Analysis of Religious Affiliation and Workplace Attitude as Predictors on Employees’ Job Commitment: A Perspective from a Public University in Malaysia

Authors

  • Arman Hadi Abdul Manaf Open University Malaysia
  • Abdullah Osman School of Business Innovation and Technopreneurship Universiti Malaysia Perlis
  • Muhammad Safizal Abdullah School of Business Innovation and Technopreneurship Universiti Malaysia Perlis
  • Latifah Abdul Latif School of Educational Studies Universiti Sains Malaysia

Keywords:

Religiosity, Workplace attitude, Job commitment

Abstract

Employees (N = 60) from a public university in the Northern Region of Malaysia participated in this study aimed at examining the level of religiosity and describing their workplace attitude to determine the level of commitment to their employer. The increased importance of religiosity and work attitude in the workplace environment served as a motivation of this study especially in the perspective of Malaysia. Religiosity is closely associated to the act of kindness, trust and honesty toward co-workers. Also, most studies claimed that workplace attitude enhances job commitment. A regression analysis is used to examine the relation among selected variables. The results showed that religiosity, workplace attitude are significantly influenced on positive job commitment outcomes in this study.

Author Biography

Arman Hadi Abdul Manaf, Open University Malaysia

Deputy Director

Pulau Pinang Learning Centre

References

Abdul, A.H.M., Jusoh, M.S., Amlus, M.H., & Halim, M.S.A. (2013). The Mediating Role of Adaptability Cultural Trait Approach on Transformational Leadership Style and Job Satisfaction in the Work Environment: A Study on Malaysian GLCs. International Journal of Business and Technopreneurship, 3 (3), 423-448.

Abdul, A.H.M. (2012). The Mediating Effect of Organization Cultural Traits on the Relationship between Transformational Leadership Style and Corporate Members' Attitudinal Outcomes: a Study of Government-Linked Companies in Malaysia (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from library.aeu.edu.my/cgi-bin/koha/opac-ISBDdetail.pl?biblionumber=5675. (No.: HD57.7 .A727 2012).

Allen, N. & Meyer, J. (1990). The Measurement and Antecedents of Affective, Continuance and Normative Commitment to the Organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology , 63 (1), 1-18.

Allport, G. & Ross, J.M. (1967). Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice. In Gyekye, S.A. & Haybatollahi, M. (n.d). Workers’ Religious Affiliations and Organizational Behavior: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17 (4), 1-18.

Babbie, E. (2004). Laud and Humphreys and Research Ethics. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy , 24 (3/4/5), 12-19.

Bernardin, A. (2006). Religion and Behavior. Skeptic, 12 (3), 22-25.

Bianey C. R. U. & Stephanie G. A. (2004). Attitude toward Teamwork and Effective Teaming. Team Performance Management, 10 (7/8), 145 – 151.

Brunetto, Y. & Farr-Wharton, R. (2003). The Commitment and Satisfaction of Lower-ranked Police Officers: Lessons for Management. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 26 (1), 43-63.

Cardwell, J.D. (1980). The Social Context of Religiosity. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

Davidson, J. C., & Caddell, D. P. (1994). Religion and the Meaning of Work. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33(2), 135-147.

Fukuyama, Y. (1960). The Major Dimensions of Church Membership. Review of Religious Research, 2, 154-161.

Holdcroft, B.B. (2006). What is Religiosity? Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, 10 (1), 89-103.

Ironson, G.H., Smith, P.C., Brannick, M.T., Gibson, W.M. & Paul, K.B. (1989). Construction of a Job in General Scale: A Comparison of Global, Composite, and Specific Measures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74 (2), 193-200.

Isaac, S. & Michael, W.B. (1990). Handbook in Research and Evaluation: A Collection of Principles, Methods and Strategies Useful in the Planning, Design and Evaluation of Studies in Education and the Behavioral Sciences. In Dix, K.L. (2007). DBRIEF: A Research Paradigm for ICT Adoption. International Education Journal, 8 (2), 113-124.

Jahangir, N., Akbar, M.M. & Haq, M. (2004). Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Its Nature and Antecedents. BRAC University Journal, 1 (2), 75-85.

Jaramilo, F., Mulki, J.P. & Marshall, G.W. (2005). A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Organizational Commitment and Salesperson Job Performance: 25 Years of Research. Journal of Business Research, 58 (6), 705-714.

Jessor, R. & Jessor, S.L. (1977). Problem Behavior and Psychological Development. New York Academy Press.

Katz, D. & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations (2nd Ed.). New York: Wiley.

King, J.E., Jr., Stewart, M.M., & McKay, P.F. (2010). Religiosity, Religious Identity, and Bias towards Workplace Others. Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, 1-6. DOI:10.5465/ambpp.2010.54492059.

Lau, S. (1989). Religious Schema and Values. In Fontaine, J.R.J., Duriez, B., Luyten, P., Corveleyn, J. & Hutsbaut, D. (2011). Consequences of a Multidimensional Approach to Religion for the Relationship Between Religiosity and Value Priorities. The International Journal for the Psychology Religion, 15 (2), 123-143.

Lee, C. C., & Chen, C. J. (2013). The Relationship between Employee Commitment and Job Attitude and Its Effect on Service Quality in the Tourism Industry. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 3, 196.

Loveland, M., Sikkink, D., Myers, D.J. & Radcliffe, B. (2005). Private Prayer and Civic Involvement. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44 (1), 1-14.

Lynn, M.L., Naughton, M.J. & Vander Veen, S. (2011). Connecting Religion and Work: Patterns and Influences of Work-Faith Integration. Human Relations, 64 (5), 675-701.

Mattison, D., Jayaratne, S. & Croxton, T. (2000). Social Workers’ Religiosity and Its Impact on Religious Practice Behavior. Advances in Social Work, 1 (1), 43-59.

McDaniel, S.W. & Burnett, J.J. (1990). Consumer Religiosity and Retail Store Evaluative Criteria. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 18 (2), 102-112.

Meyer, J.P., Stanley, D.J, Herscovitch, L. & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the Organization: A Mete-Analysis of Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61 (1), 20-52.

Meyer, J. P. & Allen, N. J. (1991). A Three-Component conceptualization of Organizational Commitment. In Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., De Boer, E. & Schaufeli, W. B. (2003). Job Demands and Job Resources as Predictors of Absence Duration and Frequency. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62 (2), 341-356.

Meyer, J. P. & Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the Workplace. In Bansal, H.S., Irving, P.G. & Taylor, S.F. (2004). A Three - Component Model of Customer Services Providers. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 32 (3), 234-250.

Michael, R. (2008). The Causal Relation between Job Attitudes and Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Panel Studies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93 (2), 472-481.

Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M. & Porter, L. W. (1979). The Measurement of Organizational Commitment. In Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L. & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the Organization: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61, 20-52.

Nichols, S. (2004). Is Religion What We Want? Motivation and the Cultural Transmission of Religious Representations. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 4 (2), 348-371.

Penner, L. A., Midili, A. R., & Kegelmeyer, J. (1997). Beyond Job Attitudes: A Personality and Social Psychology Perspective on The Causes of Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Human Performance, 10, 111–132.

Rhoades, L., Eisenberger, R. & Armeli, S. (2001). Affective Commitment to the Organization: The Contribution of Perceived Organizational Support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86 (5), 825-836.

Rogelberg, S.G., Luong, A., Sederburg, M.E. & Cristol, D.S. (2000). Employee Attitude Surveys: Examining the Attitudes of Noncompliant Employees. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85 (2), 284-293.

Rohrbaugh, J., & Jessor, R. (1975). Religiosity in Youth: A Personal Control against Deviant Behavior. In Rostosky, S.S., Wilcox, B.L., Wright, M.L.C. & Randall, B.A. (2004). The Impact of Religiosity on Adolescent Sexual Behavior: A Review of the Evidence. Journal of Adolescent Research, 19, 677-697.

Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2010). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach (5th ed.). John Wiley and Sons Inc.

Sikorska-Simmons, E. (2005). Predictors of Organizational Commitment among Staff in Assisted Living. The Gerontologist, 45 (2), 196-205.

Spector, P.E. & Fox, S. (2002). An Emotion-Centered Model of Voluntary Work Behavior: Some Parallels between Counterproductive Work Behavior and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Human Resource Management Review, 12 (2), 269-292.

Suleiman, W. (2013). The Effect of Causes of Poor Attitude to Work among Organizations. Journal of International Academic Research for Multidisciplinary, 1 (6), 468-480.

Tamney, J.B. & Johnson, S. D. (1985). Consequential Religiosity in Modern Society. Review of Religious Research, 26 (4), 360-378.

Velnampy, T. (2008). Job Attitude and Employees Performance of Public Sector Organizations in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. GITAM Journal of Management, 6 (2), 66-73.

Vitell, S.J. (2009). The Role of Religiosity in Business and Consumer Ethics: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Business Ethics, 90 (2), 155–167.

Wills, T.A., Yaeger, A.M. & Sandy, J.M. (2003). Buffering Effect of Religiosity for Adolescent Substance Use. Psychology of Addictive Behavior, 17 (1), 24-31.

Downloads

Published

2014-10-15

How to Cite

Abdul Manaf, A. H., Osman, A., Abdullah, M. S., & Abdul Latif, L. (2014). Analysis of Religious Affiliation and Workplace Attitude as Predictors on Employees’ Job Commitment: A Perspective from a Public University in Malaysia. Asian Journal of Business and Management, 2(5). Retrieved from https://www.ajouronline.com/index.php/AJBM/article/view/1749