The Link Between Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: Differences Between Public and Private Sector Employees

ABSTRACT

Employees in the public and private sectors experience different working conditions and employment relationships. Therefore, it can be assumed that their attitudes toward their job and organizations, and relationships between them, are different. The existing literature has identified the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction as interesting in this context. The present field study examines the satisfaction–commitment link with respect to differences between private and public sector employees. A sample of 617 Greek employees (257 from the private sector and 360 from the public sector) completed standardized questionnaires. Results confirmed the hypothesized relationship differences: Extrinsic satisfaction and intrinsic satisfaction are more strongly related to affective commitment and normative commitment for public sector employees than for private sector ones. The results are discussed, limitations are considered, and directions for future research are proposed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are very thankful for the reviewers' comments and the editor's detailed suggestions that have helped improve the quality of the present paper greatly.

Notes

Note. N = 617; gender: 1 = male, 2 = female; S.D. = standard deviation; α = alpha coefficient.

*p < .05 (two-tailed); **p < .01 (two-tailed).

Note. N = 617; Sector = Private/Public sector.

*p < .05; **p < .01.

Note. N = 617; Sector = Private/Public sector.

*p < .05; **p < .01.

Note. N = 617; Sector = Private/Public sector.

*p < .05; **p < .01.

Note. N = 617; Sector = Private/Public sector.

*p < .05; **p < .01.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yannis Markovits

Yannis Markovits is a senior officer to the Greek Ministry of Finance and certified trainer of the Greek civil servants on Human Resources and organizational behavior, and works as national expert certified by the European Union on finance issues. He earned his PhD at Aston Business School, Birmingham (UK), and his research interests are on organizational commitment and job satisfaction in both private and public sector organizations. He has published books on motivation and organizational behavior issues and papers in academic journals including the Journal of Vocational Behavior and International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management.

Ann J. Davis

Ann J. Davis is Senior Lecturer in the Work and Organizational Psychology Group at Aston University in Birmingham (UK). She was awarded her doctorate from Nottingham University for a study into the impact of job values on expressed attitudes to organizational change. Her research interests include the manifestation of commitment and engagement in organizations, and organizational culture and climate as developed through and influenced by HR practice.

Doris Fay

Doris Fay is full Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at University of Potsdam, Germany. She was awarded her PhD in Psychology from the University of Amsterdam, after which she lectured at the University of Giessen, Germany, and Aston University, UK. Her research interests revolve around questions of proactivity at work; individual, team and organizational innovation; work and health; and HRM. She has published in various academic journals, among them Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Applied Psychology: An International Review, and Human Performance. She currently serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

Rolf van Dick

Rolf van Dick ([email protected]) is Professor of Social Psychology at the Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany). He earned his PhD at Marburg University (Germany) and has been Professor of Social Psychology and Organizational Behavior at Aston University (UK). His research interests center on the application of social identity theory in organizational settings. Rolf van Dick was editor of the British Journal of Management and currently is editor of the Journal of Personnel Psychology. He has published more than 40 books and book chapters and 70 papers in academic journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.