Study of effects of psychosocial factors on employee loyalty in Lithuania

Egzistuojant ekonominiams sunkumams, darbuotojus reikia ne tik materialiai skatinti, bet ir ieškoti kitų darbuotojus su organizacija siejančių būdų. Taip atsigręžiama į psichosocialinius kintamuosius. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti psichosocialinių veiksnių – tarpasmeninių santykių kokybės, suvokiamo organizacijos prestižo, organizacijos nario savimonės – įtaką dirbančiųjų Lietuvoje lojalumui organizacijai. Empiriniu tyrimu įrodyta, kad pasitenkinimas tarpasmeniniais santykiais, suvokiamas organizacijos prestižas, organizacijos nario savimonė bei lojalumas organizacijai – tarpusavyje susiję konstruktai. Nustatyta, kad didėjant pasitenkinimui tarpasmeniniais santykiais, didėja ir suvokiamo organizacijos prestižo bei organizacijos nario savimonės išreikštumas. O kuo darbuotojai labiau patenkinti tarpasmeniniais santykiais, pasižymi labiau išreikšta organizacijos nario savimone bei organizaciją, kurioje dirba, vertina kaip prestižinę, tuo didesnis darbuotojų lojalumas organizacijai. Analizuojant dirbančiųjų Lietuvoje lojalumą organizacijai nustatyta, kad darbuotojų lojalumą didžiąja dalimi paaiškina psichosocialiniai veiksniai. Didžiausią įtaką daro suvokiamas organizacijos prestižas, mažesnę – tarpasmeninių santykių kokybė ir mažiausiai darbuotojų lojalumas priklauso nuo organizacijos nario savimonės. Šie rezultatai patvirtina tai, kad įmonės įvaizdis yra svarbus formuojant ne tik išorės vertintojų nuomonę, bet ir darbuotojų požiūrį organizacijos atžvilgiu.Employee loyalty represents one of the key issues in human resource management. While there are many reasons for employees to remain loyal to the company employing them, two general categories of sources of loyalty stand out. First, employee propensity to stay in an organization is often related satisfaction of their material needs (Ralytė, 2010, Žaptorius, 2007). On the other hand, importance of non-material needs is also often emphasized (e.g. Bakanauskienė, Ubartas, 2009; Lakačauskaitė, 2012). Addressing this practical challenge requires careful examination of theoretical aspects of the issue. The variables of employee loyalty, organizational identity and interpersonal relationship quality have been studied quite extensively. For example, the issue of employee loyalty has been examined by D. Savareikienė, L. Daugirdas (2009), V. Legkauskas (2000) provided in depth-analysis of identity, J. Vveinhardt (2009) conducted revealing research on importance of interpersonal relationships between employees. Also, J. Almonaitienė (2007) studied relationship between organizational identity and employee loyalty. However, there is a lack of research aimed at empirical determination of relationship between various "soft" factors affecting employee loyalty. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the importance of interpersonal relationship quality, perceived prestige of an organization, and strength of organizational identity for employee loyalty. Subjects in the study were 139 employees working for various organizations in Lithuania. Organizational identity was measured using Organizational Identification Scale (Mael, Tetrick, 1992), interpersonal relationship quality was assessed by means of the High-Quality Connections Questionnaire developed by J. E. Dutton, E. D. Heaphy (2003) and perceived organizational prestige was measured by the questionnaire of F. A. Mael and B. E. Ashforth (1992). Results of the study revealed statistically significant relationships between all variables studied. Better interpersonal relationship quality was linked to stronger organizational identification and more perceived organizational prestige. The study also revealed that the "soft" factors – interpersonal relationship quality, organizational identification and perceived organizational prestige – explained 88.7 % of employee loyalty. These finding points out to a very important fact in human resource management – while employees may often cite the "hard" factor of wages as the key source of their loyalty, the "soft" factors examined in the present study in fact exert stronger, albeit unconscious influence. It should be noted, that the cross-sectional nature of the present study does not allow for a definite conclusion about cause and effect relationships between the variables studied. In order to prove existence of such relationship, longitudinal studies conducted in various types of organizations are necessary