Strengthening affective organizational commitment: the influence of fairness perceptions of management practices and underlying employee cynicism

This study investigates the relationship between cynicism, the perceived fairness of change management and personnel practices, and affective organizational commitment. High levels of affective organizational commitment have been shown to reduce voluntary turnover in the nursing workforce. Previous research suggests that "unfair" management practices and employee cynicism lead to lower commitment. It is not clear, however, whether the perceived fairness of particular practices influences affective commitment beyond that accounted for by underlying employee cynicism. Data were obtained from a study involving 1104 registered nurses that formed part of a larger investigation of the general well-being of nurses in Western Australia. Only nurses who were permanent or employed on fixed term or temporary contracts were included. Findings indicated that although higher levels of cynicism among nurses were associated with lower levels of affective commitment, their perception of the fairness of change management and personnel practices influenced their affective commitment over and above their cynicism. The perceived fairness of management practices is an important influence on nurses' affective commitment beyond that accounted for by cynicism. The implication for managers is that the affective organizational commitment of nurses is likely to be strengthened by addressing the perceived fairness of change management and personnel practices notwithstanding their beliefs about the integrity of the organization.