The relationship between commitment and

organizational culture, subculture, leadership style

and job satisfaction in organizational change and
development
Peter Lok
University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia
John Crawford
University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

Keywords
Organizational change,
Commitment,
Organizational culture,
Leadership, Management styles,
Job satisfaction
Abstract
The concept of organizational
commitment has been examined
extensively in organizational lit-
erature, yet the relationships
between organizational culture,
subculture and commitment have
received little attention so far.
Acknowledging the complexity
and the multifaceted nature of
antecedents involved in organiza-
tional commitment, it is still ne-
cessary to understand the
dynamics of relationships between in organizations, particularly in areas such
these variables. It was found that as performance and commitment. Indeed, the
organizational subculture was
more strongly related to commit-
ment than was organizational cul-
ture. Satisfaction with the level of
control over working environment
had the highest correlation with
the level of commitment. The
leadership style variable, consid-
eration, was also relatively
strongly related to commitment
when compared with other vari-
ables. There was a small positive
association between age and
commitment. However, partici-
pants' level of education, years in
position and years of experience
failed to show any relationship
with commitment.
Received: May 1999
Revised and accepted:
July 1999
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
20/7 [1999] 365±373
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Despite the large number of studies on
organizational commitment (Price and
Mueller, 1981; Allen and Meyer, 1990;
Mowday et al., 1979; Mottaz, 1988a), the
influence of organizational culture and sub-
culture on commitment has received little
attention. For example, the major review and
meta-analysis by Mathieu and Zajac (1990) on
the antecedents, correlates and consequences
of commitment did not include any reference
to organizational culture or subculture. This
is significant because influential organiza-
tional culture writers such as Deal and
Kennedy (1982) and Peters and Waterman
(1982) have suggested that organizational
culture could exert a considerable influence
importance of organizational culture in or-
ganizations has been discussed extensively
by numerous other authors (Alvesson and
Berg, 1992; Brown, 1995; Kotter and Heskett
1992; Hofstede et al., 1990; Sackman, 1991;
Schneider, 1990; Trice and Beyer, 1993). One
study which did address this issue was
carried out by Lahiry (1994). This showed
only a weak association between organiza-
tional culture and commitment. However,
the results of this study remained inconclu-
sive. It revealed a weak link between
passive/defensive culture and continuous
commitment which is contrary to the popular
assumption.
Several writers have emphasized that
organizational subcultures may exist
independently of organizational culture, and
that a small work group may have its own
distinct set of values, beliefs and attributes
(Brown, 1995; Martin, 1992; Martin and Siehl,
1983; Schneider, 1990; Sackman, 1991; Trice
and Beyer, 1993). Brewer (1993) further sug-
gested that if an organizational culture is not
articulated strongly enough, the subculture
may take precedence over the organizational
culture for individual employees and thus
gain their commitment. Thus, it is the
intention of this study to focus on the
relationships of both organizational culture
and subculture to commitment.
Variables that have been found in previous
research to be related to either commitment
or culture were also included in the study
reported in this paper. These include
measures of leadership style (Sergiovanni
and Corbally, 1984; Smith and Peterson, 1988;
Trice and Beyer, 1993; Mathieu and Zajac,
1990) and job satisfaction (Brief and Aldag,
1980; Mathieu and Hamel, 1989; Price and
Mueller, 1981; Williams and Hazer, 1986;
Bateman and Strasser, 1984; Curry et al., 1986;
Mathieu and Zajac, 1990).
The link between leadership and commit-
ment is further evidenced in the work of
Brewer (1993). Here, employees' commitment
was examined in relation to the level of
consent to, and conflict with, managerial
strategy. In Brewer's (1993) model of com-
mitment, although managerial strategy is not
the same as leadership, the attributes and
skills required in leadership could be seen as
an essential part of managerial strategy.
Williams and Hazer (1986) used a causal
modeling approach to examine the determi-
nants of organizational commitment and
labour turnover. Their main conclusion
was that a variety of variables (age, pre-
employment expectations, perceived job
characteristics, and the consideration
dimension of leadership style) all influence
commitment indirectly via their effects on
job satisfaction. In other words, job satisfac-
tion mediated the effects these variables had
on commitment. Similar conclusions were
drawn by Mathieu and Hamel (1989), Iverson
and Roy (1994), and Michaels (1994). A weaker
conclusion was drawn by Price and Mueller
(1981) who concluded that the influence of
some, but not all, antecedents of commitment
were mediated by job satisfaction. Other
antecedents (for example, professionalism
[ 365 ]
Peter Lok and John Crawford
The relationship between
commitment and
organizational culture,
subculture, leadership style
and job satisfaction in
organizational change and
development
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
20/7 [1999] 365±373
[ 366 ]
and kinship responsibility) had a direct effect
on commitment.
Aims and hypotheses
The main aim of this study is to investigate
the relationship of organizational culture
and subculture with commitment. Also of
interest is the relationship of these variables
with leadership style, job satisfaction and
subject characteristics such as age, level of
education and job tenure.
In the present study, nurses from a number
of hospitals were sampled and a question-
naire was used to obtain measures of the
variables mentioned above. In this context,
organizational culture was the hospital cul-
ture, subculture refers to the culture of the
ward or work unit, commitment refers to
nurses' commitment to their wards and
leadership style is that of the ward's
manager.
Hypothesis 1
There is a relationship between nurses'
commitment to their wards and measures of
hospital culture, ward culture, leadership
style and job satisfaction. More specifically,
it is expected that:
1 supportive and innovative hospital and
ward cultures will be positively correlated
with commitment; and
2 the bureaucratic hospital and ward cul-
ture dimensions will be negatively corre-
lated with commitment; and
3 a consideration leadership style will be
more positively correlated with commit-
ment than will a concern for structure
leadership style.
Although there is little empirical evidence to
suggest that there is a strong relationship
between organizational culture and commit-
ment, characteristics of organizational cul-
ture such as corporate values and beliefs
have been suggested to be related to com-
mitment and performance of organizations
(Harrison, 1972; Peters and Waterman, 1982;
Trice and Beyer, 1993). Also, it has been
suggested that bureaucratic work practices
often result in negative employee commit-
ment while a supportive work environment
could result in greater commitment and
involvement among employees (Brewer, 1993;
Kratina, 1990).
The relationship between leadership style
and commitment has been examined by Blau
(1985). A consideration leadership style was
found to have a greater influence than a
concern for structure leadership style (or
task-oriented style) on commitment. Also,
Williams and Hazer (1986) included
consideration leadership style as one of their
antecedents to commitment.
The expected relationship between job
satisfaction and commitment is based on
research carried out in numerous previous
studies (for example, DeCotiis and Summers,
1987; Glisson and Durick, 1988; Iverson and
Roy, 1994; Mowday et al., 1979; Porter et al.,
1974; Vandenberg and Lance, 1992; Williams
and Anderson, 1991; Williams and Hazer,
1986).
Hypothesis 2
Commitment to their work units or wards is
more strongly related to their perception of
ward culture than to their perception of
organizational culture.
Prestholdt et al. (1987) suggested that
nurses tend to identify more closely with
their area of work unit than with the hospital
as a whole. That is, nurses often exhibit
greater loyalty and commitment to their
wards than to the hospital.
Hypothesis 3
The job satisfaction dimensions used in this
study representing the psychosocial or high-
er-order needs in Maslow's hierarchy are
more highly correlated with participants'
commitment to their work units than are the
dimensions representing safety or lower-
order needs.
In most previous studies of commitment
(Blau, 1985; Price and Mueller, 1981; Taunton
et al., 1989), a uni-dimensional measure of job
satisfaction has been used. In the present
study, Mueller and McClosky's (1990) multi-
dimensional measure covering eight job
satisfaction dimensions is employed. This
instrument uses measures based on various
dimensions of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
These include dimensions representing
psychological or higher-order needs (such as
the amount of control in the workplace, the
level of professionalism, etc.), and safety or
lower-order needs (such as the amount of
reward, flexibility of work schedule, and
balance of work and home life). This
hypothesis is based on previous findings
which reported that elements such as intrin-
sic factors (Herzberg et al., 1959) and needs
for power and affiliation (McClelland, 1961;
Steers and Porter, 1987) are variables which
have strong associations with job satisfac-
tion.
Hypothesis 4
Job satisfaction and commitment increase
with age and decrease with education.
A number of studies have suggested that
age (Hrebiniak and Alutto, 1972; Lawler, 1973;
Peter Lok and John Crawford
The relationship between
commitment and
organizational culture,
subculture, leadership style
and job satisfaction in
organizational change and
development
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
20/7 [1999] 365±373
Simpson, 1985; Steers, 1977) and education
(Brief and Aldag, 1980; DeCotiis and
Summers, 1987; Mowday et al., 1982;
Steers, 1977) have a significant impact on
organizational commitment. Weisman et al.
(1981) found that age was a strong predictor of
job satisfaction among nurses.
In relation to educational level and
organizational commitment, it has been
found that educational level was negatively
correlated with organizational commitment
(DeCotiis and Summers 1987; Mowday et al.,
1982; Battersby et al., 1990). DeCotiis and
Summers (1987) suggest that this negative
correlation arises because it might be per-
ceived that rewards do not adequately reflect
the level of education, knowledge and skills.
Hypothesis 5
Years in position and years of experience are
positively associated with commitment.
Previous studies have indicated that posi-
tion tenure (Brief and Aldag, 1980; Gregersen
and Black, 1992; Mottaz, 1988b) and organi-
zational tenure (Mathieu and Hamel, 1989;
Mathieu and Zajac, 1990) have positive effects
on commitment. This can be explained as a
result of the organization's socialization
process. The length of service in an organi-
zation is positively related to the level of
internalization of organizational values
which results in greater commitment from
the individual (Allen and Meyer, 1990;
Hellriegel et al., 1995; O'Reilly et al., 1991).
Method ± sample and data
collection
A questionnaire survey was used to obtain
measures of organizational culture, sub-
culture, leadership style, job satisfaction and
commitment. A pilot study based on 32
returned questionnaires showed that
respondents were clear about the content of
the questions and instructions. No change
was necessary for the questionnaire to be
used in the main study.
A selection of hospitals (general, private
and psychiatric) was used to reflect the broad
range of hospital environments and nursing
staff practices in these hospitals. The sample
consisted of nurses drawn from seven large
hospitals (200 or more bed hospitals) located
in the Sydney metropolitan region. Only
wards in which the nurse unit manager had
held that position for more than 12 months
were used. This was done so that the wards
sampled were more likely to have a more
stable ward culture and leadership style. A
total of 30 general wards, 16 private wards
and 15 psychiatric wards satisfied these
criteria. As only 26 wards were required, a
random selection of wards occurred which
resulted in 11 general hospital wards, seven
private hospital wards, and eight psychiatric
hospital wards being selected for the final
sample. All nursing staff in the selected
wards were invited to participate in the
questionnaire survey. A total of 258 returns
were obtained from the 398 questionnaires
distributed. Seven questionnaires were
incomplete and were discarded. A total of 251
questionnaires were used for the final
analysis, which represents a response rate of
63 per cent.
Instrumentation
The survey instrument used in this study
comprised four established scales. These are
Wallach's (1983) organizational culture
index (OCI), Stogdill's (1974) leader
behaviour description questionnaire (LBDQ),
Mueller and McClosky's (1990) job satisfac-
tion survey (JSS), and the Mowday et al.
(1979) job commitment survey (JCS).
Wallach's (1983) organizational culture
index (OCI) describes organizational culture
in terms of three dimensions:
1 bureaucratic;
2 innovative; and
3 supportive.
The instrument comprises 24 items, with
eight items assigned to each of the three
dimensions of organizational culture. The
rating is accomplished on a four-point scale
ranging from does not describe my organi-
zation (0) to describes my organization most
of the time (3).
Stogdill's (1974) leader behaviour descrip-
tion questionnaire (LBDQ) has 40 items
assigned to consideration and initiating
structure categories of leadership style.
Subjects respond on a rating scale, ranging
from not at all (1) to a great deal (5).
Mueller and McClosky's (1990) job satis-
faction survey (JSS) has eight factors which
reflect the various safety, social and psycho-
logical needs in Maslow's (Hellriegel et al.,
1995) hierarchy of needs model. The Mueller
and McClosky's (1990) job satisfaction survey
has 31 items assigned to eight dimensions. It
uses a five-point Likert scale ranging from
very dissatisfied (1) to very satisfied (5).
The Mowday et al. (1979) job commitment
survey (JCS) is a well-established scale and
has been used extensively by other
researchers such as Koch and Steers (1978)
and Cook and Wall (1980). The instrument
has 15 items and each item has a seven-point
Likert rating scale ranging from strongly
disagree (1) to strongly agree (7).
[ 367 ]
Peter Lok and John Crawford
The relationship between
commitment and
organizational culture,
subculture, leadership style
and job satisfaction in
organizational change and
development
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
20/7 [1999] 365±373
Table I
Demographic summary
Variable
Age
Gender
Clinical years in nursing
Years in present position
Tertiary education
[ 368 ]
The organizational culture index (Wallach,
1983) was used to measure both subculture
(ward culture) and organizational culture
(hospital culture). The two versions of the
organizational culture index were presented
in locations well separated within the
questionnaire so as to minimize the problem
of cross-contamination in answering these
questions by participants. The questionnaire
for this study also collected certain basic
demographic data such as age, educational
level, years in position and years of
experience.
Results
A demographic summary of the sample is
presented in Table I. The median age was
between 31-35 years, 84 per cent were female,
and the average number of years in his/her
position was 4.6.
The remaining 18 variables in this study
are shown in Table II. A total of 17 variables,
other than commitment, were classified into
four groups, namely:
1 organizational culture (i.e. hospital cul-
ture);
2 subculture (i.e. ward culture);
3 leadership style (the ward manager's
leadership style); and
4 job satisfaction.
Each subject's score on a particular variable
was calculated as the average of the subject's
ratings on the set of items corresponding to
that variable. The variable Global (JS) was
formed as the average of all the job satisfac-
tion items. Cronbach alpha reliability
estimates, means, standard deviations and
rating scale midpoints are given in Table II.
Cronbach alpha reliability estimates
obtained from previous studies are also
shown in the Table.
The reliability estimates shown in Table II
for the culture, leadership style and commit-
ment variables are generally comparable in
magnitude with the values found in previous
studies. The reliability estimate for the
``innovative ward culture'' variable is, how-
ever, somewhat lower in the present study
Result
Median range 31-35 years
85 per cent female, 16 per cent male
Range 5 1 to 4 8 years, mean 5.8 years
Range 1 to 7 years, mean 4.6 years
28.7 per cent diplomas, 8.8 per cent degrees,
remainder certificates
(alpha = 0.67) than Wallach's (1983) original
estimate (alpha = 0.87).
A comparison of the reliability estimates
for the job satisfaction components obtained
in this study and those obtained by Mueller
and McClosky (1990) shows that the two sets
of reliabilities are generally comparable in
magnitude. The reliability estimate of the
global scale in this study (alpha = 0.83) is very
close to the value obtained by Mueller and
McClosky (1990) (alpha = 0.84). The reliability
estimate of 0.70 for the ``extrinsic reward''
variable in this study is somewhat higher
than the value of 0.52 obtained by Mueller
and McClosky (1990). However, the reliability
estimate for the balance job satisfaction
variable is relatively low (alpha = 0.51), as
was the original estimate (alpha = 0.57).
Although the Cronbach alphas in this
study for balance and coworker scales are
relatively low (0.51 and 0.47 respectively),
they are only slightly lower than those
obtained for these variables in the Mueller
and McClosky (1990) study, which were 0.57
and 0.54, respectively. For the sake of com-
pleteness and to maintain the integrity of the
original instrument, these variables were
included in subsequent analyses. However,
the low reliability of the variables should be
kept in mind when interpreting the results of
further statistical analyses involving these
variables.
With regard to the means of the variables
used in this study, that of bureaucratic
organizational culture (mean = 2.24) is higher
than the means for innovative and support-
ive organizational cultures (mean = 1.7 and
1.53, respectively). Although all the above
means are above the scale midpoint of 1.5, the
results reveal that participants generally see
their organizations as being more bureau-
cratic than innovative or supportive.
Means for the supportive and bureaucratic
subculture variables are approximately
equal (1.95 and 1.92 respectively) and are
slightly higher than that of the innovative
subculture variable (mean = 1.74). The means
of the three subculture variables are all
above the scale midpoint of 1.5, indicating
that nurses, on average, rated their wards as
fairly supportive, bureaucratic and, to a
lesser extent, innovative. Comparing the
means of the organizational and subculture
variables, respondents on average saw their
wards as being less bureaucratic and slightly
more supportive than their hospitals. They
rated their ward and hospital culture as
being equally innovative.
The mean of the leadership style variable,
consideration (mean = 3.29), was signifi-
cantly greater than that of initiating struc-
ture (mean = 2.81). When the means of the
Peter Lok and John Crawford Table II
The relationship between Cronbach alpha reliability estimates, means and standard deviations of variables used in the
commitment and
organizational culture, study
subculture, leadership style
and job satisfaction in Alpha
organizational change and Alpha (past (present Scale
development Variables Abbreviation studies) study) Mean SD mid-point
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal Organizational culture (hospital culture), Wallach's (1983) OCI
20/7 [1999] 365±373 Hospital bureaucratic HCBUR 0.71 0.72 2.24 0.45 1.5
Hospital innovative HCINN 0.87 0.74 1.70 0.49 1.5
Hospital supportive HCSUP 0.77 0.84 1.53 0.58 1.5
Subculture (ward culture)
Ward bureaucratic WCBUR 0.71 0.74 1.92 0.48 1.5
Ward innovative WCINN 0.87 0.67 1.74 0.46 1.5
Ward supportive WCSUP 0.77 0.83 1.95 0.56 1.5
Leadership style, Stogdill's (1974) LBDQ
Structure LSST 0.78 0.84 2.81 0.55 3.0
Consideration LSCONSID 0.82 0.81 3.29 0.92 3.0
Job satisfaction, Mueller and McClosky's (1990) JSS
Praise JSPRAISE 0.80 0.77 3.25 0.92 3.0
Control JSCONTRL 0.80 0.85 3.09 0.90 3.0
Interaction JSINT 0.72 0.77 3.71 0.77 3.0
Professional JSPROF 0.64 0.76 3.12 0.79 3.0
Co-worker JSCOWKS 0.54 0.47 3.89 0.75 3.0
Scheduling JSSCHED 0.84 0.82 3.59 0.82 3.0
Extrinsic reward JSXREW 0.52 0.70 3.19 0.92 3.0
Balance JSBALNCE 0.57 0.51 3.02 0.73 3.0
Global (JS) JSALL 0.84 0.83 3.33 0.49 3.0
Ward commitment, Mowday et al.'s (1979) OCS
Ward commitment COMMIT 0.90 0.85 4.98 0.98 4.0
Notes: N = 251; the ``Global (JS)'' variable was calculated by averaging all job satisfaction items for each
subject. The ``scale midpoints'' refers to the value corresponding to the centre of the rating scale used for items
in the particular scale

variables within the job satisfaction group of
measures are compared, it can be seen that
the respondents had higher levels of satis-
faction with co-workers (mean = 3.89), inter-
action with colleagues (mean = 3.71) and
flexibility in scheduling (mean = 3.59) than
with the other aspects of their job. Also, all
the job satisfaction variables in this study
achieved an average above the scale mid-
point of three. The mean for overall job
satisfaction (Global (JS)) is 3.3, which is
slightly above the scale midpoint. The mean
of ward commitment in this study is 4.98,
which is above the scale midpoint of 4.0.
Thus, respondents are generally satisfied
with their work and committed to their
wards, though on average, not strongly so.
The results most directly relevant to the
main aims of the study are shown in Table
III. This Table lists the variables (including
demographic variables) in order of decreas-
ing size of correlation with commitment.
In relation to H1, the correlations shown in
Table III suggest that, except for the hospital
bureaucratic and ward bureaucratic culture
variables, there are, in general, positive and
significant correlations between commit-
ment and measures of hospital culture, ward
culture, leadership style and job satisfaction.
The job satisfaction dimensions of control,
praise and interaction (which are considered
as intrinsic factors or higher-order needs)
had significantly higher correlations with
commitment (0.51, 0.47 and 0.39, respectively)
than most of the other variables. The corre-
lation between consideration leadership style
and commitment was reasonably high (0.45)
when compared to others in this study.
However, the correlation between leadership
style variable, structure, and commitment
was low (0.20). Hospital culture dimensions
generally had low correlations with commit-
ment (0.24, 0.22 and 0.05 respectively). How-
ever, the ward culture dimensions,
innovation and supportive, had higher cor-
relations with commitment (0.49 and 0.47
respectively). Hence, results from this study
generally support H1.
Regarding H2, Table III shows that
innovative and supportive ward cultures had
significantly higher correlations with com-
mitment (0.49 and 0.47, respectively) than
[ 369 ]
Peter Lok and John Crawford
The relationship between
commitment and
organizational culture,
subculture, leadership style
and job satisfaction in
organizational change and
development
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
20/7 [1999] 365±373
[ 370 ]
Table III educational levels and commitment was not
Correlations with commitment observed. Thus, only one part of H4 can be
accepted.
Variables Correlations
In relation to H5, no significant correla-
Job satisfaction (control) 0.51** tions were observed between commitment
Ward innovative 0.49** and years in their present position, or
Job satisfaction (praise) 0.47** between commitment and years of clinical
Ward supportive 0.47** experience. Hence, H5 is rejected.
Leadership style (consideration) 0.45** Although the main focus of this study is on
Job satisfaction (global) 0.44** the relationship of commitment with a
Job satisfaction (interaction) 0.39** number of other variables, certain relation-
Job satisfaction (co-workers) 0.30** ships amongst these variables are also of
Job satisfaction (schedule) 0.29** interest. Table IV shows the correlations
Job satisfaction (professional) 0.26** between the corresponding dimensions of
job satisfaction (rewards) 0.24** ward and hospital cultures. It can be seen
Hospital innovative 0.24** that these are relatively low (0.37 and 0.31) for
Hospital supportive 0.22** the innovative and supportive measures,
Leadership styles (structure) 0.20** respectively, but is somewhat higher (with a
Job satisfaction (balance) 0.13* correlation of 0.51) for that between the
Ward bureaucratic ±0.10 bureaucratic subculture and bureaucratic
Hospital bureaucratic 0.05 organizational culture measures. However, it
Demographic variables can be noted that the correlations between
Age 0.23** the corresponding subculture and organiza-
Clinical years 0.10 tional culture variables are low when com-
Tertiary education 0.09 pared with the reliability estimates of these
Years in position 0.02 variables as shown in Table II. This suggests
that the measures obtained from the
Notes: N = 251; *p 5 0.05; **p 5 0.01
organizational culture and subculture scales
in the questionnaire do represent distinct
innovative and supportive hospital cultures constructs.
(0.24 and 0.22, respectively). Thus, H2 is Other findings of interest relate to the
supported by these results. relationships between the leadership style,
In relation to H3, satisfaction with the level culture and job satisfaction variables. As
of control over working environment had the these results do not relate to the main aims of
highest correlation with commitment to the the present paper, only a few salient trends
ward. This was followed by other job satis- will be noted. Regarding correlations with
faction dimensions, such as praise received leadership style, it was found that the
from colleagues and leaders, the level of consideration dimension produced consist-
interaction with colleagues, the flexibility of ently higher positive correlations with the
shift scheduling, the level of acceptance by culture and job satisfaction measures, com-
co-workers, the amount of professional pared with the initiating structure dimen-
activities provided in the ward, and finally, sion. Also, correlations with the leadership
the amount of pay being received. Thus, the style measure, consideration, were higher for
job satisfaction dimensions of control, praise, the subculture dimensions, innovative and
interaction and acceptance by co-workers, supportive, than for the corresponding hos-
which represent Maslow's higher-order pital culture dimensions. Both bureaucratic
needs, had higher correlations with commit- culture and subculture measures were
ment than the job satisfaction dimensions unrelated to the consideration leadership
which represent the lower needs of Maslow's style, but showed low positive correlations
hierarchy. Thus, the findings support H3. with the initiating structure leadership style
Regarding H4, the correlation between dimension. Regarding the relationship
commitment and age was positive and sta-
tistically significant (r = 0.23). A near zero Table IV
correlation was found between commitment Correlations between the same categories of
and education (r = 0.09). Although DeCotiis hospital and ward cultures
and Summers (1987) found that education
was inversely related to commitment, their Variations Correlations
results are not supported by this study. In Hospital and ward culture (bureaucratic) 0.51**
conclusion, the hypothesized positive Hospital and ward culture (innovative) 0.37**
relation between age and commitment was Hospital and ward culture (supportive) 0.31**
found in this study. However, the expected Notes: N = 251; **p 5 0.01
negative association between nurses'
Peter Lok and John Crawford
The relationship between
commitment and
organizational culture,
subculture, leadership style
and job satisfaction in
organizational change and
development
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
20/7 [1999] 365±373
between leadership style and job satisfaction,
the strongest correlations were between the
consideration leadership style measure and
the praise and control dimensions of job
satisfaction (correlations of 0.58 and 0.50,
respectively).
Discussion
Both organizational and subculture variables
were significantly correlated with commit-
ment. However, it was observed that sub-
culture had a stronger association with
commitment than organizational culture,
with the two subculture variables:
1 ward innovative; and
2 ward supportive
being among the variables displaying the
highest correlations with commitment. This
finding is consistent with the previous liter-
ature that has suggested that organizational
culture and subculture could have differen-
tial effects on individuals in the workplace
(Brown, 1995; Krausz et al., 1995; Martin, 1992;
Trice and Beyer, 1993).
Another important finding is that innova-
tive and supportive subcultures had positive
associations with commitment, while a bu-
reaucratic subculture had a slight negative
association with commitment. This finding is
consistent with previous findings which
suggested that a bureaucratic environment
often resulted in a lower level of employee
commitment (Brewer, 1994; Kratina, 1990;
Wallach, 1983) and performance (Krausz et
al., 1995; Trice and Beyer, 1993). A similar,
but weaker pattern of associations with
commitment was also observed with the
corresponding organizational culture vari-
ables in the present study.
One important difference between this
study and others examining the relationship
between job satisfaction and commitment
was the multi-dimensional measure of job
satisfaction used in this study. This job
satisfaction measure was based on
McClosky's (1994) work, in which he pro-
posed that items used in the job satisfaction
questionnaire could be grouped into those
related to higher- and lower-order needs, as
defined in Maslow's theory of motivation.
The results of this study revealed that higher-
order needs (such as the level of control, the
amount of interaction and the level of
professionalism) exerted the greatest influ-
ence on commitment. This supported the
propositions suggested by Herzberg's theory
of motivation and Maslow's hierarchy of
needs (Robbins et al., 1994; Schermerhorn
et al., 1994) that intrinsic factors or higher-
order needs were more important to job
satisfaction than extrinsic factors, or lower-
order needs. These results are also consistent
with the conclusions drawn from meta-
analysis of the antecedents of organizational
commitment by Mathieu and Zajac (1990).
Previous studies (e.g. Bateman and
Strasser, 1984; DeCotiis and Summers, 1987;
Mathieu and Zajac, 1990) have investigated
the relationship between leadership style and
organizational commitment. The results of
this study confirmed earlier findings that the
leadership style consideration variable had a
stronger influence on commitment than the
leadership style structure variable. Also, the
strong positive relationship between job
satisfaction and organizational commitment
reported in previous studies (for example,
Bateman and Strasser, 1984; DeCotiis and
Summers, 1987; Glisson and Durick, 1988;
Iverson and Roy, 1994; Mowday et al., 1979;
Vandenberg and Lance, 1992; Williams and
Anderson, 1991; Williams and Hazer, 1986)
was also found in the present study.
Mathieu and Zajac (1990) and Staw and
Ross (1977) suggested that commitment in-
creases with age and decreases with educa-
tion. The results of the present study
revealed a small (r = 0.23**) but statistically
significant positive correlation between age
and commitment, but a near zero correlation
between education and commitment.
The results of this study showing that the
older the participant, the greater was the
degree of commitment, reflects the notion of
``sunk costs'' (Staw and Ross, 1977) which was
perceived as an investment in the organiza-
tion. These results are consistent with pre-
vious findings (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990;
Meyer and Allen, 1984; Staw and Ross, 1977;
Williams and Hazer, 1986). Although the
results did not show a negative correlation
between the level of education and commit-
ment, which was found in some previous
studies (DeCotiis and Summers, 1987), there
was only a very low correlation between
these two variables. Years in position and
years of clinical experience also failed to
show any significant association with
commitment.
In conclusion, the results of this study
evidence for the importance of subcultures in
organizations. Organizational subculture
had a greater effect on organizational com-
mitment than did organizational culture. In
particular, the study showed that innovative
and supportive subcultures have a signifi-
cant and positive effect on participants'
commitment. The study also showed that it
was the job satisfaction variables relating to
Maslow's higher-order needs (control, inter-
action and professionalism) that were more
strongly associated with commitment. Since
[ 371 ]
Peter Lok and John Crawford
The relationship between
commitment and
organizational culture,
subculture, leadership style
and job satisfaction in
organizational change and
development
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
20/7 [1999] 365±373
[ 372 ]
the data were obtained from nurses working
in various hospitals, the results of this study
have significant implications for hospital
management. In particular, the strong influ-
ence of ward culture (that is organizational
subculture) on commitment would be an
important factor to be considered in planning
change and development in the hospital
environment.
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