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Abstract
Age influence on organisational commitment dimensions among female employees has been barely investigated. To fill this knowledge gap, the present study examined the influence of age (younger and older) on affective, continuance and normative commitments in a sample of university female support staff. A total of 152 female support staff, purposively selected from two public universities in southern Nigeria participated in the study. They completed a self-report questionnaire that assessed affective, continuance and normative commitment and some demographic variables. Data were analyzed to predict affective, continuance and normative commitment from age. Results suggest that age had a direct influence on affective commitment and normative commitment. Specifically, younger employees reported higher levels on affective commitment and normative commitment. The study recommends that human resource managers identify and encourage aspects of the job that are likely to strengthen younger employees' bond to the organisation.
Keywords: Affective commitment, continuance commitment, normative commitment, age, female support staff
Introduction
As the workforce ages globally (OECD, 2005), human resource practices need to be constantly reviewed to encourage both young and older employees to remain and participate actively in the organisation. This becomes crucial because an employee's age is an individual attribute that significantly influences work attitudes, including organisational commitment (Affum-Osei, Acquaah & Acheampong, 2015; Cohen, 1993). Research on the effect of age on organisational commitment has been conducted in diverse settings and findings have reported positive, negative, and sometimes non-significant or weak associations (Abrams, Swift & Drury, 2016; Affum-Osei et al., 2015; Bayl-Smith & Griffin, 2014; Cohen, 1993). However, in examining how age is related to organisational commitment, most previous studies based their conclusions on aggregate organisational commitment score, although research has shown that personal characteristics, including age, predict organisational commitment (Steers, 1977), and may be differentially related to its components (Meyer & Allen, 1991).
Affective, Continuance and Normative Organisational Commitment
Organisational commitment is a psychological state that comprises three separate components that reflect a desire, a need or an obligation to preserve employment with an organisation (Meyer & Allen, 1991). Research has established that these three components, theoretically, represent distinct ways that an employee can bond with an organisation (Bergman, 2006). The affective component of organisational commitment relates to a desire or a volition to remain in an...