Exploring the linkages between attitudes towards human resource management practices and organisational commitment: evidence from the financial services industry in Ireland

Since the 1990s, research in Human Resource Management (HRM) has been largely concerned with the search for links between HR 'systems' and firm performance (Guest, 1997). This has given rise to a body of literature that has been labeled 'high performance' and 'high commitment1 management. Despite references to the term commitment within this literature, little research has examined the relationship between these HR systems and employee commitment. This is despite claims that commitment is best viewed as a multidimensional construct, with different outcomes for both individuals and for organisations pursuing high commitment strategies. This points to a need to consolidate both individual and firm level perspectives. The present study extends this literature by (a) focusing on the individual as the unit of analysis (b) viewing commitment as a multi-dimensional construct (c) examining whether attitudes towards HR practices are linked to different forms of commitment and (d) establishing whether career stage has a moderating influence on the HR-commitment relationship. The empirical research is based on an employee attitude survey (n = 288) and interviews with HR managers within three financial service organisations in Ireland. The findings highlight that (a) attitudes towards HR practices impact on some forms of commitment more than others (b) certain attitudes have a greater impact on commitment than others (c) attitudes do not interact with career stage to predict affective commitment and (d) attitudes that do not impact on affective commitment are, in some cases, those that impact on intention to leave. It seems that the management of employment experiences over time provides the key to both high retention and high commitment within organisations. Based on these findings, models of high commitment management and high retention are presented