree. There were 126 single and 67 marriedrespondents. Also assessed was the number of the current job, namely, whether this wasthe person’s � rst or second (or later) job. Responses for this variable ranged from � rst(33 per cent) to twelfth (0.5 per cent), with a mean of 2.55 (SD 5 1.86), and about 9per cent not responding. Tenure of employment, measured as the number of months onthe present job (M 5 46.97, SD 53.41), was also collected. All these variables wereentered into each regression that was used to test a hypothesis.

Measures

Organizational socialization This variable was measured by the twenty-itemOrganizational Socialization Inventory, or OSI (Taormina, 1994), which is a gener-alized measure to assess respondents’ evaluations of four domains of the socializationconstruct (Taormina, 1997). These are: training; understanding; co-worker support; andfuture prospects. Each subscale had � ve items and used a 7-point Likert scale (1 5‘Strongly disagree’ to 7 5 ‘Strongly agree’). For example, one training item stated:‘Company training gave me the skills needed to perform my job’. The values used forassessment were the averaged responses for each subscale. Reliability (Cronbach alpha)


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scores on the original OSI were .76 for training, .79 for understanding, .81 for co-worker support and .76 for future prospects (and .90 for the overall measure).

Employee commitment This variable was measured using Allen and Meyer’s (1990)Organizational Commitment Scale, which contains three eight-item components. Affect-ive commitment refers to the employees’ emotional attachment to and identi� cation withthe organization. Normative commitment refers to feelings of obligation to remain withthe organization. Continuance commitment refers to felt costs associated with leaving.As with the OSI, the commitment measures used a 7-point Likert scale, and the valuesused were the averaged responses for each subscale. The original alphas were .86, .82and .73, respectively.

Job satisfaction This variable was assessed using all � ve subscales of Roznowski’s(1989) updated version of Smith et al.’s (1969) Job Diagnostic Index (JDI). Satisfactionwas measured by responses of ‘No’ (coded 1), ‘Don’t know’ (coded 2) or ‘Yes’ (coded3) for each item (adjective) describing the respondent’s co-workers, pay, promotions,supervisors and the work itself. Again, the values used were the averaged responses foreach subscale. Alphas for the revised scale ranged from .82 to .91 (Roznowski, 1989).

Since Cantonese is the main language in Hong Kong, a Chinese (traditional characters)version of the questionnaire was used. Translation was performed by bilingual, nativeCantonese speakers. The back-translation was evaluated by a native English speaker tobe adequate for use.

Procedure

A sample of seventy small, medium and large organizations was randomly selectedfrom the Hong Kong business directory. The general managers of these companies werecontacted with a request to gather data from their employees, and were guaranteedanonymity for all individuals and their companies. Forty-three of the contacted com-panies agreed to the request. A set of twenty questionnaires was then sent to each sitewith an equal number of return-addressed envelopes. At the end of six months (allowedfor the data-gathering and return mailings to be completed), questionnaires werereceived from thirty-eight companies.

Results

Means, standards deviations and intercorrelations were computed for all variables.These values are shown in Table 1, along with the Cronbach alphas for the commit-ment, satisfaction and socialization subscales. With the exception of the normativecommitment measure, all of the alpha values were near or above the usual acceptancevalue of .70. (The overall, twenty-item socialization reliability was also computed andyielded an alpha of .87.)

Correlations

With demographics There were forty possible correlations between the eight demo-graphic variables and the � ve job satisfaction measures. Of these, only � ve weresigni� cant. Gender accounted for two of these, with females (more than males) beingmore satis� ed with co-workers and supervisors. Also, employees who had worked infewer previous jobs (i.e. had a lower job number) were more satis� ed with their co-


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workers. Education was signi� cantly correlated with pay satisfaction such that the moreeducation and the more advanced degree employees had, the greater the satisfaction.

Some (of the eight) demographic variables were also related to one or more of thethree commitment measures. Of these twenty-four possible correlations, ten reachedsigni� cance. Age was positively related to continuance and normative commitment.Gender was related only to affective commitment, such that females demonstrated moreemotional attachment than did males. Marital status was positively related to all threetypes of commitment, with married (as opposed to single) employees showing moreaffective, continuance and normative commitment. Education also showed a signi� cantcorrelation, such that those with fewer years of education revealed more continuancecommitment. The three remaining correlations involved tenure and number of em-ployees. Tenure was signi� cantly related to affective and normative commitment, whilenumber of employees was signi� cantly related only to continuance commitment.

With socialization The socialization variables had positive and highly signi� cantcorrelations with both satisfaction and commitment. Of the twenty possible social-ization–satisfaction correlations, eighteen were signi� cant. Most of these reached thep , .001 level. The only two non-signi� cant correlations involved pay satisfaction(which tended to have low correlations with all variables). Overall, these resultsstrongly supported hypotheses 1(a), 2(a), 3(a) and 4(a).

Of the � fteen possible correlations between the socialization variables and commit-ment, all were signi� cant. Thirteen reached the p , .001 level. Overall, these resultslent strong support to hypotheses 1(b), 2(b), 3(b) and 4(b).

Regression analyses

To determine the predictive ability of the demographic and socialization variables,several stepwise regression analyses were conducted. (The stepwise procedure was usedto assess the relative strengths of the different variables as predictors.) First, each of thesatisfaction measures was assessed as a criterion variable using all the demographic andsocialization measures as possible predictors (while controlling for commitment). Theseresults are shown in Table 2.

This table clearly demonstrates a consistent pattern of results. Namely, even thougha demographic measure occasionally entered one of the equations as a predictorvariable, the socialization variables always accounted for the majority of the explainedvariance. In the regression for co-worker satisfaction, for example, only two variablesentered the equation, which explained 16 per cent of the variance. Co-worker supportexplained 13 per cent of the variance, while gender explained only 3 per cent. Similarly,two variables also entered the equation for pay satisfaction, for which 10 per cent of thevariance was explained. Future prospects accounted for more of the explained variance(6 per cent) than did degree (4 per cent). For promotion satisfaction, all the explainedvariance (16 per cent) was accounted for by future prospects alone. For supervisorsatisfaction, there were three variables in the equation, which explained 33 per cent ofthe variance. The two socialization variables of co-worker support and training togetheraccounted for the majority of this (30 per cent), while the demographic variable ofgender accounted for only 3 per cent. Similarly, for work satisfaction, there were alsothree variables in the equation, which explained 22 per cent of the variance. Together,future prospects and training accounted for 18 per cent of the variance, while educationaccounted for only 4 per cent. For all of the regressions on job satisfaction, the


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Table 2 Stepwise multiple regression analysis for satisfaction (with co-workers, pay,promotion, supervisors and work) using socialization and demographics as predictorvariables (N 5 193a)

Variables Beta t D R2 R2 F dfa

Co-workers .16 12.61**** 2,136Training .09 .97Understanding .11 1.11Co-worker support .34 4.31**** .13Future prospects .12 1.25Age 2 .04 2 .45Degree .14 1.71Education .04 .55Gender 2 .16 2 1.98* .03Job number 2 .12 2 1.56Marital status 2 .12 2 1.57No. of employees 2 .07 2 .94Tenure .02 .27

Pay .10 7.65**** 2,136Training 2 .09 2 .86Understanding 2 .00 2 .01Co-worker support 2 .15 2 1.55Future prospects .24 2.91*** .06Age .03 .35Degree .13 1.33Education .21 2.58* .04Gender 2 .01 2 .07Job number .08 .98Marital status .07 .79No. of employees .06 .70Tenure 2 .02 2 .17

Promotion .16 26.19**** 1,137Training .11 1.13Understanding .07 .69Co-worker support .11 1.15Future prospects .40 5.12**** .16Age .01 .15Degree .01 .15Education 2 .04 2 .54Gender 2 .02 2 .31Job number 2 .03 2 .35Marital status .01 2 .12No. of employees .06 .79Tenure .10 1.30

Supervisors .33 22.38**** 3,135Training .24 2.94*** .05Understanding 2 .03 2 .29Co-worker support .35 4.28**** .25Future prospects 2 .10 2 1.05Age 2 .07 2 1.01Degree .13 1.89Education .07 1.05Gender 2 .17 2 2.36* .03Job number 2 .06 2 .80


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signi� cance of the ANOVAs reached the p , .001 level. These results stronglysupported hypothesis 5 (a).

A set of separate regressions was also conducted using each of the commitmentmeasures as a criterion variable and all of the demographic and socialization measuresas possible predictor variables (while controlling for satisfaction). These results areshown in Table 3.

Once again, a clear pattern of signi� cant � ndings was revealed. For affectivecommitment, three variables explained 50 per cent of the variance. The strongestpredictor was training ( D R2 5 .38), followed by future prospects ( D R2 5 .10), and thenmarital status ( D R2 5 .02). For continuance commitment, two variables explained22 per cent of the variance. Training ( D R2 5 .18) was again the strongest predictor,followed by number of employees ( D R2 5 .04). For normative commitment, 16 per centof the variance was explained by two variables. This time, future prospects was thestrongest predictor ( D R2 5 .13), followed by age ( D R2 5 .03). For all of the regressionson commitment, the signi� cance of the ANOVAs reached the p , .001 level. Together,these results provided strong support for hypothesis 5(b).

Discussion

Overall, the results revealed a much stronger pattern of in� uence by the socializationvariables on satisfaction and commitment than by the demographic variables. In everycase, regardless of how much total variance was explained, the socialization variableswere always the stronger predictor.

Job satisfaction outcomes

For co-worker and supervisor satisfaction, for example, gender explained only a smallamount of variance such that females were more satis� ed than males with both co-

Table 2 Continued


Marital status 2 .03 2 .37No. of employees .03 .35Tenure 2 .14 2 1.97

Work .22 12.84**** 3,135Training .25 2.72** .03Understanding .10 .84Co-worker support 2 .05 2 .47Future prospects .24 2.62** .15Age .06 .80Degree 2 .06 2 .60Education .20 2.66** .04Gender 2 .08 2 1.02Job number .07 .85Marital status .12 1.54No. of employees 2 .07 2 .91Tenure .10 1.27

Notesa The total df do not add to 193 (original N) due to listwise deletion of cases with missing data.* p , .05; ** p , .01; *** p , .005; **** p , .001.


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workers and supervisors. On the other hand, the socialization variable of co-workersupport explained four to eight times more variance than gender for each of these twotypes of job satisfaction. Training, another socialization variable, also contributed toexplaining supervisor satisfaction. These results suggest that, while females may havesomewhat better interpersonal relationships at work, what really matters (from theemployee’s point of view) in determining satisfaction with both co-workers and super-

Table 3 Stepwise multiple regression analysis for (affective, continuance and normative)commitment using socialization and demographics as predictor variables (N 5 193a)


Affective .50 44.80**** 3,135Training .39 5.28**** .38Understanding .12 1.34Co-worker support .13 1.73Future prospects .39 5.28**** .10Age 2 .09 2 1.12Degree 2 .10 2 1.54Education 2 .02 2 .26Gender 2 .09 2 1.45Job number .08 1.24Marital status .14 2.36* .02No. of employees 2 .05 2 .73Tenure .07 .97

Continuance .22 19.02**** 2,136Training .39 5.09**** .18Understanding 2 .08 2 .80Co-worker support .13 1.42Future prospects .06 .60Age .13 1.73Degree 2 .06 2 .82Education 2 .13 2 1.69Gender .13 1.69Job number .06 .78Marital status .12 1.58No. of employees .20 2.57* .04Tenure .10 1.25

Normative .16 12.79**** 2,136Training .13 1.37Understanding 2 .10 2 1.00Co-worker support .18 1.96Future prospects .36 4.51**** .13Age .06 .64Degree 2 .14 2 1.75Education 2 .07 2 .87Gender 2 .07 2 .86Job number .06 .75Marital status .17 2.18* .03No. of employees .05 .56Tenure 2 .08 2 .89

Notesa The total df do not add to 193 (original N) due to listwise deletion of cases with missing data.* p , .05; ** p , .01; *** p , .005; **** p , .001.


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visors is whether co-workers are being supportive and whether the organization isproviding quality training.

There was a similar pattern of results among the demographic and socializationvariables for pay and work satisfaction. That is, employees with more education weremore satis� ed with their pay and with their work, but the socialization variable of futureprospects explained signi� cantly more variance for pay satisfaction and three timesmore variance for work satisfaction than any of the demographic variables. The demo-graphics may simply re� ect the general pay structure of most companies, which rewardemployees who have more education with higher salaries. On the other hand, the greatervariance explained by the socialization variable strongly indicates that all workers –regardless of education level – can be induced to feel satis� ed with their work and payas long as they are offered opportunities for advancement.

Furthermore, no demographic variable was found to be a predictor of promotionsatisfaction. Instead, ‘future prospects’ was responsible for all the explained variancefor this dependent measure. In general, these results suggest that, while employees withmore education may be getting better jobs (work) and therefore tend to be moresatis� ed, the principal determiners of satisfaction with the work itself and with promo-tions are the opportunities for advancement that companies make available and thecompany training that quali� es employees for further progress. In other words, the realdeterminers of job satisfaction are the socialization variables that are under the controlof management.

Socialization and satisfaction in Hong Kong If one were to relate the satisfactionresults to the cultural context of Hong Kong and focus only on the socialization results,a somewhat utilitarian pattern tends to appear. When interpersonal aspects of satis-faction (i.e. with co-workers and supervisors) are examined, the major predictors arethose that involve social and/or political factors, such as co-worker support. Under-standing can be used by employees in politicizing to please supervisors, which wouldhelp them gain personal favours. This is in accord with Redding and Wong’s (1986)argument that personal connections are important to the Chinese in their organizationalbehaviour. The pattern strengthens when � nancial aspects of satisfaction are considered.Here, satisfaction with pay and promotions and with the work itself is predicted bymonetary concerns, namely, future prospects (the concern with opportunities forrewards) and training (which allows employees to obtain skills that can make themeligible for higher paying positions). Such materialist concern among the Hong Kongpeople is well known (e.g. Chiu et al., 1998; Smith, 1990).

Commitment outcomes

Turning to the commitment measures, normative commitment refers to typical feelingsof obligation to remain with an organization. Of the demographics, only marital statusentered the regression equation. This could re� ect a tendency for married employees tobe more likely than single employees to view their employers as a ‘family’, to whichthey may feel more obligated. But this explained a relatively small amount of thevariance. By comparison, however, the socialization variables once again explainedmuch more of the variance. Most explanatory power came from future prospects,indicating that employees who felt there were good career opportunities in theircompanies were much more likely to feel an obligatory commitment to their employingorganization. This socialization variable explained more than four times the amount ofvariance explained by the demographic variable.


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Continuance commitment refers to the costs that employees perceive would be in-curred by them in leaving their present company. In this case, the number of employeesin the company was the only demographic variable in the equation. Although this isregarded as a ‘demographic’ variable, it is more a characteristic of the organization thanof the employee, and was responsible for only a relatively small portion of the variance.This could re� ect the fact that larger organizations tend to offer employees morestability or that employees see large organizations as more able than smaller organiza-tions to provide more stable employment (especially in today’s unstable job market). Bycomparison, the socialization variable of training was responsible for more than fourtimes the amount of variance explained by the demographics. This suggests that thoseorganizations that provide better training create a desire in the employee to continueworking for the organization. At � rst glance, this could suggest a kind of reciprocitybetween the management and employees wherein employees give their loyalty inexchange for the training they receive. However, loyalty is more of an (affective)emotional attachment or (normative) feeling of obligation while continuance commit-ment refers to the ‘costs’ of leaving one’s employment. These results, therefore, morelikely mean that the employees may think their training is honing them for a speci� cniche in their particular organization such that they see fewer alternative employmentopportunities as they gain more specialized in-company training.

Affective commitment refers to the employee’s emotional attachment to the organiza-tion. The only demographic variable to enter this regression equation was marital status,but it explained only 2 per cent of the variance. This means that married employees feltmore emotional attachment to their employing organizations than did single employees.This could again re� ect a tendency for married employees to be more family orientedand see the company as a kind of ‘family provider’ as opposed to single employeeswho, being more self-oriented, may view the employing organization only as a sourceof income (a source they could readily change without affecting other people whodepend on them) and therefore feel less emotional attachment to it. Compared to thesmall in� uence of this demographic variable, two of the socialization variables explainedsigni� cantly more variance, with training and future prospects responsible for almosthalf of the total variance (and 96 per cent of the explained variance) for affectivecommitment. In other words, employees who felt they had received good training andthose who felt they had good opportunities for advancement demonstrated very strongemotional attachment to their companies.

Socialization and commitment in Hong Kong Viewing the commitment results as afunction of the cultural context of Hong Kong once again shows a strong utilitarianpattern. Here, the social factors (co-worker support and understanding) are not veryin� uential. However, as with the � nancial aspects of satisfaction, training and futureprospects both play strong roles in predicting commitment. This time, the in� uence ofthese two dimensions can be more clearly seen because they are directly related to� nancial rewards (future prospects) and/or some skill (training) that quali� es employeesfor higher salaries, which seem to lure Hong Kong employees to stay with a company(e.g. Barnett, 1995; Smith, 1990).

Implications for management

This study has provided some encouraging results for management. Human resourcemanagers have often been concerned with the demographics of their employees, worry-ing that workers of a certain age, gender, marital status, etc., may not be satis� ed with


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their jobs and/or may be less committed to their organizations. According to someresearchers (e.g. Ng and Chiu, 1997), this is an issue that is of special concern in Asia.If these worries were grounded in fact, this would be a serious dilemma because (a) tohire on the basis of demographic characteristics is illegal in most developed nations,and (b) these characteristics are not under the control of management (nor should theybe), so there would be little – or nothing – managers could do about it. This study foundthat demographic characteristics (as opposed to the socialization variables), whileoccasionally correlated with job satisfaction and commitment, explained relativelysmall amounts of variance and are invariably very weak predictors of these dependentvariables.

More encouraging are the � ndings that organizational socialization variables wereusually signi� cantly correlated with – and were consistently stronger predictors of – jobsatisfaction and commitment. This is promising news for managers because organiza-tional socialization is totally under the control of management. To take advantage ofthis, managers can design socialization programmes that address all four aspects ofemployee socialization that are auspicious for employees. For example, trainingprogrammes should be carefully designed to provide the skills needed by the employeeto ful� l not only the organization’s needs but the employee’s developmental needs aswell. The results strongly indicate this because training played a signi� cant predictiverole in both supervisor and work satisfaction, and was by far the most in� uentialpredictor of both affective and continuance commitment. Since most employees viewtheir supervisors as trainers, they are likely to be more satis� ed with their jobs and morecommitted to their organizations if their supervisors conscientiously offer training thatboth makes them more ef� cient in their work and ful� ls their developmental needs.

Employee understanding of their jobs and how their companies work was highly andsigni� cantly correlated with all of the satisfaction and commitment measures, eventhough it was not a predictor. This implies two things. First, employee understandingshould be taken seriously by management since the pattern of correlations is quitestrong. Second, the failure of this measure to enter the regression equation may havebeen a function of the nature of what the employees have learned about their com-panies. That is, as the amount of information obtained increases, there is a greaterpossibility that the employee may come across unfavourable information about the waythe company is operated, about the company managers and even about their co-workers.This could have a tendency to nullify what would otherwise be a signi� cant ability ofunderstanding to predict job satisfaction and commitment. The implications of this formanagement should be very clear. Namely, managers should make every effort toeliminate activities in their organizations that create disharmony and cause con� ict,such as political behaviour (e.g. Ferris and Kacmar, 1992). Future research should beconducted to differentiate the understanding of employees from the nature of what theylearn in organizations with harmonious and disharmonious cultures in order to betterascertain the role of understanding in predicting desirable outcomes such as jobsatisfaction and commitment.

As might be expected, the socialization variable of co-worker support was a signi� cantpredictor of both co-worker and supervisor satisfaction. Consequently, managers can alsoutilize this facet of organizational socialization to increase job satisfaction by makingefforts to foster co-worker support. Although many organizations may consider this to beless important than training in their orientation programmes, co-worker support hasoften proved to be an important psychological factor related to favourable employeeadjustment (e.g. Fisher, 1986). In addition to making efforts to relate personally to eachemployee, there are a variety of ways that managers can cultivate favourable inter-


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personal relations among employees. This could include offering both the opportunitiesand facilities for employees to have pleasant social interactions (such as voluntary,interest-group meetings during breaks or off-duty hours) and taking an active role insupporting them.

Finally, one of the most powerful predictors of both satisfaction and commitment wasthe socialization variable of future prospects. It was the main predictor of pay and worksatisfaction and was the only predictor of promotion satisfaction. It was also a majorpredictor of both affective and normative commitment. Although future prospects hasrarely been examined in organizational socialization, the fact that employees need tohave a promising view of their future career in a company (and that future prospectswas such a powerful predictor of these dependent variables) means that managers mustaddress this concern seriously. As Feldman (1981) has observed, new employees entertheir employing organizations with great expectations, but often suffer ‘reality shock’when they realize that they may have overestimated what they might be able to achieve.Although shock effects are unlikely to be entirely eliminated, it may be possible tosoften them by offering more opportunities for various types of advancements, bonusesand rewards, and clear explanations of how these may be achieved.

Such offers should be made not only to new hires, but to continuing employees aswell. This is because the reality shock, or disappointment, of not achieving (or of notbeing able to achieve) career advancements and other types of organizational rewardsalso occur for employees who have been in a company for several years. Such dis-appointments could conceivably create strategic human resource weaknesses in an organ-ization when skilled workers resign and (undoubtedly create an even more strategicallydetrimental situation) when they obtain employment with a competing organization.Management could reduce this potential problem and actively increase the degree ofemployee satisfaction and commitment by incorporating a future prospects componentinto their socialization programmes. This could be achieved by offering employees, ona continuing basis, numerous opportunities for career progression, salary incrementsand a variety of other tangible and intangible rewards and recognition.

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Documents

Predicting employee commitment and satisfaction: the relative effects of socialization and demographics