ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT: THE STUDY OF ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE AND LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE (LMX) AMONG AUDITORS IN MALAYSIA
Kok Wei Khong
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship and to test the interaction effects of organizational justice (distributive, procedural and interactional) and four dimensions of LMX (affect, contribution, professional respect, and loyalty) on organizational commitment. Three broadly hypothesized relationships were tested in a field study among auditors serving in audit firms across Malaysia who were registered with the Malaysian Institute of Accountant (MIA). Out of 1100 questionnaires posted out to MIA’s firms located in the state of Penang, Selangor, and Wilayah Persekutuan, 318 completed questionnaires were returned of which only 266 were usable (24.2% return rate). The unit of analysis was the individual auditors and participation was voluntary. By and large, the results from hierarchical regression provided moderate support for the hypotheses. The findings on direct effects revealed that predictor variables have a positive relationship with affective-normative commitment and only partial support for continuance commitment. Distributive, procedural and interactional of organizational justice, reciprocity and contribution of LMX were found to be positively related to affective-normative commitment. Continuance commitment was significantly predicted by contribution of LMX. The results provided partial support for the interaction effects of affective-normative and continuance commitment. One implication of the study’s findings is that human resources department has to take a serious view of organizational justice and LMX when implementing human resource policies in order to encourage employees to manifest high levels of commitment.
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