Academy of Strategic Management Journal (Print ISSN: 1544-1458; Online ISSN: 1939-6104)

Research Article: 2024 Vol: 23 Issue: 1

The Influence of Organizational Learning Capability, Public Service Motivation and Relational Leadership on the Organizational Commitment of Private Schools' Library Personnel in Region XI L

Catharine Caballero, Davao Oriental State University

Citation Information: Caballero,C. (2024). The Influence of Organizational Learning Capability, Public Service Motivation and Relational Leadership on Organizational Commitment of Private Schools Library Personnel in Region XI. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 23(1), 1-7.

Abstract

Organizations continually face the challenges to compete effectively with global environments and in line with its success are the sincere commitment of employees. To cope up with the emerging needs of organizations, this study looked into the influence of organizational learning capability, public service motivation, and relational leadership on the organizational commitment of library personnel. Quantitative research design was employed in this study using multiple regression analysis to determine the combined influence of the exogenous variables on organizational commitment. A survey questionnaire was administered to the 400 library personnel in private schools in Region XI, Philippines using total population sampling method. Findings show that organizational learning capability, public service motivation and relational leadership have significant influence towards organizational commitment. Further, results revealed that relational leadership was the strongest predictor of organizational commitment followed by organizational learning capability and public service motivation.

Keywords

Organizational Learning Capability, Public Service Motivation, Relational Leadership, Organizational Commitment of Library Personnel

Introduction

The attainment of organizational goals requires a sincere commitment of employees (Abigail & Oluwatobi, 2015). However, due to some factors like insufficient resources, low salary, low promotion, limited personal growth and development, lack of manpower and management recognition and others, productivity of employees are affected which oftentimes lead to poor commitment (Khan & Ahmed, 2013; Rafiq Awan & Mahmood, 2010).

Obviously, organizational commitment is vital for all organizations (Hanaysha, 2016). It is the primary factor that determines corporate competitiveness which enhances the motivation, and engagement of employees (Azeem, 2010). Anttila (2015) stated that committed employees are crucial for a successful organization so it is essential that person-job fit is implemented to ensure employees’ retention. Likewise, the trust on employee capability must be establish to boosts morale and high commitment (Norizan, 2012) which also leads to positive work attitude, resulting to higher productivity and loyalty.

Knowing the relatedness of organizational commitment, the researcher scrutinized literatures that have closer connection into and based on exhaustive reviews, it was found out that organizational learning has positive and direct relationship with organizational commitment. The authors explained that putting high regard on employees’ educational requirements and being supportive of their learning needs increases loyalty and commitment to the organization. Those who are knowledgeable in delivering the organization’s processes and are willing to learn more, are the ones that possess high organizational commitment. Additionally, giving importance on organizational learning as an approach in acquiring experiences and capabilities improve employees’ skills and creativity, boost commitment and loyalty, and organizational success (Aghaei et al., 2012).

Similarly, public service motivation also correlates with employees’ work attitudes (Oyewobi, 2013) which affect organizational commitment. Based on empirical results, variables like self-sacrifice, commitment to public values, attraction to public interest and compassion were significantly associated with organizational commitment. This indicates that those employees having excellent public service motivation and high morale with less regard for politics were likely to develop high levels of commitment and performance; however, low levels increase absenteeism and turnover.

Moreover, the attainment of the organization’s goal greatly depends on the relationship between leaders and subordinates (McArthur, 2012). The study of Mahdi et al., (2014) revealed that supportive and directive leadership behavior significantly impacted organizational commitment. Leaders with affective motives and a caring attitude to guide, assist and help employees in meeting their desired outcomes for the organization, will be motivated to improve individual organizational commitment. Nunes & Gaspar (2017) also affirmed that individuals who perceive their Leader-Member Exchange relationship to be of high quality are more committed to accept the goals of the organization.

Research Objective

This study focused on the organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel in Region XI, Philippines. Specifically, it sought:

1. To determine the level of organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel in terms of :

a. Normative

b. Affective

c. Continuance.

2. To determine the significant influence of organizational learning capability, public service motivation and relational leadership on the organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel.

Methodology

Quantitative research technique and multiple regression analysis were utilized in this study to determine the influence of organizational learning capability, public service motivation and relational leadership on organizational commitment. To generate accurate results, the survey questionnaire underwent a reliability test called Cronbach Alpha and was constructed on a 5-point likert scale rating. Further, in order to fully understand each question statement, the adapted instrument from various studies was contextualized to fit in with the library personnel’s organizational setup.

This study was conducted in the Davao Region, formerly called Southern Mindanao. Region XI is located at the Southeastern portion in Mindanao, Philippines, comprising four provinces and one capital city namely: Davao de Oro, Davao Del Norte, Davao Del Sur, Davao Occidental, Davao Oriental, and Davao City.

This study used universal or total population sampling method. This method is suitable for this research because of the common characteristics defined by the chosen population. Though individuals of this population have different ages, gender, and attitudes, but they share a certain experience in their jobs. Moreover, this technique is fitted for this study considering that only a few are librarians by profession and very limited professionals are handling library services.

Results and Discussion

Level of Organizational Commitment of Private Schools’ Library Personnel in Region XI

Level of organizational commitment according to normative dimension: In Table 1 is revealed the level of organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel in normative dimension. The overall mean rating indicated 4.06 described as high. This implied that the behavior was oftentimes demonstrated by the library personnel. This also meant that private schools’ library personnel showed high normative commitment to the institution they are employed in. Specifically, the challenges of the library work as an opportunity for success provide a very high impact on the normative commitment of librarians with a mean rating of 4.36 or very high-level description while the option to transfer to other libraries constituted the lowest impact having 4.05 described as high level. Librarians believed that the challenges they experienced in their workplaces provide many opportunities for success, and thus, made them become more strongly attach to work. Further, librarians developed moral and ethical concern to their work so they likely stay in the organization due to obligatory conduct. From the result there is also a high tendency for librarian’s to stay in the organization because they are not certain if same opportunities will be given to them if they opted to transfer to other libraries. This confirms the study of Balassiano & Salles, (2012); Gelaidan & Ahmad, (2013) stated that employees will not move out in the organization because there are tendencies that one cannot find the same comfort in their job and are afraid of the consequences after leaving which will compromise their moral obligation to the organization.

Table 1 Level of Organizational Commitment in Terms of Normative
Items SD Mean Descriptive Level
Considering the challenges of the library library an opportunity for success. 0.601 4.36 Very High
Enjoying speaking with friends about the library where they work. 0.722 4.03 High
Knowing that staying in the library means sacrifice of some job alternatives. 0.734 3.93 High
Believing that the process of individual transfer from this   is limited library to another 0.738 3.88 High
Believing that the moral commitment  towards their to stay in this library.colleagues drives them 0.674 4.12 High
Overall 0.565 4.06 High

Level of organizational commitment according to affective dimension: In Table 2 is depicted the result of organizational commitment of library personnel in terms of affective domain. From the table it can be gleaned that the affective commitment of library personnel generated a mean rating ranging from 3.98 to 4.15, all with high level description. This showed that library personnel are strongly affected by their emotional attachments to their organization. Of the five items stated, the acceptance on any work assignments showed the highest impact of affective dimension while the option to spend the rest of their career time in the library was the least consideration. This supports the study of Sow stating that the extent to which employees feel emotionally connected, identified, and involved with the organization is due to innate values (Balassiano & Salles, 2012). Additionally, employees developed emotional commitment to the organizations only if they feel competent and comfortable in their workplace.

Table 2 Level of Organizational Commitment in Terms of Affective
Items SD Mean Descriptive Level
Feeling happy to spend the rest of their career time at this  library 0.749 3.98 High
Feeling happy because they prefer the opportunity to work in this library 0.716 4.1 High
Feeling the sense of belongingness here so they have no desire to leave 0.696 4.14 High
Accepting any work assignments to ensure their continuity in this library 0.664 4.15 High
Knowing that this library has a favor in building career life more than any other organization 0.754 4.01 High
Overall 0.631 4.08 High

Level of organizational commitment according to continuance dimension: In Table 3 is shown the organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel in terms of continuance domain. Table 3 showed the overall mean rating of 4.08 described as high, which means that continuance commitment was oftentimes demonstrated. In particular, doing well in their work and receiving due recognition for successful outcomes generated to have the most impact to the library personnel while knowing what the library offers compared to other organization came out the least. This result find supports with the study of Taing et al., (2011) based on positive financial exchanges versus low work options to address continued commitment. Continuance commitment takes place when staff engage not because they want to, but because they need to (Balassiano & Salles, 2012).

Table 3 Level of Organizational Commitment in Terms of Continuance
Items SD Mean Descriptive Level
Knowing what this library offers that is not  available in other organization. 0.771 4.01 High
Knowing the various additional feature that this library can provides. 0.721 4.05 High
Doing well in their work and receiving due recognition for successful outcomes. 0.674 4.09 High
Knowing that the incentive received is in accordance with the duties and responsibilities. 0.708 4.08 High
Overall 0.63 4.05 High

The Influence of Organizational Learning Capability, Public Service Motivation and Relational Leadership on the Organizational Commitment of Private Schools’ Library Personnel in Region XI

In Table 4 is revealed the influence of the three exogenous variables to the endogenous variable. From the result, it can be explained that, when organizational commitment was regressed on organizational learning capability, public service motivation and relational leadership, it generated an R2 of 0.822 while F-value of this regression was measured at 274.61 with p-value (0.000). The computed R2 value of 0.822 denotes that 82.2 percent of the variance of organizational commitment was affected by these three exogenous variables and the remaining 17.8 percent was attributed to outside factors not covered in the study. Therefore, the combination of organizational learning capability, public service motivation and relational leadership significantly influence the organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel. Moreover, the table shows that all of the three (3) exogenous variables exhibited significant influence with p-value (0.000). Hence, of the three, relational leadership came out to be the best predictor of organizational commitment with the highest standardized beta of 0.46742, followed by organizational learning capability with standardized beta of 0.28098 and public service motivation with the lowest standardized beta of 0.23134. This denotes that relational leadership had the highest degree of influence compared to organizational learning capability and public service motivation and significantly contributed to the variations in organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel.

Table 4 The Extent of Influence of Predictor Variables on Organizational Commitment
Independent Variables Organizational Commitment Dependent Variables t Sig.
β Standardized  Coefficients B Unstandardized Coefficients
Constant -0.0433 0.1443 -0.30 0.764
Organizational Learning Capability (OLC) 0.28098 0.05523 5.09 0.000
Public Service Motivation (PSM) 0.23134 0.05646 4.10 0.000
Relational Leadership        (RL) 0.46742 0.05209 8.97 0.000
R 0.675 - - -
R2 0.822 - - -
F 274.61 - - -
p 0.000 - - -

The influence of relational leadership to organizational commitment supported the study of Fayyaz et al. (2014), indicating managers’ supportive and helping attitudes towards subordinates. This contained that managers must show trust, confidence, friendliness and try to understand their subordinates’ problems. In the library perspective, personnel have experienced relationships that are built on good values, caring and support from their supervisors. The supervisor provides inspiring and motivating goals by articulating the importance of work. Sensitivity to the needs and feelings of library personnel is very important because the absence or limitation of it (sensitivity) will result to low commitment especially that libraries of today are facing more challenges due to current developments. This also conforms with the idea of Akram et al. (2016) that the more inclusive, ethical, caring, empowering and visionary the leaders are, the more a healthy relationship will be develop with work trust between them and their subordinates. The caring, visionary and intuitive attitudes of leaders, develops interpersonal relationship within the organization.

Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn.

1. The level of organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel is high.

2. The combination of organizational learning capability, public service motivation and relational

leadership significantly influence the organizational commitment of private schools’ library personnel. Specifically, among the three exogenous variables, relational leadership came out as the best predictor of organizational commitment followed by organizational learning capability and public service motivation.

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Received: 02-Nov-2023, Manuscript No. ASMJ-23-13258; Editor assigned: 03-Nov-2023, PreQC No. ASMJ-23-13258(PQ); Reviewed: 17-Nov-2023, QC No. ASMJ-23-13258; Revised: 21-Nov-2023, Manuscript No. ASMJ-23-13258(R); Published: 28-Nov- 2023

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