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On the nature of job involvement : an inquiry into its antecedent and consequent conditions

University of British Columbia

The study undertook to examine empirically the casual influence of certain individual difference factors and situational factors on job involvement and the effect of job involvement on job related effort. In addition, the role of certain individual difference and situational factors as moderators on the above linkage was explored. A theoretical model was developed with need for achievement, locus of control, job scope and participation in decision making as casual antecedents of job involvement and job related effort as its consequence. The moderator effects of age, education, sex and leader behavior on the above linkage were also studied. The model hypothesized a positive relationship between job involvement and need for achievement, internal locus of control, job scope, participation in decision making, and job related effort. In addition, the causal linkage was expected to be stronger for: 1. older people, 2. more educated workers, 3. males, and 4. those who function in a leadership climate of high consideration and structure. Data were gathered from two different groups through structured questionnaires. The pilot sample consisted of employees from organizations in the electronics industry located in the greater Montreal area. The validation sample consisted of people enrolled in the evening program in business administration in the two major anglophone universities in Quebec. All of them held full time jobs. Only anglophone respondents were included in the analysis. The pilot sample size was 139 with a response rate of 47% while the validation sample size was 170 with a response rate of 68%. Convergent and discriminant validation and internal consistency reliability tests indicated that the scales used in this study possessed acceptable psychometric properties. Path analysis, correlations and subgroup analysis were used to test the various hypotheses generated in this study. The results offered only moderate support to causal model originally proposed. The hypotheses suggesting positive relationships between the predictors and the criterion variables were all confirmed. Age, education, sex and leadership behavior failed to moderate the causal linkage in the hypothesized direction. There were no significant moderator effects. Based on the empirical findings, the original model was revised and tested. The results endorsed the validity of the revised model. The implications of the findings were discussed and possible future courses of action outlined.

Text

2010-03-22

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/22282

Business Administration

University of British Columbia

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