Relationship between communication astisfaction and affective commitment - an empirical study in the Vietnamese banks

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study is figure out the relationship between communication satisfaction’s factors personal feedback, communication climate, horizontal communication, su



HOANG THI KIM KHANH

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNICATION SATISFACTION AND

AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT

- AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

IN THE VIETNAMESE BANKS

MASTER THESIS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: DR NGUYEN THI NGUYET QUE

HO CHI MINH CITY – 01/2014



HOANG THI KIM KHANH

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNICATION SATISFACTION AND

Relationship between communication satisfaction and affective commitment – an empirical

study in the Vietnamese banks

Hoang Thi Kim Khanh

19th January, 2014

ISB Research Committee

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Nguyet Que for the guidance,

patience and support during my thesis’s writing period

I am also grateful to all ISB members who helped me with necessary materials and

paper submission

I would like to appreciate all my friends and responders for their contribution to my

survey

Especially, I would like to give my special thanks to my family who always

encourage me throughout my life

Hoang Thi Kim Khanh

Ho Chi Minh city, 20th December, 2013

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study is figure out the relationship between communication

satisfaction’s factors (personal feedback, communication climate, horizontal communication, supervisory communication) with affective commitment in Vietnamese banking industry

These factors are tested in previous studied in the world, and the previous result indicated that

all of them have a positive impact to commitment After conducting a research, collecting and

analysing 225 employees in many banks in Ho Chi Minh City, the result indicated that first,

the horizontal communication was divided into new components, horizontal formal

communication and horizontal informal communication Second, only communication

climate, supervisory communication and horizontal formal communication affects to

affective commitment Third, communication climate is a strongest factor contributes to

employee affective commitment Personal feedback and horizontal informal communication

do not have influences on affective commitment in Vietnam banking industry

Although having a few limitations, b ut this study highlights the importance of

communication satisfaction in workplace It is necessary for banking managers to develop

good relationships with their employees to improve employee affective commitment The

conclusion of this study discusses the practical implications for managers and the

recommendation for future research

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii

ABSTRACT .iii

LIST OF TABLES .vii

LIST OF FIGURES .viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 BACKGROUND .1

1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS .3

1.3 SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY .3

1.4 RESEARCH SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY .4

1.5 THESIS STRUCTURE 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS .6

2.1 COMMUNICATION SATISFACTION .6

2.1.1 Definition of communication .6

2.1.2 Definition of communication satisfaction .6

2.1.3 Dimensions of communication satisfaction 7

2.2 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AND AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT 8

2.2.1 Definition of organizational commitment 8

2.2.2 Dimensions of organizational commitment 9

2.2.3 Affective commitment 10

2.3 COMMUNICATION SATISFACTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT .11

2.4 PROPOSED MODEL AND HYPOTHESIS .12

2.4.1 Personal feedback and affective commitment 13

2.4.2 Communication climate and affective commitment 14

2.4.3 Horizontal communication and affective commitment 14

2.4.4 Supervisory communication and affective commitment 15

2.5 RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESIS .15

2.6 CONCLUSION 16

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN PROCESS 17

3.2 QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT .18

3.2.1 Measurement scale .18

3.2.2 Questionnaire design .22

3.3 PILOT STUDY .22

3.3.1 Purpose of pilot study .22

3.3.2 Method of pilot study .22

3.3.3 Result of pilot study 23

3.4 MAIN SURVERY .23

3.4.1 Sampling method .23

3.4.2 Sample size .24

3.4.3 Questionnaire administration 24

3.5 DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE .24

3.5.1 Cronbach’s alpha .25

3.5.2 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) 25

3.5.3 Multiple regression analysis .26

3.6 CONCLUSION 26

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS .28

4.1 DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS .28

4.2 MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT 29

4.2.1 Cronbach’s Alpha 29

4.2.2 Exploratory factor analysis .32

4.3 MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS .37

4.3.1 Assumption testing 37

4.3.2 Result of regression analysis 38

4.4 CONCLUSION 40

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .42

5.1 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 42

5.2 CONCLUSION 43

5.3 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS 44

5.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 46

5.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 46

REFERENCES 48

APPENDIX A .53

APPENDIX B .55

APPENDIX C .57

APPENDIX D .58

APPENDIX E .60

APPENDIX F 64

LIST OF TABLES

Table 01: Scale of personal feedback .19

Table 02: Scale of communication climate .19

Table 03: Scale of horizontal communication .20

Table 04: Scale of supervisory communication 20

Table 05: Scale of affective commitment .21

Table 06: Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient .25

Table 4.1 Sample Description 28

Table 07: Reliability analysis .30

Table 08: Summary of Cronbach’s Alpha .32

Table 09: KMO and Barrtlett’s Test .33

Table 10: Total Variance Explained in EFA process .34

Table 11: Factors loading .35

Table 12: Model Summary .38

Table 13: ANOVA 38

Table 14:Correlations .60

Table 15:Model Statistics 61

Table 16: Coefficients 39

Table 17: Result of testing hypothesis .40

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 01: A conceptual model .16

Figure 02: Research design process .17

Figure 03: A new conceptual model 37

Figure 04: Overall regression plot 62

Figure 05:Histogram of Affective Commitment .62

Figure 06:Normal P-P Plot of Affective Commitment 63

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The first chapter presents the research background, research questions, research

objectives, value of the research and thesis structure

The key factor for any achievement of one organization is not only the huge capital

but also the power of human In the analysis of Mathieu and Zajac (1990) states that

organizational commitment is an antecedent of job performance, intention to leave, lateness

and turnover ; moreover, according to Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran (2005) organizational

commitment is negatively related to turnover; according to Memari, Mahdieh & Marnani,

(2013), organizational commitment is positively related to job performance Therefore,

employee’s organizational commitment plays an important role to prevent the potential risk

of human resource management

Communication is very important to all of organizations in the world Effective

communication is key point for organizational success All of the activities in one

organization involve with the communication Most of the managers focus to do business and

only a few of them take care of how to communicate effectively to create a smooth working

condition A well-informed person have better attitude than a less-informed person Many

kinds of verbal and nonverbal communication help in moulding employee’s attitudes Hence,

employee satisfaction with communication at work is very important to all organization

Previous studies implicate that communication satisfaction is positively related to

organizational commitment (Putti et al, 1990; Varona, 1996, Carrie`re & Bourque, 2009)

Therefore, there exists a correlation between communication satisfaction and organizational

commitment Besides, according to Downs and Hazen (1977), communication satisfaction

has eight dimensions Based on the result of previous studies (Putti et al, 1990; Down, 1991;

Potvin, 1991; Varona, 1996, only four factors (personal feedback, horizontal communication,

supervisory communication, and communication climate) have strong relationship with

organizational commitment

Banking industry is one of the most important industries in Vietnam and banking

business is very challenging However, according to “Cafebiz electronic magazine” in current situation of banking industry, the employee’s salary and benefit are cut off Moreover,

according to Ánh Hồng & Hải Đăng (2013) on the “tuoi tre online news”, the banks also

displace employee, give the employee the huge credit target, find out the small mistake of

employees to make a reason for laying off the employees All of these activities put a

pressure to the staffs who are working at the banks The manager spend a lot of time to

implement the communication techniques; besides, in the current situation, the huge credit

target affects to managers and supervisors; therefore, the pressure from the credit target make

supervisor’s communication not good enough when facing with the staffs Problem in

supervisory communication happens Besides, the way one bank displaces and lays off the

employees creates the high competition between the staffs, that lead to the healthy

competetion or unhealthy competetion between employees Therefore the problem of

horizontal communication happens Moreover, the banks focus to the small mistake of

employees for finding out the reason to lay off them, that make the personal feedback not

objective and accuracy; therefore, the problem of communication on personal feedback

happens The pressure from those activies above lead to a unhealthy and pressuring

communication climate People working in the pressure environment with the unhealthy

atmosphere at workplace As the result, the problem of communication climate happens

As mentioned above, previous researches figure out that communication satisfaction

positively impacts to organizational commitment Hence, there is an issue that in Vietnamese

banking industry whether communication satisfaction affects to organizational commitment

or not, whether four factors (personal feedback, horizontal communication, supervisory

communication, and communication climate) affects to organizational commitment or not

Lack of communication satisfaction among banks in Vietnam may contribute to a low

organizational commitment Therefore, this paper will figure out the relationship between

four communication satisfaction’s factors to organizational commitment in the Vietnamese

banks

The consequences of ineffective communication in an organization may lead to a lack

of employee commitment In contrast, the effective communication may be considered a

reason to stay with the organization In research of Carrie`re & Bourque (2009) and study of

Meyer and Allen (1990) mentions that only affective commitment is the most important

factors reflect organizational commitment strongly Therefore, the purpose of this study is

exploring the impacts of four dimensions of communication satisfaction (personal feedback,

horizontal communication, supervisory communication, and communication climate) to one

important type of organizational commitment – affective commitment

This research questions are

1) What are the impacts of personal feedback, horizontal communication,

supervisory communication, and communication climate to affective

commitment?

2) How do they influence to the affective commitment?

1.3 Significant of the study

The research provides results of empirical research in employees’ attitudes towards

particular communication satisfaction and organizational commitment The relationship

between some dimensions of communication satisfaction and affective commitment is

explored too

This study’s exploration is new theoretical topic in Vietnam The theoretical value is

providing the theoretical knowledge about the role of communication satisfaction in a

relationship with organizational commitment in Vietnamese context

Regard to the managerial implications, this finding will help managers of the banks in

Vietnam understand obviously about the components of communication satisfaction affect to

their employees’ affective commitment, whereby they can improve their human resource

management to increase the employees’ commitment The practical value of this paper is that

the data analysis of this research may let the manager know how much the employees take

care of communication at workplace At the point of view of employee, the employer may

have the strategies to avoid the potential risk related to communication satisfaction

This research just focuses on employees who work at least one year in their current

bank Besides, they do not work in a managerial position The area of this study is only in Ho

Chi Minh City, and Long An province

The methodologies of this research are quantitative method and qualitative method

The pilot study of qualitative method is used to check the meaning and to edit the Vietnamese

word of the measurement scale in order to make a lager survey in Vietnamese context The

quantitative method conducts the main survey and collect data to test the hypotheses by using

the questionnaire

This thesis is organized as follows:

Chapter 1 presents the research background, research problems, research questions, research

objectives, and thesis structure

Chapter 2 introduces research model and its hypotheses as well as its literature review

Chapter 3 illustrates the methodology conducted in this paper

Chapter 4 presents research results is based on data collected

Chapter 5 summarizes the research results, provide the findings and recommendations

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS

In this chapter, literatures reviews communication satisfaction and its dimensions

Besides, this chapter also reviews the organizational commitment and affective commitment

Finally, after reviewing the relationship between communication satisfaction and

organizational commitment, the new developing model and hypothesis will be shown

According to Dwyer (2005), he says, “communication is necessary for passing

information between people working in the same company and between company and other

organization Communication includes written, oral and nonverbal Communication is used

by management to direct and motivate employees and to evaluate their performance The

purpose of organization is to control, motivate and balance needs and goals” (p.219)

Redding (1972) mentions that communication satisfaction is related to some

components such as changing in organization, understanding job requirements, accessing to

important information, accessibility of superiors, and explanation of policies

Thayer (1968) defines communication satisfaction as “the personal satisfaction

inherent in successfully communicating to someone or in successfully being communicated

with” (p 144) According to Hecht (1978), communication satisfaction means a

communication event fulfil positive expectations Crino and White (1981) define the

communication satisfaction as “the satisfaction with various aspects of communication in an organization” (p 832)

Besides, Kandlousi et al (2010) defines communication satisfaction as the level of

satisfaction an employee has between the overall communication flow and relationship

variables within their organization

Although there are many definitions about communication satisfaction, but all of them

just tell about the satisfaction with different parts of communication at workplace

For measuring employees' communication satisfaction, Downs and Hazen (1977)

develops the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) This theory is confirmed in

many studies in the world such as study of Clampitt & Girard, 1987; Verona, 1996; Carrie`re

& Bourque, 2009 Bakanauskiene et al (2010) reviewed the relationship between

communication satisfaction and job satisfaction in Lithuania’s university by using theory of

Downs and Hazen (1977) Besides, Gray and Laidlaw (2002) also state that CSQ is the most

comprehensive instrument in reviewing the multidimensional concept communication

satisfaction CSQ have eight dimensions as follow:

Communication Climate is one of the most important dimensions When discussing

about communication satisfaction, people first think of communication climate It estimates

whether or not the organization's communication stimulates or motivates to meet

organizational goals and whether or not it encourages employee to identify with the

organization It also measures whether or not employee’s attitudes towards communication is healthy in the organization

Supervisory communication includes the upward and downward communication

with supervisors It measures the level to which a superior is open to ideas, the level to which

the superior listens and pays attention, and the level to which is related to solving problems

Organizational Integration concerns about the information employees receive about

their job such as policies, payment and benefits Besides, it also includes information about

what is happening in organization, departmental plans and some personnel news

Media Quality is related to communication with several channels (e.g., publications,

memos, and meetings) On the other hand, it also measures the helpfulness, clarity of

information sources and the quantity of information

Horizontal communication also calls co-worker communication It deals with the

amount of activity of information networks and the accuracy of the information

Organizational Perspective is related to some information that given out concerning

the corporation and its goals and performance It has some items that are related to changing

in organization, information about the organization's financial standing, and policies and

goals of the organization

Personal Feedback is concerned with the way that employees are judged and the way

that their performance is appraised It also measures about the individuals think that their

efforts are recognized

Relationship with Subordinates only focuses to ask people who work in supervisory

or managerial position It measures upward and downward communication with subordinates

Workers in managerial positions respond to some items that include subordinate

responsiveness to downward communication and capability to send good information upward

There are so many definitions about organizational commitment Mowday et al (1982,

p.27) mentions about three components of organizational commitment as “a strong belief in

and acceptance of the organization’s goals, a willingness to exert considerable effort on

behalf of the organization, and a definite desire to maintain organizational membership”

Besides, Mowday et al (1982) mentions about organizational commitment related to attitude

and behaviours Mowday et al (1982) states as follows

“Attitudinal commitment focuses on the process by which people come to think about

their relationship with the organization In many ways, it can be thought of as a mind set

in which individuals consider the extent to which their own values and goals are

congruent with those of organization Behavioral commitment, on the other hand, relates

to the process by which individuals become locked into a certain organization and how they deal with this problem.” (p 26)

Bateman and Strasser (1984) defines organizational commitment as “multidimensional in

nature, involving an employee’s loyalty to the organization, willingness to exert effort on

behalf of the organization, degree of goal and value congruency with the organization, and

desire to maintain membership” (p.95)

Meyer and Allen (1984) describe organizational commitment as two dimensions;

affective commitment, and continuance commitment Meyer and Allen (1990) adds one more

dimension of organizational commitment, a third dimension is normative commitment

Affective commitment is defined as “the attachment of an individual’s fund of

affectivity and emotion to the group”, says Kanter (1968, p 507) or “the relatives strength of

an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular organization”, says

Mowday et al (1979, p 226) Moreover, Meyer and Allen (1997, p 11) also defines affective

commitment as “the employees’ emotional attachment to, identification with, and

involvement in the organization” According to Meyer and Allen (1997), affective

commitment is related to some factors such as feedback, goal clarity, peer cohesion, etc

Kanter (1968, p.504) defines continuance commitment as “profit associated with

continued and a “cost” associated with leaving” or “awareness of the costs associated with

leaving the organization”, stated by Meyer and Allen (1997, p.11)

According to Meyer and Allen (1990), normative commitment is less common but

still also a component of one’s responsibility to the organization Meyer and Allen (1991,

p.67) states that normative commitment is “ought to remain with the organization” or Meyer and Allen (1997, p.11) defines normative commitment as “a feeling of obligation to continue employment” Robbins (2001) believes that organizational commitment is a kind of work

attitudes Employee identifies organizational goals and desires to maintain employees’ status

as one organizational member

In conclusion, affective commitment means employees want to remain their

commitment with the organization emotionally Continuance commitment means that

employees need to remain the commitment and normative commitment is what employees

feel they ought to do (Meyer and Allen, 1990)

In three types of commitment (emotional attachment, cost-based and obligation of

commitment), Meyer and Allen (1990) considers that affective commitment is best

represented of organizational commitment In the study of Mowday et al (1982), they support

that affective commitment is the most theme of organizational commitment Moreover,

Carrie`re & Bourque (2009) believe that “affective commitment is more likely reflect primary feelings and attitudes toward the job and its components, it dominates the organizational

commitment literature” (p 34) All three forms of commitment, affective commitment is

strongly related to withdrawal cognitions and employee turnover, “especially had the

strongest and most favorable correlations with organization-relevant” (Meyer et al., 2002, p

21) Therefore, affective commitment is the most important component of organizational

commitment

2.3 Communication satisfaction and organizational commitment

There are a few researches about the relationship between communication satisfaction

and organizational commitment

In the review of Verona (1996), he mentions that Putti, Aryee, and Phua (1990)

explore the positive relationship between communication satisfaction and organizational

commitment in engineering company in Singapore Putti, Aryee and Phua (1990) also

conclude that horizontal communication is the frequent factor affect to organizational

commitment; moreover, top management, and relationship to supervisor have strong

correlation with organizational commitment Moreover, three authors figured out the

strongest factors affected to organizational commitment is satisfaction with top management

communication

On the other hand, Verona (1996) also mentions about Potvin’s research in 1991

According to Potvin (1991), communication satisfaction is positively related to

organizational commitment, the context in his research is three US organizations: a retail

company, a large hospital, and a multi- national high technology company in Texas In his

research, horizontal communication also is a frequent predictor of organizational

commitment and two factors that have the strong relationship to organizational commitment

are communication climate and supervisory communication The strongest factor is also

satisfaction with supervisory communication

With the deep knowledge in this topic, Verona (1996) also reviews a research of

Downs (1991) In study of Downs (1991), there is a positive relationship between

communication satisfaction and organizational commitment in two Australian organizations

Moreover, horizontal communication is also a predictor of organizational commitment

Author concludes that three factors have the strong correlation with organizational

commitment are supervisory communication, personal feedback, and communication climate

In the study of Verona (1996), the positive relationship between communication

satisfaction and organizational commitment were also discovered All of the communication

satisfaction’s dimensions appear as predictors of organizational commitment However, in

context of three Guatemalan organizations, organizational integration and horizontal

communication are the most frequent predictors of organizational commitment

The newest study about this topic is the study of Carrie`re & Bourque (2009) Two

authors study a positive relationship between communication satisfaction and affective

commitment in land ambulance service in Canada Although Carrie`re & Bourque (2009) do

not mention about which communication satisfaction’s dimension has a strong relationship

with affective commitment, but two authors focuses to positive relationship between

communication satisfaction and affective commitment

After discussing those studies above, in eight dimensions of Downs and Hazen (1977),

only five dimensions have a strong relationship with organizational commitment, these are:

supervisory communication, personal feedback, communication climate, horizontal

communication, organizational integration

After discussion in previous sections, affective commitment is the most important

component of organizational commitment Moreover, affective commitment is also the most

important component that appropriates with the Vietnamese banking industry as discussed on

research objectives of chapter 1 Two components continuance commitment and normative

commitment will not be mentioned in this study

The aim of this study is only focusing on communication satisfaction’s dimensions

that firstly have strong relationship with commitment; secondly, frequently affect to

commitment In term of communication satisfaction, eight dimensions of Downs and Hazen

(1977) are confirmed by many previous researches However, this study will not discuss

about subordinate communication, because, the main responders in this study are employees

who do not work in a managerial or supervisory position in a bank Besides, Verona (1996)

mentions that two factors media quality and organizational perspective are not significant

predictors of commitment in research of Putti et al (1990); Potvin (1991) and Downs (1991);

hence, media quality and organizational perspective will not be discussed in this study

Although Verona (1996) stated that organizational integration has a strong relationship with

commitment, but this factor are not a significant factor in research of Putti et al (1990);

Potvin (1991) and Downs (1991); moreover the direct relationship between organizational

integration and commitment have not been studied in many researches before; hence,

organizational integration will not be discussed too

As discussed above, supervisory communication, communication climate, and

horizontal communication positively, frequently affect to organizational commitment in

many previous studies Therefore, three factors will be discussed in this research In the study

of Downs (1991), personal feedback significantly affects to commitment in term of

communication satisfaction Moreover, previous studies also figures out the direct

relationship between personal feedback and commitment Hence, personal feedback will be

discussed too

In conclusion, four factors of communication satisfaction supervisory communication,

communication climate, and horizontal communication, and personal feedback will be chosen

to discuss in this study The next part will discuss about the direct relations hip between them

Ramaprasad (1983, p 4) defines “feedback is information about the gap between the actual level of performance and the reference or standard level which is subsequently used to

alter the gap in some way” In Peters and Waterman (1982)’s view, a good way for

supervisors to give effective feedback for a job is giving formal and informal recognition

According to Larson (1989), positive feedback is shown to support commitment among

employees Personal feedback needs an effective communication between the employees and

their managers to match the employee’s goals with organization’s goal (Sias, 2005)

Affective commitment is one important factor of organizational commitment; hence:

H1: Employee satisfaction with personal feedback positively influences to affective

commitment

Keyton (2005) defines communication climate as “the atmosphere that results from

group members' use of verbal and nonverbal communication and listening skills; can be

defensive or supportive” The study of Guzley (1992) suggests that employees' perceptions of communication climate are correlated positively with the level of employees' organizational

commitment Thus, employees satisfaction with the communication climate of the

organization has an emotionally attach to organization Affective commitment is one

important factor of organizational commitment; hence:

H2: Employee satisfaction with communication climate positively influence to

affective commitment

According to Bartels et al (2010), horizontal communication includes task-related and

informal contact; it occurs between employees in the hierarchy Task-related communication

is related to task information Informal contact contains conversations between employees

about personal matters not related to task performance

Co-workers communicate horizontally to each other at workplace Informal

communication is made when colleagues communicate socially during their work

Employees build a relationship between employees at workplace This relationship affect to

employees’ identification with the organization According to Sias (2005), there is a positive

relationship between high quality co-worker relations and organizational commitment Meyer

& Allen (1997) found that employees that have a good relationship with their immediate

work group have higher levels of commitment Affective commitment is one important factor

of organizational commitment; hence:

H3: Employee satisfaction with horizontal communication positively influences to

affective commitment

Bakar & Mohamad (2004) defines “supervisory communication refers to process and interactions that have been practiced by superiors towards subordinates with the purpose of

achieving task objectives and maintaining their relationships” (p.4) Jablin (1979) states that

employees who satisfied with supervisory communication are less likely to leave the

organization There are a lot of study mentioned about the positive relationship between

supervisory communication and organizational commitment In the study of Bakar &

Mohamad (2004), authors confirm that subordinates who get the high quality of supervisory

communication have higher organizational commitment Hence, based on the study of Bakar,

Mustaffa & Mohamad (2009) and Bakar & Mohamad (2004), supervisory communication

has a positive impact on organizational commitment Affective commitme nt is one important

factor of organizational commitment; hence:

H4: Employee satisfaction with supervisory communication positively influences to

affective commitment

H1: Employee satisfaction with personal feedback positively influences to affective

commitment

H2: Employee satisfaction with communication climate positively influences to

affective commitment

H3: Employee satisfaction with horizontal communication positively influences to

affective commitment

H4: Employee satisfaction with supervisory communication positively influences to

affective commitment

Figure 01: A conceptual model

It is the end of chapter 2

The result of this chapter indicates about the literature review about the definition and

relationship of communication satisfaction, organizational commitment The relationships

between four communication satisfaction’s dimensions: personal feedback, supervisory

communication, communication climate, horizontal communication with affective

commitment was figured out It constructs four hypotheses also Next chapter will discuss

about the methodology of the research

Affective

Commitment Communication satisfaction

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the pilot study and quantitative method were used to explore the

relationships between employees’ satisfaction with personal feedback, horizontal

communication, communication climate, supervisory communication with their affective

commitment in Vietnamese banking industry After that, a final questionnaire was

constructed to collect the data from the respondents Method of collecting and analysing data

are also shown

This study is conducted as given in the chart below (Figure 02)

Figure 02: Research design process

Final report

Problem definition Literature review

Research Model and Hypothesis Draft questionnaire

3.2 Questionnaire development

There are many studies which have different context in the world and related to

communication satisfaction used the scale of Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire

(CSQ) developed by C W Downs and M D Hazen (1977) Bakanauskiene, Bendaraviciené

& Krikstolaitis (2010) use CSQ to measure communication satisfaction to find out

relationship between communication satisfaction and job satisfaction in Lithuania’s

university Besides, Gray and Laidlaw (2002) measures communication satisfaction in

relationship with part time employment in Australia; or study of Alsayed, Motaghi & Osman

(2012); Verona (1996); Carrie`re & Bourque (2009) also use this scale

This research data was collected using adapted Communication Satisfaction

Questionnaire (CSQ), developed by C W Downs and M D Hazen (1977) CSQ consists of

forty items divided into eight dimensions: relationship with subordinates, personal feedback,

organizational perspective, horizontal communication, media quality, organizational

integration, supervisory communication, and communication climate Each dimension has

five questions This study only focuses to four significant factors: communication climate,

supervisor communication, horizontal communication, and personal feedback The interval

scale uses 5-point Likert scale It indicated how satisfied employees are with the following

items

Table 01: Scale of personal feedback

No Codified variables Statement

1 Personal Feedback 01 Information about how my job compares with

others

2 Personal Feedback 02 Information about how I am being judged

3 Personal Feedback 03 Recognition of my efforts

4 Personal Feedback 04 Reports on how problems in my job are being

handled

5 Personal Feedback 05 Extent to which my superiors know and understand

the problems faced by subordinates

Table 02: Scale of communication climate

No Codified variables Statement

1 Communication Climate 01 Extent to which the organization's communication

motivates and stimulates an enthusiasm for

meeting its goals

2 Communication Climate 02 Extent to which the people in my organization

have great ability as communicators

3 Communication Climate 03 Extent to which the organization's communication

makes me identify with it or feel a vital part of it

4 Communication Climate 04 Extent to which I receive in time the information

needed to do my job

5 Communication Climate 05 Extent to which conflicts are handled appropriately

through proper communication channels

Table 03: Scale of horizontal communication

No Codified variables Statement

1 Horizontal Communication 01 Extent to which the grapevine is active in our

organization

2 Horizontal Communication 02 Extent to which horizontal communication with

other organizational members is accurate and free

flowing

3 Horizontal Communication 03 Extent to which communication practices are

adaptable to emergencies

4 Horizontal Communication 04 Extent to which my work group is compatible

5 Horizontal Communication 05 Extent to which informal communication is active

and accurate

Table 04: Scale of supervisory communication

No Codified variables Statement

1 Supervisory Communication 01 Extent to which my supervisor listens and pays

attention to me

2 Supervisory Communication 02 Extent to which my supervisor offers guidance for

solving job related problems

3 Supervisory Communication 03 Extent to which my supervisor trusts me

4 Supervisory Communication 04 Extent to which my supervisor is open to ideas

5 Supervisory Communication 05 Extent to which the amount of supervision give n

me is about right

Affective commitment was measured base on the Organizational Commitment

Questionnaire (OCQ) of Meyer & Allen’s (1990) This OCQ scale of Meyer and Allen (1990)

is the most commonly used in research (Jaros, 2007) After several years, this scale is also

upgrade; however, the scale of affective commitment is still kept in version of Meyer & Allen

(1991), and Meyer & Allen (1996) The research of Carrie`re & Bourque (2009) use the

affective commitment scale of Meyer & Allen (1991) to indicate about affective commitment

Therefore, the reliability of this scale was confirmed Affective commitment consists of eight

items Three of the eight questions were changed from negative sentence to positive sentence

The interval scale uses 5-point Likert scale

Table 05: Scale of affective commitment

No Codified variables Statement

1 Affective Commitment 01 I feel a strong sense of belonging to this organization

2 Affective Commitment 02 I feel “emotionally attached” to this organization

3 Affective Commitment 03 This organization has a great deal of personal meaning

for me

4 Affective Commitment 04 I feel “part of the family” in this organization

5 Affective Commitment 05 I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career

with this organization

6 Affective Commitment 06 I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside

it

7 Affective Commitment 07 I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my

own

8 Affective Commitment 08 I think I could easily become as attached to another

organization as I am to this one

Vietnamese questionnaire version was translated by group of three translators who are

good at English and Vietnamese They translated the text from English to Vietnamese After

that, the group of three translators together compared three versions and decided to choose

the correct statements to produce a final translated version

The questionnaire had thirty three questions divided into three parts First parts

included eight questions describe eight dependence variables (affective commitment) Second

part included twenty questions describe twenty independence variables (four factors of

communications satisfaction) Third parts included five questions describe some demographic

variables such as gender, age, average income, year that employee works in current bank and

current working position Because purpose of this study is to investigate the opinions of

employees who do not work in the management position, therefore, the question about

working position are used to filter the accepted observations firstly Besides, when asking

about the commitment to organization, the time employee works at the bank is at least one

year The Likert scale was used in first two parts The scale from 1 to 5 “1” is “strongly

disagree”, “2” is “agree”, “3” is “neutral”, “4” is “agree” and “5” is “strongly agree” The

nominal scale is used in the third part

3.3 Pilot study

3.3.1 Purpose of pilot study

The purpose of pilot study is to make clear the concepts from measurement scale

based on the standpoint of responders Moreover, the translation must be clear, concise, and

easy to understand Hence, the necessary adjustment can be carried out in order to increase

the power of scale

3.3.2 Method of pilot study

Ten participants were drawn from ten different banks in Ho Chi Minh City and stayed

in one room The participant must have at least one-year working time in their current bank

List of the participants is shown in the Appendix F Each participant was investigated

separately Participant was asked to read the questionnaire firstly After that, they wrote down

their opinions about the meaning and the wording of the statement that made them confuse

and made them do not understand Participants gave their feedback about which items can be

eliminated, how much they understood the concept of the questionnaire, what made them feel

unclear about the content of questionnaire, which sentences could be changed some words to

keep the ideas of items and make the reader easy to understand After being explained clearly

about the content of questionnaire, based on the current situation of their banks, they

suggested which items should be eliminated

3.3.3 Result of pilot study

The findings of small group interview got agreements of participants on some ideas

They agreed that all the items of personal feedback, supervisory communication,

communication climate, horizontal integration, affective commitment in measurement scale

of this research are meaningful No item was deleted The result just edited the words of the

translation to make participants understand concisely, clearly and easily The Vietnamese

questionnaire is shown in the Appendix B

3.4.1 Sampling method

The hypotheses were tested using data set collected from employee who works in

their current bank at least one year and do not work in the managerial position In particularly,

this study aimed to collect data from fifteen banks in Ho Chi Minh City and other place Data

was collected using convenience sampling method Based on the relationship with some

friends who are working at the banks in Ho Chi Minh City, the researcher sent questionnaire

to respondents and collects completed observations from friends

3.4.2 Sample size

After conducting pilot study, the survey via questionnaire was completed This study

included twenty eight variables, in which twenty variables were independent and eight

variables were dependent variables According to Hair, Black, Babin, and Anderson (2010),

the sample size has at least 100 and the minimum sample is five times of the variables

n > 100 samples and n=5k (where n is the sample size and k is the number of variables)

Therefore, the minimum sample size is n = 5*28 = 140

In multiple regression analysis, Tabachnick and Fidell (1991) states that n > 50 + 8m (where

m = number of independent variables)

Therefore, the required sample is n > 50 + 8*4 = 82

Thus, the minimum sample size is 140

3.4.3 Questionnaire Administration

The data collection was carried out from 10th Sep to 20th Oct, 2013 The content and

form of the questionnaire was designed on two ways

First form was designed on paper 865 paper questionnaires were issued to twelve

banks in Ho Chi Minh City List of banks are attached in Appendix C

Besides, the second form was electronic survey via google.doc Because of the

popularity and convenience of google.doc, the responders are easy to complete the

questionnaire The link of google.doc was sent to responder via personal email and

workplace’s email The email was sent to some employees work in Vietcombank – Long An branch, Chinatrust Commercial bank, Shinhan Vietnam Ho Chi Minh branch

3.5 Data analysis technique

All accepted questionnaire were reviewed for completion, coded and input the raw

data in IBM SPSS Statistic version 21 The list of codified variables is shown in table 1 to 5

The list of codified variables is shown in Appendix D

According to Nancy, Karen & George (2005), Cronbach’s alpha is “a commonly used type of internal consistency reliability” (p.63) Moreover, they states, “Alpha is based on the mean or average correlation of each item in the scale with every other item In the social

science literature, alpha is widely used, because it provides a measure of reliability that can

be obtained from one testing session or one administration of a questionnaire.” (p.63)

Table 06: Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient (Matkar, 2012, p 94)

Cronbach’s alpha Internal consistency

Tucker & MacCallum (1997, p.12) states, “The primary objective in factor analysis

methodology is to determine the number and nature of those factors, and the pattern of their

influences on the surface attributes” According to Nancy, Karen & George (2005),

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure should be greater than 0.7 and “the meaning of KMO test tells

one whether or not enough items are predicted by each factor” (p.82) Each factor has own

eigenvalues; an eigenvalue which is greater than 1.0 is a common criterion for a factor to be

useful (Nancy, Karen & George, 2005) Factor loading of each variable is 0.5 or greater is

typically use

Based on studies of Nancy, Karen & George (2005), any factors with eigenvalue

greater than 1 will be retained Any factor loadings of 0.5 or higher on a factor are counted

Hair et al (2010) states that actual values of dependent variable and predicted values of

dependent variable are different That means the random error will occur when predicting

sample data It is called the residual (ε or e) Based on these studies, the multiple regression

According to Meyers et al (2006) value of R2 is how much variance of the dependent

variable is accounted for by the full regression model The higher the value of R2, the greater

the explanatory power of the regression equation is (Hair et al., 2010)

Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) of C W Downs and M D Hazen

(1977) and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) of Meyer & Allen’s (1990)

were used in this research Two measurement scales are tested many times in the world After

translating the scale, the pilot study was conducted The result of pilot study is that there is no

items were deleted and words of Vietnamese scale were edited to make responder easy to

understand the main content of the scale After reaching to the final questionnaire, 865 paper

questionnaires and many emails were sent to responders in Ho Chi Minh city and Long An

province The cronbach’s alpha, EFA and multiple regression were used to test reliability,

validity and hypotheses respectively All the data was analyzed in IBM SPSS Statistic version

21 Next chapter will discuss about the result of data collection