Using nationally-representative linked employer-employee data for Britain this paper considerswhether employers are able to influence the organizational commitment (OC) of their employeesthrough the practices they deploy. We examine the association between OC and two broad groups ofHRM practices emphasised in two different strands of the literature, namely "High-PerformanceWorkplace Practices" (HPWPs) and practices associated with "Perceived Organizational Support"(POS). We consider their associations with mean workplace-level OC and individual employees' OC.Although employers may be able to engender greater OC on the part of their employees, the practicesthat do so are not those emphasized in the HPWP literature, with the exception of consultation and theinvolvement of employees in decision-taking. POS practices fare a little better but, again, the findingsare far from unequivocal. Furthermore, those practices that are 'effective' in engendering higher OCsuch as tolerance of absence, recruiting on 'values' and allowing employees to make decisions, tendto have a fairly low incidence in British workplaces. There is, however, one finding which chimeswith the ideas underpinning the HPWP literature, namely that there are returns to the use of practicesin combination. Analyses of both mean workplace-level OC and individual employee OC find anindependent positive association between OC and the deployment of multiple practices incombination. This evidence is consistent with practices having synergies, as emphasised in some ofthe HPWP literature.
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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number
dp0881.
Find related papers by JEL classification: J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
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