Affective commitment to organizational change : the role of informational justice behavior and length of tenure

Affective commitment to organizational change:

The role of informational justice behavior and length of tenure

Author:

E.W.J. Beunk - 11146664 University of Amsterdam Faculty of Business and Economics

Amsterdam Business School

Executive Program in Management Studies Track: Strategy

Supervisor: Dr. B. Flier Version: 2.0

2

Statement of originality

This document is written by Student Edwin Beunk who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

Vught, April 9th, 2017

3

Abstract

“Leaders can influence the degree of the commitment of employees to organizational change.” The literature demonstrates that affective commitment to change has the strongest and most consistent relationships with broad ranges of employee performance. In this study, the role of leaders’ informational justice behavior on employees’ affective commitment to organizational change is explored. The way in which affective commitment varies amongst employees based on tenure is also investigated. This thesis focuses on individual work experiences to improve the understanding of interpersonal variances in changes in affective commitment. The thesis addresses the research question: “What is the role of informational justice behavior and length of tenure on the affective commitment to organizational change?” Through a survey administered to 600 military employees of the Royal Netherlands Air

Force, the research question is explored, providing practical implications and determined favorable directions for future research on the topic of affective commitment to organizational change.

4

Contents

2.1 Informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment ... 10

2.2 Tenure and affective organizational commitment ... 11

2.3 Individual work experiences and affective organizational commitment ... 12

2.4 Conceptual framework ... 14 3 Method ... 15 3.1 Procedure ... 15 3.2 Sample ... 16 3.3 Measurements of variables... 19 3.3.1 Predictor variables ... 19 3.3.2 Outcome variable ... 20 3.3.3 Moderator ... 21 3.3.4 Control variables ... 21 3.4 Statistical analysis ... 21 4 Results ... 22 4.1 Direct effects ... 23 4.2 Correlation analysis ... 24 4.3 Moderation effects ... 27

4.4 Results of the model ... 28

5 Discussion ... 30

5.1 Findings and implications ... 30

5.2 Limitations and future research... 33

6 Conclusions ... 35

7 References ... 36

8 Appendix ... 40

5

1 Literature review

Studies have demonstrated that employees ultimately determine the success of change efforts (Bartunek et al., 2006). Leadership and management practices are additionally important antecedents of employee reactions and change outcomes (Fugate, 2012) as leaders can influence the degree of the commitment of employees to organizational change. However, evidence for the respective roles of leaders and relationships in regard to employee reactions is sparse as the topic has hardly been reviewed in academic literature (Fugate, 2012). The role of informational justice behavior on affective commitment to organizational change is

therefore the objective of this thesis. Given that informational justice is a product of

transformational leadership, the literature review focuses on leadership and commitment to change.

1.1 Leadership

Leadership is a particularly broad concept. In an effort to define leadership, Kotter (1990) distinguishes between leadership and management. His classical view as applied to

organizational change assumes that leaders guide and influence, while managers organize and execute. It is important to balance leadership and management aspects (e.g., Kotter, 1996; Yukl et al., 2002) as this balance leads to successful organizational change—requiring

consideration, integration, and implementation of leadership and management (Fugate, 2012). This thesis draws no distinction between leadership and management. Instead, this thesis is concerned with the specific behaviors of leaders/managers that influence the employees’ commitment to change. Therefore, a clear distinction between leaders and managers is not necessary in this thesis.

Per Herold et al. (2008), leaders’ treatment of employees is critical to shaping employees’ attitudes and behaviors toward the organization, especially their commitment to the

6

organization in times of change. Employees are more likely to rely on their leaders’ guidelines under unusual and turbulent circumstances due to their lack of knowledge about, and

experience with, uncertain and novel situations (House et al., 1991). Shin et al. (2015) finds that employees’ commitment to change is sustained over time, especially when their leaders promote more informational justice behaviors within their work-units.

According to Colquitt et al. (2001), perceived justice by individual employees is an important predictor of various work outcomes. Colquitt (2001) demonstrates that informational justice is one of the four dimensions of organizational justice. This thesis especially focuses on the dimension informational justice. Informational justice refers to the extent to which managers provide sufficient justification and satisfactory information when implementing procedures (Bies & Moag, 1986). The other three dimensions are distributive, procedural and

interpersonal justice. Distributive justice refers to the extent to which outcomes reflect one’s contribution and efforts (Leventhal, 1976). Leventhal (1980) defines procedural justice as the extent to which outcome distribution is made through consistent, accurate, and bias-free procedures. Finally, interpersonal justice, according to Greenberg (1993), refers to the extent to which managers treat people with dignity and respect.

Shin et al. (2015) determine that informational justice is especially important in times of organizational change. In a high informational justice climate, work-unit members may feel reduced uncertainty and skepticism about their workplace and future careers (Fugate et al., 2012). This reduced uncertainty and skepticism causes employees to feel that they can

maintain their initial affective commitment to change in their work-unit over time (Shin et al., 2015). Shin et al.’s (2015) results are based on one stud that encourages future researchers to replicate these findings in other organizational settings. This thesis aims to replicate Shin et

7

al.’s (2015) study on informational justice behaviors and extend it to another organization and national culture.

1.2 Commitment to change

When people commit to a certain behavior, evidence suggests that they tend to adhere to their commitment—producing long-term behavior change (Lokhorst et al., 2011). Commitment to change is defined as “a mindset that binds an individual to a course of action deemed

necessary for the successful implementation of a change initiative” (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002, p.475). As described in Allen & Meyer’s (1990) often-utilized three-component model, there are three fundamental forms of commitment. The first form of commitment is based on a genuine belief in its benefits (affective commitment to change). The second form is based on the belief that the costs of not supporting change would be too great (continuance commitment to change). The third form of commitment is based on a sense of obligation (normative commitment to change). Affective commitment (AC) to change has the strongest and most consistent relationships with broad dimensions of employee performance (Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001). As in the Shin et al. (2015) study, this thesis focuses on affective

commitment to change.

The initial stage of employment has drawn more attention relative to previous research, and indicates a potential decline in affective commitment for new employees (Meyer et al., 1991). Empirical examination of the development of commitment of later stages of employment is scarce. The few studies that have been conducted posit different outcomes. Gao-Urhahn et al. (2016) find a steady increase in affective commitment within individuals who stayed in their organization longer than one year. Beck & Wilson (2001), however, suggest that there is a decrease in affective commitment for well-established employees. Thus, there are different outcomes as regards the relationship between affective commitment and tenure. Gao-Urhahn

8

et al. (2016) study multiple organizations and Beck & Wilson (2001) do not. This thesis investigates how affective commitment varies amongst employees based on tenure, testing the assumption that the length of tenure is a good predictor of the degree of affective

commitment. Therefore, tenure is one of the main concepts in this thesis.

Gao-Urhahn et al. (2016) demonstrate that individuals’ affective commitment increases with tenure, but there is significant variance in affective commitment development among

individuals. According to Meyer & Herscovitch (2001), this variance is related to individuals’ different experiences in the workplace. This thesis focuses on more individual factors to improve the understanding of interpersonal variance in changes in affective commitment. The thesis explores the effect of employee rank. The effect on the affective commitment to change of employees is also considered within the parameters of the number of missions an

individual has taken abroad and the number of large-scale reorganizations they have

experienced. These different individual work experiences can impact affective commitment. Therefore, individual work experiences are one of the main concepts in this thesis.

This thesis is written in the context of the Ministry of Defense (MoD) for the Royal Netherlands Air force (RNLAF). The RNLAF has many well-established employees who must deal with the ongoing reorganizations of the MoD. The aim of this study is to investigate the best possible method for leaders to increase the commitment of their employees over a longer tenure. This thesis answers the following research question:

“What is the role of informational justice behavior and length of tenure on the affective commitment to organizational change?”

9 This research question has two sub questions:

1. How does the effect of leadership behavior on the affective commitment to organizational change vary based on tenure?

2. What factors most explain the variance in affective commitment among individuals?

This study explores how and why affective commitment develops over time. The results gleaned from the study can help managers facilitate better employee performance by

optimizing affective commitment of their employees depending on their tenure. This enables leaders to act more effectively in dynamic circumstances.

The theoretical relevance of this research is that the findings of this research may serve as a springboard from which future research may test the findings in other contexts, organizations, or with types of change.

10

2 Theoretical framework

In this thesis, there are four main concepts: (1) affective organizational commitment, (2) informational justice behavior, (3) tenure, and (4) individual work experiences. The theoretical background of these concepts is discussed in the literature review. This chapter discusses the relationships between these concepts. These relationships give rise to the thesis hypotheses (paragraph 2.1 to 2.3) and are demonstrated schematically within the conceptual framework (paragraph 2.4).

2.1 Informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment

The concluding sentence and recommendation in Fedor et al.’s study states that “if successful organizational change requires leadership, and leadership is about facilitating change, then we need to more closely marry those concepts in our investigations of leadership and

change” (2008), p.355. Guiding change, according to Kotter (1996), may be the ultimate test of a leader because no business survives over the long term if it cannot reinvent itself. To unravel the concept of leadership, it is important to define what leadership is.

Stogdill (1950) considers leadership to be the process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement. Per this definition, leadership exists under the conditions of a group, a common task, and differentiation of responsibility. These variables permit the emergence of leadership. To most effectively achieve the common task in a dynamic environment, there are different kinds of leadership styles and behaviors. According to Shin et al. (2015), commitment to change can be sustained over time when leaders provide more transformational leadership and informational justice behavior within their work-units. Transformational leadership is the antecedent for

informational justice behavior. As mentioned in the literature review, this thesis focuses on informational justice behavior. This section suggests that the relationship between the role of informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment is central.

11

Hypothesis 1: Higher rates of informational justice behavior are positively related to affective organizational commitment.

2.2 Tenure and affective organizational commitment

Cross-sectional studies have compared affective organizational commitment among different groups based on individual attributes, such as age and time in their current role (Gao-Urhahn et al., 2016). These studies generally support an increase in affective organizational

commitment over time. Empirical examination of the development of commitment in later stages of employment is scarce (Gao-Urhahn et al., 2016). The few studies that have been conducted on the development of later stages of employment seem to demonstrate different outcomes. As previously mentioned, Gao-Urhahn et al. (2016) suggests a steady increase in affective commitment for individuals who stayed in their organization longer than one year. This thesis proposes that well-established employees identify themselves more with the organization due to their tenure. Therefore, they exhibit more affective commitment towards the organization over time.

However, Beck & Wilson (2001) demonstrate a decrease in affective commitment for well-established employees. The thesis’ alternative proposition is that—particularly in longer periods of uncertainty by reorganizations—well-established employees lose confidence in the organization. Therefore, they have less affective commitment towards the organization over longer periods of time. Thus, there is no consensus among studies currently available and there is some support for different outcomes of affective commitment over time.

Nevertheless, it seems clear that tenure causally influences affective organizational commitment. Therefore, tenure has a direct effect on the affective organizational commitment.

12

Hypothesis 2A: Longer periods of tenure are positively related to affective organizational commitment.

Hypothesis 2B: Longer periods of tenure are negatively related to affective organizational commitment.

2.3 Individual work experiences and affective organizational commitment

Gao-Urhahn et al. (2016) suggest that individuals’ affective commitment increases over time, but there is significant variance in affective commitment development among individuals. According to Meyer & Herscovitch (2001), this variance is related to individuals’ different experiences in the workplace. To understand the conditions under which the effect of the role of informational justice behavior and length of tenure on affective organizational commitment operates, it is important to determine when the two are related. Shin et al. (2015) state that affective commitment to change is elicited by employees’ anticipation of the benefits of change and actual work experiences about such benefits. So, individual work experiences such as rank, experienced number of missions abroad, and large-scale reorganizations, can be moderating variables. The effect of a moderating variable is characterized statistically as an interaction that is a qualitative variable that affects the strength of the relationship between the dependent and independent variables (Cohen et al., 2013). In this thesis, the individual work experiences have both a moderating effect on the relationship between informational justice behavior and employees’ commitment to change, but also a moderating effect on the

relationship between longer periods of tenure and affective organizational commitment to change. This leads to the third and fourth hypotheses.

Hypothesis 3: The relationship between higher rates of informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment is moderated by individual work experiences such that this relationship is stronger for higher values of individual work experiences.

13

Specifically, we expect that informational justice behavior has a stronger influence on affective organizational commitment for employees who have:

Hypothesis 3A: experienced a higher number of missions abroad; Hypothesis 3B: experienced a higher number of reorganizations; Hypothesis 3C: a higher rank.

Hypothesis 4: The relationship between a longer period of tenure and affective organizational commitment is moderated by individual work experiences, so that this relationship is stronger for higher values of individual work experiences:

Specifically, we expect that a longer period of tenure has a stronger influence on affective organizational commitment for employees who have:

Hypothesis 4A: experienced a higher number of missions abroad; Hypothesis 4B: experienced a higher number of reorganizations; Hypothesis 4C: a higher rank.

The described relationships between the concepts inform the conceptual framework illustrated in Figure 1.

14

2.4 Conceptual framework

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Now that the concepts of affective organizational commitment, informational justice behavior, tenure, and individual work experiences (higher number of missions abroad and reorganizations and rank) are defined and explained, the research method, process and context are elaborated upon in the next section.

15

3 Method

In this chapter, the empirical setup of this research is described. The first section demonstrates the procedure that is followed to conduct the research. The second section outlines the sample and its main characteristics. The third section provides an overview of the measurements, items, and scales used to test the variables. The last section delineates the analytical strategy used. The survey administered for this research can be found in the Appendix (chapter 8).

3.1 Procedure

This research is based on a cross sectional survey design applied to a sample of military employees working for the Royal Netherlands Air force (RNLAF), within the Dutch Ministry of Defense (MoD). The RNLAF was founded in 1953, employs approximately 7,500 people (1,000 civilian employees) and is—just like other military organizations—known as a strongly hierarchical, non-profit, top-down driven, public organization. The objective of this research was to collect data with as much variance between the 6,500 military employees across the RNLAF, to present results that are generalizable for the organization.

The data was collected through an online survey via Microsoft SharePoint on the internal server environment of the MoD. The survey took approximately 5 minutes to complete. Both in the invitation e-mail to participate and in the welcome message of the survey itself,

anonymity and confidentiality were ensured. There was no incentive provided to the target audience, but it was stressed that respondent participation would be helpful for both gathering valuable recommendations for the organization and completing the author’s thesis.

For optimal generalizability, it was important to achieve as much heterogeneity as possible among the respondents and receive responses from all of the different locations within the RNLAF. Respondents were found throughout the personal network of the researcher to ensure

16

inclusion of a random sample of all of the different locations and areas within the RNLAF. An initial e-mail was sent to military employees containing a link to the SharePoint website. In the e-mail, they were asked to respond the questionnaire.

The survey was administered in Dutch because the organization is based in the Netherlands and Dutch is the main organizational language. The scales used were adapted from previous studies to measure informational justice behavior and affective commitment to change. Since all scales were from research conducted in English, they needed to be translated to Dutch. The initial translation to Dutch was performed by the author himself, and a third person back-translated to English to ensure the content of the back-translated items remained identical to the original scales.

Before publishing the survey on SharePoint, a pre-test with 40 self-completed questionnaires was executed to ensure that the survey was correct and that it collected the appropriate data. After the positive results of the pre-test, an invitation e-mail was send to 600 military employees within the RNLAF. Responses were collected from January 2017 until mid-February 2017. After closing the online survey, the total response was 178 of successful and completed questionnaires (29.7% response rate).

3.2 Sample

The sample of this study consists of 178 respondents. As no respondents were removed from the pool because every respondent fully completed the questionnaire, the total dataset contains 178 respondents. A final check on outliers and extreme values resulted in the same amount of respondents (N = 178).

17

91% of all respondents were male and 9% were female. The average age was 44.47 years old (SD = 8.99) and the average organizational tenure was 22.37 years (SD = 9.85). 46.6% of all respondents are currently supervisors, while 53.4% were not. Educational level was measured using different categories. 41.0% of the respondents completed a Lower educational level (MBO), and 27.5% completed a Higher educational level (HBO)—together representing 68.5% of the total sample. 20.8% completed only High school, and 10.7% completed a University degree (Bachelor or Master). 84.3% of the respondents have an FPS 3 of BOT—a permanent contract—and 15.7% have a temporary contract (FPS 1 / 2 and BBT).

In terms of rank, the respondents range from the rank of Sergeant to Lieutenant-Colonel. 49.4% of the respondents are Non-Commissioned Officers (Sergeant, Sergeant 1st class, Sergeant-Major and Warrant Officer), and 50.6% of the respondents are Officers (from 2nd Lieutenant till Lieutenant-Colonel). The average number of missions abroad of all the respondents is 3.15 missions (SD = 2.63). The average number of promotions is 3.46 (SD = 1.74) and the average number of large-scale reorganizations the respondents have experienced is 3.61 reorganizations (SD = 2.05).

The sample characteristics (Table 1, Table 2, Figure 2 and Figure 3) met the expectations of the author. The MoD and especially the RNLAF is known for having an older population who have spent almost their entire working life within the same organization.

Age (Years)

Gender Tenure (Years)

Promotions Supervisor Contract

M 44.47 Male 91% M 22.37 M 3.46 Yes 46.6% Permanent 84.3% SD 8.99 Female 9% SD 9.85 SD 1.74 No 53.4% Temporary 15.7%

18 Table 1: Sample descriptive statistics

Educational level Missions Reorganizations Rank

High school 20.8% M 3.15 M 3.61 NCO 49.4% MBO/HBO 68.5% D 2.63 D 2.05 Officers 50.6% University 10.7%

Table 2: Sample descriptive statistics

Figure 2: Sample Tenure groups Figure 3: Sample Age groups

It is difficult to determine to what extent this sample is generalizable across the entire

RNLAF, since the available demographic figures move across the Dutch armed forces and are not specifically available for the RNLAF. The available figures indicate that the Dutch armed forces have approximately 43,000 military personnel in total. 15.1% (6500/43,000 *100) is RNLAF military personnel (Ministerie van Defensie, 2014). The gender proportion within the armed forces is similar the sample at only 9% female (3,900/43,000 *100). Figure 4 illustrates the age groups in the armed forces. Figure 5 depicts the differences between the sample and total armed forces grouped by rank (soldiers, NCO’s and officers).

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 1-10 Years 11-20 Years 21-30 Years 31-40 Years

Sample Tenure groups (%)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 20-29 Years 30-39 Years 40-49 Years 50-59 Years

19

Figure 4: Armed Forces Age groups Figure 5: Grouped by Rank (Sample and Armed Forces)

Although no further demographic data is available from the RNLAF to explain the differences and similarities in the totals of the armed forces and the sample, the differences are explicable because of the distinct tasks that the army, air force, and navy have. Both the age and the variance in rank are closely related to the specific tasks of the different branches of the armed forces. Therefore, this sample is regarded as sufficiently representative for the RNLAF.

3.3 Measurements of variables

One questionnaire was used to assess the military employees of the organization. The items used in the research have been used in previous scientific studies and have a high degree of reliability. According to Sekaran (2003), data on the dependent variable are gathered at one point in time within cross sectional studies. The independent variables (tenure and

informational justice behavior), the dependent variable (affective organizational

commitment), and the moderator (individual work experiences) were measured through self-assessment and therefore reflect self-self-assessment by the employees.

3.3.1 Predictor variables

Hypothesis 1 proposes that higher rates of informational justice behavior are positively related to affective organizational commitment. To test this hypothesis, we used a scale developed by

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 20-29 Years 30-39 Years 40-49 Years 50-59 Years

Armed Forces Age groups (%)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Soldiers NCO's Officers

Age groups (%)

20

Colquitt (2001) that uses a work-unit reference and asks about change-specific behaviors of employees’ work unit leaders (Shin et al., 2015). Informational justice behavior is measured on a 5-point Likert scale (ranging from “1= to a very small extent”; “5= to a very large

extent”). The informational justice behavior scale exhibited high reliability, where Cronbach’s Alpha (α) = .931. The corrected item-total correlations indicate that all items have a good correlation with the total score of the scale (all above .30). Also, none of the items would substantially affect reliability if they were deleted. Examples of items referring to

informational justice behavior are: “Has (he/she) explained the procedures thoroughly?” and “Has (he/she) seemed to tailor (his/her) communications to individuals’ specific needs?”

Hypothesis 2 proposes that longer periods of tenure are positively or negatively related to affective organizational commitment. To test this hypothesis, we asked the respondents to fill in their tenure in years. Tenure groupings of 10 year increments were created to draw further distinctions between groups, with longer periods of tenure possible (above in Figure 3).

3.3.2 Outcome variable

To measure the affective organizational commitment, the survey made use of the items developed by Herscovitch & Meyer (2002), and measured on a 5-point Likert scale (ranging from “1= Strongly Disagree”; “5= Strongly Agree”). The affective organizational

commitment scale is reliable (α = .729). None of the items would substantially affect reliability if they were deleted. Also, the corrected item-total correlations indicate that all items have a good correlation with the total score of the scale (all above .30). Examples of items on the scale include the following: “I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization”, “I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own” and “This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me”.

21

3.3.3 Moderator

Hypothesis 3 and 4 propose that individual work experiences moderate both the relationship between longer periods of tenure and affective organizational commitment, as well as the relationship between higher rates of informational justice and organizational commitment. To test these hypotheses, we measured the number of missions abroad, the number of large scaled reorganizations the employees have been through, and what the current rank of the employee is. The three items have a scale that is not reliable (α = .257). We expect that these individual work experiences influence the relationships, as referred to in hypothesis 3 and 4.

3.3.4 Control variables

Control variables used in this study are: age, gender, educational level, supervisor status, type of contract, and number of promotions. These variables were included because it was

important to receive information about the respondents to determine the heterogeneity of the sample. Also, some of the control variables can lead to interesting insights in answering the research question. A complete overview of the questionnaire including all scales and controls for this study can be found in paragraph 8.1 in the appendix.

3.4 Statistical analysis

Computations for the statistical analysis were completed with IBM SPSS Statistics 22. After the pre-test, the data collection began with the distribution of the invitation by email, with a link to the survey on Microsoft SharePoint. Once the data was collected, the Comma Separated Values (CSV)- file was imported into SPSS. Then, the data was checked and prepared for subsequent statistical analysis. The data preparation consisted of checking for missing data, recoding counter-indicative items (outcome variable and predictor variable), and testing for normality, skewness, and kurtosis. The conclusion regarding skewness and kurtosis is that the collected data is slightly skewed and kurtotic, for both males and females, but it does not differ significantly from normal. We can assume that our data are approximately normally distributed, in terms of skewness and kurtosis. As part of the data preparation, scale

22

means were computed, reliability checks were completed, and correlations were tested. An overview of the means, standard deviations, correlations and Cronbach’s Alpha of key variables is found in Table 4.

To test the first two hypotheses, we executed two regression analyses in SPSS. A regression analysis is a technique that examines the linear relationship between one or more independent variables and one dependent variable (Schwager & Etzkorn, 2017). We used the macro PROCESS Model 3 by Hayes for SPSS to test hypotheses 3 and 4. PROCESS automatically tests direct effects and interactions while standardizing (mean-centering) all variables for more straightforward interpretation (Hayes, 2012). PROCESS allowed us to test the

interaction effect of individual working experiences to see whether the direction or magnitude of the relationship between both tenure and informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment was affected.

4 Results

In this chapter, we discuss the main findings based on analysis of the regression test and the PROCESS model 3 tests. To begin, the direct effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable are explained (Table 3). Significant correlations found in Table 4 are then considered. Then, the effect of the individual work experiences on the relationship between tenure and affective organizational commitment—as well as the effect of individual work experiences on the relationship between informational justice behavior and affective

organizational commitment—are moderated. In the last section, the results of the results and effects of the model are presented.

23

4.1 Direct effects

Hierarchical multiple regression was performed to investigate the ability of length of tenure and informational justice behavior to predict levels of affective organizational commitment— after controlling for age, gender, educational level, supervisory capacity, number of

promotions, and type of contract.

In Table 4, an overview of the direct effect of the main predictors (tenure and informational justice behavior) and covariates (age, gender, educational level, supervisor or not, number of promotions and kind of contract) on affective organizational commitment is presented.

Table 3: Hierarchical regression model of affective organizational commitment

In the first step of hierarchical multiple regression, six predictors were entered: age, gender, educational level, supervisor or not, number of promotions and kind of contract. This model was not statistically significant F (6,171) = 1.11; p = 0.35 and explained 3.8% of variance in

24

affective organizational commitment. After entry of tenure and informational justice behavior at Step 2, the total variance explained by the model—now statistically significant—was 13.8% F (8,169) = 3.39; p < .01. The introduction of tenure and informational justice behavior explained the additional 10.1% variance in affective organizational commitment, after

controlling for age, gender, educational level, supervisor or not, number of promotions, and kind of contract (R2 Change = .10; F (2, 169) = 9.86; p < .001). In the final model, one out of the eight predictor variables was statistically significant—informational justice behavior (β = .31, p < .001). In other words, if an employee’s informational justice behavior increases by 1, their affective organizational commitment increases by 0.31. This finding provides support for hypothesis 1, which states that higher rates of informational justice behavior are positively related to affective organizational commitment. Tenure (β = .08, p > .05) is non-significant. Therefore, there is no support for hypothesis 2 (A and B) that longer periods of tenure are positively or negatively related to affective organizational commitment.

4.2 Correlation analysis

As noted in Table 4, none of the control variables is significantly correlated with the key variables in this study. The correlation matrix demonstrates the relationships between (typically) continuous variables, and allows to quantify the intensity and meaning of these relationships (Pallant, 2013). The three variables that relate to individual work experiences (rank, number of reorganizations and number of missions) indicate that there is a very weak, but significant, correlation among rank (r = .19, p < .01) and number of reorganizations (r = -.15, p < .05) with affective organizational commitment. Further, these individual work experience variables exhibit a very weak, but significant, correlation for the number of missions with tenure groups (r = .16, p < .05). The significant correlation of the number of reorganizations with tenure groups is highly positive (r = .54, p < .01). Lastly, the correlations between the individual work experience variables and informational justice behavior shows a

25

very weak but significant negative correlation (r = -.17, p < .05) only in the case of the number of missions.

26 Table 4: Means, standard deviations, correlations, and reliabilities

27

4.3 Moderation effects

To test hypothesis 3 and 4, we used PROCESS model 1 to examine the interaction between our variables. Each interaction was tested for the defined variables (number of missions, number of reorganizations and rank) within the category of “individual work experiences”.

Firstly, in testing the moderation effect on the relationship between informational justice behavior and affective commitment, no interaction effects were found for number of missions with a regression coefficient of b = -.03 and the results were not statistically different from zero t (174) = -1.32, p = .19. Both the number of reorganizations (b = -.00, t (174) = -.17, p =.86) and rank (b = .03, t (174) = 1.33, p = .18) are statistically different from zero. Analysis of the interaction results provide no support for hypothesis 3 A, B, and C, which hypothesized that the relationship between higher rates of informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment is moderated by individual work experiences such that this relationship is stronger for higher values of individual work experiences. Specifically, the interaction effect of a higher number of missions abroad, a higher number of reorganizations, and a higher rank on the relationship between informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment is not significant.

Secondly, in testing the moderation effect on the relationship between longer period of tenure and affective commitment, no interaction effects were found for the number of missions with a regression coefficient of b = -.02 and the results were not statistically different from zero t (174) = -.87, p = .39. The results for the number of reorganizations (b = -.04, t (174) = -1.49, p =.14) and rank (b = .03, t (174) = 1.45, p = .15) are statistically different from zero.

Analysis of the interaction results provide no support for hypothesis 4 A, B, and C, stating that the relationship between longer periods of tenure and affective organizational

28

commitment is moderated by individual work experiences, and that this relationship is stronger for higher values of individual work experiences. Specifically, the interaction effect of a higher number of missions abroad, a higher number of reorganizations, and a higher rank on the relationship between informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment is not significant.

4.4 Results of the model

Results of the conceptual model are presented in Figure 6. As illustrated in the model, hypothesis H1: “Higher rates of informational justice behavior are positively related to affective organizational commitment” is supported (β =.31, p<.001). Hypothesis 2A: “Longer periods of tenure are positively related to affective organizational commitment” (β =.08, p>.05) and hypothesis 2B: “Longer periods of tenure are negatively related to affective organizational commitment” (β =.08, p>.05) are not supported.

The hypotheses for interaction effects, hypothesis 3: “The relationship between higher rates of informational justice behavior and affective organizational commitment is moderated by individual work experiences, so that this relationship is stronger for higher values of

individual work experiences. Specifically, we expect that informational justice behavior have stronger influence on affective organizational commitment for employees who have:

3A: experienced a higher number of missions abroad; (b = -.03, t (174) = -1.32, p = .19) 3B: experienced a higher number of reorganizations (b = -.00, t (174) = -.17, p =.86);

3C: a higher rank.” (b = .03, t (174) = 1.33, p = .18) are not supported, providing no evidence that individual work experiences act as a moderator.

Finally, the components of hypothesis 4: “The relationship between a longer period of tenure and affective organizational commitment is moderated by individual work experiences, so that this relationship is stronger for higher values of individual work experiences: Specifically, we

29

expect that a longer period of tenure has a stronger influence on affective organizational commitment for employees who have:

4A: experienced a higher number of missions abroad; (b = -.02, t (174) = -.87, p = .39) 4B: experienced a higher number of reorganizations; (b = -.04, t (174) = -1.49, p =.14)

4C: a higher rank.” (b = .03, t (174) = 1.45, p = .15) are not supported, providing no evidence for individual work experiences to act as a moderator. A further elaboration on these findings is discussed in chapter 5.

1*= p<0.05, 2**=p<0.01, 3***=p<0.001 Figure 6: Conceptual model and results

30

5 Discussion

In this chapter, we discuss and elaborate the significance of the results found in the previous section. We use existing theories and relevant literature to provide explanations of the results and give answers on the two research sub-questions. We also delineate some practical

implications for managers about how these results can best be applied. We also look at the limitations of this research and provide directions for future research.

5.1 Findings and implications

“The Dutch Ministry of Defense (MoD) has suffered in recent years under financial cuts, which has led to multiple reorganizations, and a lack of political vision in the field of security strategy. The current result is that the Dutch armed forces can accomplish much on paper, but in practice, it accomplishes much less. The Netherlands has a modern and multifunctional military that is barely usable.” (Schramade, 2016).

Despite the constant shift of human power to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence, interaction between humans and machines will always be present (Jentsch, 2016). In the military operational domain, humans will remain the most valuable asset in the near future— both new recruits and current personnel. Therefore, it is vital that the MoD remain focused on personnel to keep them motivated and committed to the organization, especially in the current climate of constant organizational change.

As described in chapter 1.1, Shin et al. (2015) suggest that informational justice is especially important in these times of organizational change. The feeling of reduced uncertainty and skepticism facilitates employee maintenance of their initial affective commitment to change in their work-unit over time (Shin et al., 2015). The results of Shin et al.’s (2015) study are largely in accordance with this study. This thesis contributes to the existing literature by finding a significant and positive direct effect (β =.31, p<.001) indicating that higher rates of informational justice behavior are positively related to affective organizational commitment

31

(Hypothesis 1). This implies that employees’ commitment to organizational change remains when their work-unit leaders provide more informational justice behavior. Managers can use this finding in practice to provide employees with further justification and more information when implementing new procedures. The survey demonstrates that tenure and informational justice behavior provide 13.8% of the variance in the affective commitment to change. The most useful result for managers is the data relating to strategies that increase the impact on commitment. One likely possibility is, per Neubert & Cady (2001), that managers can provide employees with training and coaching to improve their effectiveness and self-confidence during change, which in turn may potentially boost their commitment to change.

In terms of the other direct effect of this thesis, no significant effects were found for

Hypothesis 2A and 2B. In this study, longer periods of tenure do not appear to have a positive or negative direct effect on affective organizational commitment. This outcome is not in accordance with Gao-Urhahn et al. (2016) and Beck & Wilson (2001), who respectively evince an increase and a decrease in affective commitment for well-established employees. Based on this thesis’ literature review, it is reasonable to expect a negative or a positive relationship between longer periods of tenure and affective organizational commitment; however, although the results in this study point to a positive relationship, there was no significant support for such hypotheses. The results from the first two hypotheses provide a direct answer to the first sub question of this study: how does the effect of leadership behavior on the affective commitment to organizational change vary based on tenure? There is a positive relationship between leadership behavior and affective organizational commitment, but there is no significant support found that this relationship varies based on tenure.

32

Finally, this thesis explored the moderating effect of individual work experiences on the effect from informational justice behavior and tenure on affective organizational commitment. Arguably, affective commitment is partly determined by how employees perceive the organization. A positive development—in terms of performance, job fulfilment, and

successful missions—can lead to a higher affective commitment, and vice versa. Just as Gao-Urhahn et al. (2016) demonstrates in the literature review, these perceptions are the result of individual work experiences. In this study, the individual work experiences exist for the number of missions, the number of reorganizations, and the rank of the employee. No significant moderating effects were evident in the effect caused by informational justice behavior and in affective organizational commitment (Hypotheses 3A, 3B, 3C). As to the effect of tenure on affective organizational commitment (Hypotheses 4A, 4B, 4C), no significant moderating effects were discovered, but this result was irrelevant because the direct effect of tenure on affective organizational commitment was not significantly supported.

The results from hypotheses 3 and 4 provide an answer to the second sub question of this study: what factors most explain the variance in affective commitment among individuals? None of the interaction factors (individual work experiences) were significant, but further analysis of the slopes revealed that although the interaction is non-significant, the number of missions is a factor that exhibits minor variance in affective commitment among individuals. We expected that employees who experienced more missions abroad are more affectively committed to organizational change. However, the data (Figure 7) indicated a different outcome.

33

Figure 7: Conditional effect of informational justice behavior on affective commitment at values of the number of missions abroad

For individuals who went on a maximum of five missions, informational justice behavior and affective commitment were significantly related, t(174) = 1.97, p = .05, b =.13. As the number of missions decreased, the relationship between informational justice behavior and affective commitment became more positive, with the lowest number (o times), b =.27, t(174) = 3.21, p<.01. Thus, although the impact of missions abroad as a whole is non-significant, as a moderator for the effect of informational justice behavior on affective commitment, there is surprising significance for 0 to a maximum of 5 missions. The most surprising result is that the effect becomes more positive for employees who have not yet experienced a mission abroad.

5.2 Limitations and future research

This study provides specific insight into an exceedingly broad topic. Although we tried to integrate key predictors based on the current state of affective organizational

34

care was taken to ensure that this work is well-balanced, but there are inevitably some limitations.

Firstly, this research is sectional. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with cross-sectional research, it could still be beneficial for future research to focus on a longitudinal study that measures individual work experiences across time, pre-and post-organizational changes. Such a study could potentially provide a better representation of how these

individual experiences affect the degree of affective commitment over time, especially in the case of the number of missions. Secondly, since the study was performed within the RNLAF, the results are innately limited due to geographical and organizational sample characteristics. It is hard to ensure that the sample is sufficiently representative for the whole RNLAF due to the lack of available descriptive statistics. In retrospect, a further subdivision of entities within the RNLAF, such as logistics employee groups, technicians, or pilots may be interesting to examine in order to achieve alternative views and explanations regarding the research question. This could be interesting for further research and could potentially lead to significant differences of the results within the RNLAF.

Thirdly, the sample-size was limited (N= 178). A larger sample would provide more

compelling statistics. Due to the limited sample size, a risk of random results is present which could be reduced by a larger sample size. Finally, this study used self-assessment, but the results can be confirmed if a different method of data collection is used. The results of self-assessment can be prejudiced by the respondents, so extra measurements of informational justice behavior by a supervisor or objective measures would increase the persuasiveness of the results.

35

6 Conclusions

This study is a first step in investigating different individual factors that can influence employees’ affective commitment to change and the important roles of managers in this effect. This research contributes to “organizational commitment to change” literature and leadership literature by bringing the two streams together and testing some aspects of their relationship.

The thesis’ results contribute to the literature by showing a positive direct effect from higher rates of informational justice behavior on affective organizational commitment in another organization and national culture. This is an important body of information that managers within the RNLAF can use in their behavior towards employees to increase the commitment of the employees to the organization. This finding in my organization also supports earlier research suggesting that it is practically and theoretically necessary to understand how to successfully manage organizational change, given that it is increasingly common in today’s organizations (Armenakis & Harris, 2009). This confirmation should encourage future research to further develop this construct. The thesis results contribute by finding no support for the hypothesis that longer periods of tenure have a direct effect on affective organizational commitment. Thus, this study demonstrates that the length of tenure is not a good predictor of the degree of affective commitment.

Finally, this thesis contributes to the “commitment to change” literature by finding no support for individual work experiences functioning as a significant moderator for the effects of higher rates of informational justice behavior and tenure on affective organizational

commitment. This finding opens the door for other individual work variables to be tested in relation to affective organizational commitment.

36

7 References

Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective,

continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of occupational

psychology, 63(1), 1-18.

Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1993). Organizational commitment: evidence of career stage effects?. Journal of business research, 26(1), 49-61.

Armenakis, A. A., & Harris, S. G. (2009). Reflections: Our journey in organizational change research and practice. Journal of Change Management, 9(2), 127-142.

Bartunek, J. M., Rousseau, D. M., Rudolph, J. W., & DePalma, J. A. (2006). On the receiving end sensemaking, emotion, and assessments of an organizational change initiated by others. The Journal of applied behavioral science, 42(2), 182-206.

Beck, K., & Wilson, C. (2001). Have we studied, should we study, and can we study the development of commitment? Methodological issues and the developmental study of work-related commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 11(3), 257-278. Bies, R. J., & Moag, J. S. (1986). Interactional justice: Communication criteria of

fairness. Research on negotiation in organizations, 1(1), 43-55. Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2013). Applied multiple

regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Routledge.

Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure. Journal of applied psychology, 86(3), 386.

Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice

37

Fugate, M. (2012). The impact of leadership, management, and HRM on employee reactions to organizational change. Research in personnel and human resources

management, 31(1), 177-208.

Fugate, M., Prussia, G. E., & Kinicki, A. J. (2012). Managing employee withdrawal during organizational change the role of threat appraisal. Journal of Management, 38(3), 890-914.

Gao‐Urhahn, X., Biemann, T., & Jaros, S. J. (2016). How affective commitment to the

organization changes over time: A longitudinal analysis of the reciprocal relationships between affective organizational commitment and income. Journal of Organizational

Behavior.

Gill, R. (2002). Change management--or change leadership?. Journal of change

management, 3(4), 307-318.

Greenberg, J. (1993). The social side of fairness: Interpersonal and informational classes of organizational justice. In R. Cropanzano (Ed.), Justice in the workplace: Approaching

fairness in human resource management (pp. 79-103). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Hayes, A. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling [White paper]. Retrieved from A. F. Hayes Website: http://www.afhayes.com/ public/process2012.pdf

Herold, D. M., Fedor, D. B., Caldwell, S., & Liu, Y. (2008). The effects of transformational and change leadership on employees' commitment to a change: a multilevel

study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 346.

Herscovitch, L., & Meyer, J. P. (2002). Commitment to organizational change: extension of a three-component model. Journal of applied psychology, 87(3), 474.

38

House, R. J., Spangler, W. D., & Woycke, J. (1991). Personality and charisma in the US presidency: A psychological theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative science

quarterly, 364-396.

Jentsch, F. (2016). Human-robot interactions in future military operations. CRC Press. Kotter, J. P. (1990). A Forcefor Change: How Leadership Differsfrom Management. New

York: Free.

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Harvard Business Press.

Leventhal, G. S. (1976). The distribution of rewards and resources in groups and organizations. Advances in experimental social psychology, 9, 91-131.

Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? New approaches to the study of fairness in social relationships. In K. Gergen, M. Greenberg & R. Willis (Eds.), Social exchange: Advances in theory and research (pp. 27-55). New York, NY: Plenum.

Lokhorst, A. M., Werner, C., Staats, H., van Dijk, E., & Gale, J. L. (2011). Commitment and behavior change: A meta-analysis and critical review of commitment-making

strategies in environmental research. Environment and Behavior, 0013916511411477. Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational

commitment. Human resource management review, 1(1), 61-89.

Meyer, J. P., & Herscovitch, L. (2001). Commitment in the workplace: Toward a general model. Human resource management review, 11(3), 299-326.

Ministerie van Defensie. (2014). Personele kengetallen en trends Defensie 2013. Geraadpleegd van

https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/jaarverslagen/2014/05/19/personele-kengetallen-en-trends-defensie-2013

39

Neubert, M. J., & Cady, S. H. (2001). Program commitment: a multi‐study longitudinal field investigation of its impact and antecedents. Personnel Psychology, 54(2), 421-448. Pallant, J. (2013). SPSS survival manual. McGraw-Hill Education (UK), 133-149.

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Moorman, R. H., & Fetter, R. (1990). Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers' trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. The leadership quarterly, 1(2), 107-142. Schramade, K. (2016). De kaalslag bij Defensie: een amper inzetbare krijgsmacht door

visieloze politiek en bezuinigingen. Amsterdam University Press.

Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business: A skill approach. New Jersey: John

Willey and Sons, Inc.

Shin, J., Seo, M. G., Shapiro, D. L., & Taylor, M. S. (2015). Maintaining Employees’ Commitment to Organizational Change The Role of Leaders’ Informational Justice and Transformational Leadership. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 0021886315603123.

Stogdill, R. M. (1950). Leadership, membership and organization. Psychological

bulletin, 47(1), 1.

Schwager, J. D., & Etzkorn, M. (2017). Introduction to Regression Analysis. A Complete

Guide to the Futures Market: Technical Analysis and Trading Systems, Fundamental Analysis, Options, Spreads, and Trading Principles, 589-595.

Yukl, G., Gordon, A., & Taber, T. (2002). A hierarchical taxonomy of leadership behavior: Integrating a half century of behavior research. Journal of Leadership &

40

8 Appendix

8.1 Survey

Four main constructs:

(1) affective organizational commitment; (2) informational justice behavior; (3) tenure;

(4) individual work experiences,

(a) number of missions abroad (>30 days) (b) number of large scaled reorganizations

(c) number of promotions (after initial education)

Control variables: Age, gender, educational level, supervisor or not, kind of contract and rank.

(1) Affective organizational commitment;

Allen & Meyer’s (1990) original scale of AC. Eight questions based on a 5-point Likert scale (from 1= “strongly disagree” to 5=”strongly agree”).

1. I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization. 2. I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it.

3. I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own.

4. I think that I could easily become as attached to another organization as I am to this one. 5. I do not feel like “part of the family” at my organization.

6. I do not feel “emotionally attached” to this organization. 7. This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me. 8. I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization.

41

Colquitt’s (2001) measure of informational justice. Five questions based on a 5-point Likert scale (from 1= “to a very small extent” and 5=”to a very large extent”).

The following items refer to (the authority figure who enacted the procedure). To what extent: 1. Has (he/she) been candid in (his/her) communications with you?

2. Has (he/she) explained the procedures thoroughly?

3. Were (his/her) explanations regarding the procedures reasonable? 4. Has (he/she) communicated details in a timely manner?

5. Has (he/she) seemed to tailor (his/her) communications to individuals’ specific needs?

(3) Tenure;

How long have you been working for the Royal Netherlands Air Force? (in years)

(4) Individual work experiences;

(a) number of missions abroad (>30 days)

How many times have you been deployed abroad for a mission (>30 days)? (b) number of large scaled reorganizations

How many large-scaled reorganizations have you been into during your tenure within the RNLAF?

(c) number of promotions (after initial education)

How many times have you been promoted after finishing your initial education?

Control variables:

42 1. What is your age in years?

2. Please specify your gender. 1= Male

2= Female

3. What is the highest educational degree you completed? 1= High school

2= Lower vocational education (MBO) 3= Higher vocational education (HBO) 4= University bachelor degree (BSc) 5= University master degree (MSc) 6= PhD

7= Other

4. Are you currently a supervisor? 1= Yes

2= No

5. What kind of contract do you have? 1= FPS fase 1

2= FPS fase 2 3= FPS fase 3

4= BBT (Beroeps Bepaalde Tijd) 5= BOT (Beroeps Onbepaalde Tijd) 6. What is your current rank?

1= Soldier 2= Corporal

43 3= Corporal 1st class 4= Sergeant 5= Sergeant 1st class 6= Sergeant Major 7= Warrant Officer 8= 2nd Lieutenant 9= 1st Lieutenant 10= Captain 11= Major 12= Lieutenant-Colonel 13= Colonel 14= Commodore 15= General-Major 16= Lieutenant-General 17= General