WORK-LIFE BALANCE TECHNIQUES AND EMPLOYEE AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT IN THE NIGERIAN BANKING SECTOR

Abstract

Human resource is one of the most important elements for organizations to survive and develop. Organizations bear a great deal of costs in order to develop quality human resources.  This is because peak performance is pertinent to all organizations, and can only be achieved with a committed work force (Dessler, 2011).  Organizations therefore strive to raise an army of employees who are genuinely committed to actualizing the goals and objectives of the organization.  This however seem to have been a difficult task for most organization especially Nigerian banks, because they may have been employing the wrong methods in their bid to raise a committed workforce. Commitment is a person’s belief in a cause and pursuing that course willingly, intentionally, voluntarily, actively, passionately and relentlessly. Porter et al (1974) defined commitment as “an attachment to the organisation, characterised by an intention to remain in it; identification with the values and goals of the organisation; and a willingness to exert extra effort on its behalf”.  Genuine individual commitment to a cause cannot be forced or imposed, it is volitional. Meyer, Becker, and van Dick (2006) see commitment as “a force that binds an individual to a target (social or non-social) and to a course of action of relevance to that target”. They also explained that commitment consists of three mindsets that are affective; normative; and continuance commitments. Their submissions is in agreement with the model developed by Meyer and Allen (1991), which the researcher has adopted for this study.  Meyer and Allen’s model is the most researched model of commitment.  They identified three types of organizational commitment, which are: affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment.  Affective Commitment which is criterion variable in this study, is concerned with the individual’s emotional attachment and identification with the organization.  (Allen and Meyer, 1990).  It is the affection an employee feels or a strong personal attachment an employee feels for his job and organization.  According to Allen & Meyer (1990), it is “the employees’ emotional attachment and identification with and involvement in the organization.  “Affective commitment is seen by (Meyer and Allen 1991, 1997, Mowday, Porter and Steers 1982; Meyer & Herscorvitch 2001) as a force that bonds an individual to a course of action that is of relevance to a particular target.  (Meyer and Allen 1991, 1997, Mowday, Porter and Steers 1982).  Affectively committed employees are willing to go extra mile, just to ensure the success of their organization.  (Lee, Tem and Javalgi 2010; Bergman, 2006, Jha, 2011).  Employee with high affective commitment proceed with jobs in the organization because they are willing to do so, not because of pressure or compulsion (Almacik, Almacik, Akain and Erat, 2012, Jain Giga and Cooper, 2013, Patrick and Sonia 2012).  Employees who are affectively committed to the job and organization continue working for the organization because they want to stay closely linked with the organization.  (Lverson and Buttigieg, 1995; Meyer and Allen 1997, Beck and Wisdom, 2000).