Work Engagement and Organizational Commitment in Private

University

Sukma Rani, Hendriati Agustiani, Maya Rosmayati Ardiwinata, and R. Urip Purwono

Faculty of Psychology, Padjajaran University, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Work Engagement, Organizational Commitment, University.

Abstract: Work engagement and organizational commitment have an important role in organization. The purpose of

this research is to study closely the existency of correlation between work engagement and organizational

commitment. The research was conducted at a private university in West Jakarta, Indonesia. We had 124

participants, namely: 67 lecturers and 57 non-academic employees. The method measurement we used were

UWES-17 for measuring the work engagement scale and OCQ for the Organizational Commitment

Questionnaire Scale. We also used partial correlation techniques with the aid of SPSS 22 to analyze the

correlation between work engagement and organizational commitment. The result of research shows that

there is a positive and significant correlation between work engagement and organizational commitment.

1 INTRODUCTION

Work engagement of the employees is an important

aspect in organizational life and is regarded as a key

in improving the effectiveness of an organization

(Phipps, 2013). The employees with high work

engagement will exhibit positive behavior during

working therefore that the company's goals and

success can be met (Dicke, Holwerda,& Kontakos,

2007). More over, work engagement can also be

considered as a participatory process that uses the

entire capacity of workers and is designed to

increase the commitment for the success of an

organization (Robbins 2003). The Corporate

Leadership Council conducted a research on the

impact of work engagement on business

performance and found out that the engagement

contributed 40% to total performance improvement,

while committed employees strived 57% harder on

job, 80% were considered good and 87% less likely

to leave the company. For those who have high work

engagement, they considered work is very important

for their individual self-image (Khan, 2011).

Work engagement is defined as a positive

attitude, a condition that is fulfilled and associated

with the work of mind characterized by vigor,

dedication, and absorption (Schaufeli et al., 2006).

Vigor refers to high energy levels and resilience, the

willingness to strive, not easily tired and persistent

to face the adversity. Dedication refers to the feeling

of being meaningful, enthusiastic and pride at work,

full of inspiration and challenging. While absorption

refers to concentrating fully and deeply to duties.

According to Robbins (2003) a participatory

process that uses all the capacity of workers to boost

commitments for the achievement of organizational

goals can also be regarded as work engagement.

Human resources with high commitment will create

a positive vibration between the employees and the

organization, hence can help to achieve the best

performance toward organizational goals and can be

developed furthermore (Dessler, 2006).

Meyer and Allen (1997) defined organizational

commitment as a psychological state that

characterizes a relationship between an employee

and an organization; the employees identify

themselves with the values, rules, and goals of the

organization and make them have a desire to

maintain and continue their commitment to the

organization. There are three dimensions of

organizational commitment suggested by Meyer and

Allen, namely affective commitment, continuance

commitment, and normative commitment. Affective

commitment refers to the bonding of the employees

and the organization. The key indicators of affective

commitments are identified with self-belonging,

warmth, happiness and with full satisfaction at work.

Continuance commitment is a condition in which the

employees of the organization are aware of

alternative limitation compare to their own

464

Rani, S., Agustiani, H., Ardiwinata, M. and Purwono, R.

Work Engagement and Organizational Commitment in Private University.

DOI: 10.5220/0008590904640468

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings (ICP-HESOS 2018) - Improving Mental Health and Harmony in

Global Community, pages 464-468

ISBN: 978-989-758-435-0

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Work Engagement and Organizational Commitment.

Variable

Mean

Standard.

Deviation

Kolmogorov-

Smirnov Z

Asymp. Sig.

(2-tailed)

124

Work Engagement

75,40

14,60

0,955

0,321

Organizational Commitment

70,79

9,37

0,553

0,920

organization. The indicators of this kind of

commitment are considered with the profit and loss

that could be earned elsewhere. Normative

commitment is when the employee feels the

obligation to remain in the organization as a result of

the pressure within the internalized employee, or as

a result of socialization experience that emphasizes

compliance to be faithful because of the

compensation received.

According to some researchers (Beukes and

Botha, 2013, Choi, Tran, & Park, 2015,

VanGelderen & Bik, 2016, Trofimov, Bondar,

Trofimova, Miliutina, & Riabchych, 2017),

organizational commitment and work engagement

have strong positive correlation in which the

committed employee to his organization will be

more engaged to work and vise-versa. In this

occasion, researchers would like to find the

relationship between work engagement and

organizational commitment in educational

organization, i.e.: a university, because they have

already been a lot of findings in the context of

business organization. The success of organization is

rely heavily on its human resources such as lecturers

and non-academic employees. Their work

engagement and organizational commitment play a

big role in an organization (Eghlidi and Karimi,

2016). They also stated that employees with strong

willingness to be part of the organization will get

organizational value that suits with their own value,

therefore will improve their commitment to the

organization. Having qualified lecturers in the

university will certainly contribute a success to

achieve the mission and vision on educational

programs. Meanwhile the non-academic employees

are the main supporters for administration purposes

and they give the best service for the students in

university (Susanty, 2012). In this research, the

formulation is to find the correlation between work

engagement and organizational commitment.

Hypothesis: Work engagement positively

correlated with organizational commitment.

2 METHOD

In the study of correlation between work

engagement and organizational commitment at a

private university in West Jakarta, Indonesia, it

employs a quantitative approach. The design of this

research is using correlational. The object research

consisted of lecturers and non-academic employees.

The methods of measurement we used were from

Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-17 (UWES-17)

and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire

(OCQ). UWES-17 from Schaufeli & Bakker (2003)

was developed and compiled using a Likert scale of

17 items (e.g. “At my work, I feel bursting with

energy”, “My job inspires me”). UWES-17 validity

value was ranging between 0,423-0,78used internal

consistency from Cronbach’s Alpha and its

reliability value was 0,866. Mean while

organizational commitment was measured using

OCQ developed by Allen & Meyer (1990), with a

scale of 21 items that measured three dimensions of

organizational commitment (e.g. “I enjoy discussing

my organization with people outside it”, “Too much

in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted

to leave my organization now”, “I think that people

these days move from company to company too

often”). OCQ validity value was ranging between

0,367-0,821and its reliability value was 0,915. Both

instruments were translated to Bahasa Indonesia and

adjusted to university context. Instruments then

tested to check their validity and reliablity.

3 RESULT

The respondents who participated in this research

were 124 participants, consisting of 67 lecturers and

57 non-academic employees. They were 68 males

and 56 females. Furthermore, the researchers drew

data from 40% of the total number of existing

employees in each division at a private university,

West Jakarta, Indonesia. The descriptive result of the

study is shown in table 1 below.

Based on the calculation using Kolmogorov-

Smirnov, UWES-17showed the significance value of

0.321> 0.05 and OCQ showed the significance value

Work Engagement and Organizational Commitment in Private University

465

of 0.920> 0.05. In this case the sample data taken are

considered normally distributed. The mean value for

the work engagement variable was 75.40 which

means that lecturers and non-academic employees at

this private university had a high sense of ownership

and ultimately would be difficult to leave the

organization. The mean value of organizational

commitment for the lecturers and non-academic

employees was 70.79 which means that the average

of inter organizational relationship between the

employees showed a willingness to stay and

continued working in this organization.

Table 2: Correlation of work engagement and

organizational commitment.

Spearman Rank Correlation

Organization

Commitment

Work

Engagement

Correlation

.350

Sig. (2 tailed)

.000

From the above table, it shows that the

correlation between organizational commitment and

work engagement was 0.350 with probability value

0.000 < 0.05. Thus it can be said that there is a

positive and significant correlation between these

two variables. Moreover it shows that the higher the

work engagement, the higher the organizational

commitment; while the lower in work engagement

resulting the lower in the level of organizational

commitment. As a conclusion, hypothesis was

supported, showing a positive correlation between

work engagement and organizational commitment in

this private university. The researchers added the

data of organizational tenure to control the

correlation of work engagement and organizational

commitment variables. Based on the statistical

analysis result, partial correlation found p value =

0,000 which means that the length of working period

has no effect on the relationship between work

engagement and organizational commitment.

Table 3: The differences correlation of lectureres and non-

academic employees in work engagement and

organizational commitment.

Spearman Rank Correlation

Organization

Commitment

Work Engagement -

Lecturers

Correlation

.388

Sig. (2 tailed)

.001

Work Engagement

– Non-academic

employees

Correlation

.348

Sig. (2 tailed)

.001

Based on table 3, it can be seen the correlation

value between work engagement and organizational

commitment in lecturers was 0,388 with a

significant value of 0,001 (<0,05), while in non-

academic employees was 0,348with a significant

value of 0,01 (<0,05). This means both lecturers and

non-academic employees have a positive and

significant correlation between work engagement

and organizational commitment in lecturers. We can

conclude that there is no different between work

engagement and organizational commitment in

academic and non-academic employees.

4 DISCUSSION

Work engagement on lecturers and non-academic

employees in this private university is high, with a

mean of 75,40 indicating that the study sample has a

high work engagement. In this case, the lecturers

and non-academic employees feel proud and satisfy

to their current job and enabling them to do their

work with full of passion, excitement and

enthusiasm. They focused on working and no longer

considered the total hours of working time, because

it is supported by a work environment full of sense

of kinship as it is affecting the individual wellbeing.

Individual who prosper well in the organization will

show a positive attitude that they are engaged with

their work (Guest, 2017). Positive attitude of

lecturers and non-academic employees are shown

through vigour, dedication and absorption aspects.

The vigour aspect had a mean value of 26,66 which

is considered high. In this case it means that the

lecturers and non-academic employees feel

energized, passionate, and persistent while working.

The lecturers show these aspects in running their

duties in teaching, research and community service.

Meanwhile the non-academic employees express

these aspects in providing services to the existing

students in education process. From the data

research we can conclude that the mean for

dedication aspect was 22,27 which is high. In other

words, they feel proud of what they do and take full

responsibilities functioning, both as lecturers and

non-academic employees. The research also express

the absorption aspect with a value of 26,46 which is

considered high. Lecturers and non-academic

employees focused on doing their work so they are

really in to it.

Meanwhile the commitment result to the

organization on lecturers and non-academic

employees was average (M=70,79), meaning that on

average the lecturers and non-academic employees

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

466

have a commitment to the organization. A group of

lecturers and non-academic employees are

committed to the organization affectively,

continuously and normatively. The mean value for a

group of lecturers and non-academic employees with

affective commitment was 24.94. The mean value

for continuance commitment was 24,88 and the

mean value for normative commitment was 20,84.

Although the work engagement of lecturers and non-

academic employees at private university is

considered high and commitment to the organization

is average, the correlation result show a positive and

significant relationship between the two variables.

This result similar with result of Beukes & Botha

(2013) study, that showed a positive and significant

relationship between work engagement and

organizational commitment. We understood that the

lecturers and non-academic employees are

committed to organization depending on how they

interpret their work and the purpose of working in

the organization. However, whatever their objectives

are they still show positive attitude at work. Based

on the data in this specific private university, we

noted that 50% of lecturers and non-academic

employees have affective commitment, 20% of them

have continuance commitment and 30% of this

group have normative commitment to the

organization.

With the above explanation it can be concluded

that affective commitment has a contribution role in

increasing the work engagement in this private

university organization. The group of lecturers and

non-academic employees who have affective

commitment show emotional ties to the

organization. The form of emotional bonding is

shown by its active involvement in the organization

and become more engaged with the work. Lecturers

and non-academic employees with affective

commitment will feel happier and enjoy their work

very much. The factors which influence the affective

commitment on lecturers and non-academic

employees are the organizational support that create

a comfortable working environment for the

individual psychologically. In additional to that, the

organization gives the freedom to lecturers and non-

academic employees for the sake of their creativity

at work and have a sense of pride being part of the

organization. These factors come to the effect

especially for the lecturers when they have freedom

to explore in teaching, research and doing

community service. Certainly all of them become

psychologically meaningful at work. The last factor

that can influence the affective commitment to raise

the role in work engagement is a harmonious

relationship between colleague that is demonstrated

by a positive support in team work where each co-

worker can value and accept each individual

differences.

Future studies should conduct longitudinal

studies to determine the causal factors and

relationship between work engagement and

organizational commitment. Moreover, future

studies could compare differences of relationship

between work engagement and organizational

commitment in private university and state

university. The following are practical implications

of this study:

- Organization should give support that create

a comfortable working environment for the

individual psychologically, such as giving

freedom to employees for the sake of their

creativity at work and have a sense of pride

being part of the organization.

- Not only organization, colleagues should

demonstrate a positive support in team work,

where each employee can value and accept

each individual differences.

5 CONCLUSION

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship

between work engagement and organizational

commitment in private university. The result showed

a positive and significant correlation between work

engagement and organizational commitment,

implying that the higher the work engagement, the

higher the organizational commitment; while the

lower in work engagement resulting the lower in the

level of organizational commitment. To be specific,

affective commitment has a contribution role in

increasing the work engagement in this private

university organization. The group of lecturers and

non-academic employees who have affective

commitment show emotional ties to the

organization.

REFERENCES

Bakker, A. B., and Demerouti, E. (2007). The Job

Demands-Resources Model: State of the art. Journal

of Managerial Psychology 22, no. 3: 309-328.

Beukes, I., & Botha, E. (2013). Organisational

commitment, work engagement and meaning of work

of nursing staff in hospitals. SA Journal of Industrial

Psychology, 39(2), 1-10.

Work Engagement and Organizational Commitment in Private University

467

Bowles, D & Cooper, C. (2009). Employee Morale:

Driving Performance in Challenging Times.

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Coetzee, M. (2005). Employee commitment. University of

Pretoria etd.

Corporate Leadership Council Employee Engagement

Survey. (2004). The Corporate Executive Board

Company. United Kingdom.

Dessler, G. (2006). Manajemen Sumber Daya Manusia.

Jakarta : Indeks.

Dicke, C., Jake, H., and Anne-Marie, K. (2007). Employee

engagement: What do we really know? What do we

need to know to take action. Center for Advanced.

Engelbrecht, S. (2006). Motivation and burnout in human

service work: The case of midwifery in Denmark.

Unpublished Doctoral Disertation. Roskilde,

Denmark: Roskilde University. Retrieved from:

http://www.arbejdsmiljoforskning.dk/~/media/Boeger-

og-rapporter/sen-phd.pdf.

Eghlidi, F, F., & Karimi, F. (2016). The Relationship

between Components of Work Engagement and

Organizational Commitment of Female Employees of

University. International Journal of Human Resource

Studies ISSN 2162-3058, Vol. 6, No. 3.

Guest, D, E. (2017). Human resource management and

employee well-being: towards a new analytic

framework. Human Resource Management Journal,

Vol 27, No 1, page 22-38.

Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal

engagement and disengagement at work. Management

Journal of Academy 33, no. 4: 692-724.

Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the

workpalace. USA : Sage Publication.

Noori, A. A., H. Zare, R. B. M. (2010). Relationship of the

components of work engagement to the dimensions of

organizational commitment. Journal of Industrial

Organizational Psychological News, 1(5): 9-15.

Phipps, S. T. A., Leon, C. P., and Erastus, N. N. (2013).

Understanding the impact of employee involvement

on organizational productivity: The moderating role of

organizational commitment. Journal of Organizational

Culture, Communications and Conflict 17, no. 2: 10.

Robbins, S. P. (2003). Perilaku Organisasi. Jakarta:

PT. INDEKS kelompok Gramedia.

Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., and

Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of

engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory

factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness

studies 3, no. 1: 71-92.

Schaufeli, W. B., and Bakker. A. B. (2003). Test manual

for the Utrecht work engagement scale.

Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., and Salanova, M. (2006).

The measurement of work engagement with a short

questionnaire: A cross-national study. Educational

and psychological measurement 66, no. 4: 701-716.

Simons J. C., & Buitendach, J. H. (2013). Psychological

capital, work engagement and organisational

commitment amongst call centre employees in South

Africa. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, Vol 39:N

Susanty, E. (2012). Pengaruh Iklim Organisasi Terhadap

Kepuasan Kerja dan Komitmen Karyawan Pada

Universitas Terbuka. Jurnal Organisasi dan

Managemen, Volume 8, Nomor 2: 121-134.

Tansky, J. W., Gallagher, D. G., & Wetzel, K. W. (1997).

The effects of demographics, work status, and relative

equity on organizational commitment: Looking among

part-time workers. Canadian Journal of Administrative

Sciences, 14, 315–326.

Trofimov, A., Bondar, I., Trofimova, D., Miliutina, K., &

Riabchych, I. (2017). Organizational commitment

factors: role of employee work engagement. Revista

ESPACIOS, 38(24).

VanGelderen, B. R., & Bik, L. W. (2016). Affective

organizational commitment, work engagement and

service performance among police officers. Policing:

An International Journal of Police Strategies &

Management, 39(1), 206-221 (2016).

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

468