Leadership In Nursing

Original Article

Role of Organizational Climate in Job Involvement: A Way to Develop the Organizational Commitment of Nursing Staff

Rohollah Kalhor, PhD 1 , Omid Khosravizadeh, PhD

1 , Saeideh Moosavi, PhD

2 ,

Mohammad Heidari, PhD 3

, and Hasan Habibi, PhD 4

Abstract Employees are the most valuable assets of an organization; therefore, it is very important to understand their behavior. In this regard, the present study was carried out in order to examine the effect of organizational climate on job involvement among nurses working in the teaching hospitals of Qazvin Province, Iran. The present descriptive analytical study was done in 2017. To randomly select a specific proportion of nurses from each of Qazvin teaching hospitals, stratified sampling was used. In total, 340 nurses were selected. Data were collected using 3 questionnaires: Halpin and Kraft Organizational Climate Questionnaire, Job Involvement Questionnaire (Kanungo), and Allen and Myer Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. For data analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used applying AMOS-24 software. The results of path analysis showed the effect of organizational climate on the nurses’ job involvement. Moreover, organizational climate influenced orga- nizational commitment through the mediation of job involvement. According to values obtained for degree of freedom based on chi-square, goodness-of-fit index, root mean square error of approximation, and comparative fit index were in the defined range; therefore, the validity of the conceptual model was approved. Based on the results of the present study, managers of health organizations can achieve their goals by understanding the organizational climate of the hospitals and its effect on the employees’ job involvement and discovering strategies needed for organizational commitment improvement.

Keywords organization, organizational climate, job involvement, nursing staff

Received May 15, 2018. Accepted for publication July 2, 2018.

Development of national economic and social sectors is not

possible without the help, support, and guidance of human

resources. Nurses, as one of the most important human

resources in health care organizations, play an important role

in promoting community health. In this regard, it is necessary

to understand the nurses’ mood and analyze factors affecting

their performance in hospitals. 1

Organizational climate, which

is an integral part of overall organization of hospitals refers to

correct social behavior and the way to manage conflicts, ambi-

guities, and challenges in hospital organization. 2

In fact,

efficient organizational climate leads to more dynamic com-

munication among the members of the organization, resulting

in members’ willingness to accept more responsibilities in

order to achieve their common organizational goals. 3

On the

other hand, organizations need employees who comply with

the values and objectives of the organization, have high

motivation, are committed, are inclined to continue their

organizational membership, and are involved with their job.

In fact, job involvement is an organizationally favorite motiva-

tional variable especially in the modern economy in which

1 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Qazvin University of

Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran 2

Department of Occupational Health, School of Health, Qazvin University of

Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran 3 Department of Medical and Surgical, School of Nursing and Midwifery,

Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran 4

Kosar Hospital, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran

Corresponding Author:

Hasan Habibi, Financial Expert in Kosar Hospital, Qazvin University of Medical

Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.

Email: [email protected]

Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine Volume 23: 1-5

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organizational rules are specified for full human resource mobi-

lization. 4

In health organizations, job involvement is one of the

issues that can significantly affect the nurses’ job satisfaction and

performance. Job involvement is one of the variables which can

lead to positive results in the organization. 5

Employees with job

involvement can form a spiritual relationship with their job and

invest certain resources in their current job. 6

Stress has been found

among different jobs, including nurses, because of their close

contact with patients with severe conditions and at the risk of

death. 7,8

In addition, they usually undergo huge workloads in

order to provide efficient and qualified healthcare services. On

the other hand, successful and appropriate nursing care in a hos-

pital requires a high level of commitment. 9

Researchers consider

organizational commitment as an important variable in under-

standing the employees’ behavior. Accordingly, organizational

commitment has potential and serious effects on organizational

performance; therefore, its ignorance can be harmful and costly to

the organization. 10

Tsai et al, 11

in Taiwan, and Huang et al 12

showed the effect of organizational climate on organizational

commitment among nurses. Moreover, Liou 13

and Ho et al 14

indicated that job involvement can be an important factor in the

realization of organizational commitment. Given the importance

of nursing profession and the unique organizational climate in

hospitals and the need for increasing organizational commitment

among nurses and other medical employees, it is undoubtedly

necessary to analyze the role of these dimensions in achieving

the goals of health system. In this regard, the present study was

carried out to investigate the effect of organizational climate on

organizational commitment using mediation of job involvement

among the nurses working in teaching hospitals of Qazvin, Iran.

The results of the present study can be significant for health

planners and the managers of health organization to understand

the dimensions affecting the commitment of the health workers,

especially the nurses.

Methods

Design

This analytical cross-sectional study was done in 2017. The statistical

population included all the nurses working in the selected teaching

hospitals (Rejaei, Bu Ali, Ghods, Velayat, and 22 Bahman) located in

Qazvin, Iran.

Research Sample

To select the nurses, Morgan table was used. First, stratified sampling

was carried out based on the hospitals; afterward, randomized sam-

pling was used in each stratum with a certain proportion.

Data Collection

For data collection, 2 standard questionnaires, including Halpin and

Kraft Organizational Climate Questionnaire (1970), Job Involvement

Questionnaire (Kanungo), and Allen and Myer Organizational Com-

mitment Questionnaire were distributed among the selected nurses.

Halpin and Kraft Organizational Climate Questionnaire (1970) was

used to measure organizational climate. This questionnaire consists

of 32 questions in 8 dimensions (team spirit, harassment, intimacy,

interest, consideration, distancing, influence and dynamics, and focus

on production). Scoring of this questionnaire is based on a 5-point

Likert-type scale from very low (1) to very high (5). The Job Involve-

ment Questionnaire (Kanungo) was used to measure job involvement.

It consists of 10 questions that are scored based on a 5-point Likert-

type scale ranging from completely disagree (1) to completely agree

(5). The Allen and Myer Organizational Commitment Questionnaire

was used to measure organizational commitment. This questionnaire

includes 24 questionnaires and covers 3 dimensions (emotional com-

mitment, continuous commitment, and normative commitment) with

a 5-point Likert-type scale from completely disagree (1) to com-

pletely agree (5).

Data Analysis

Out of 340 distributed questionnaires, 330 were completed. The

validity and the reliability of the mentioned questionnaires are con-

firmed by the researchers. However, to confirm the questionnaires

reliability in the present study, a pilot study containing 30 individ-

uals was chosen from our statistical population. Overall internal

reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) of the questionnaires was calculated

to be .78, .76, and .72, respectively, for the Halpin and Kraft Orga-

nizational Climate Questionnaire (1970), Job Involvement Question-

naire (Kanungo), and the Allen and Myer Organizational

Commitment Questionnaire. After the required data were collected,

they were analyzed using AMOS-24 software. Structural equation

modeling was used to test the hypotheses. To show the significance

of the model parameters and to show the effect of the variables, t test

and impact factor were, respectively, used. P < .05 was considered as

significant level.

Results

Participants

In the present study, most of the participants were women

(90.3%). Moreover, 76.1% of the respondents were married.

Table 1. Participants’ Demographic Data.

Demographic Characteristics n %

Age (years) �30 168 50.8 31-40 118 35.6 41-50 41 12.4 �50 4 1.2

Sex Female 299 90.3 Male 32 9.7

Marital status Single 78 23.6 Married 252 76.1

Educational degree Diploma 4 1.2 Bachelor’s 313 94.6 Master’s 14 4.2

Work experience (years) <10 3 0.9 >20 328 99.1

2 Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine

Considering educational degree, the participants mostly held

bachelor’s degrees. With regard to experience, most of the

nurses had an experience of more than 20 years (Table 1).

Dimensions and Components

According to the results of the study, the dimensions of group

mood and continuous commitment, respectively, had the high-

est mean values for organizational climate and organizational

commitment (Table 2).

Fit Indices

Additionally, the target hypotheses were tested using structural

equation modeling. The results of fit indices of the model are

presented along with their values in Table 3. These indices

represented acceptable fit for the proposed model and the

model validity was also confirmed.

Model Validation

Since the model was fitted to data, the path coefficient (direct

effect) of each path was observable. The path coefficient is a

numerical standard between 1 and �1. In the above model, positive sign indicates the positive relationship among the con-

sidered variables. For example, the path coefficient between

organizational climate and commitment was 0.22. However, to

examine the significance of this coefficient, Student’s t statis-

tics corresponding to each coefficient was employed and the

values are presented in Figure 1.

According to the conducted path analysis, all t statistics

were greater than 1.96, indicating that all path coefficients were

significant at a confidence interval of 95%; therefore, all the path coefficients were significant. As a result, it can be con-

cluded that the study’s hypotheses are approved (Table 4).

Discussion

Organizational commitment is one of the essential factors that

can create a healthy organizational climate, increase the orga-

nizational ethics, induce motivation, and enhance the

productivity of the organization. 15

In this regard, particularly

in health system, the achievement of hospitals organizational

goals and an improvement in the delivery of efficient medical

services can be obtained by improving the components of

organizational climate, keeping competent and committed

staff, and promoting commitment among employees. Resort-

ing to path analysis framework, the results of the present study

indicated that positive and efficient organizational climate can

improve job involvement among the nurses. In other words,

organizational climate made the employees involved with

their job. Accordingly, it seems that an employee with job

involvement considers the organization and job as his or her

own and tries hard to be successful in his or her job. This effect

is more obvious in hospital organization which has a challen-

ging and difficult environment and at the same time requires

an appropriate working climate in order to achieve its prede-

termined goals. In agreement with the results of the present

study, Motlagh, 16

Li et al, 17

and Varela González and Garcı́a

Garazo 18

indicated that organizational climate can affect job

involvement among the employees; in addition, they held that

employees with healthy work environment take steps toward

higher efficiency and better workplace by using all their

capacity. On the other hand, the results of the present study

showed a significant relationship between job involvement

and organizational commitment and the capability of job

involvement in predicting organizational commitment well.

In hospital environment, where there is a dire need for high-

efficiency work and attention to specialized profession,

employees need to devote themselves to work, organization,

and its goals. Therefore, job involvement can be regarded as

an important prerequisite to improve organizational commit-

ment among the employees of hospitals, and it should be paid

special attention. Along with the present study, Jang et al 19

studied physiotherapists in hospitals and Hudek-Knežević

et al 20

studied nurses and indicated that job involvement had

a positive effect on organizational commitment. The results of

another study conducted by Cho et al, 21

however, showed that

some dimensions such as occupational burnout among nurses

had a negative effect on organizational commitment. Finally,

the results of path analysis revealed that organizational

climate also affected organizational commitment and could

predict it well. This result actually indicated that organiza-

tional climate improvement can enhance commitment among

employees and managers and maintain the capacities and

competitive advantages of hospital organization. In this

Table 2. Central Indicators of Dispersion of Organizational Climate and Commitment Variables.

Variable Mean SD

Team spirit 3.56 0.586 Harassment 2.39 1.032 Intimacy 3.51 0.729 Interest 3.35 0.697 Consideration 3.10 1.083 Distancing 3.03 0.731 Influence and dynamics 3.19 1.316 Focus on production 3.30 1.029 Emotional commitment 3.091 0.622 Continuous commitment 3.12 0.485 Normative commitment 2.84 0.389

Table 3. Fit Indices of the Redefined Conceptual Model.

Fitness Index Preferred Value Result

w2/df <3 2.97 GFI >0.9 0.82 RMSEA <0.08 0.08 CFI >0.9 0.97

Abbreviations: GFI, goodness-of-fit index; RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation; CFI, comparative fit index.

Kalhor et al 3

regard, McMurray et al, 22

in Australia, Abou Hashish 23

in

Egypt, and Olson 24

in the United States showed that positive

and efficient organizational climate can create stabilized

organizational commitment, encourage nurses to be more

committed to their profession, and help hospitals achieve their

goal, that is, health improvement. On the other hand, the

results of a study conducted by Delgoshaei et al 3

indicated

that emphasis on production and trouble had an inverse rela-

tion with organizational commitment among hospital manag-

ers and employees. Altogether, organizational commitment

and dimensions affects can be different in various hospital

jobs, suggesting the conduction of further comprehensive

studies through identifying the effective dimensions and con-

trolling and managing them in order to improve the nurses’

commitment toward their profession.

Conclusion

In line with previous studies, the results of the present investi-

gation indicated the important role of organizational climate in

job involvement and consequently organizational commitment.

Accordingly, managers and authorities of hospitals are recom-

mended to pay close attention to organizational climate in order

to improve organizational commitment among nurses, which in

turn can lead to positive attitudes and enthusiasm toward orga-

nization and organizational commitment.

Acknowledgments

The authors want to express a special recognition to the nurses who

have participated in the data collection of this study, without whom the

study could not be possible.

Author Contributions

RK, OK, and MH conducted data analysis, wrote the first draft of the

manuscript, and approved the final manuscript. PK, OK, HH, MH, and

SM supervised data collection, conceptualized the analysis, revised

the manuscript, provided mentorship for project completion, and

approved the final manuscript.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to

the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship,

and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Mohammad Heidari http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7767-5645

Ethical Approval

The written informed consent was gained from all participants and

they were assured that their provided information will remain

Table 4. The Results on the Evaluation of Structural Research Model Fit.

Hypothesis Relationship t Statistic Path Coefficient Result

H1 OCL ! JI 3.08 0.225 Accepted H2 OCL ! OC 3.57 0.219 Accepted H3 JI ! OC 6.06 0.526 Accepted

Abbreviations: OCL, organizational climate; JI, job involvement; OC, organiza- tional commitment.

Figure 1. Estimation of the research’s structural model with standard coefficients.

4 Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine

confidential. The present study was approved by Ethical Committee

Medical Sciences University of Qazvin.

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