ABSTRACT

This study examined the relationship between employee job satisfaction and employee commitment of Unilever Nigeria Plc. The objectives of this research were to find out the relationship between job satisfaction and affective commitment; to determine the relationship between normative commitment and job satisfaction and to examine the relationship between continuous commitment and job satisfaction. Three research questions and research hypotheses were stated for the study, the research design was survey in nature. The 200 copies of questionnaire were administered out of which 150 copies were properly field and retrieved from the respondents The frequency distribution tables and simple percentages were used analyse the data while Pearson Moment Correlation (r) techniques were used to test the null hypotheses which include there is no significant relationshipbetween job satisfaction and affective commitment it also revealed that there is no significant relationship between normative commitment and job satisfaction; the study further revealed that there is no significant relationship between continuous commitment and job satisfaction. Based on the conclusions the following recommendation were made that high employee commitment is the dream of all organisations. Therefore, the results obtained from the study shows that there is significant positive relationship between organisational commitment and job satisfaction. The study therefore, recommends that management of Unilever Plc should put in place policy that will motivate their staff to be more committed both to their jobs and the organisations. It is also important that foran organization to be successful, its managers should focus on increasing the employees’ job satisfaction.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Over the last three decades, organisational commitment and job satisfaction have generated a lot of interestamong researchers. The popularity of the concept has stemmed from its relationship with several importantemployee behaviours. For instance, the literature has shown that organisational commitment and jobsatisfaction may have positive impact on job performance.

Therefore, predicting employee satisfaction, commitment and turnover is important because employees havebecome the only source of sustainable competitive advantage to organisations (Popoola, 2007). Therefore,employee commitment and satisfaction becomes critical if an organisation expects to be successful.

Mowday, Steers and Porter (1979) conceptualized organisational commitment as a multidimensionalconstruct consisting of affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment. Eventhough many other forms of multidimensional commitment have been examined (Jackson & Schuler, 2009),this study will adopt Meyer and Allen’s multidimensional organisational commitment. This is because anemployee’s relationship with the organisation can reflect varying degrees of all the three dimensions (Fields, 2012) this study will extend their multidimensional construct within the Nigerian context.

Many successful organisations are strongly committed to look after their employee needs because they belief that Organisation that fosters employee satisfaction can secure greater employee commitment  (Popoola, 2007). Commitment is a belief, which reflects “the strength of a person’s attachment to an organisation”. Researchers have suggested that reciprocity is a mechanism underlying commitment and that employees will offer their commitment to the organisation in reciprocation for the organisation having fulfilled its employment contract (Adebayo, 2006).

Job satisfaction consists of the mentality an individual holds regarding his job. This includes feelings about the nature of the job itself, the pay, the promotion prospects and the nature of supervision. Job satisfaction is defined as "the extent to which people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) their jobs" (Conway andBriner, 2010). This definition suggests job satisfaction is a general or global affective reaction that individuals hold about their job. Dimension of job satisfaction, such as; nature of the jobs (pay, distance, problem to the work place, status, gender, benefit), support by management, workplace safety, and availability of resources Nature of the jobs such as pay, problem to the workplace, status, gender and benefit should be equally to the job that they perform (Azeem, 2010).

Generally, employee commitment is determined by a number of factors, including personal factors (e.g., age, tenure in the organisation, disposition, internal or external control attributions); organisational factors (job design and the leadership style of one's supervisor); non-organisational factors (Buchanan, 2014). Predictors of employee commitment in existing literature also include motivation, job satisfaction, job stress, and career salience. However, studies on organisational commitment in Nigerian business environment have continuously grown and further required in the Nigerian manufacturing sector. The applicability of some of the findings in western cultures also needs to be explored in Nigeria. As such, it is pertinent to examine the determinants of organisational commitment among employees in Nigeria manufacturing sector. The study therefore investigate the relationship between organisation commitment and job satisfaction among employees of Nigerian organisations

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Lack of employee commitment gave negative effects on employee job satisfaction and productivity which to a large extent contribute immensely to failure of organisation not achieving their goals. Organisation commitment to employee can be achieve through various motivation incentives, however, they cannot easily be achieved without management decisive action.

Employers are sometimes baffled when their highly-rated employees under-perform and others resignandleave the organisation. Management fail to understand why some employees are not satisfied with their job nor committed to the organisation even though they have proactively implemented fair compensationpolicies and human resource (HR) practices to motivate and retain them. It can be costly if employees arenot committed in their jobs, and if they lack the motivation to exercise their full potentials.

The problem of the study is to examine the impact of employee job satisfaction on employee job satisfaction, job stress and employee productivity in Unilever Nigeria Plc, Ikeja, Lagos.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to assess the relationship between employee job satisfaction and employee commitment of Unilever Nigeria Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State.

Specific objectives this study seeks to achieve are:

                    i.            To examine the relationship between affective commitment and job satisfaction.

                  ii.            To determine the relationship between normative commitment and job satisfaction.

                iii.            To examine the relationship between continuous commitment and job satisfaction

1.4 Research Questions

This research work is geared towards finding answers to the following questions:

                    i.            What is the relationship between affective commitment and job satisfaction?

                  ii.            What is the relationship between normative commitment and job satisfaction?

                iii.            What is the relationship between continuous commitment and job satisfaction?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses guided the study:

Hypothesis I

HI: There is no significant relationship between affective commitment and job satisfaction

HI: There is significant relationship between job satisfaction and affective commitment

Hypothesis II

HI: There is no significant relationship between normative commitment and job satisfaction

HI: There is a significant relationship between normative commitment and job satisfaction

Hypothesis III

Ho: There is no significant relationship between continuance commitment and job satisfaction

HI: There is a significant relationship between continuance commitment and job satisfaction

1.6 Significance of the Study.

The findings of the research would, first of all, enlighten the private and public sectors management on thelevel of job satisfaction and work commitment among employees of Unilever Nigeria Plc and by implication Nigeria workforce as a whole.

It would provide valuable information to the management in understanding the factors that affect job satisfaction. As job satisfaction has often been perceived as an important contributor toward employeecommitment level, it is of utmost important that the management knows and understands these factors. This would assist the management in creating conducive wo

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