The factors influencing organizational commitment at grant thorntion viet nam company

RESEARCH PROJECT BMBR5103 THE FACTORS INFLUENCING ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AT GRANT THORNTON VIET NAM COMPANY December, 2015... Following the analysis process, factors collected are O

RESEARCH PROJECT

(BMBR5103)

THE FACTORS INFLUENCING ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AT GRANT THORNTON VIET NAM COMPANY

December, 2015

ADVISOR’S ASSESSMENT

Advisor’s signature

Nguyen The Khai, DBA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

No success has come without associated with the support During the period from the beginning of learning, I've received a lot of help from my lecturer, classmates and colleagues

With deepest gratitude, I would like to send thank you to the International Training Institute of Hutech which organized for us to have access to MBA courses and perform the Research Project

I sincerely thank Dr Nguyen The Khai has dedicated guided us through each classroom sessions as well as the creative practice in scientific research Without these instructions, I think my thesis is hard to be completed Again, I sincerely thank you I also would like to express my thanks to my colleagues who helped me with very useful information to do this assignment Thanks all employees of Grant Thornton Vietnam Company for their precious comments and helps to collect data for this research The study is being conducted over a period of approximately 4 weeks Initially, in practice, to learn about the field

of creativity in scientific research, my knowledge is limited and much surprise Therefore, the inevitable gaps is a sure thing, I look forward to the valuable feedback of your teachers and the classmates to my knowledge in this field is

excellent

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURE & LIST OF TABLE 5

ABSTRACT 6

I INTRODUCTION OF GRANT THORNTON VIETNAM 7

1.1 Over view of the company 7

1.2 Type and line of business 10

1.3 Organisation Structure 12

II 12

II RESEARCH INTRODUCTION 12

2.1 Problem statement 12

2.2 Purpose of the study 13

2.3 Purpose of the research 13

2.4 Research objective 13

2.5 Research questions 14

CHARPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 15

I ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT 15

II.OVERALL JOB SATISFACTION 17

III.PECEIVED PERSON – ORGANIZATION FIT 19

IV.SUPERVISORY SUPPORT 21

V.FAIRNESS IN SKILL-BASED PAY 23

CHARPTER III: RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES 24

I RESEARCH MODEL 24

II RESEARCH HYPOTHESES 26

2.1 Summary of hypotheses 26

2.2 Instrument 28

2.3 Research Participants 30

2.4 Procedure for Data Collection and Analyze 30

CHARPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 32

I DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESPONDENTS 32

II RELIABILITY ANALYSIS 34

III DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS 35

IV CORRELATION OF ALL VARIABLES STATISTICS 35

V HYPOTHESIS TESTING 37

CHARPTER V: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 39

I DISCUSSION 39

1.1 Recommendations for Overall Job Satisfaction 39

1.2 Recommendations for Perceived Person – Organization Fit 39

1.3 Recommendations for Supervisory Support 40

1.4 Recommendations for Fairness in Skill-Based Pay 41

II SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH 41

III LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 42

IV CONCLUSIONS 43

APPENDIX 49

APENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE 49 APENDIX 2: PRESENTATION SLIDES 55

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 1: Organizational Chart………12

Figure 2: Hypothesized Research Model……….24

Figure 3: A summary of frequency analysis for qualitative variables ,33

LIST OF TABLE Table 1: Summary of Cronbach’s Alpha of the variables……….34

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics……….35

Table 3:Summary of Correlations of all variables……….36

Table 4: Model Summary of all hypotheses……… 37

Table 5: Coefficients of all hypotheses……… 37

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, the success of an organization is strongly believed to stem from individuals’ contributions and its fellows are precious assets of an organization An organization seems to be a small world with various types of people of dissimilar viewpoints, cultures and lifestyles Organizational commitment has a great impact on the successful performance of an Organization Thus, how to make employees willingly engage and devote to the collective objectives is one of the most complicated challenges of an organization This is especially true for Grant Thornton Vietnam, one of Big five international auditing firm in the Audit, Tax & Finance advisory and assurance services in Vietnam

Grant Thornton Vietnam Company is currently facing challenges is in recently some employees have intention to leave Grant Thornton Vietnam after one or two years working Accordingly, identifying the factors affecting the levels of Organizational Commitment to attract employee’s cooperation and contributions in the long time is critical Being able to deal with this mission will bring about a desirable success for Grant Thornton Vietnam in the human resource management

This study will be tested by collecting data from 250 Grant Thornton Vietnam’s employees in the Head Office and Branch The reliability analysis, descriptive analysis, and hypothesis testing were employed to analyze the data The purpose of the study is to explore factors affecting to the Organizational Commitment of employees in Grant Thornton Vietnam through a questionnaire Following the analysis process, factors collected are Overall Job Satisfaction, Perceived Person – Organization fit, Supervisory Support, and Fairness In Skill-Based Pay on Organizational Commitment

The interpretation of collected data will be followed by the researcher’s strategic recommendations related to Organizational Commitment In spite of unavoidable limitations, the research outcomes are expected to be a possibly constructive source for Grant Thornton Vietnam to refer in the Company’s strategies to enhance the Organizational Commitment of the employees

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

I INTRODUCTION OF GRANT THORNTON VIETNAM

1.1 Over view of the company

Founded in Chicago in 1924, Grant Thornton LLP (Grant Thornton) is the U.S member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the world’s leading organizations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms Grant Thornton has revenue in excess of $1.3 billion and operates 57 offices across the United States with more than 500 partners and 6,000 employees

Grant Thornton Vietnam is an independent member firm of Grant Thornton International and was established in 1993 Initially it was a joint venture with Concetti In 1997, Grant Thornton Vietnam was converted to a 100% foreign owned enterprise, and opened a branch in Ho Chi Minh City It was a huge step In 1998, the Company officially became a full member of Grant Thornton International The firm's name was changed to Grant Thornton Vietnam Limited in 1999

In 2007, Grant Thornton Vietnam proudly met the criteria to audit listed companies In 2013, Grant Thornton Vietnam more than excited to celebrate our 20 years Anniversary in Vietnam It has been a gratifying and successful endeavour as Grant Thorton Vietnam have grown from our first days in 1993

to who Grant Thorton Vietnam are today Also in this year, Grant Thornton Vietnam has been listed as the only foreign invested firm that has been permitted to determine the value of 100-per-cent state-owned enterprises by the Ministry of Finance Vietnam 2014 has marked another milestone From 1st July 2014, Grant Thornton Vietnam Ltd and Nexia ACPA Auditing & Consulting Co Ltd ("ACPA") are to merge officially The merged firm will be part of the Grant Thornton global network and will practice under the Grant Thornton name The merger brings together a leading professional services firm in Vietnam with an excellent combination of professional team of 14 partners and more than 300 professional staff in offices located in Hanoi (Address: 18th Floor, Hoa Binh International Office Building, 106 Hoang

Quoc Viet Street, Cau Giay District) and Ho Chi Minh City (Address: 28th, Floor Saigon Trade Center, 37 Ton Duc Thang Street, District 1)

Company’s vision: "Empowered people providing bold leadership and

distinctive Client service worldwide"

 Bring a global perspective to our advice and our actions

 Cooperate with others to get things done and achieve results

 Work together to bring resources and expertise to serve all Clients

 Be proud of our global identity, and make it part of our everyday language

- Leadership

 Take a leadership position on issues of importance to our profession, the firm and the public interest

 Lead and communicate with clarity and confidence

 Exercise initiative to make a positive difference

 Have the courage to live our values without compromise in word and action; commit to doing what is right

 Accept challenges to be the best we can be, and inspire others to reach their full potential

- Excellence

 Be better tomorrow than we are today, individually and collectively

 Continue investment in our own and others' development

 Attain the highest level of competence in our expertise

 Develop leading-edge solutions that set the benchmark in our profession

 Achieve the highest standards of quality and innovation in everything we do

 Ensure that the right people are doing the right work

 Thrive in change; understand the "why" and help otherx`s to do so

 React positively and respond quickly to changes in direction

 Make objective, timely decisions, and act on them promptly

- Respect

 Seek first to understand and then be understood

 Treat others as we would like to be treated

 Consider, with an open mind, the perspective and opinion of others

 Give and seek regular, open and honest feedback so that we improve and grow at all levels

 Acknowledge and promote the mindset that work is only one part of life

 Express genuine appreciation for others' contributions

 Resolve differences promptly - with compassion and understanding

 Acknowledge our contribution to mistakes, act promptly to rectify them, and, in so doing, gain new insights and awareness

1.2 Type and line of business

Audit and Assurance

In today's ever-changing business climate, effective management of resources and access to information are crucial Our approach to audit and assurance services is focused on enhancing the value of audit services to businesses and business owners, ensuring the integrity of financial information and helping to reduce compliance costs Clients benefit from our proprietary audit software to deliver a cost-effective, risk analysis-based, paperless audit

We provide assurance services to:

- Public companies

- Foreign invested companies

- Locally owned business

- Non Governmental Organizations and donor funded projects

Tax Services

Our committed tax professionals can maximize your earnings by combining a comprehensive knowledge of Vietnamese and International tax regulations and the capacity to plan creatively to reduce your taxes and remain compliant

We help corporate Clients structure their investments in Vietnam and assist those operating internationally to capitalize on the lowest effective tax rates across multiple jurisdictions For expatriate and local personnel, we can recommend tax-effective salary packages and advise on offshore solutions We also help you deal with the tax authorities and provide regular tax updates, training and seminars

Advisory Services

Our Advisory Services team can help you achieve your objectives by developing effective plans and strategies relevant to your business goals Whether you are seeking to acquire a business, looking to expand locally or into another country, making new investments, undertaking a financial restructuring in a turnaround phase or seeking to divest, our complete range of

services including Lead Advisory, Transaction Support, Business Valuation, Equitisation Consulting, Listing Preparation, Business Improvement, Restructuring, Project Finance and Succession Planning will be of benefit to you

With careful planning and co-ordination, we will not only help make sure your business thrives - we will ensure that the chosen strategy is "right" for your business and that you get the best value

Grant Thornton offers a broad range of Business Risk Services that stand out because we focus on turning compliance obligations, business process, risk concerns and performance questions into opportunities for business improvement

We work with you to understand your business and the risks to which you are exposed We detect inefficiencies in existing business processes, control systems and technological capabilities and then create sound strategies to mitigate your risk and improve the efficiency of your operations

While the specific findings, recommendations and deliverables are unique for each and every Client, our team can provide you with an objective, unbiased and comprehensive view of your situation, and help you address any issues

identified

Outsourcing services

Focus on running Clients business Grant Thornton Vietnam provide a full accounting, payroll and tax outsourcing service which include data entry; preparation of monthly financial statements; payroll services; and preparation

of monthly tax returns for submission to the local tax department

On entering any new market it is critical that Management time is spent on worthwhile business matters Outsourcing is often a cost effective, time saving solution Grant Thornton Vietnam will insist on understanding Clients business, and assist Clients in building up the capacity and knowledge of Clients local finance team over time

Grant Thornton Vietnam will ensure Management have the financial information they require on a timely basis, and assist Clients in ensuring

Clients comply with the applicable tax laws Grant Thornton Vietnam will also

help Clients manage Clients relationship with the local tax authorities Grant

Thornton Vietnam will be pro-active in identifying tax effective processes for

Clients invoicing and contractual arrangements

1.3 Organisation Structure

II

Figure 1- Organizational Chart

II RESEARCH INTRODUCTION

2.1 Problem statement

The Company is currently facing challenges that some employees have

intention to leave Grant Thornton Vietnam after one or two years working and

the rest do not commit to working with Grant Thornton Vietnam for long time

Accordingly, identifying the factors affecting the levels of Organizational

Commitment to attract employee’s cooperation and contributions in the long

time is critical Being able to deal with this mission will bring about a desirable

success for Grant Thornton Vietnam in the human resource management

It would seem that if people feel good about their jobs, their happiness would

be increased the commitment and reflected in the quality of their work to

contribute to organizational success In order to ensure that employees give the

high commitment, employer should give high job satisfaction that should get

by the employees However, the top management of Grant Thornton Vietnam

Deputy General Director

HR & Admin

Division Marketing & PR Division Audit & Consulting Services Division Tax Services Division Financial Advisory Sevices Division

Company has little understanding of how to satisfy their employees and how this employee’s satisfaction level influences their commitment to the company With regard to this problem, this study was conducted to examine the organizational commitment among employees

2.2 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this research is to examine employees’ commitment toward their occupations, profession and careers as well as approach whether items in terms of Overall Job Satisfaction, Perceived Person - Organization Fit, Supervisory Support, and Fairness In Skill-Based Pay will have influences on the Organizational Commitment of Grant Thornton Vietnam’s employees

It is expected that findings of the research could give an overview and empirical evidences in the aspects of factor impacting Organizational Commitment among employees and fulfil the research gap due to lack of studies conducted among employees on Organizational Commitment Besides that, management team can use the project’s results as reference on adjusting and developing couple of solutions that may fill in the gap in HRM system and keep its talented employees to fulfill its vision and mission

2.3 Purpose of the research

This research was conducted on 300 employees of Grant Thornton Vietnam Company in Head Office and Branch It was conducted on both staff and managers in different division include Audit & Consulting Division, Tax Division, Financial Advisory Division, Marketing & PR Division, HR & Admin Division

A Questionnaire Survey was distributed to each employee with clear instructions and guidelines for fulfillment the research project

2.4 Research objective

This study mainly seeks to achieve the following objectives:

- To identify the factors that may impact on Organizational Commitment

- To suggest some solutions based on research findings to increase the Organizational Commitment

CHARPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

I ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Organizational Commitment is defined by business dictionary as the strength

of feeling of responsibility that an employee has towards to mission of the organization

According to Meyer & Allen (1997), Organizational Commitment refers to the employee commitment to an organization which being defined in a variety of ways including an altitude or an orientation that links the identity of the person

to the organization, a process by which the goals of the organization and those

of the individual become congruent, an involvement with a particular organization, the perceived rewards associated with continued participation in

an organization, the costs associated with leaving, and normative pressures to act in a way that meets organizational goals

According to Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1982), who performed much of the original research about organizational commitment, defined it as a strong belief

in and acceptance of the organization’s goals and values, a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and a strong desire to maintain membership in an organization

According to Meyer & Allen (1997), organizational commitment has been characterized as a psychological state that binds an employee to an organization, thereby reducing the incidence of turnover

O’Reilly (1989) defined Organizational Commitment as an individual's psychological bond to the organization, including a sense of job involvement, loyalty and belief in the values of the organization

According to Wiener & Verdi (1980), this feeling of moral obligation measured by the extent to which an employee feels that she or he should be faithful to organization, make an employee sacrifice to help it out and not disapprove it

Organization endeavor to develop strong commitment from their employees so that they can minimize turnover and absences, and reduce recruitment and

training costs (Camilleri 2002: 2) Employee turnover can be costly to all organizations Committed employees have been found more likely to stay in their chosen organization, and thus will reduce turnover statistics (Brief and Aldag 1980: 211; Chang 1999: 1258; Meyer, Becker and Vandenberghe 2004: 991) Committed employees are also more likely to apply themselves to their job through increased identification with organizational goals and values, through the desire to maintain and conform with social forces and because it may be too costly not to apply themselves At times however, commitment in employees can be undesirable Committed employees who do not perform may

be difficult to remove and may reduce unit effectiveness Over-commitment can also lead to high levels of zealousness which can result in dysfunctional behavior (Mowday, Porter et al 1982: 4-5)

Primary among these is the thought that understanding commitment can be a good predictor of certain employee behaviors like turnover, attendance, quality and quantity of work, loyalty and job performance (Somers and Birnbaum 1998: 621) An understanding of commitment is important because it provides organizations with an appreciation of how and why staff apply themselves to their work, and how this can be leveraged toward better working outcomes for all parties

Others have argued that commitment reflects the Psychological bond that ties the employee to the organization but that the nature of the bond can take three

forms, labeled compliance, identification, and internalization (O’Reilly &

Chatman, 1986) Compliance occurs when attitudes and behaviors are adopted not because of share d beliefs but simply to gain specific rewards In this case, public and private attitudes may differ Identification occurs when an individual accepts influence to establish and maintain a relationship; that is, an individual may respect a group’s values without adopting them On the other hand, internalization occurs when influence is accepted because the included attitudes and beliefs are congruent with one’s own values (Caldwell, Chatman,

& O’Reilly, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1997; O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986; O’Reilly, Chatman, & Caldwell, 1991)

Clearly, not all of these views are in agreement For example, some researchers have questioned whether compliance should be viewed as a component of commitment because it is distinct from other common definitions and can be viewed as the antithesis of commitment That is, compliance has been found to correlate positively with employee turnover (O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986), whereas commitment generally reduces turnover (Mowday et al , 1982) The studies I reviewed from the 1990s suggest there is

a growing consensus that commitment is a multidimensional construct that certainly includes an affective dimension and may include components that reflect normative pressures as well as practical considerations such as the costs

of leaving an organization and locating another job with similar pay and benefits

In general, organizational commitment describes the attachment and involvement of the employee to the organization

II.OVERALL JOB SATISFACTION

Overall Job Satisfaction could have different meanings There are many aspects to job satisfaction, depending on what each individual person feels is important In many ways, the word 'reward' alone can mean different things to different people, and in this lesson, we are going to look at job satisfaction and its place in today's business environment Our goal is to understand job satisfaction, or how content someone is with their job and the sense of accomplishment they get from doing it

Job satisfaction has been an important focal point for organizational and industrial psychology In defining job satisfaction the reference is often made

to Locke’s (1976) description of job satisfaction as a “pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (Jex 2002 p.116) The appraisal involves various elements related to the job such as salary, working conditions, colleagues and boss, career prospects and,

of course, the intrinsic aspects of the job itself (Arnold et al 1998 p 204)

Different authors have different approaches towards defining job satisfaction Hoppock defined job satisfaction as any combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances that cause a person truth fully

to say I am satisfied with my job (Hoppock, 1935) According to this approach although job satisfaction is under the influence of many external factors, it remains something internal that has to do with the way how the employee feels That is job satisfaction presents a set of factors that cause a feeling of satisfaction

Vroom in his definition on job satisfaction focuses on the role of the employee

in the work place Thus he defines job satisfaction as affective orientations on the part of individuals toward work roles which they are presently occupying (Vroom,1964)

One of the most often cited definitions on job satisfaction is the one given by Spector, according to whom job satisfaction has to do with the way how people feel about their job and its various aspects It has to do with the extent to which people like one dislike their job That's why job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction can appear in any given work situation

Job satisfaction represents a combination of positive or negative feelings that workers have towards their work Meanwhile, when a worker employed in a business organization, brings with it the needs, desires and experiences which determinates expectations that he has dismissed Job satisfaction represents the extent to which expectations are and match the real awards Job satisfaction is closely linked to that individual's behavior in the work place (Davisetal.,1985) Job satisfaction is a worker’s sense of achievement and success on the job It is generally perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal well-being Job satisfaction implies doing a job one enjoys, doing it well and being rewarded for one’s efforts Job satisfaction further implies enthusiasm and happiness with one’s work Job satisfaction is the key ingredient that leads

to recognition, income, promotion, and the achievement of other goals that lead

to a feeling of fulfillment (Kaliski., 2007)

Job satisfaction can be defined also as the extent to which a worker is content with the rewards he or she gets out of his or her job, particularly in terms of intrinsic motivation (Statt, 2004) The term job satisfaction refers to the attitude and feelings people have about their work Positive and favorable attitudes towards the job indicate job satisfaction Negative and unfavorable attitudes towards the job indicate job dissatisfaction (Armstrong, 2006)

Job satisfaction is the collection of feeling and beliefs that people have about their current job People’s levels of degrees of job satisfaction can range from extreme satisfaction to extreme dissatisfaction In addition, to having attitudes about their jobs as a whole, people also can have attitudes about various aspects of their jobs such as the kind of work they do, their coworkers, supervisors or subordinates and their pay (George et al., 2008)

Job satisfaction index was developed by Schriesheim and Tsui (1980) It uses six items to form an index that describes overall job satisfaction The scale includes single questions to assess the degree of satisfaction with the work itself, supervision, co-workers, pay, promotion opportunities, and the job in general

Job satisfaction can be considered as one of the main factors when it comes to efficiency and effectiveness of business organizations In fact the new managerial paradigm which insists that employees should be treated and considered primarily as human beans that have their own wants, needs, personal desires is a very good indicator for the importance of job satisfaction

in contemporary companies When analyzing job satisfaction the logic that a satisfied employee is a happy employee and a happy employee is a successful employee

III.PECEIVED PERSON – ORGANIZATION FIT

Consideration of person-organization fit is based on the perspective that aspects of both an individual employee and a job situation combine to influence the individual’s response to work (O'Reilly, Chatman, & Caldwell, 1991) That is, attitudes, behaviors, and other individual-level outcomes result

not from the person or environment separately, but rather from the relationship between the two The concept of fit is particularly prominent in studies of organizational stress where measures must recognize individual differences in the way situations are cognitively appraised (Edwards, 1996)

Person-organization fit refers to the degree of congruence or compatibility between the attributes of an organization member and those of the organization For individuals, these attributes may include personality traits, beliefs, values, and interests For the organization, these characteristics traditionally include the culture, climate, values, goals, and norms (Chan, 1996) Congruence may occur when a person supplements or matches with other individuals in an environment, when a person’s characteristics add something to the environment that was missing, when an organization satisfies individual needs, and/or when an individual has the abilities required to meet organizational demands (Kristof,1996)

Value congruence is an important form of fit because organizational values are fundamental components of organizational culture that affect employees’ attitudes and behaviors (Chatman, 1989) Person-organization fit can be operationalized as an individual’s goal congruence with organizational leaders and peers (Vancouver & Schmitt, 1991) An alternative approach defines fit as the match between individual preferences or needs and organizational systems and structures In general, a person will be more satisfied with work if the environment fulfills his or her needs Alternately, person-organization fit can

be viewed as the match between the personality characteristics of an individual employee and organizational climate For example, an organization’s collectivist climate may be reflected by a team-based compensation system that may or may not meet an individual’s need for achievement (Kristof, 1996)

There is some debate as to whether person- organization fit should be operationalized as the compatibility of employees with specific jobs Edwards (1991) defined person-job fit as the agreement between the abilities of a person and the demands of a job or the desires of a person and the attributes of a job Although it could be argued that jobs tend to offer a narrow view that may not

be representative of an organization, there is substantial evidence that employees may form their views about an organization based on their experiences in their job (Hackman & Oldham, 1980) Person-organization fit does not generally include person-vocation fit, which often reflects the similarity between an individual’s personality and that of a vocational environment, or person-group fit, which describes the compatibility between individuals and their work groups (Kristof, 1996)

The measure of perceived person – organization fit, developed by Bretz and Judge (1994), consists of two questionnaires containing 15 items each One questionnaire asks employees to indicate how accurately each statement describes their current organization The other questionnaire asks employees for their individual preferences for an organization to work in A fit score for each individual is calculated as the sum of the differences between the responses to the two questionnaires Thus, low scores indicate better person-organization fit The questions used to assess person-organization fit were developed to reflect fit between an employee’s knowledge, skills, and abilities and his or her job requirements; congruence between employee needs and organizational systems and structures; agreement between an employee’s value orientations and the perceived values orientation of the organization; and perceived match between an employee’s personality and the organization’s personality or image (Bretz & Judge, 1994)

IV.SUPERVISORY SUPPORT

Supervisor support is defined as employees’ belief concerning the extent to which supervisors value their contributions and care about their well-being Employees need motivation to expend greater efforts and more personal resources in innovative tasks when supervisor exhibit their individual consideration toward followers, followers are likely to perceive the warmth and consideration from their supervisors Similarly, employees who perceive support from their supervisors often feel obligated to pay back supervisors’

favors or kindness by helping supervisors to reach their stated goals (Eisenberger et al 2002)

Jung et al (2003) indicated that leadership is positively associated with employee-perceived empowerment and support for innovation Creativity and innovation is an area where supervisors can have a strong impact on employee creativity through their influence on the context within which employees work (Shalley and Gilson, 2004) In order for innovative behavior to occur, supervisor needs to foster, encourage, and support creativity (Shalley and Gilson, 2004)

Janssen (2003) found evidence that employees responded more innovatively to higher levels of job demands when they perceived that their efforts were fairly rewarded by their supervisor Oldham and Cummings (1996) found that supportive, non-controlling supervisors created a work environment that fostered creativity

Open interactions with supervisors and the receipt of encouragement and support lead to enhanced employee creativity (Tierney, Farmer, and Graen 1999) This means that employees who perceive a fair balance between supervisor’s inducements relative to their work efforts will respond with more innovative behavior According to social exchange theory additional arguments can be derived for a relationship between supervisor support and innovative behavior Direct supervisors can act as organizational agents Employees tend

to view actions by agents of the organization as actions of the organization

itself

With the importance of organizational support, many researchers have scrutinized the importance of supervisor support and found that employees also expect supervisors to be caring and supportive (Eisenberger et al., 2002; Kottke and Sharafinski, 1988) Griffin et al., (2001) found that supervisor’s support has strong relationship with job satisfaction and Ogilvie (1986) confirmed that supervisors’ actions directly impact the commitment of employees

Supervisors are the agents of the organization As such, they are responsible for monitoring the performance of their subordinates, conducting periodic assessments of their subordinates’ work, and giving feedback to enhance their subordinates’ contributions and commitment to the organization Therefore, it

is natural for employees to interpret their interactions with their supervisors as indicators of the organization’s judgment of their work and career promise According to Hussami, M.A., (2008), employees want supervisors who have a bond with them and who trust them, understand them and show fairness If the supervisor is abusive the worker is left with no choice but to be dissatisfied with their job According to Williams, E., (2004) supervisors play such an important role in jobs that it would not be wrong to say that employees leave their bosses, not their jobs Often outside the formal process of evaluation, the supervisor gets a chance to discuss the progress of employees Without support from supervisors, employees may feel stressful at work (Lait J & Wallace, J.E., 2002), and as a result may feel dissatisfied with their jobs (Ismail, A., Yao, A & Yunus, N.K.Y., 2009)

V.FAIRNESS IN SKILL-BASED PAY

This measure, developed by Lee, Law, and Bobko (1998), assesses perceived fairness in a skill-based pay program Skill-based pay systems pay employees for the range, depth, and types of skills applied on jobs Employee perceptions

of the skill-based pay program are likely to be influenced by their perceptions that certification procedures are objective and consistent across people, times, and skills; include opportunities for employees to ask question about decision made; and incorporate the use of accurate information

Confirmatory factor analysis showed that measure of fairness, tree skill-based pay system characteristics (training, understanding, and advancement), and perceived benefits of skill-based pay and pay satisfaction were empirically distinct Perceived fairness of skill-based pay correlated positively with the amount of pay at risk, pay satisfaction, perceived benefits of skill-based pay

Figure 2: Hypothesized Research Model

Dependent Variables:

Organizational Commitment (OC)

Independent Variables:

Overall Job Satisfaction (OS)

Perceived Person - Organization Fit (PO)

H1 H2 H3

+ +

H4

+

Key construct: Organizational Commitment (OC)

Other constructs:

Overall Job Satisfaction (OS)

Perceived Person - Organization Fit (PO)

Supervisory Support (SS)

Fairness in Skill-Based Pay (FP)

II RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

of gender, age, race, education, and work experience Most research on job satisfaction has been aimed towards the person-environment fit paradigm Job satisfaction has been found to be an important area of research because one of the top reasons individuals give for leaving a job is dissatisfaction

Much of the literature on the relationship between commitment and satisfaction with one’s job indicates that if employees are satisfied they develop stronger commitment to their work Kalleberg (1990) studied work attitudes of workers

in the USA and Japan and found a correlation of 0.73 between job satisfaction and organizational commitment of workers in Japan and a higher significant correlation of 0.81 among Americans A study conducted by Dirani and Kuchinke produced results indicating a strong correlation between job commitment and job satisfaction and that satisfaction was a reliable predictor of commitment.[8][9] More recently, research has shown that job satisfaction is based on both economic (e.g., pay) and non-economic (e.g., supervisor respect) factors,[10] and that job satisfaction is predictive of reduced turnover among employees in nursing home settings

Hypotheses 2: Perceived Person – Organization Fit is positive with Organizational Commitment at Grant Thornton Vietnam

Individuals and organizations are most effective when their values, needs, and interests are aligned Manifestations of this alignment, which often is called person-organization (P-O) fit, include employee commitment, satisfaction, and retention (Chatman, 1991; Meglino, Ravlin, & Adkins, 1989; O’Reilly,

Chatman, & Caldwell, 1991; Sheridan, 1992), organizational performance (Govindarajan, 1989; Meglino et al., 1989), and individual health (Moos, 1987) Judge and Ferris (1992) proposed that P-O fit affects the degree to which an individual is liked by co-workers, supervisors, and subordinates, which may be related to many other aspects of individual and organizational effectiveness Furthermore, researchers have argued that P-O fit may affect the utility of selection systems (Adkins, Russell, & Werbel, 1994) and may have bottom-line consequences for organizations (Boudreau, Sturman, & Judge, 1994) In light of the potential positive outcomes of P-O fit, researchers have suggested that organizations proactively hire employees based on their fit with organizations' cultures (Bowen, Ledford, and Nathan, 1991) So, it is clear that Perceived person – organization fit takes an impact on individual commitment

to the organization (Cheng et al., 2003) Even though there are several commitment type, commitment to superior is the most influential one (Meyer

& Allen, 1997; Becker & Billing, 1993; Becker et al.,1996; Gregersen, 1993) According to Cheng et al (2003) whether an employee decides to stay or to quit and feels satisfied or unsatisfied, the commitment to his/her supervisor

would be considered as an important factor, in addition to his/her organizational commitment They also found a positive relationship between supervisory commitment and job performance As we had the same thought, our study focused on especially commitment to superior

Hypotheses 4: Fairness in Skill-Based Pay is positive with Organizational Commitment at Grant Thornton Vietnam

Fairness in Skill - Based Pay refers to the skill-based pay system employees for the range, depth, and types of skills applied on jobs Employee perceptions of the skill-based pay program are likely to be influence by their perceptions that certification procedures are objective and across people, times, and skills; include opportunities for employee ask questions about the decisions made; and incorporate the use of accurate information

Formally stated, a skills audit is a systematic process that identifies the present stock of skills held by the workforce and compares these with the skills needed

by an organization Hunter, J E., Schmidt, E L., & Judiesch, M K (1990) Skills audits are commonly used to identify the expertise required to perform jobs; assist individuals in identifying the skills they need for their job and provide personal information on training needs; ensure human resource management is targeted to specific skills required; and provide career path planning

2.2 Instrument

The questionnaire total consists of 43 questions The questionnaire will be organized into 5 parts which are Organizational Commitment (part 1), Overall Job Satisfaction (part 2), Perceived Person – Organization Fit (part 3), Supervisory Support (part 4), Fairness in Skill-Based Pay (part 5), In each part, there will be detailed questions related to the topic of each part and organized in the easiest way for the respondents to give their feedback

- Firstly, in part 1- Organizational Commitment, developed by Cook and Wall (1980), there are 09 items being used to measure the agreements

or disagreements of Grant Thornton Vietnam’s employees to their current