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Organizational Commitment in Time of War: Assessing the Impact and Attenuation of Employee Sensitivity to Ethnopolitical Conflict

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  • Reade, Carol
  • Lee, Hyun-Jung

Abstract

We examine organizational commitment in foreign-invested and indigenous firms located in an operating environment characterized by ethnopolitical conflict and its violent manifestations of civil war and terrorism. Drawing on the management, psychology, and political science literature streams, we investigate whether employee sensitivity to ethnopolitical conflict contributes to explaining organizational commitment in a violent operating environment. The results of hierarchical regression analysis reveal that employee sensitivity to ethnopolitical conflict is inversely related to organizational commitment and has explanatory power beyond the traditional predictors of organizational commitment. Further, perceived organizational support is found to attenuate the negative relationship between employee sensitivity to ethnopolitical conflict and organizational commitment in foreign-invested firms but not in indigenous firms. The data suggest that an operating environment beset with violent ethnopolitical conflict may exact an indirect cost on the firm through lowered employee commitment, and that foreign-invested firms through a ‘foreignness advantage’ can manage this potential cost by maintaining a high level of perceived organizational support among their employees. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Reade, Carol & Lee, Hyun-Jung, 2012. "Organizational Commitment in Time of War: Assessing the Impact and Attenuation of Employee Sensitivity to Ethnopolitical Conflict," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 85-101.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intman:v:18:y:2012:i:1:p:85-101
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2011.09.002
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    1. Venancio Tauringana & Ishmael Tingbani & Godwin Okafor & Widin B. Sha'ven, 2021. "Terrorism and global business performance," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5636-5658, October.
    2. Syed Asad Ali Shah & Tian Yezhuang & Adnan Muhammad Shah & Dilawar Khan Durrani & Syed Jamal Shah, 2018. "Fear of Terror and Psychological Well-Being: The Moderating Role of Emotional Intelligence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-13, November.
    3. Bader, Benjamin & Schuster, Tassilo, 2015. "Expatriate Social Networks in Terrorism-Endangered Countries: An Empirical Analysis in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 63-77.
    4. Bader, Benjamin & Berg, Nicola, 2013. "An Empirical Investigation of Terrorism-induced Stress on Expatriate Attitudes and Performance," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 163-175.
    5. Chen, Stephen, 2017. "Profiting from FDI in conflict zones," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 760-768.
    6. Jennifer Oetzel & Chang Hoon Oh, 2019. "Melting pot or tribe? Country-level ethnic diversity and its effect on subsidiaries," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 2(1), pages 37-61, March.
    7. Carol Reade & Mark McKenna & Jennifer Oetzel, 2019. "Unmanaged migration and the role of MNEs in reducing push factors and promoting peace: A strategic HRM perspective," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 2(4), pages 377-396, December.
    8. Gheath Mahmoud Abdel-Rahman & Subramaniam A/L Sri Ramalu & Chandrakantan A/L Subramaniam, 2017. "The Impact of Cultural Similarity and Social Network Characteristics on Re-Expatriation Intention Among Self-Initiated Academic Expatriates," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 7(9), pages 1-9, September.
    9. Gheath Mahmoud Abdel-Rahman & Subramaniam A/L Sri Ramalu & Chandrakantan A/L Subramaniam, 2017. "The Impact of Cultural Similarity and Social Network Characteristics on Re-Expatriation Intention Among Self-Initiated Academic Expatriates," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 7(9), pages 1-9, September.
    10. John E. Katsos & Yass AlKafaji, 2019. "Business in War Zones: How Companies Promote Peace in Iraq," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 41-56, March.
    11. Reade, Carol & Lee, Hyun-Jung, 2016. "Does ethnic conflict impede or enable employee innovation behavior? The alchemic role of collaborative conflict management," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65613, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Tingbani, Ishmael & Okafor, Godwin & Tauringana, Venancio & Zalata, Alaa Mansour, 2019. "Terrorism and country-level global business failure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 430-440.
    13. Bader, Benjamin & Berg, Nicola & Holtbrügge, Dirk, 2015. "Expatriate performance in terrorism-endangered countries: The role of family and organizational support," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 849-860.
    14. Lee, Hyun-Jung & Reade, Carol, 2015. "Ethnic homophily perceptions as an emergent IHRM challenge: evidence from firms operating in Sri Lanka during the ethnic conflict," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59971, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Godwin Okafor & Obiajulu Ede, 2023. "Kidnapping rate and capital flight: Empirical evidence from developing countries," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2590-2606, July.
    16. Jane W. Lu & Hao Ma & Xuanli Xie, 2022. "Foreignness research in international business: Major streams and future directions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(3), pages 449-480, April.

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