BOCOG's road to success: predictors of commitment to organizational success among Beijing Olympic employees

Abstract

The success of mega sport event organizing committees is measured by their capacity to deliver the event at the end of their lifecycle when committees undergo fast growth and staff members are under high pressure. To examine event employee commitment during later stages of event preparation, we tested the relationship between organizational identity, national identity, benefits of working for an organizing committee, job satisfaction, and the commitment to organizational success (COS) among Chinese employees of the Beijing Organizing Committee (N=307) through structural equation modeling. It appeared that COS is explained by national identity and the particular benefits of working toward the organization of the Olympic Games. Whether they are satisfied with the job, and their levels of organizational identity do not affect their commitment to the event. These findings suggest that these employees view their work as an investment in their future and as a service to their nation.

Keywords:

• social identity
• benefits
• job satisfaction
• commitment to success

Acknowledgements

The current project received support from the Laurentian University Research Fund – Publication grants for funding support.

Notes

1. The information was obtained from BOCOG internal documents via one of the authors’ BOCOG contacts.

2. See note 1 above.