| The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze selected variables related to the expressed organizational commitment of full-time employees at Iowa community colleges. The selected variables were: gender, salary level, educational level, marital status, tenure (length of service), age and job category. Additional analyses were conducted in the areas of perception of pay equity, availability of a bargaining unit, bargaining unit membership and perception of bargaining unit effectiveness.; A survey was distributed to all full-time employees at five selected Iowa community colleges. The review of literature indicated that demonstrated organizational commitment by employees is very important, particularly during times of organizational stress. Positive forms of commitment are demonstrated in positive extra-role behaviors. Negative forms of commitment are demonstrated by institutionization of ideas and behaviors resulting in cover-up mentality.; An analysis of variance found five of the sample characteristics to have a statistically significant relationship to organizational commitment. These outcomes included: (1) positive perceptions of pay equity resulted in higher expressed organizational commitment, (2) positive perception of bargaining unit effectiveness resulted in higher expressed organizational commitment, (3) marital status--employees that were married had higher expressed organizational commitment, (4) job category--employees in the administrative category had higher expressed organizational commitment and (5) higher levels of pay resulted in higher expressed organizational commitment. ANOVA did not find educational attainment to have a statistically significant influence on organizational commitment. T-tests revealed that the presence of a bargaining unit had a negative influence on organizational commitment, however actual membership in a bargaining unit proved not to be statistically significant. In addition, T-tests indicated gender did not have a statistically significant effect on organizational commitment. The Pearson correlation indicated that both age and tenure (length of service) had a significant relationship to organizational commitment.; The contribution of this study was two-fold: (1) several sample characteristics were shown to have a statistically significant relationship to organizational commitment and perhaps most important; (2) the review of literature developed a sensitivity to the situational nature of commitment and an awareness of positive and negative manifestations of commitment. |
