PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT, EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

AMONG MILLENNIALS

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Award of the Degree of

Master of Philosophy

in

Management

by

Merin Annie Kuriakose

(Reg. No. 1720008)

Under the Supervision of

Jain Mathew

Professor

Department of Management Studies

CHRIST (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)

BENGALURU, INDIA

March 2019

ii

APPROVAL OF DISSERTATION

Dissertation entitled ‘Perceived Organizational Support, Employee Engagement and

Organizational Commitment among Millennials’ by Merin Annie Kuriakose, Reg. No. 1720008

is approved for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in Management.

Supervisor(s): ________________________ ________________________

Chairman: ________________________ ________________________

General Research Coordinator: _______________________________________

Date: ________________

Place: Bengaluru

(Seal)

iii

DECLARATION

I, Merin Annie Kuriakose, hereby declare that the dissertation, titled ‘Perceived Organizational

Support, Employee Engagement and Organizational Commitment among Millennials’ is a record

of original research work undertaken by me for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy

in Management. I have completed this study under the supervision of Dr Jain Mathew, Professor,

Department of Management Studies.

I also declare that this dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma,

associateship, fellowship or other title. I hereby confirm the originality of the work and that there

is no plagiarism in any part of the dissertation.

Place: Bengaluru

Date: …………………

Signature of the candidate

Merin Annie Kuriakose

Reg. No. 1720008

Department of Management Studies

CHRIST(Deemed to be University),Bengaluru

iv

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the dissertation submitted by Merin Annie Kuriakose (Reg. No. 1720008)

titled ‘Perceived Organizational Support, Employee Engagement, and Organizational

Commitment among Millennials’ is a record of research work done by her during the academic

year 2017-2018 under my supervision in partial fulfilment for the award of Master of Philosophy

in Management.

This dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship,

fellowship or other title. I hereby confirm the originality of the work and that there is no plagiarism

in any part of the dissertation.

Place: Bengaluru

Date: ………………. Signature of the supervisor

Dr Jain Mathew

Professor

Department of Management Studies

CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru

Head of the Department

Department of Management Studies

CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru

v

ABSTRACT

Millennials (born between 1981-2000) are drastically different from any other generational

cohorts, with their high education level, technological skills, social networking, self-confidence

and always teeming with energy, which makes them excellent team players, unlike the previous

generations who preferred to work on their own for long hours. Millennials, having grown to

constitute a considerable proportion of the workforce and will continue to grow to represent more

over the next 20 years, desire for immediate result and speedy advancement, which has led to

perceiving them to be impatient and inconsistent. Hence, retaining them has become one of the top

managerial priorities.

Millennials are prone to frequent switching of jobs which is why they are attributed with the

character of job-hopping. Of all the generations in the work force, Millennials are found to be less

consistent in their workplace relationships which calls for the purposeful need for cultivating

positive relationships with them at workplace. Organizational commitment is evidently one such

gesture of an employee, towards positive and long-term relationship with the organization, as a

committed employee stays with the organization and this can be brought about if the employees

realize that they are being supported well by the organization. Hence, the perceived organizational

support plays a pivotal role in work place relations. Another construct in the employee-

organization relationship is, which has a decisive role to play, is Employee engagement. Thus, this

study intents to examine how perceived organizational support is related to organizational

commitment where employee engagement mediates the relation between the two variables.

An empirical study has been done, whereby carrying out a survey among 402 millennial employees

across various companies in the information technology sector, as this sector experiences the rush

of millennials more, compared to other traditional industries. And it was found that there is a

vi

significant relation that existed among perceived organization support and organizational

commitment and employee engagement and organizational commitment as well. Employee

engagement also turned out to be partially mediating the relationship between POS and OC.

This study, done to find the relation between the three important constructs in organizational

behavior and human resource management, and also to find out the difference in the variation of

these three constructs based on the demographical factors, is the first of its kind to be done, among

Millennials

Key words: Millennials, organizational commitment, employee engagement, perceived

organizational support.

vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Undertaking this MPhil course has been a truly life-changing experience for me and it would not

have been possible to do without the support and guidance that I received from many people. First

and foremost, I am grateful to the almighty God, for his showers of blessings without which this

thesis work would not have been completed successfully. The thesis appears in its current form

due to the assistance and guidance of several people. I would like to express my gratitude to all of

them.

I would like to thank Rev Dr (Fr) Thomas C Mathew, Vice Chancellor of CHRIST (Deemed to be

University) for giving me this opportunity to associate and carry out this research.

I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my research supervisor, Dr Jain Mathew,

Professor, Department of Management Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru,

for his constant support and motivation to do this research and for providing valuable guidance

throughout this research. It was a great privilege and honor to work and study under his guidance.

Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank Dr. Ravikumar.T, Associate Professor, Department

of Management Studies, who was always there to help me whenever sought. Next, I would like to

thank Dr. Kumar Chandar.S and Dr. Bhoopathy. S, for their insightful comments and

encouragement.

I also would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Amalnathan.S, Professor and HOD of Department

of Management Studies, for his support throughout my research study. I would like to thank my

committee members, for their hard questions which incented me to widen my research from

various perspectives.

viii

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents, especially my Mom, who has been always

there for me, my husband for being a constant source of inspiration and my kids for being so

understanding and cooperating. I also remember the incredible help offered by my colleagues,

friends, and past students, whose names are not mentioned here.

Merin Annie Kuriakose

Reg.No.1720008

ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL OF DISSERTATION…………………………………………………………………….… ii

DECLARATION ………………………………………………………………………………..…….…. iii

CERTIFICATE…………………………………………………………………………………………… iv

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………………….…… v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………………………………………….……. vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………………...………. ix

LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………………………. xii

LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………………………………… xvi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………………………xvii

CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 1

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 1

1.1 OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 3

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ...................................................................................................... 6

1.4 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY ......................................................................................................... 7

1.5 NEED FOR THE STUDY ...................................................................................................................... 7

1.6 THEORETCAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................... 8

1.7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS..................................................................................................................... 9

1.8 OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH ............................................................................................................. 9

1.9 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER 2 ............................................................................................................................................... 11

REVIEW OF LITERATURE ..................................................................................................................... 11

2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 11

2.2 MILLENNIALS- AN OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................... 11

2.3 MILLENNIALS IN THE IT INDUSTRY ............................................................................................ 12

2.4 EMPLOYEES’ PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT ........................................................ 13

2.5 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT............................................................................................................. 15

2.6 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT .............................................................................................. 19

2.7 PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT’S RELATION WITH ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMITMENT ......................................................................................................................................... 21

2.8 PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT’S RELATION WITH EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENT ......................................................................................................................................... 23

x

2.9 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT’S RELATION WITH EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ....... 25

2.10 DEMOGRAPHICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING MILLENNIAL’S WORK ORIENTATION ..... 27

2.11 RESEARCH GAP ............................................................................................................................... 27

CHAPTER-3 ............................................................................................................................................... 29

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 29

3.1 ΙNTRODUϹTΙΟΝ ................................................................................................................................ 29

3.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .................................................................................................... 29

3.3 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES ............................................................................................................... 29

3.4 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS ......................................................................................................... 30

3.5 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ......................................................................................................... 31

3.6 VARIABLES OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................................... 32

3.7 RESEARCH DESIGN .......................................................................................................................... 33

3.8 SAMPLE DESIGN ............................................................................................................................... 33

3.9 INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION .................................................................................... 34

3.10 QUESTIONNAIRE PRESENTATION .............................................................................................. 35

3.11 STATISTICAL TOOLS FOR DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................ 35

3.12 SCOPE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................... 36

3.13 PILOT STUDY ................................................................................................................................... 36

3.14 EXPECTED OUTCOME ................................................................................................................... 36

CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................................................................................... 37

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................................... 37

4.1 RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS:AN INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 37

4.2 ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ................................................... 37

4.3 DEMOGRAPHIC DETAILS ................................................................................................................ 38

4.4 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS .............................................................................................................. 41

4.5 NORMALITY TEST ............................................................................................................................ 42

4.6 RELIABILITY ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................. 43

4.7 MEASURES OF SAMPLING ADEQUACY ...................................................................................... 44

4.8 STUDY OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIABLES AND HYPOTHESES TESTING .......... 49

4.9 ANALYSIS OF DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES ............................................................................... 61

xi

CHAPTER-5 ............................................................................................................................................... 76

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................... 76

5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 76

5.2 SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................................... 76

5.3 FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................ 77

5.4 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................................... 81

5.5 IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY ..................................................................................................... 85

5.6 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 87

5.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................................ 87

5.8 FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS ................................................................................................ 88

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................................ 89

QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................................................................................... 89

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 94

LIST OF PUBLICATION ........................................................................................................................ 100

xii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

3.1 Operational definitions 32

3.2 Scales of the study 36

3.3 Reliability test result-pilot study 38

4.1 Distribution of respondents based on gender 40

4.2 Distribution of respondents based on age 41

4.3 Distribution of respondents based on total years in the

organization

41

4.4 Distribution of respondents based on annual income 42

4.5 Distribution of respondents based on total experience 42

4.6 Distribution of respondents based on educational qualification 43

4.7 Distribution of respondents based on marital status 43

4.8 Descriptive statistics 44

4.9 Normality test 45

4.10 Reliability values 46

4.11 EFA: Perceived organizational support 47

4.12 EFA: Employee engagement 48

4.13 EFA: Organizational commitment 49

4.14 Results of OC-POS association 51

4.15 Results of OC-EE association 51

4.16 Spearman’s correlations 52

xiii

4.17 Correlations POS-EE 53

4.18 Model summary POS-EE 53

4.19 Anova POS-EE 53

4.20 Coefficients POS-EE 54

4.21 Correlations POS-OC 55

4.22 Model summary POS-OC 55

4.23 Anova POS-OC 55

4.24 Coefficients POS-OC 56

4.25 Correlations OC-EE 57

4.26 Model summary OC-EE 57

4.27 Anova OC-EE 58

4.28 Coefficients OC-EE 58

4.29 Result of PLS-SEM 59

4.30 Specific indirect effects 60

4.31 Result of mediation effect of employee engagement 61

4.32 Distribution of POS across categories of gender 64

4.33 Distribution of POS across categories of marital status 64

4.34 Distribution of POS across categories of age 65

4.35 Distribution of POS across categories of total years in the

organization

65

4.36 Distribution of POS across categories of total years of

experience

66

xiv

4.37 Distribution of POS across categories of educational

qualification

66

4.38 Distribution of POS across categories of annual income 67

4.39 Summary of distribution of POS based on demographic

variables

68

4.40 Distribution of EE across categories of gender 69

4.41 Distribution of EE across categories of marital status 69

4.42 Distribution of EE across categories of age 70

4.43 Distribution of EE across categories of total years in the

organization

70

4.44 Distribution of EE across categories of total years of

experience

71

4.45 Distribution of EE across categories of educational

qualification

72

4.46 Distribution of EE across categories of annual income 72

4.47 Summary of distribution of EE based on demographic

variables

73

4.48 Distribution of OC across categories of gender 74

4.49 Distribution of OC across categories of marital status 74

4.50 Distribution of OC across categories of age 75

4.51 Distribution of OC across categories of total years in the

organization

75

4.52 Distribution of OC across categories of total years of

experience

76

xv

4.53 Distribution of OC across categories of educational

qualification

77

4.54 Distribution of OC across categories of annual income 77

4.55 Summary of distribution of OC based on demographic

variables

78

xvi

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE

NO.

TITLE PAGE NO.

2.1 Employee Engagement Model: Antecedents and Consequences 19

3.1 Conceptual Framework 34

4.1 Structural Equation Model 63

xvii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

POS Perceived Organizational Support

EE Employee Engagement

JE Job Engagement

OE Organizational Engagement

OC Organizational Commitment

AC Affective Commitment

CC Continuous Commitment

NC Normative Commitment

SET Social Exchange Theory

OST Organizational Support Theory

IT Information Technology

PLS Partial Least Square

SEM Structural Equation Model

VAF Variance Accounted For

MS Excel Microsoft Excel

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

EFA Exploratory Factor Analysis

KMO Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin

M-WU Mann-Whitney U

K-W Kruskal Wallis

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION 1.1 OVERVIEW

Millennial generation includes those individuals who were given birth between the years 1981 and

2000 (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics). They are otherwise called “Generation Y” or the

“Generation Next” or the “Net Generation”. This generational cohort pursues the “Generation X”

born during (1966-1980), who pursued “Baby Boomers” born during (1946-1964). Millennials are

considered to constitute more than 33% of total populace and the number ascents much more, with

regards to India, with a gigantic populace of 1.2 billion individuals, practically 50% of them are

under the age of 25. India is believed to have more millennials than the whole population of several

western nations joined.(Perakslis & Michael, 2012).

The millennials desires or expectations of work encounter or experiences are not at all like their

forerunners. They, being very qualified, with refreshed and overhauled innovation aptitudes,

capacity to perform various tasks, energetic and overflowing with vitality, have exclusive

standards for themselves. They want to work in groups and are prepared to take up difficulties, yet

not at the expense of their work-life balance. They are socially dedicated in the meantime are

exceedingly spoiled and entitled. Millennials’ feeling of promptness in results and their craving

for expedient headway, can be considered as their disadvantages by more established age (Gilbert,

2011).

Millennials are a complex set of individuals with inconsistencies in their choices and relations,

which reflects in their work place relations as well. They anticipate long haul development and

anticipate moment rewards, which makes them take more difficulties and significant assignments

that are critical for their self-advancement than lifetime work (Weyland, 2011). They esteem self-

2

improvement through further enrichment with education and training, guarantee a harmony among

individual and work life, and a chance to add value around them by contributing to the society(Ng

& Gossett, 2013).

Being an age group that is going to represent the greater part of the worldwide workforce,

Millennial actions demand organizations to begin to reframe their approaches and practices, to

take into account the changed inclinations of this generation with growing influence worldwide

(Twenge, 2010). Thus, neglecting to find a way to address their requirements can prompt

undesirable results, for example, performance decrease, increased turnover and mental contract

infringement (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004; Mark & Toelken, 2009).

According to experts, by 2020, millennial or Gen Y representatives are expected to represent half

of the workforce and by 2025 their strength is required to achieve 75% or as far as figures, India

today with a stunning populace of 426 million, has one of the biggest millennial work powers on

the planet. In spite of the fact that various investigates has been done in the West, on millennials

and their work frames of mind, less has been learned about their Indian counterparts(Raina, 2017).

More than other sectors of work, Information Technology, with its sort of occupation prospects,

pay development, noteworthy advantages and more profound feeling of direction, appeals more to

the millennials, which has officially made it a “millennial heavy workforce” (Tockey, 2017). The

IT business in India has prospered and has turned into the greatest job maker throughout the years,

therefore clarifying the convergence of millennial workers. Having been credited with the

character of sequential employment jumping, the mobility intent of the millennials are more than

their non-millennial partners. According to the Randstad work monitor, (Randstad, 2018), the

craving for employment change is more in India, practically about 22%, when contrasted with

different nations, inferable from the expanding number of millennials in the workforce.

3

1.2 BACKGROUND

One of the unequaled difficulties faced by the organizations is the maintenance of their long-term

relations with their employees. With the changing business condition and high “talent mobility”,

to hold and connect with the workers has moved toward becoming as vital as procuring the correct

personnel. The flow of Millennials into the workforce, whose qualities and desires are not quite

the same as their other generation associates, requests the requirement for new methodologies to

hold them longer in an association, which has turned into a test for the human resource around the

world.

“Millennial employees are believed to be ‘High maintenance generation’ as they seek inclusive

style of management, participative decision-making, innovation support, and challenging

work”(Martin, 2005). They are described by a feeling of “immediacy and entitlement”, which

might be translated as a longing for brisk advancement and prompt execution input(Lowe, Levitt,

& Wilson, 2011).

In the present business situation, organizations need to deal with a diverse workforce(Pandita &

Singhal, 2017), which includes both Generation X, who enters into an association with the

organization and most likely retires from that particular organization (Carey, 2001) and Generation

Y who are significantly more encouraging with their alternate points of view and change in style,

yet at the same time organizations confront the danger of undesirable turnover, in this manner,

consistently suffering a heavy financial loss (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009).

Offering a flexible work routine, setting up a creative and imaginative workplace and stretching

out help to satisfy their way of life needs, will assist the organizations with gaining an edge in

holding their employees longer (Dorsey, 2010). Dealing with employees with empathy, who are

viewed as inside clients of a business will itself lead to age of fulfilled external clients (Luthans &

4

Peterson , 2002), and to accomplish this, organizations need to build an engaged workforce and

motivate their talent.

Work as characterized by experts in organizational studies is an “exchange process where

employees put in their efforts and commitment and get both physical and emotional benefits which

the organization offers them” (Uçar & Otken, 2010). Employees must feel that the organizations

support them consequently to their commitment and contribution. Along these lines, this requires

the investigation of Perceived Organizational Support among millennial representatives, inferable

from their relentlessly expanding portrayal in the workforce which would turn out to be about half-

portion of the complete working population by 2020(Saxena & Jain, 2012).

“POS is often understood in terms of reciprocity—an employee who sees the employer as

supportive is likely to return the gesture” (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). Various studies reveals

this and states “employees with high levels of POS are more committed to the organizations they

work for and more satisfied with their jobs” (Arshadi, 2011; Currie & Dollery, 2006; Rhoades &

Eisenberger, 2002).

Perceived Organizational Support has always been conceptualized based on “Social Exchange

Theory” (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-lamastro, 1990; Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, &

Debora, 1986; Eisenberger, Stinglhamber, Vandenberghe, Sucharski, & Rhoades, 2002; Rhoades

& Eisenberger, 2002). Social Exchange Theory claims that trade of mutual benefits frames the

base of any sort of connections in the working environment and decides how it is formed, created,

or now and again, broken (Emerson, John, Harold, & Blau, 1976). Be it social or working

environment relations, individuals offer their help to others anticipating the equivalent

consequently (Naim & Lenka, 2018). Moreover, as indicated by SET, in an organization, social

exchange connections happen when businesses take great consideration of their employees which

5

is no doubt pursued by positive results. As it were, advantageous and reasonable exchanges in a

strong relation prompts attractive work results and positive employee conduct (Cropanzano and

Mitchell, 2005a).

In spite of the fact that dependent on SET, the idea of POS is all around clarified by the

Organization support theory, which expresses how an employee attributes to receipt of ideal or

unfavorable treatment, which discloses the intention of the organization, decides their POS

(Kurtessis et al., 2015). Employees' impression of greater help from the organization makes them

increasingly engaged with their job as well as organizational activities, in the end helping the

organization achieve its desired objectives, as per the reciprocity norm of SET. (Eisenberg et al.,

2001).

Perceived Organization Support, is an imperative organization viewpoint (Mowday R. T., 1998)

which distinctly affects employee's commitment to the organization and impacts their intention to

remain (Islam et al., 2013).

Framing of organizational strategies by the administration, which underpins their employees,

upgrades their responsibility to the organization just as it builds the odds of retaining them (Perryer,

Leighton, and Travaglione, 2010). Once more, according to the reciprocity rule, employees will

be focused on the association with the organization and make commitments towards

accomplishing the objectives of the organization, just on the off chance that they see their

organization to be supportive (Dai and Qin, 2016)). Organizational commitment is comprehended

as far as a feeling of having a place, acknowledgment, character, reliability, support, energy and

pride sentiments of one's employers and organization (Sjoberg and Sverke, 2000).

Employee engagement is another prevailing element that is positively identified with the

organizational commitment of an employee (Albdour and Altarawneh, 2014; Saks, 2006).

6

Employees who are engaged will in general be increasingly dedicated to their present organization

(Johnson and Lolitha, 2015). Commitment and engagement can possibly convert into profitable

business results for an organization (Vance, 2006). Employees who are engaged feel more obliged

to be candidly and socially joined to their work and their employing organization, subsequently

drawing out their relationship with the organization (Biswas and Bhatnagar, 2013).

SET helps comprehend the connection between POS and Employee engagement , which explains,

why, employees who rightly perceive the support extended by their organization may turn out to

be progressively connected with to their activity and association and in this way helps in achieving

the organization’s goals (Rhoades, Eisenberger, & Armeli, 2001). This infers the apparent

organizational support may fill in as a precursor to EE that prompts expanded OC among

employees (Saks, 2006).

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Gen Y or Millennial workers are recognized as “job-hoppers”, who much of the time change jobs

to fulfill their confidence and self-realization needs (Naim and Lenka, 2017). As per an

investigation of millennials by Deloitte in India, 66% expressed an intent to leave their present

organization by 2020 (Sheik, 2017).

Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) in their overview of more than 40,000 of its employees overall

uncovered that the organization expected to revisit the center elements of the work environment

so as to cultivate a greater sense of commitment among Millennials, who have made up 80 percent

of the PwC workforce since 2016.

In India, millennials represent a considerable number of employees in the IT industry. “IT experts

have been found to show a solid tendency to leave the organizations” (Korunka, Hoonakker, and

7

Carayon, 2008). The attrition rate in IT industry has accounted for 17.5% (NASSCOM Review,

2017). Organizational commitment, which is an effect of the mental contract of the employees,

should be examined among IT workers, given the high idea of steady loss this area faces

(Bhatnagar, 2007).

Thus, it has turned into a need for organizations to discover how and to what extent long-term

relations can be developed with the millennials, making them more committed and progressively

dedicated to their organization.

1.4 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

So as to ingrain a sentiment of commitment among the employees particularly Millennials, the

organization should make the employees feel that they are with them and backs every one of their

undertakings be it organizational or individual. When they see that the organization supports them

strongly, it makes them obliged to prolong the association, which may likewise make them

increasingly engaged with their job as well as organizational activities.

This specific investigation intents to discover the sort of influence POS has on the OC of the

millennials in connection to their employee engagement. The consequence of which comprehends

what precisely holds the millennial group longer in the association.

1.5 NEED FOR THE STUDY

Millennials being at an early to mid-phase of their professions, and because of their developing

impact, a noteworthy business concern is to develop a continuous association with them (Howe,

2014). By 2020 Indian workforce would have around 464 million millennial representatives, which

implies 29 years would be the normal age of an employee (Rajendram, 2013).

8

Consequently, giving rise to a prompt need to plan employee centered intercessions, remembering

what are the prerequisites and tendencies of millennials are, that upgrades their dimensions of

commitment and holds them longer (Naim and Lenka, 2018). Looking at different organizational

angles impacting Millennials' working environment conduct can help create systems that guides

in keeping up a long-haul association with employees.

Organizations neglecting this cue and failing to rise to the situation, sends a feeling across the

employees, who sees this as an absence of support from the organization, winds up in losing a

greater amount of them as, employees would never again feel connected with and focused on the

organization, and would want to stop the association than to remain back. By 2020, the millennial

portrayal will undoubtedly ascend by 50 percent which calls for critical consideration by

organizations to devise new commitment and maintenance procedures (Saxena and Jain, 2012).

The present study aims to look at the connection between POS (Perceived Organizational Support),

EE (Employee Engagement) and OC (Organizational Commitment) among Millennials, which

may assist the organizations with framing arrangements to hold their millennial workers.

1.6 THEORETCAL FRAMEWORK

This particular study depends on Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Organizational Support

Theory (OST). Blau (1964) characterizes Social Exchange as “two-sided, mutually contingent, and

mutually rewarding process involving mutual transactions or in other words it is an exchange

relationship” (Emeson,1976), which is best comprehended by the “norm of reciprocity” (Gouldner,

1960). One of the essential convictions of SET is that, over some stretch of time, relations turns

out to be all the more trusting, steadfast and committed. POS has been portrayed as an unavoidable

part of the social exchange relation between employer and employee (Cropanzano and Mitchell,

2005b).

9

As indicated by Organizational Support Theory (OST), “the perception which the employees form

regarding how much the organization values the employees’ contributions and is caring about their

welfare” can be defined as Perceived Organizational Support, or POS (Kurtessis et al., 2015). OST

contends that “POS incites among workers a general felt commitment to respond toward the

organization in a positive way” (Baran et al., 2012).

“Employees who feel that their organization appreciate and value their contribution will

experience high levels of Perceived Organizational Support, which in turn, will encourage the

employees to repay the favorable treatment with better performance that will benefit the

organizations” (Eisenberger et al., 1990).

1.7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study intents to answer the following questions:

1. What role does POS have in enhancing the Organizational commitment among employees?

2. How are POS, Employee engagement, and Organizational commitment linked?

3. How does POS influence Employee engagement?

4. What role does employee engagement play in enhancing OC?

1.8 OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

The objectives of this research study are:

1. To determine the relation among POS, Employee engagement and Organizational commitment.

2. To analyze the effect of POS on Organizational commitment.

3. To measure the influence of employee engagement on Organizational commitment.

10

4. To analyze the impact of POS on organizational commitment in relation with employee

engagement.

5. To examine the difference in POS, employee engagement and organizational commitment among

millennials based on their demographic characteristics.

1.9 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION

The dissertation consists of five chapters, the details of which are as given below:

• Chapter One discusses about who millennials are, what are the characteristics attributed

to them, why is this study needed, statement of the problem, scope of the study,

theoretical framework of the study, along with research questions, and research

objectives.

• Chapter two consists of the detailed review of literature pertaining to millennials,

organizational aspects like POS, employee engagement and organizational commitment,

their definitions, in addition to the works of other researchers and finally identifying the

research gap.

• Chapter three includes the details of the methodology used , which comprises the

conceptual model development , hypotheses, research method and design, population,

sampling method, instrument development, validation, data collection, tools used for data

analysis, and the pilot study results of the present study.

• Chapter four encompasses the analysis of the data and its interpretations. Tests were

performed based on each objective and results were interpreted in line with the objectives.

• Chapter five lists out the findings of the study, points out the limitations, discussing the

implications of the study and provides future research directions.

11

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 INTRODUCTION

The contents of this chapter include a detailed review of the research works previously done

regarding millennials, their work attitudes, factors influencing those attitudes, as well as their

growing presence in the IT industry. Researches pertaining to POS, employee engagement and

organizational commitment has been thoroughly reviewed and research gap has been identified.

2.2 MILLENNIALS- AN OVERVIEW

Millennials or Generation-Y, as they are called, are those who pursue the Gen-Xers (1965-80),

born somewhere in the range of 1981 and 2000(Gilbert, 2011). The significance of this

investigation lies in the way that Millennials frame 36% of the 1.2 billion populaces of India, which

reinforces the employable ability of our country. Consequently by 2026, 64.8% of India's populace

would be in the working age of 15-64 years (Raina, 2017).

Millennials, conceived and having grown up amid the “technology boom” toward the start of the

millennium (Ng and Gossett, 2013), are unmistakably not quite the same as other generational

accomplices, who jumped at the chance to deal with their very own while Millennial age want to

function as a group helpfully and gauge work-life equalization and professional stability more than

cash (Bristow, Amyx, Castleberry, and Cochran, 2011).Having been raised getting prompt

criticism, sufficient consideration, acclaim, direction, and heading, they expect the equivalent from

their workplace too (Thompson and Gregory, 2012).An organization neglecting to address the

issues of the millennials, are certain to lose a great deal of these potential abilities and development

opportunities (Buzza, 2017).

12

Millennials have been ascribed with some normal generalizations like they are unfaithful, needy,

entitled and easygoing in their connections. They are stereotyped as unfaithful, as they are inclined

to frequent switching of jobs or careers, which is “job-hopping”. According to the Randstad

workmonitor-Wave1 Report (2011) and Wave3 report (2015), “the mobility intent index is

observed to be high in the Indian representatives of the age group of 18-24 years”. In contrast to

prior ages, Millennials don't trust in mental contract with the organization which produces

dedication (Thomson and Gregory,2012). Millennial workers who feel they are being given

adequate individual consideration just as steady family-like condition, develop steadfastness to

their organization (Hershatter and Epstein, 2010). Henceforth to hold them, organizations should

take more endeavors to construct a long-haul connection with these millennial representatives by

being progressively supportive.

2.3 MILLENNIALS IN THE IT INDUSTRY

The $156-billion Indian IT industry, called the greatest “job-creator” in the organized sector, with

approx.3.9 million employees, has assumed a significant job in changing India to one of the

quickest developing economy with a proposed GDP development of 7.8% in 2019 (NASSCOM

Review, 2017) and the Indian IT and BPM industry is required to develop to US$ 350 billion by

2025 (IBEF, 2018). Being a moderately youthful modern segment in India, with its origin and

development having begun in the mid-90s, it is made out of a genuinely more youthful workforce.

The Indian IT industry which is a “global talent powerhouse”, was alluded to as a “representative

of millennials”, displaying assorted variety, and exceptional digital aptitudes (NASSCOM, 2016).

The rate at which the IT organizations hire employees is a long way from correlation with other

conventional sectors, however it has backed off considerably. The other side to this image, is a

tousling rate of attrition, which is 17.5 % according to (NASSCOM Review, 2017) report. IT

13

employees show a solid propensity to leave a present employer to work for another organization

(Korunka et al., 2008). This requires a prompt requirement for attrition management of the

executives in IT industry, as losing employee members isn't just a physical misfortune, yet an

intellectual misfortune also, which thus turns into the competitors’ advantage (Singh and David,

2017). Organizations, particularly IT organizations, generally having group-based ventures, will

undoubtedly endure monetary burden on losing skilled employees causing trouble in finishing

work away at time (Sumner and Niederman, 2004).

Over the span of time, work environments have turned out to be more “transactional” and value-

based than any time recently (Murdock, 2017). Employees will undoubtedly compensate just for

what they get, than what they may get on the off chance that they give more. They anticipate that

their organization should indicate support and it is the degree to which they see their organization

to be steady that decides their dimension of commitment to the association with the organization

(Claudia, 2018; Donald, Hlanganipai, and Richard, 2016; Eisenberger et al., 1986; Kurtessis et al.,

2015). Those workers who are less dedicated to the organization effectively surrender to better

prospects, be it a superior pay, or any rewarding variables so far as that is concerned, prompting

high attrition rate (Memon and Satpathy, 2017).

2.4 EMPLOYEES’ PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT

POS is a key organizational construct in determining the longevity of the employer-employee

relationship. It has been characterized as the “employees’ perception of the extent to which the

organization values the contributions of their employees and cares about their well-being”

(Eisenberger & Stinglhamber, 2011), based on the Organization Support Theory (Eisenberger et

al., 1986; Kurtessis et al., 2015), which is also “an application of social exchange theory to

employer-employee relationship”(Baran et al., 2012). Employees who receive support in any form

14

will be obliged to return the favor, based on the “norm of reciprocity”. Eisenberger et al (2001)

proves that, “the employees with strong exchange ideology exhibited a positive relation among the

POS and the affective commitment they had to the organization” which also reinforces the

importance of POS in retention of employees (Hattke & Znanewitz, 2017).

Levinson (Levinson, 1965) stated that “the organizations are often been personified by its

employees, where the actions of the agents of the organization are seen as the actions of the

organization itself”. Thus, depending upon how employees personify their organization, any

treatment by the organization, be it favorable or not, would be seen as an indication of how much

their contributions are being valued and how well they are taken care of by their organization

(Aselage & Eisenberger, 2003; Burns, 2016).

Lamastro, in his study stated that, “Employees who feel valued by their organization and feel that

they can depend on their organization for support are more excited and enthusiastic on a daily

basis”(Lamastro, 1999).

Yu and Frenkel came out with the finding that, “POS is more concerned with socio-emotional

needs of employees such as relatedness or belongingness, which if addressed properly enhances

their identification with the organization which results in increased positive employee work

outcomes” (Yu & Frenkel, 2013).

Rhoades and Eisenberger (2002) found in an empirical study that “there are three antecedents to

POS which are fairness, favorableness of organizational rewards and supervisor support and the

consequences to be organizational commitment, performance, citizenship behavior, withdrawal

behaviors, job related affect and strain”. Burns in his study lso showed a negative relation between

POS and voluntary turnover, where “increased POS led to decreased turnover, suggesting that if

15

the employees believe that their organization cares and supports them, there is less chance, that

they leave their organization by choice” (Burns, 2016).

Eder and Eisenberger(Eder & Eisenberger, 2008), in a study administered on employees of a sales

organization, found that “employees high in POS showed lessened withdrawal behaviors such as

tardiness, which proved that they viewed such behaviors as a violation of the positive reciprocal

relationship with the organization”.

Hattke and Znanewitz (2017) proved in a study done among millennials that, “generating

supportive work environments can result in increased POS among employees, thereby showing

positive effects on their commitment”.

2.5 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Another key concept which is crucial in employee-organization relation is the concept of employee

engagement which is defined as, “an individual employee’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral

state directed towards desired organizational outcomes” (Shuck & Wollard, 2010) and is

considered as an important source that provides a competitive advantage at all organizational

levels.

Kahn (Kahn, 1990), who is considered to have introduced the concept of engagement and

disengagement in workplace, defines it “the harnessing of organization members' selves to their

work roles where in people employ and express themselves, physically, cognitively, and

emotionally during role performances.” The cognitive aspect concerns “employees’ beliefs and

perception about the organization, its leaders and working conditions and the emotional aspect

concerns how employees feel and develop their attitudes toward the organization and its leaders,

and the physical aspect involves the effort put in by the employees in their work roles”.

16

Schaufeli et al (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma, & Bakker, 2002), defines engagement “as a

positive, fulfilling, work related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and

absorption.”

Shuck (Shuck, 2011), in an integrative literature review listed out the four perspectives from which

the whole idea of employee engagement has been conceived and evolved over the years.

I. “Need satisfying approach” by Kahn

According to Kahn’s (1990), “need-satisfying approach”, which is one of the early developmental

theories of employee engagement, states that “apart from immersing oneself in work, an employee

could be physically, emotionally, and cognitively engaged by satisfying the three psychological

conditions such as meaningfulness, safety, and availability which significantly affected work”

(Kahn, 1990). According to this, definition of ‘Meaningfulness’ was given as “the positive sense

of return on investments of self in role performance” whereas ‘safety’ has been characterized as

“the ability to self-express without fear or negative consequences to self -image, status, or career”.

Whereas “ the sense of possessing the physical, emotional, and psychological resources necessary

for work” defines ‘availability’.

II. “Burn-out antithesis approach” by Maslach et al.

The next most prominent developmental theory of Employee engagement was conceptualized by

Maslach et al.(Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001), as “a persistent positive affective state of

fulfillment among employees characterized by high levels of activation and pleasure”, which was

a “positive antithesis to their burnout theory”.

Burnout considered as “an erosion of engagement, was characterized by the three dimensions:

exhaustion, cynicism, and ineffectiveness, where exhaustion was about being stretched beyond

17

limit and depletion of one’s emotional and physical resources whereas cynicism was the callous

attitude to one’s job”. As a result, “employee develops a feeling of incompetence which reflects in

their achievement and productivity at work”, which defines ineffectiveness.

Schaufeli et al., (2002), took this further after testing the Maslach et al. framework, and

characterized engagement “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind characterized by vigor,

dedication, and absorption” and revisited the engagement state defined by Kahn (1990) and called

it as “Work engagement”.

III. “Satisfaction-Engagement approach” by Harter et al.

The next perspective was that of Harter et al (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002), who describes

engagement of an employee an “individual’s involvement and satisfaction with as well as

enthusiasm for work”. As per this study, “employee engagement has a positive relationship to

important business outcomes like customer satisfaction, turnover, safety, productivity and

profitability”.

Luthans and Peterson (Luthans & Peterson , 2002), extended this theory further, by proving that

“there exists a positively related to employee engagement and managerial self-efficacy as well”.

IV. “Multidimensional approach” by Saks

The last approach was by Saks (2006), who approached engagement in a multidimensional angle.

Saks’ approach was based on the “social exchange model” and was the one to initially introduce

the idea of the existence of engagement in two different states namely: one “job engagement” and

the other state of “organizational engagement”. The definition of job engagement was given to be

“the extent to which an individual is psychologically present in their job” and that of organizational

engagement “the extent to which employees are psychologically present in their organization”

(Saks,2006).

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In this multidimensional approach, which is inclusive of all the previous approaches (Kahn,1990;

Maslach et al.,2001; Harter,2002), Saks characterized Employee engagement as “a distinct and

unique construct consisting of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components associated with

individual role performance.” A model was developed by Saks (2006) which showed the

connection of employee engagement to its antecedents and consequences.

Figure 2.1 Employee engagement model: Antecedents and consequences

Source: Saks (2006) Model of Engagement (p:604)

Of all the drivers of employee engagement, Saks (2006) proved that POS, which explains

employee attitudes and behavior based on SET, predicted both job and organization engagement

significantly. This can be understood as, “POS instills a sense of obligation in the employees, and

it becomes a moral imperative for the employees to reciprocate the gesture of concern from the

organization with higher levels of job as well as organizational engagement, implying that,

organizations that wish to boost the levels of employee engagement should emphasize on

enhancing the employees’ perceptions of the organizational support”.

Antecedents

Job Characteristics

Perceived Organizational

support

Perceived Superior Support

Rewards and Recognition

Procedural Justice

Distributive Justice

Employee Engagement

Job Engagement

Organization Engagement

Consequences

Job Satisfaction

Organizational

Commitment

Intention to quit

Organizational

Citizenship behavior

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2.6 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Being one of the most researched constructs, organizational commitment has an undisputable place

in organizational behavior, due to its strong association with employees’ intent to leave, their

retention, and job performance in any organization. It’s definition is given as “the relative strength

of an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular organization” by Mowday et

al., (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982).

Though the concept of Organizational commitment has taken todays shape after evolution from

several theories like Becker’s “Side Bet theory” (Becker, 1960), Porter’s (Porter, Steers, &

Mowday, 1974) “Affective Dependence theory”, “Two dimension theory” by Cohen (Cohen,

2007) and “Combined theory” by Somers (Somers, 2009), Meyer and Allen’s “Multidimension

theory” (Allen & Meyer, 1993; Meyer & Allen, 1991; Meyer, Allen, Meyer, & Allen, 1984; Meyer,

Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002; Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001) remains to be the widely

used theory (Ghosh & Swamy, 2014). This was a combination of two main approaches to

commitment; “the calculated commitment” proposed by Becker (1960), which is “the tendency to

remain in an organization due to costs following the abandoning of job” and “the attitudinal

commitment” proposed by Porter et al.(Porter et al., 1974), which describes “the kind of

involvement and identification with a particular organization and being affectively dependent on

an organization” (Wolowska, 2014).

2.6.1 Three-Component Model Of Organizational Commitment

The “three-component model” proposed by Meyer & Allen (Meyer & Allen, 1991), reflects “the

desire, need, and obligation to continue employment in an organization”. The three components

have been described in detail:

20

I. Affective Organizational Commitment

This component of organizational commitment has been described as “ the emotional attachment

to, identification with, and involvement in the organization” (Meyer & Allen, 1991). An affectively

committed employee continues to work in an organization because they want to do so. This sort

of a commitment is preceded by a feeling of personal satisfaction by the employee experienced

with the perception of organizational support, the sense of organizational righteousness, the feeling

of being meaningful in the workplace and weighing one’s input into the organizational activities,

which in turn leads to achievement of personal as well as organizational goals. Thus, for “an

employee to show affective commitment, the organizations should provide them with a positive

work environment which supports its employees, treats them well and provides timely and positive

feedback”.

II. Continuance organizational commitment

Another component of organizational commitment as given by Meyer and Allen, was

characterized as the “awareness of the cost associated with leaving the organization” (Meyer &

Allen, 1991). Continuance commitment is felt by employees who stay in an organization, primarily

due to their need to do so, which in turn makes them stay longer. This type of a commitment was

described by Meyer and Allen(1991), as what happens a result of “certain actions and events”

which are referred as “investments” and “alternatives”. “Investments can be treated as ‘personal

sacrifice’ connected with abandoning the organization” ,whereas, “Alternatives can be described

as ‘limited possibilities’ of finding another job”. “If the employees think that they have few

possibilities or that they perceive themselves to have inadequate skills or are outdated to compete

in the labor market, if they abandon their job at this point, they develop a strong continuance

21

commitment”. This happens only when the employee knows the presence of the investments and

alternatives and the consequences of quitting the job at a particular point.

III. Normative Organizational Commitment

This component of organizational commitment “reflects a feeling of obligation to continue

employment” as they ought to do remain in the organization (Meyer& Allen,1991). This may

“result from familial or cultural socialization that occurs prior to the entry to the organization” or

“organizational socialization which develops after the entry”. Socialization instills in individuals

the values and beliefs of their family, society or organization for that matter. Especially, in the

Indian context, people are often advised to be loyal and to hold on to a relationship longer, when

compared to other cultures.

This commitment also considers the investments and alternatives, just as in continuance

commitment. According to Rousseau (Rousseau, 1990), “an unwritten set of expectations operates

all the time between all members of the organization”, which develops a normative commitment

among the employees based on a psychological contract with the organization (Wolowska, 2014).

2.7 PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT’S RELATION WITH

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

POS and organizational commitment are associated based on the “social exchange theory” and the

“norm of reciprocity” (Emerson et al., 1976). “If an employee perceives its organization to be

supportive, they are sure to reciprocate in a favorable manner, especially in terms of their

commitment to the organization, which in turn translates into increased performance, reduced

turnover and other positive organizational outcomes”. Employees having higher levels of POS

feels a greater obligation to reciprocate to the support extended by the organization, by caring more

about the organization’s well-being and helping achieve its goals (Eisenberger et al., 2001). In

22

order to find out the direct and indirect influence that POS has on organizational commitment,

several studies have been done.

O’Driscoll and Randal (Driscoll & Randall, 1999), reported that, “the belief that the organization

cares about the employees and values their contribution can be a viable mechanism for enhancing

positive work attitudes like affective organizational commitment and job involvement”.

LaMastro (Lamastro, 1999), proves that “perceived organizational support evidenced a strong

positive correlation with affective commitment, which meant that, individuals felt more

emotionally attached to the organization as well as their profession, when they experienced more

support and consideration from the organization”.

Lin and Chen (Lin & Chen, 2004), in their study found that, “employees with higher perceived

organizational support displayed enhanced organizational commitment with organization support

activities which include adequate training support, compensation support, career planning support,

and so on, thereby being the key to future organizational success”.

Currie and Dollery (Currie & Dollery, 2006), in an empirical study found that “a dip in the levels

of perceived organizational support were followed by lower levels of organizational commitment”.

Edwards et al. (Edwards, Peccei, & London, 2010), concluded that “if an organization manages

and treats its employees supportively, employees are likely to reciprocate and identify with the

organization to a greater extent, with additional benefits in terms of wanting to stay in the

organization and exerting effort on its behalf”.

Ucar and Otken(Uçar & Otken, 2010), established that, in their study “a POS is positively related

to affective and normative commitment and has a negative correlation with continuance

commitment. Employees develop a sense of belongingness and a feeling of attachment towards

their organization, once they perceive that their organization extends support and values and cares

23

for them. The more the employees feels that their organization supports them, the more they feel

attached to the organization and therefore morally obliged to continue working in the

organization”.

Arshadi (Arshadi, 2011), provides further insight into the effects of POS, which shows a direct

impact on the organizational commitment. Lee and Peccei (Lee & Peccei, 2007), states that “POS

had a positively impacts on the affective commitment mediated by organization -based self –

esteem”.

POS, being all about satisfying socioemotional demands, would boost the employee-organization

association bringing about superior affective organizational commitment (Nica, 2016).

“Employees high in POS are eager to connect more with the organization, turns out to be more

dedicated as well as considers themselves responsible to further the organization’s goals”.

2.8 PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT’S RELATION WITH EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENT

The correlation that POS has with employee engagement is again based on the Social Exchange

theory and reciprocity principle. “Employee engagement being an attitude, employees are bound

to make major changes in their attitude or behavior towards their organization , if they perceive

that they are supported well by the organization, develops a feeling of commitment among them,

which makes them exert more effort to achieve organizational goals” (Settoon et al., 1996).

Glen proposes that, “When an organization conveys to its employees a feeling that the organization

trusts them, cares about them and their work done, the employees are said to have high POS, which

results in better employee engagement, as it is a key to retention of talent” (Glen, 2006), supported

by Rich who posits that “POS is considered as the predictor of employee turnover intentions, work

performance, financial capabilities, and customer satisfaction” (Rich, 2006).

24

Both employees and employers are mutually benefitted with the support extended by the

organization. “While employees receive higher salaries, better working conditions, satisfaction of

attention given by managers, and the feeling that their work is meaningful and contributes to the

organization’s operations, the organization benefits as its employees are more committed to the

organization, and work harder and more effectively” (Naujokaitiene, Tereseviciene, &

Zydziunaite, 2015).

Kahn (1990) posits that “a caring work atmosphere and helpful supervision, which are gestures of

support from the organization, emanates a feeling of psychological safety among the employees,

that encourages innovativeness, without fearing the consequences of going wrong, among the

employees, resulting in more personally engaged employees”. “When an employee thinks that the

organization will support him or her in doing some kind of job, he or she will be more willing to

do an assigned job” (Kim, Shin, & Umbreit, 2007).

When an individual joins an organization, the employer and employee enter into a psychological

contract that ensures all support for the employees to do their work. Hence “when individuals

perceive breach of such promises by their employer leads to decline in their motivation and

commitment to the organization and their intention to leave their jobs increases leaving them less

engaged or disengaged” (Tekleab, Takeuchi, & Taylor, 2005).

“Employees’ sense of belongingness to the organization will become strong when they perceive

the support from the organization which in turn makes the employees show a higher order

employee engagement by striving hard to help the organization achieve its set goals” (Dai & Qin,

2016).

25

Going according to the exchange principle, “when the employees receive any kind of support from

their organization, financial and/or non-financial, it becomes an obligation for them to return the

favor with improved engagement levels”. Likewise, when the organization fails to provide such

support, “individuals may disassociate and eventually get disengaged with the organization”

(Dabke & Patole, 2014).

According to Eisenberger and Stinglhamber (2011), “POS would increase employees’ engagement

in their job, by creating among them, a belief and the expectation that their organization will

provide them with the help and the material or emotional resources when needed and that they will

be rewarded for high performance, by fulfilling their social as well as emotional needs as much as

their need for self-esteem and monetary rewards”.

2.9 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT’S RELATION WITH EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENT

Organizational commitment is a “fruit of employee engagement”. Saks,2006, proved

organizational commitment to be an outcome of employee engagement. “When the level of

employees’ engagement increases their commitment to the organization increases as well,

followed by enhanced job satisfaction, higher performance and demonstrates great zeal and comes

up with innovativeness, less absenteeism and lower turnover rates, feeling secure and healthy,

exhibits citizenship behaviors and highly motivated” (Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007). “Employee

commitment and engagement have developed as vital constructs in the organizational research on

account of their positive relation with employees' behaviors, which promote organizational

retention as well as performance” (Chalofsky & Krishna, 2009).

According to Hakanen et al. (Hakanen, Schaufeli, & Ahola, 2008), “work engagement ultimately

leads to organizational commitment. In line with the SET, employees highly engaged in their job

26

and organization tend to exhibit more affection towards their organization indicated by higher

levels of affective commitment and feel more obliged to stay longer, proven by high normative

commitment and less continuance commitment” (Albdour & Altarawneh, 2014).

Wachira, in a study proposes that “empowering employees to make their own decisions about

work, to control their work, and to achieve their goals may help them to become more engaged in

their jobs, aligned with proper rewards and feedback enhances employee commitment” (Wachira,

2013).

Engagement is described as “a form of commitment which is determined by the amount of mutual

efforts placed by the employees and the employers for organizational growth and development”

(Swaminathan & Aramvalarthan, 2013). “Engaged employees benefit from the organization by

being emotionally connected with it as they appreciate and cherish every aspect of the organization

they work for from: the culture, colleagues, norms, company goals, customer satisfaction and many

such attributes in alignment with the organization, and the organization achieves the desired

growth and development” (Jena, 2017).

“The greater an employee’s engagement, the more likely he or she is to go the extra mile and

deliver excellent job performance and may be more likely to commit to staying with their current

organization and less likely to voluntarily leave the company”. Thus making it obvious that,

“engagement and commitment can potentially translate into valuable business results for an

organization providing them with crucial competitive advantage” (Vance, 2006).

Organizations should adopt effective measures to engage their employees who are the assets to

any organization, and thereby build a committed work force (Johnson & Lolitha, 2015).

27

2.10 DEMOGRAPHICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING MILLENNIAL’S WORK

ORIENTATION

Several factors have been identified through various studies, that affects the expectations and

priorities of the millennials, and that determines their personal orientations towards work, out of

which the demographics plays a crucial role. Most of the researches assume the members of a

generation to share the same characteristics, ignoring any potential differences (Weber & Urick,

2017)

The extent of support perceived by the millennial employees and the consequent commitment felt

towards the organization differ from person to person depending on their demographical

characteristics such as, age, gender, marital status, etc. Weber and Urick (2017), in their study

showed that the ethical profile of millennials varied based on the demographic factors such as

gender, amount of work experience, business discipline specialization and their academic

performance.

A married employee seems to be less engaged when compared to their counterpart who is single.

The level of engagement and commitment varies among employees with their tenure in the

organization as well as their total experience. Hence, this study also aims to examine how POS,

employee engagement and organizational commitment differs among employees based on their

demographical features such as age, gender, marital status, total years of experience in the

organization and their overall experience, annual income and educational qualification.

2.11 RESEARCH GAP

Following a broad survey of literature, it was seen that there is a volley of research works done to

study about the association between POS with organizational commitment, just as with employee

28

engagement and furthermore on the connection between employee engagement and organizational

commitment as well.

Not many examinations have been done to bring out and plainly characterize the connection

between these three factors, which assumes an essential job in the organizational behavior context,

however, Saks (2006), demonstrated that POS is a strong predictor of employee engagement and

organizational commitment is a clear outcome of employee engagement. He demonstrated that

employee engagement assumes the job of an intercessor in the connection between POS and OC.

Studies likewise demonstrated that work engagement predicts organizational commitment, when

affected by job resources (González-Romá, Schaufeli, Bakker, and Lloret, 2006; Hakanen et al.,

2008). According to Gokul et al., “Positive organizational support through employees' dedication

is essential for them to be affectively committed to their organization, which demonstrates the

intervention of employee engagement” (Gokul, Sridevi, and Srinivasan, 2012). In every one of

these examinations, only the “job engagement” dimension from Saks (2006) is taken or the

dimensions from Schaufeli et al's. (2002) dimensions (“vigor”, “dedication” and “absorption”) are

contemplated.

Therefore, it has turned out to be important to contemplate the sort of connection that exists among

POS, EE and OC, particularly among millennials attributable to their expanding portrayal in the

workforce and “job-hopping” nature.

29

CHAPTER-3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 ΙNTRODUϹTΙΟΝ

A research methodology outlines the plan and method used to carry out a research work. A research

project requires to design a research which is a basic plan as to how to collect the data for the study

and how to analyze them for the purpose of research. Moreover, it gives the outline of the type of

information intended to be collected, its sources and collection procedure (Churchill & Iacobucci,

2005; Kinnear & Taylor, 1996). Research design is defined as “the blueprint that is followed to

complete the study” and it “ensures that the study is relevant to the problem and will use

economical procedure”. This chapter includes the operational definitions of the variables,

hypotheses, conceptual model, procedures for data collection, sampling techniques and

instruments used to analyze the data.

3.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The job-hopping tendency found among millennial employees, especially in the IT industry, shows

their lack of commitment to the organization. This adversely affects the performance as well as

the competitiveness of an organization. This phenomenon can be curbed to an extent, by the

organizations, by extending support to its employees and engaging them meaningfully, making

them feel committed, thereby cultivating a long-term relationship with the employees. Thus, the

researcher intends to study the connection of POS with employee engagement and organizational

commitment among millennials in IT industry.

3.3 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

H1-POS is significantly related to employee engagement and organizational commitment.

30

H2-POS significantly influences organizational commitment.

H3- POS has a significant impact on Employee Engagement.

H4-POS has a significant impact on employee engagement which leads to organizational

commitment.

H5-POS, employee engagement and organizational commitment shows a significant difference

based on the demographic characteristics such as, age, gender, marital status, tenure in the

organization, total years of experience, educational qualification and annual income.

3.4 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

The operational definitions of the variables that are used in the study are given in the table seen

below:

Table 3.1 Operational Definitions

VARIABLES DEFINITIONS

Perceived

Organizational

Support

“The extent to which employees perceive that their organization

appreciates their contributions and cares about the well-being of the

employees”. (Eisenberger et al.,1986)

Employee

engagement

“The degree of absorption in the performance of one’s role and the

level of attentiveness of an individual in their job and organization”.

(Saks,2006)

Job engagement “The level of an individual’s fascination towards the performance of

one’s job role”. (Saks,2006)

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Organizational

engagement

“The extent of psychological presence of an individual, as a member

of an organization” (Saks,2006)

Organizational

commitment

Defined as “the employee’s feelings of obligation to stay with the

organization, feelings resulting from the internalization of normative

pressures exerted on an individual prior to entry or following entry”

(Allen & Meyer, 1990).

Affective

Commitment

Affective commitment refers to “being emotionally attached to the

organization, identifying with it objectives, and getting involved in

the organization” (Meyer & Allen,1991).

Normative

Commitment

Normative organizational commitment can be defined as “a feeling

obliged to continue employment as they ought to do remain in the

organization” (Meyer& Allen,1991).

Continuance

Commitment

Continuance commitment can be defined as “the awareness of the

cost associated with leaving the organization” (Meyer &

Allen,1991).

Millennials U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics defined them as a population

segment of “those born between 1981 and 2000”.

3.5 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Social Exchange Theory (SET) serves as the backbone of the present study, which explains the

kind of relationship that exists between the three variables of this study i.e. POS, Employee

Engagement and Organizational Commitment, by the norm of reciprocity. The conceptual

framework for the study was developed based on the research done by Alan M. Saks (2006), who

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clearly proved that there exists a relationship between the three variables and perceived

organizational support is a strong driver of employee engagement and organizational commitment

is an obvious consequence of employee engagement. Thus, the research framework given below

was proposed.

Figure 3.1 Conceptual framework

This model shows how perceived organizational support is related to organizational commitment

and how employee engagement mediates this relationship, among millennials

3.6 VARIABLES OF THE STUDY

The present study employs three variables and examines the relationship amongst them, and they

are:

3.6.1 Independent variable

Perceived organizational support is the independent variable in this study, that is the cause or

reason of a particular outcome.

Perceived Organizational

Support

Organizational

Commitment

Employee Engagement

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3.6.2 Dependent variable

The dependent variable in this study is organizational commitment which is affected by other

variables.

3.6.3 Mediating variable

Employee Engagement acts a mediating variable, which mediates the relationship of the

independent variable with dependent variable, in this study.

3.7 RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design, a logical structure of inquiry, which ensures “that the evidence obtained enables

us to answer the initial question as unambiguously as possible” (de Vaus, 2001). Based on

quantitative research methods, descriptive research design is used in this present study, that

involves collection of data, its analysis, interpretation and summarizing the information (Teddlie

& Tashakkori, 2009).

3.8 SAMPLE DESIGN

In order to design the sample for the study, the sample unit, sampling technique and sample size,

must be determined.

3.8.1 Sample Unit

The primary objective of this study is to probe into what connection holds between POS, employee

engagement and organizational commitment among millennials, in IT industry. Hence, a

millennial IT employee formed the sample unit.

3.8.2 Sample Technique

The population for the study, that is millennial IT employees, were selected using purposive or

judgement sampling which is a non-probability sampling method.

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3.8.3 Sample Size

The net population of IT employees across India is ~ 4 million (3,960,000) (NASSCOM Review,

2017). Bangalore has almost 35% of IT investments in India, i.e almost 990000 IT employees are

there in Bangalore. Out of these millennial employees in IT industry constitute almost half of the

population.

As per Krejcie & Morgan table (Krejcie & Morgan, 1970), for population size up to 1000000, the

required sample size would be 384 at 95% confidence level. A total sample size of 402 respondents

were surveyed for the study.

3.9 INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION

In the present research, POS, employee engagement and organizational commitment among

millennials, was measured using a structured questionnaire. Questionnaire consist of four sections

that