Master of Science “Human Resource Management”

Master Thesis

Master of Science “Human Resource Management”

University of Groningen

Faculty of Management and Organization

K

D

Student number: 1585045 Erlte 59

49429 Visbek Germany

Tel.: +49 (0) 4445 1545 Email: kdeeke@jacobs-alumni.de

Supervisors – university 1. Dr. H. van Polen 2. Dr. P. van der Meer

Supervisor – field of study Dr. F. Weber

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Drs. van Polen, van der Meer and Dr.Weber as well as my colleagues in the department where I was placed during my thesis. I also thank my family and friends for their enduring love and emotional support.

1 Title in imitation of Torka (2005) “Flexible but committed – The relationship between contract and commitment”

A

Retired but committed?

The recent demographic changes of the ageing society are joined by masses of baby boomers retiring in the next decades. Besides their appearance as a new large customer group, companies might want to uphold a psychological attachment between the organization and their retired employees for employment purposes. How this link or the organizational commitment of retirees can be influenced was the aim of this research sponsored by the German division of a larger European company. Conducting qualitative, open-ended interviews with 21 retired employees of the company explored and broadened understanding of the concept of organizational commitment, as retirees have not been studied in this context.

As outlined in the theoretical sections, retirees expressed commitment to various foci:

abstracts (e.g., company, products) and persons (e.g., colleagues). Among other findings, the company was not seen to be committed to the retirees as much as persons were, although the company offered information and the organization of events for retirees. Changes in commitment often happened during a retiree’s active working time suggesting that the organization should already address commitment of their regular employees as this might lay the cornerstone for later commitment in retirement. This is one of the main proposals recommended to the company for keeping retirees attached to the company.

T

Abstract ... 2

Table of content ... 3

List of Tables... 4

1. Introduction ... 5

1.1 Problem description ... 5

1.2 Outline... 7

2. Theoretical background... 8

2.1 Traditional perspective of organizational commitment... 8

2.2 Influencing organizational commitment ... 9

2.2.1 Concrete influences: HR practices and their relations to organizational commitment ... 9

2.2.2 Abstract influences: Effects of perceived support in the relation of HR practices and OC. 10 2.3 Advancements of the concept of organizational commitment ... 11

2.4 Influencing organizational commitment on the basis of Reichers’s recommendations ... 13

2.4.1 Concrete and abstract influences: Striving for best fit... 13

2.5 Retirees and organizational commitment – Research questions ... 14

3. Methods ... 15

3.1 Justification for qualitative research ... 15

3.2 Data collection ... 15

3.2.1 Interview set-up ... 16

3.2.2 Characteristics of interview participants... 17

3.3 Data analysis ... 17

4. Presentation of Interview Results ... 19

4.1 How do retirees understand organizational commitment? ... 19

4.2 To which organizational group or entity do retirees feel committed?... 20

4.3 Do retirees perceive commitment from the organization or organizational groups and reciprocate this? ... 21

4.4 In what way do retirees feel differences between commitment during their tenure and during retirement?... 24

4.4.1 Further changes in commitment ... 24

5. Discussion ... 26

5.1 Recapitulation and general implications ... 26

5.1.1 Retirees’ commitment and foci of commitment ... 26

5.1.2 Perceptions of commitment towards retirees... 27

5.1.3 Changes in commitment ... 28

5.2. Suggestions to influence commitment based on the data analysis... 29

5.2.1 Commitment of retirees ... 30

5.2.2 Commitment of employees... 30

5.3 Conclusion ... 31

5.3.1 Research limitations and suggestions for future research... 32

6. References ... 33 Appendix A - Interview guideline ...Error! Bookmark not defined.

Appendix B - Tables ...Error! Bookmark not defined.

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Selection of stated feelings and behavior of a committed employee……….… 19

Table 2: Selection of stated feelings and behavior of a committed retiree………. 20

Table 3: Selection of negative comments about company’s commitment……….…. 22

Table A1: Differences in foci of commitment and their ‘qualitative value’……….. 41

Table B1: Retirees’ perceived commitment from company and direct colleagues………. 42

1. I

1.1 Problem description

In the light of the resource-based view of the company (Barney, 1991; Wernerfelt, 1984), it is the mix of a company’s internal resources (material, processes and people), which contributes to the strategic advantage of an organization. Thereby, managing people, the human component, gained importance in the academic field, whose advances supported also business practitioners in their attempt to strategically cope with these internal resources.

Human resource (HR) activities like training and development can potentially enhance employees’ skills and motivation and thus add to their internal value for achieving a competitive advantage (Paauwe & Boselie, 2005). Yet this is possible only, if the employees are committed to the company: if they identify with the organization’s values, intend to stay and are “willing to put forth effort on its behalf” (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982: 27, in Mathieu & Zajac, 1990).

In this context, research on organizational commitment has gained momentum since the first advances in the 1970s (for example, Porter, Steers, Mowday, & Boulian, 1974; Steers, 1977).

In a more recent stream of research, academics have developed best practice approaches on how to impact organizational performance. Researchers have thought that commitment of employees was crucial in this respect. These approaches have been called high performance or high commitment work systems and aim at universal applicability (for example, Arthur, 1994;

Pfeffer, 1994).

So far, organizational commitment has been under study addressing the active workforce of an organization, thus ‘normal employees’ and more recently, with the transition to flexible labor markets, also contingent workers’ commitment has been under scrutiny (for an overview, see Connelly & Gallagher, 2004). One group, namely retired employees, and their commitment have so far not received academic attention.

Despite the lacking consideration up to now, it might be advisable for companies to also look

at the commitment of their retirees, who have been part of the current workforce.

The idea to focus on the commitment of retirees has been sparked by the organization sponsoring this study. The company’s products have long life cycles of more than 20 years accompanied by extensive development, testing and modification phases. During these stages a wealth of knowledge accumulates. Not all of this knowledge is explicit (stored in documents and files), but remains undocumented, e.g., contextual knowledge about why specific modifations have been implemented. Thus, when an employee leaves for retirement, the knowledge in his/ her head literally walks out the door, as in most cases no expertise transfer to capture this tacit or implicit knowledge is undertaken. And even if a knowledge transfer took place, the codification of tacit and highly specific knowledge is very difficult and might remain incomplete.

Hence, after an employee’s departure, gaps on specific knowledge fields have appeared, which the remaining colleagues in the department are not able to fill. In these cases, retirees and their expertise have been reactivated when, for example, knowledge on older technologies or the history of modifications came into demand. In these situations, the continued link between the company and the former employee has been the vital element for re-engagement as identified in preliminary interviews. Rehired retirees mentioned that staying connected to the company as a whole and to former colleagues positively influenced their decision to get involved again. Therefore, there was the interest to develop a positive relation to the company’s retirees by promoting commitment between the organization and the retirees in a planned systematic way. This should stimulate the retirees’ willingness to become engaged into the company matters.

But even beyond the specific context of the company under study, commitment of retired employees might become important. Due to general demographic changes in the Western countries with the ageing of society and workforce (Kohlbacher & Voelpel, 2006; O’Donnell, 2004), paying attention to retirees, not only as consumers, but also as possible employees could increase a company’s awareness of committing their retired employees to the organization in case of labor shortages or if specific skills are needed.

However, finding out about retirees’ organizational commitment has so far neither been

studied at the company in question, nor at other settings, which could have been identified

through literature search preceding this actual paper. Age or organizational tenure could

possibly serve as a proxy for assessing retirees and their commitment. Unfortunately, few researchers have taken age as an explanatory variable, but merely include it in their

“descriptive statistics” (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990: 180) not providing insights about the relationship between age and commitment. Wright and Bonett (2002) suggest to their fellows to put greater emphasis on older employees (yet, not retirees) due to the general ageing of the workforce. In their and in previous meta-analyses (e.g., Cohen, 1993), samples with older employees have been rare; retirees and their commitment have not been studied at all.

Out of the managerial interest mentioned above and the lack of studies investigating commitment of retirees, the general research question of this exploratory piece of research has been formulated as follows:

How can the company under study influence the commitment of its retired employees?

1.2 Outline

After this introductory section, the following chapter lays out the theoretical framework of defining and studying commitment from the traditional and revised perspectives while making a choice for the latter. The section concludes with the specific research questions.

The method chapter introduces the idea of qualitative research and describes how the

interviews were held and the results analyzed. The actual results are presented in chapter four

while the discussion takes place in chapter five. I lay out the implications for research and

practice and give advice to the sponsoring company.

2. T

The following chapter is concerned with theoretical considerations on organizational commitment (OC). As mentioned in the introduction, retirees and their OC have so far not been studied. Researchers have focused on the active workforce and recently also on workers under special employment contracts (Connelly & Gallagher, 2004). Due to this lack of direct comparisons, the mentioned aspects and studies shall act as a framework for the development of research questions and the later evaluation of retirees’ commitment.

2.1 Traditional perspective of organizational commitment

In a general notion, organizational commitment “refers to a psychological state that binds the individual to the organization” (Allen & Meyer, 1990: 14) and has been under study in relation to outcome variables, such as retention and job performance (for a review, Mathieu &

Zajac, 1990).

Among the first researchers, Mowday, Steers and Porter (1979) classify OC as a strong acceptance of the company’s goals and values, a willingness to exert effort on its behalf and the desire for continued membership. The 15-items self-report Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) developed by Porter, Steers, Mowday and Boulian (1974) has been widely used to capture attitudes of study participants in a one-dimensional way.

O’Reilly and Chatman (1986) distinguish different bases of commitment along dimensions of compliance, identification and internalization, which are thought to relate differently to outcome measures, such as turnover intentions or organizational citizenship behaviors (Becker, 1992).

Meyer and Allen (1991, 1997) have tried to reconcile these and various other conceptualizations of OC. They propose a three-dimensional concept saying that an individual’s OC profile can have different degrees of the three elements.

The affective dimension is conceptually and empirically similar to Porter, Steers, Mowday &

Boulian’s (1974) and O’Reilly & Chatman’s (1986) idea of emotional attachment,

identification and desired membership with the organization. Together with the OCQ, to

which it shows strong positive correlations, it is the most commonly used form in research on

organizational commitment (Meyer & Smith, 2000). High affective commitment tends to co-

occur with work-related antecedents, which can be influenced by organization’s management,

more so than by individual or organizational variables, which have neglectable impact (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990).

The continuance or calculative dimension reflects cost considerations. An individual remains in relation to an organization because the costs of leaving would be too great and/ or there are no alternatives. This parallels the compliance base of O’Reilly and Chatman (1986) and is further in line with Becker’s theory of ‘side bets’ (Becker, 1960, in Meyer & Allen, 1997).

Meyer and Allen (1997) suggest that employees with high continuance commitment are not likely to be very motivated and perform only those tasks, which are required from them.

The normative dimension describes that the attachment to the organization is based on the feeling of obligation on part of the employee. His/ her morale makes the employee be part of the organization and put forth effort on the company’s behalf. However, very few studies have assessed normative commitment and those who do find significant positive correlations between affective and normative commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991, 1997) arguing that these dimensions might “co-occur” (Meyer & Allen, 1997: 11) in the OC profile of individuals.

2.2 Influencing organizational commitment

2.2.1 Concrete influences: HR practices and their relations to organizational commitment

The use of practices from the field of human resource management (HRM) lend themselves for application to elicit organizational commitment from employees. In his study of U.S. steel minimills, Arthur (1994) finds that HRM systems, which are oriented towards committing employees to the company rather than controlling them, contribute significantly to the mills’

performance and reduction of turnover rates. Practices, which should foster employee’s

commitment, are identified among others as participation in decision-making, contingent pay,

extensive training and social events. Also, MacDuffie (1995) believes that bundles of high-

commitment HRM practices (employee suggestion system, low levels of status differentials,

etc.) increase productivity and quality in car manufacturing. Although Huselid (1995) does

not explicitly use the term commitment, he advocates among others information sharing,

internal hires and participation in decision-making as beneficial in this respect.

What is striking to Meyer and Allen (1997), Mowday (1998) and Whitener (2001) is that although these work systems stress the importance of commitment, none of them measures the relation between the HR systems and commitment or dimensions of commitment. Other researchers try to pursue this aim, yet most of them focus on affective commitment and individual HR activities.

Paré and Tremblay (2007) draw on the work of researchers of high- performance work systems to present five components, which HR practices should aim at to influence workers’

attitudes and behavior. These components are empowerment, competence development, information sharing, recognition and fair organizational rewards. All of them show significant positive correlations with affective commitment (Paré & Tremblay, 2007).

Fiorito, Bozeman, Young and Meurs (2007) operationalizing Huselid’s framework (1995) find support for HR practices aiming at the participation in decision-making and enhancing autonomy to be correlated with affective commitment.

Gould-Williams (2004) presents supporting evidence that team working, training, reduction of status differentials and involvement in decision-making have a positive effect on commitment.

In his study, communication has a negative effect on commitment, which he attributes to a possible information overload. Allen (1992), on the other hand, finds that top management communication with employees has a significant and positive relation to affective commitment.

2.2.2 Abstract influences: Effects of perceived support in the relation of HR practices and OC

What is common among the mentioned studies is the proposed explanation for the suggested

impact of HR practices on organizational commitment. Paré and Tremblay (2007) bring

forward that the direct linkage between HR practices and affective commitment is mediated

by the perceptions of employees on the supportiveness of the organization. In other words,

commitment from employees to the organization develops when the employees feel that the

organization is committed to them (Fiorito et al., 2007). This ‘antecedent’ of organizational

commitment has been conceptualized as perceived organizational support (POS) by

Eisenberger and colleagues (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa, 1986).

Shore and Tetrick (1991) show that affective commitment and POS are two different constructs, while Rhoades, Eisenberger and Armeli (2001) using a time lagged design provide evidence that perceived organizational support leads to affective commitment and not the other way around.

Meyer and Smith (2000) referring to Koys (1988, 1991) argue that the “perceptions of the organization’s commitment to HRM activities that benefit employees” (Meyer, & Smith, 2000: 320) influence commitment on part of the employees. According to Koys (1991), HR practices, which signal support and value for employees are likely to influence OC, in contrast to HR practices, which are implemented because of legal requirements or to increase organizational productivity. Some of those perceived supportive HR practices, which have positive correlation with affective commitment, are firm-specific training, career counseling, job security and the use of internal hires, as found by Tsui, Pearce, Porter and Tripoli (1997).

Lee and Bruvold (2003) can support Tsui et al.’s (1997) findings. In their study, the employees’ direct assessments of the company’s commitment (“perceived investment in employee development”, p. 981) significantly correlate with higher levels of affective commitment.

The fundamental principle, which forms the basis of the above-described relationship between perceived support and commitment, is the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960, in Meyer &

Allen, 1997). Researchers from various disciplines have taken the universal applicability of the reciprocity norm of social exchanges as the explanatory mechanism (see Deckop, Cirka, &

Andersson, 2003). In the above-mentioned studies, employees are believed to increase their commitment when they feel the company shows commitment to them. Thus, HR practices, which are perceived by the employees in a way that the organization values them, invests into them, cares for them and makes them being heard, can influence the attitudes and behavior of employees through reciprocated increased commitment (Hutchison, 1997).

2.3 Advancements of the concept of organizational commitment

In her review, Reichers (1985) describes problems with the traditional view on organizational commitment as laid out in section 2.1 of this paper. One prominent theme is that researchers of the concept have regarded the organization as a “monolithic, undifferentiated entity”

(Reichers, 1985: 469) to whose values and goals the employees are committed. She sees this

problematic because organizations are made up of different coalitions with even conflicting

goals. For example, tensions can arise if employees are committed to top management, which might be in conflict with their union membership. Therefore, she advocates a multiple commitment view by first identifying the respondents’ prominent constituencies, to which they could show commitment, followed by assessing organizational commitment (Reichers, 1986). So far, union commitment has been a favorite focus commitment (see Mathieu &

Zajac, 1990); however, only a few researchers have followed Reichers’s plea of assessing specific foci and their relevance in combination (Becker, 1992; Becker, Billings, Eveleth, &

Gilbert, 1996; Swailes, 2002; Voigt & Jöns, 2005). On this background, it is important to find out whether retirees feel committed to the organization at large and/or to groups within.

Another problem, Reichers (1985) touches upon is the ‘outside’ perspective, most researchers adopt. Without a direct assessment of the respondents’ own definitions of commitment, researchers have used previous “literature and hybridization of previous definitions”

(Reichers, 1985: 469), which might not “accurately reflect the way people” feel about commitment (Reichers, 1985: 469). In her opinion, researchers should take an ‘inside’

perspective and in their research should “attempt to understand commitment from the standpoint of the committed” (Reichers, 1985: 469). However, the traditional measurement instruments, such as the OCQ have seldom been under scrutiny assessing this external validity. Recently, Ashman (2007) has evaluated semi-structured interviews guided by the British version of the OCQ and finds that respondents often misinterpret questionnaire items.

In their qualitative responses, they give accounts of commitment not focused at the organizational whole, but different subgroups. His findings support Reichers’s arguments that traditional measurements might not capture all the variation in the respondents’ perceptions on and attitudes about commitment.

There is some further evidence that – at least in part – researchers have tried to incorporate the

subjects’ perceptions of commitment into their studies. Becker (1992) has conducted 15

interviews with participants to explore the most meaningful foci within a company before

having these foci assessed quantitatively in modified versions of traditional instruments. In

Randall, Fedor and Longenecker (1990), the researchers have identified specific employee

behaviors showing behavioral expressions of commitment through in-depth interviews with

16 employees. Those serve as basis for developing quantitative outcome measures in their

questionnaire. They “encourage further exploration of the conceptualization and expression of

organizational commitment by organizational members” (p. 222) and advocate “a more qualitative approach to organizational commitment (Randall et al., 1990: 221). Benkhoff (1997) chooses a similar approach and integrates interview results in the redesign of Porter et al.’s OCQ (1974).

Extending Reichers’s idea (1985) of asking respondents directly about their definitions of commitment, Singh and Vinnicombe (2000), as well as Dick and Metcalfe (2001), have taken

‘insider’ perspectives to support “recent theoretical developments which question traditional organizational commitment instruments” (Dick & Metcalfe, 2001: 116) by using “a methodology that was guided and supported” by the respondents (Dick & Metcalfe, 2001:

122). They directly assess managers’ perceptions and expressions of committed employees moving away from traditional measurements, but keep the theoretical background of organizational commitment in mind. The same goes for Torka (2004) who employs the theory of OC as a “sensitizing concept” (p. 326) referring to Blumer (1954). She considers qualitative responses from workers in atypical employment relationships to fully grasp their understanding of being committed to either agency or placement company or both.

2.4 Influencing organizational commitment on the basis of Reichers’s recommendations Taking Reichers’s (1985) review of commitment into account, this has reverberations on how organizational commitment can be influenced by the management of an organization.

2.4.1 Concrete and abstract influences: Striving for best fit

For both of Reichers’s (1985) recommendations – seeing the organization not as one coherent whole, but as different subgroups, to which employees show commitment, and understanding OC from the committed persons’ point of view – it becomes obvious to strive for a best-fit approach (Boxall & Purcell, 1999). This means retreating from a best practice approach of installing a universally applicable set of HR practices, which are claimed to be effective without paying attention to the specificities of the workforce (Arthur, 1994; McDuffie, 1995).

Moreover, HR practices, which aim to influence commitment of employees, need to fit the

foci groups of the workers (Kinnie, Hutchison, Purcell, Rayton, & Swart, 2005). For example,

if employees feel more committed to their immediate work group than to broader

organizational structures, HR practices should reflect this.

Concerning the abstract concept of perceived organizational support, it is also necessary to find out what exactly employees perceive as supportive. This might not be fully captured by Eisenberger’s et al. questionnaire of perceived organizational support (1986), but needs to be revised according to the characteristics of employees and their focus groups. In Torka, Looise and van Riemsdijk (2005), different groups of workers do not perceive HR practices as similarly supportive.

2.5 Retirees and organizational commitment – Research questions

On the background of the preceding paragraphs, which serve as a framework for organizational commitment and its influences, the following research questions (RQ) have been formulated. The answers to these questions shall enable me to give advice to the sponsoring company on how their retirees’ commitment can be influenced.

RQ1: How do retirees understand organizational commitment?

RQ2: To which organizational group or entity do retirees feel committed?

RQ3: Do retirees perceive commitment from the organization or organizational groups and reciprocate this?

RQ4: In what way do retirees feel differences between commitment during their

tenure and during retirement?

3. M

In the next paragraphs, I introduce my reasoning for doing qualitative research. I describe how the data was collected and give an overview of the study’s participants. Furthermore, I give an account on how the data was analyzed, while the results are laid out in the subsequent chapter four.

3.1 Justification for qualitative research

In my reading of Reichers (1985), it involves qualitative methods to deepen understanding of the concept of commitment from the subjects’ point of view and to identify focus groups, to which individuals can be committed to as in Becker (1992). Furthermore, Torka (2004) recommends qualitative methods, especially interviews, to investigate a group of respondents, which has not gained much academic research attention before; established concepts, such as commitment or job satisfaction, might have to be developed anew or revised. Friedrichs (1990) suggests the use of open interviews to explore not-well known concepts or insights.

Referring to Lazarsfeld (1944), he advises the application of this method to be able to investigate the deeper meaning of the respondents’ answers and opinions on the posed questions. On this basis, I chose to do open interviews with the company’s retirees to study their commitment.

3.2 Data collection

According to Spöhring (1995), the choice of the applied methods primarily lies in their suitability for answering the research questions, yet resource constraints (of time, money, personnel, etc.) might affect this decision. For my research objective, the target population, namely a sample of the company’s retirees, was unavailable for personal face-to-face, on-site interviews. Therefore, I found telephone interviews to be suitable. Non-verbal expressions, like mimic and gesture, could not be observed and I could not control the physical interview settings (Lamnek, 1995). Focus was placed on the explicit content of the responses and not on non-verbal or implicit verbal clues (Lamnek, 1995).

While the HR department of the company under study saved the contact information of their

retirees, this information was not available to me for reasons of data protection. Hence,

colleagues working in the department, where I was placed during my thesis, provided me with

contact details of retirees they were acquainted with. Also, I asked interviewed retirees for further contact details of other retirees. Altogether, I contacted 23 retired employees.

3.2.1 Interview set-up

As open or in-depth interviews are commonly framed by a rough structure (Friedrichs, 1990), a guideline with key topics but without a fixed set of questions similar to a questionnaire, has led me through the interviews allowing for a deep understanding of interviewee responses. An example of a guideline in Helfferich (2005) has informed the present one (see appendix A).

At the beginning of each interview, I introduced myself to the retiree and explained how I received their phone numbers. I shortly described the research purpose of studying retirees and their commitment to the previous employer and asked the respondent for their willingness to participate. If a retiree agreed to participate, but asked for another point in time, I arranged a second appointment to call back. Furthermore, I asked for the permission to take notes during the interview and assured that the respondents’ names and contact data would not be reported.

The initial questions asked for general demographics: age, year of retirement, tenure with the company under study, highest level of education and short description of last position in the company under study.

Parallel to the number of research questions, the interview was then guided by four broad topics: (1) retiree’s definition of commitment, (2) foci of commitment, (3) perceived commitment from the organization to retirees and (4) experienced changes in commitment in retirement.

Concerning the first research question, I asked respondents how they would understand and define organizational commitment. As the interviews were held in German, the translation of the key word ‘commitment’ was informed by the scarce literature of German researchers on commitment using “Verbundenheit” (Stengel, 1987: 156) and “Bindung” (Moser, 1997: 160).

Finding out about the foci (2), I questioned participants to whom or which group they felt

committed and further, if they in turn felt that commitment was shown to them (3) – either

from the mentioned persons/ groups the respondents indicated under topic (2) or others. The

last topic (4) interrogated about perceived changes in commitment when going into

retirement.

The outline of the interview questions can be found in appendix A. As said above, these were leading questions and I allowed for additional ones. Also, when appropriate I changed the order of the questions, in case a participant touched upon a topic himself during the course of the interview.

At the end of the interview, I thanked the participants for their time and offered my contact details in case questions or doubts would arise on their part. Furthermore, I asked if they had any friends or acquaintances, who were also retirees from the company under study, and would be willing to provide me with their contact details.

3.2.2 Characteristics of interview participants

Of 23 contacted retirees, 21 agreed to participate in the interviews, which on average lasted 27 minutes. All of the interviewed retirees were male and their average age was 66 years. They spent about 34 years on average working for the company under study. About half obtained a degree of tertiary education, while the others pursed higher vocational training. Almost all of them were occupied in the engineering field of the company and about one quarter had been in managerial positions.

3.3 Data analysis

For analyzing in-depth interviews, Lamnek (1995) suggests four phases, which also guided the analysis of the data collected through the interviews.

In the first phase, I copied my thorough handwritten notes into an electronic format, which would facilitate the next steps of analysis. As mentioned before, the names of the interviewees were not recorded for further analysis, hence I numbered the interviews in the order they took place.

During the second phase, I read the individual interviews one-by-one to identify important statements giving insights to the four research questions. The statements of each interview comprised “abridged and concentrated” (Lamnek, 1995: 109, own translation) versions of each case.

In the third phase, I compared the peculiar statements across all interviews to be able to find

general themes. However, also outlying or untypical responses were noted. Interviewees were

grouped according to common responses.

The last controlling phase aimed at detecting mistakes, which might have happened due to

data reduction in steps two and three. I compared the abridged versions again with the long

electronic versions of my handwritten notes.

4. P

I

R

In the following chapter I will present the results of the conducted interviews. The presentation of the findings is guided by the four research questions developed in the theory chapter. Because all the respondents were male, I will use the masculine personal pronoun

“he” when making references to their comments. Expressions from the interviews are put in single quotation marks (‘’).

4.1 How do retirees understand organizational commitment?

Asking retirees about their definition of organizational commitment, not all retirees gave responses to this set of questions (see appendix A for the interview questions). More than half instantly referred to the commitment of an employee to the employing party. A minority (three retirees) mentioned that there is no emotional attachment between employee and employer, as there exists a fixed contract which has to be fulfilled by the two parties. This contract sets the terms for employment in which emotions are not involved.

The remaining retirees described the feelings and behaviors of a committed employee in a positive way laid out in table 1. The idea that a committed employee puts forth effort on behalf of the company was mentioned most often.

TABLE 1

Selection of stated feelings and behavior of a committed employee

Type Non-literal comments

Feeling He feels heart and soul for the company.

He feels part of the company.

He enjoys to work at the company.

He feels solidarity for the company.

Behavior He is creative and puts forward suggestions for improvement.

He would bet his life for the company.

He puts forth effort on part of the company.

He portrays the company in a positive light.

He acts reliable and dependable.

He behaves cooperatively.

He does not exploit the goodwill of the company.

One the side, two retirees mentioned preconditions for organizational commitment, namely, receiving information from the organization, general fair treatment by the employer and fair payment.

When further asked about how retirees and not employees can feel committed to an organization, the respondents were made to think out of the employment context and consider their personal situation. Across all interview partners, responses were quite similar and are summarized in table 2. Most frequently, when thinking about committed retirees they are seen to keep themselves informed about company matters and are eager to stay in contact with former colleagues.

TABLE 2

Selection of stated feelings and behavior of a committed retiree

Type Non-literal comments

Feeling He feels positively affected when reading/ hearing good news (e.g., pride).

He feels negatively affected when reading/ hearing bad news (e.g., sorrow).

He enjoys talking about ‘the good old times’.

Behavior He shows interest in the company and its products.

He informs himself about what is going on through consulting the available media.

He seeks contact to former and active colleagues.

He accepts invitations to company events.

He talks with family and friends about company matters.

The expressions in table 2 stand for organizational commitment of a retired employee in general. Whether the participants themselves feel committed and to which or whom they feel attached, has been treated in the set of questions pertaining to the second research question in the next section.

4.2 To which organizational group or entity do retirees feel committed?

Before asking about the foci of retirees’ commitment keeping in mind that an organization can

be made up of different coalitions one could become committed to (Reichers, 1985), I asked

them whether they still felt committed to their former employing company. The given answers did not constitute a simple yes or no, but in part were already forestalling the focus question.

Besides two retirees, who indicated that they did not feel committed at all, the majority of respondents felt commitment. After further inquiries, three retirees did not distinguish between the different foci of commitment, whereas 16 retirees made distinctions, which are displayed in table A1 in appendix B in more detail.

Five retirees felt committed to the company as a whole; for two of them it was the only focus of commitment reported. Another four said they were somewhat committed, but not very strongly. Two retirees had strong negative feelings towards the company as a whole, which they explained through their negative experiences when leaving for retirement. Three retirees said they were rather not committed to the company, but they were not as uncommitted as the two who strongly opposed this.

Regarding commitment directed at persons, two mentioned having difficulties becoming committed to a person, while eight felt committed to direct colleagues and six to other co- workers, not including direct colleagues. Of the six retirees, who felt committed to other co- workers, three reported strong negative feelings for their direct colleagues, which they based on an uncooperative atmosphere within the departments and bad experiences when going into retirement.

Another aspect was mentioned by about half of the retirees, namely the products of the company. Eight said that they felt positively attached to the products, while two made explicit that they could not relate to the products, as these were felt as ‘too far away’.

A further focus for four retirees’ commitment constituted the subject of their work or

soul’.

4.3 Do retirees perceive commitment from the organization or organizational groups and reciprocate this?

Keeping in mind that in earlier research perceived organizational support (or the commitment from the organization) is reciprocated by employees’ commitment, I asked the interview participants whether they had the feeling that the company would show commitment to them.

The majority (15 retirees) denied this. One respondent did not have an opinion on this, while

five retirees said that their former employer was committed to them. The latter found that the

company’s commitment was concretely expressed through the regular sending of corporate information, invitation to company events (mainly the ‘retiree Christmas party’) and sending of birthday card (as happened in one case). When asked how these things affected them, retirees said that ‘well, this is nice’ and ‘I like to go to these events’.

The existence of the retiree Christmas party was also mentioned by about half of the respondents not feeling company commitment, but it was not interpreted as a sign of commitment. They saw this rather as a tradition, a ‘relict of better times’. A few were wondering when the company would try to save costs by canceling this event. One had the impression that the company does not really enjoy organizing this, but sees it as a burden.

However, the sending of the company newspaper was seen as a sign of commitment from the company. Unfortunately the mailing of the paper stopped this summer; an online newsletter is available though.

Four retirees reacted a little puzzled to the question whether the company shows commitment to them. They could not imagine why the company would have an interest in retirees in the first place. Another three doubted whether it would at all be feasible for a company to show commitment to its retired workers. Further examples of negative reactions to the question of company’s commitment are displayed in the following table.

TABLE 3

Selection of negative comments about company’s commitment

‘There is only monetary commitment through the company pension plans. But since that is only withheld salary, it is not even real commitment.’

‘I do not feel that the company is committed to me, that’s why I do not feel committed to them.’

‘As a retiree, you are not interesting for the company.’

‘One feels like a number that is being crossed out when one leaves the company.’

‘The connection between the company and the retirees has been cut by the company. We have been uncoupled.’

The retirees also voiced their perceptions of commitment from groups or individuals within

the company. References were most frequently made to direct colleagues as a group; only in

two cases the supervisor and the direct successor were mentioned.

About half of the retirees did not perceive that their former direct colleagues expressed commitment to them. Lacking interest and two-way interaction were seen to symbolize this.

For example, when a retiree would stop by at the company for a visit, former colleagues did not take time for a short conversation. In some cases, the farewell of the retiring employee has not been experienced positively and the behavior of the remaining colleagues lead to the retiree wishing not to see them again. During one interviewee’s active working time, visiting retirees had not been treated very well by colleagues and supervisors (‘he is just keeping you off work’) which gave him the impression that he should rather not come back for a visit once he retires. Another two retirees said that most of their colleagues have retired as well and that the following generation did not express commitment to them.

Thirteen retirees had the impression that their former colleagues indeed felt commitment for them. Invitations to department events, birthdays or anniversaries of employment of colleagues were indicated as signs of commitment. Also phone calls – either private in nature or for technical questions – and regular exchanges of e-mails served this end. Three of those 13 retirees also brought up the importance of becoming active oneself; if one valued an ongoing connection, one should seek to uphold active reciprocal communication. The retirees felt that this commitment from colleagues and co-workers were signs of friendship and continued interest in the individual.

Comparing the commitment perception from company and colleagues of the interview participants (visualized in table B1, appendix B), it is striking that four of the five retirees who perceive commitment from the company also experience commitment from their former colleagues. Put in other words, nine retirees solely perceive commitment form their former colleagues, but not from the company as a whole.

In this context, a third of the interviewed retirees voiced suggestions what the company could

do in relation to their retired employees. Most of these respondents experienced commitment

from former colleagues, but not from the company as a whole. They suggested to organize site

visits tailored to retirees, i.e. inform about the changes that took place during the years. The

company invite retirees to open days taking place at certain times and facilitate that retirees

could keep personal contact to their former colleagues, for example, by simplifying entry to

the production sites. Two retirees mentioned the possibility of bringing ‘old and young’

together to be able to learn from each other. Through these story-telling sessions ideas could be exchanged and awareness for new and old problems be raised. Thus, the company would be able to still benefit from the retirees’ knowledge and experiences.

4.4 In what way do retirees feel differences between commitment during their tenure and during retirement?

Touching upon the idea that commitment might change when an employee enters retirement, I asked the retirees to reflect upon their commitment to the company during their active time and their retirement. Two retirees reported no differences between their states of commitment during these two time frames. They said to hold no emotional attachment to their employer before and after going into retirement

The other retirees answering this question felt changes in their commitment. Four noted that as retirees they do not feel committed anymore, but felt this during their tenure. They ruled off the working phase in their lives and started to devote their time to hobbies and other things.

Most retirees still felt somewhat committed, but felt more distant from the company as a whole because of lacking internal information and ongoing changes in the company’s top management. Due to the departures of other colleagues reaching retirement age and many new colleagues in their former department, this distance was also felt when thinking about commitment to persons. ‘One does not know many people anymore’ is an often voiced expression in this context.

Three retirees explicitly mentioned an experienced change in focus of their commitment away from the company as a whole. Two of them said that they feel more commitment to the company’s products, while one mentioned that he rather feels attached to the production site closest to his home.

4.4.1 Further changes in commitment

Connected to the question about changing commitment, about three quarters of the retirees

reported about changes in their commitment happening during their active tenure. They told

me that ‘back then everything was better’. Asking them what ‘back then’ means, they were

referring to their early years with the company until about the 1980ies. According to the

retirees, during the late 80ies and beginning of the 90ies, the company changed in many

interrelated aspects having had negative impacts on their commitment. The most prominent aspects were the growth of the company, the style and the performance of the management circles and the way of working itself.

For example, the introduction and the increased use of personal computers were perceived to hinder real team work as ‘everyone was just looking at his computer screen, not being interested in his neighbors anymore’. The team spirit of achieving great things together and also caring for colleagues got lost according to nine retirees. As ‘lone fighters’ they began not to feel committed to co-workers.

The growth of the company and the decentralization of production to many European locations with a strong emphasis on profit also created frustration and feelings of detachedness. A top management team at a central entity away from the production sites with wrong decisions from the interviewees’ point of view and ‘a mentality of self-service’

contributed to the changes of commitment away from the company, i.e., top management, as mentioned by eight retirees. The outsourcing of parts of the production, the final assembly in another European country and the use of computer programs for construction and simulation instead of real models made three retirees feel less committed to the products.

Altogether, the distance or anonymity between individual colleagues, between employees and

the management circles, between the individual and the products, between the worker and the

way of working lead to decreases in interviewees’ commitment towards the different foci

already during their active time as employees for the company under study.

5. D

In this final chapter, first I discuss the findings while making references to the outlined theory and beyond. In doing so, I point to implications of this study for academic research and for organizational practice in general. Secondly, I describe the suggestions on how the sponsoring study could influence the commitment of their retirees. Lastly, a conclusion with limitations of the study and suggestions for additional future research, which have not yet been mentioned in the first part of this chapter, complete my thesis.

5.1 Recapitulation and general implications

5.1.1 Retirees’ commitment and foci of commitment

Reichers (1985) and researchers following her approach stress the importance of taking an

‘inside’ perspective to be able to “understand commitment from the standpoint of the committed” (Reichers, 1985: 469). By asking retirees directly about their views on commitment, I aimed to follow her plea. The first and second research questions dealt with retirees’ definition of commitment and their foci.

Looking at the retirees’ responses about a committed employee (see table 1, page 19), there seems to be resemblance to Meyer & Allen’s definition and operationalization of affective commitment reconciling also Porter & colleagues’ (1974) and O’Reilly & Chatman’s concepts (1986). These researchers stress emotional attachment to and identification with the employer. Sample items of OC scale of affective commitment read as follows:

-

“I do not feel ‘emotionally attached’ to this organization” (inversely coded)

-

“This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me”

-

“I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization” (inversely coded) (Meyer & Allen, 1997: 118).

Consequently, in the traditional perspective and as indicated through the replies of retirees, the focus of commitment constitutes the company as a whole.

When asked about what constitutes a committed retiree, the replies could be summarized as

affect, emotional bond and continued interest, but not solely directed at the company as a

whole. Similar to Ashman’s qualitative evaluations of the British OC questionnaire (2007),

more variation in foci are entailed in their responses, namely persons (colleagues and co-

workers), products and industrial field. Thus, the focus of commitment of retirees is not single, but various foci have to be considered according to the retirees’ definition of commitment. The most prominent ones seem to be persons (colleagues & other co-workers) and products.

Furthermore, the interview participants seemed to explicitly distinguish between commitment towards the different foci, as some voiced strong negative feelings towards some foci (i.e., company and colleagues), but positive towards others (colleagues and other co-workers). Put in other words, the different foci do not necessarily exclude each other; a strong negative feeling towards one focus does not necessarily mean that the retiree is also not committed to other foci (please refer to table A1 in appendix B). Consequently, considering organizational commitment only with the whole company as a focus – as it is the case with the traditional perspective of OC – would leave the majority of retirees uncommitted if no other focus is taken into account.

As a consequence for academic research, these findings support Reichers’s ‘multi-focus’

understanding of the concept (1985) stress the importance of addressing the subject from an

‘inside’ perspective. Through asking retirees in an open-response format about their commitment foci, two targets of commitment evolved, which have not been considered by Reichers: commitment to products and to the industrial field.

To my knowledge, product commitment has been treated in the field of consumer research describing a costumer being loyal to a product expressing “purchase consistency” (Martin &

Goodell, 1991: 53). It has not yet been a salient focus to researchers of organizational psychology.

Commitment to an industrial field might be similar to the concept of occupational commitment, where an individual feels an emotional bond to his/ her profession, not necessarily to an organization (Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993). According to Blau (2001), occupational commitment might become more prominent with the rise of contingent workers frequently changing employers, but staying in the same profession, but it might also be interesting to look at in the case of retirees.

5.1.2 Perceptions of commitment towards retirees

As mentioned in the theory section on influencing commitment, it is important to figure out

whether individuals perceive commitment from the company and what individuals perceive as

supportive. Retirees’ answers place direct colleagues more prominently expressing commitment to them than the company at large.

Pointing to the reciprocity effect that commitment of individuals develops when they perceive commitment (Gouldner, 1960 in Meyer & Allen 1997), a few retirees were explicitly commenting on the lacking of this. They would not show commitment or interest for the company (or colleagues), as they had the feeling this was not returned. Furthermore, as some made negative experiences when leaving the company, this also could have had a negative impact on reciprocity. Three retirees addressed this topic in a more positive light: if one wants to be remembered or cared for, one should actively seek this.

Indirect signs of reciprocity might evolve, when comparing tables A1 and B1 in appendix B.

Four of the five retirees, who perceived commitment from the company, also mentioned that they themselves feel committed to the company. Also with the focus on colleagues, the majority of retirees, who reported the perception that their colleagues were committed to them, expressed commitment to their colleagues. Although not directly phrased by the retirees, I interpret this connection between perceived and returned commitment as hints for reciprocity. Cause and effect chains are however speculative in this respect.

General practical implications of these previous sections for organizational actors could mean that these should be aware of the various foci retirees can feel committed to. To influence commitment, it is useful to know whether the targeted retirees feel committed to the company as a whole and/ or rather to their former colleagues. As mentioned in the theory chapter (p.13/14), HR practices should reflect or make use of the specific foci. So, if retirees feel more committed to their former direct colleagues or persons in general, it might be useful address this when wanting to influence commitment.

5.1.3 Changes in commitment

Retirees said they felt somewhat detached from the company and colleagues when moving

into retirement, which they commented on to be quite normal as ‘life goes on’. This distance

emerged because they are not confronted with work, colleagues and the organization on a

daily basis any longer. Also, changes in management circles, set-up of the company and many

new employees in the former departments made them feeling a little bit less committed. This

is in accordance with Swailes (2002), who talks about varying strengths of commitment and

also shifting foci based upon organizational changes. Likewise, Reichers (1985) speculates about decreased commitment or changes in foci, which might happen over time.

Although this present study did not have a longitudinal design, retirees reflected about changes in commitment that took place about 10-20 years before they actually retired. During their active time many changes happened in the way of working, in the set-up of production, management of the organization and the like. According to their responses these transformations decreased commitment towards the foci that were affected by the changes.

For academic research, this study then provides some indications that the aspect of changing commitments should not be neglected by researchers. With regards to regular employees, Mathieu and Zajac (1991), as well as Blau (2001), call for more longitudinal studies as most studies have a cross-sectional character. The interview responses alluding to changes in commitment taking place during and after an employee’s active working time make it thus interesting to look at the development of commitment and foci over the course of the whole employment history or at least several parts of it.

For business practitioners it might be important to keep in mind that organizational commitment is not a constant, but changing with the changes taking place within the organization, its goals, the way of working, the working atmosphere, etc. As no retiree reported that he is more committed to the company or colleagues in his retirement than before, I dare to draw the conclusion that during the active time the cornerstone for commitment as a retired employee is laid. It seems that the focus might shift in retirement, but commitment will not rise, actually it rather decreases. Thus, when aiming to influence retirees’ commitment, also the commitment of current employees should be considered, at best continuously as it might be difficult to stimulate commitment where there has not been any before.

5.2. Suggestions to influence commitment based on the data analysis

Taking the information obtained from the conducted interviews with the company’s retirees, I

aim to answer to overall research question and propose suggestions on how commitment can

be influenced. As mentioned above, the foci of commitment, the perceptions of commitment

towards retirees and the changing nature have to be taken into consideration. Because I

inferred that commitment during an employee’s normal tenure has an influence on his/ her

later commitment, it seems sound to pay attention to the commitment of the current workforce

as well. Although no current employee has been interviewed as part of this study, retirees made statements about their time as active employees.

5.2.1 Commitment of retirees

Starting with the company focus, retirees’ commitment could possibly be improved by keeping retirees actively informed about what is going on in the company. Circa half of the retirees valued the mailing of general company information and the company newspaper, which – to their discontent – is now only available online. The re-introduction of mailed information could thus be a sign of company commitment to retirees and positively influence theirs. This could also hold true for the product focus, i.e., addressing the continued interest in and attachment to the company’s products.

Another proposal is to influence how the retiree Christmas party is perceived because only few retirees interpret this as a sign of commitment as many just mention the traditional roots.

By advertising this event as a sign of appreciation of the achievements of retirees and the company’s interest in upholding a connection, this might make the event more valuable in the retirees’ eyes. Furthermore, as some retirees suggested, invitations to other company events (e.g., open days) or organizing site visits especially targeted at retirees could contribute this.

Because the farewell into retirement and the treatment by the HR department made a few retirees feeling negatively about the company, this is something which could be organized more personally.

Regarding the retirees’ commitment to individuals and vice versa (colleagues and co- workers), also the farewell was not received well in some cases as the retirees were almost feeling mobbed. The remaining colleagues seemed to be happy that the ‘old guys’ were leaving and were not treating them well when being back for a visit. Apparently, these colleagues were not valuing the person with his/ her experiences and knowledge collected through the many years working at the company. This awareness should change into appreciating their achievements. Supervisors might want to encourage a regular and positive contact to the retirees of the departments and stimulate their positive recognition by younger colleagues. As suggested by two retirees, bringing old and young together through story telling sessions might serve this end.

5.2.2 Commitment of employees

The issue of changing commitment gained prominence when retirees reported a decrease in

their commitment after large transformations took place during the late 80ies and 90ies. It is

difficult to say whether later cohorts would also realize the same changes. But as I inferred that commitment during active times lay the foundation for later commitment of retirees, this means that the company should observe the commitment of employees at frequent points in time or even continuously.

As mentioned before, also in the case of active employees, the different foci to which they could show commitment have to be taken into consideration. Furthermore, what they exactly perceive to be supportive from the company needs to be assessed to develop how their commitment can be influenced. However, this entails the execution of a new study focussing on the active workforce of the company under study. Current HR practices aimed at the employees could also be reevaluated in this context. Concrete suggestions on how to influence the commitment of the active workforce can follow from this new study. According to retirees’ responses relating to their commitment during their working time, supervisors should seek to haven an open ear for the employees’ concerns and try to establish a collegial atmosphere in the departments, which some retirees missed during their working time.

Information sharing from the top management circles directly to the employees could be improved, not done through the daily newspaper.

In my judgment, investments from the company into the commitment of the active workforce are a long-turn objective and need long-turn management support to be able to achieve positive results.

5.3 Conclusion

The strength of this present piece of research lies in its approach of taking an ‘inside’

perspective and asking the study participants in an open response format for their opinions on organizational commitment. This was seen necessary as no previous study addressed retirees and thus, understanding of the concept from their point of view could be gained.

These insights were used to develop general implications for theory and practice and to

provide suggestions to the sponsoring organization on how they could influence the

commitment of their retired employees. These recommendations do not only pertain to

retirees, but also regular employees, as commitment matures with years spent in the company

and experiences made. Furthermore, some of these proposals are not executed with quick

wins, but results might only emerge over time. Thus, it remains to be seen whether the study’s

results find attentive ears willing to implement the suggestions.