The Interaction between Organizational Factors and the Locus of Control in Predicting Emotional Engagement within Organizations
Numerous studies have identified the factors that promote the affective commitment of employees to their organization. However, further research is still needed in order to understand the mechanisms by which these factors affect affective organizational commitment (AOC), and to identify in what context and under which conditions their effects prove to be the most powerful (Becker, Klein and Meyer, 2009). This research is in line with recent studies that seek to overcome this limitation by investigating the interaction between organizational factors and individual characteristics in predicting AOC, arguing that individual factors affect perceptions of work experience, thereby influencing attitudes and behaviours at work. Several studies show that the locus of control, defined as the tendency of individuals to believe that they can, or cannot, control their environment and the course of events (Rotter, 1954), plays a role in the way individuals perceive their environment. Based on social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and on the group engagement model (Tyler and Blader, 2003), the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the interaction between the locus of control (internal/external) and perceptions of procedural justice, as well as the organizational pride of employees on their level of emotional commitment. The results show that the locus of control has a significant moderating effect between the AOC and the two aspects mentioned above. Thus, under the norm of reciprocity, the tendency for individuals to believe that organizational pride and procedural justice are the products of their actions, leads them to engage emotionally with the organization. Furthermore, in highlighting the important role of the locus of control in affecting attitudinal reactions to organizational factors, the results demonstrate the relevance of studying the moderating effect of other individual traits that are likely to influence the adoption of attitudes and behaviours that are beneficial to organizational performance, something which is advantageous to both employees and managers.