Factors for sustained organisational commitment among temporary employees

According to the ongoing research project by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, entitled ‘Work and health among Finnish hospital personnel’, organisations that employ temporary workers should pay attention to the job control and career prospects of such staff. The results of an internationally published study showed that factors such as being aged over 35 years, high job control, high perceived fairness in decision-making and low psychological strain predicted sustained organisational commitment.

Temporary work and organisational commitment

Contemporary working life is characterised by the increased use of several forms of non-standard employment, such as temporary work, project work and ‘on call’ employment. Organisational commitment is a link between the individual and the employer, and is an affective response to the overall organisation. The behavioural consequences of such commitment are a lower rate of work absenteeism, better job performance, lower staff turnover and less frequent plans to change jobs – the latter two aspects tend to occur at relatively high levels among personnel holding fixed-term employment contracts.

In terms of the employee, factors leading to organisational commitment have generally included older age, longer work tenure and higher educational level. Well-developed group leader relations and favourable work characteristics are also important in this regard. Job characteristics such as job control and enriched quality jobs have correlated positively with organisational commitment.

A study was carried out to determine the extent to which demographic and work-related factors are related to sustained organisational commitment among nurses holding temporary work contracts. In addition, the researchers were interested in assessing how the change from temporary employment to a permanent job affects organisational commitment.

Measuring organisational commitment

This study was based on the ongoing follow-up research project ‘Work and health among Finnish hospital personnel’, coordinated by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos, FIOH). The longitudinal design included a baseline survey in 1998 and a follow-up study in 2000. Nurses were selected as the target group for this research, representing the largest single occupational group in the health sector. Other inclusion criteria were that the participants responded to both surveys, held a temporary employment contract in 1998 and reported in that baseline year that they were committed to the organisation (hospital) for which they worked. A total of 412 nurses, comprising 391 women and 21 men, fulfilled these criteria and formed the final cohort of this study.

Sustained organisational commitment was measured by an employee’s continued intention two years later to stay working in the same organisation. The specific question assessing commitment was: ‘What would you rather do if your livelihood were sufficient?’ The following five response categories were offered: 1) I would continue in this organisation, and in my present job; 2) I would continue in this organisation but in a different job; 3) I would switch to another organisation in this same occupational field; 4) I would switch to another occupational field; and 5) I would give up working.

Only employees who chose either the first or the second response option in the baseline survey were included. Sustained organisational commitment was indicated by choosing one of the first two options in the follow-up study two years later, while the researchers interpreted a decrease in organisational commitment if any of the three lower options were chosen at follow-up. A dichotomous variable was formed, with 0 representing decreasing organisational commitment and 1 corresponding to sustained organisational commitment.

Study findings

Some 256 temporary employees remained in temporary work and 156 temporary employees received a permanent post during the two-year interval; the latter were categorised as the ‘temporary-to-permanent’ group. The workers in this group were older and had a longer organisational tenure than those who had remained in temporary work. The temporary-to-permanent group also had more favourable perceptions regarding participative safety and task orientation in team work.

A logistic regression analysis revealed that older age was more likely than younger age to predict sustained organisational commitment. Furthermore, high job control, high participative safety, high organisational fairness and low psychological strain predicted sustained organisational commitment. A shift from temporary to permanent work and high job control had a significant statistical effect in all regression models conducted.

Commentary

This research is the first longitudinal study concerning sustained organisational commitment of temporary employees. Up to now, not much has been known about the association between different job characteristics and the sustained organisational commitment of these workers. Nor does previous research exist on the effect of a change from a temporary to a permanent job on organisational commitment.

The question of sustained organisational commitment is important because temporary nurses are a common feature of the labour market. The finding that the level of job control predicts the organisational commitment of nurses in temporary work indicates that managers should pay careful attention to the nurses’ opportunities for job control and participative decision-making. It also seems that older temporary workers are more motivated and committed to their jobs than their younger colleagues.

Reference

Jalonen, P., Virtanen, M., Vahtera, J., Elovainio, M. and Kivimäki, M., ‘Predictors of sustained organisational commitment among nurses with temporary job contracts’, Journal of Nursing Administration, Vol. 36, No 5, 2006, pp. 268–276.

Arto Miettinen, Statistics Finland