Influence of total quality-based human issues on organisational commitment

Most studies generally report consistent evidence that private-sector employees exhibit higher levels of organisational commitment, compared to employees in public-sector organisations. This paper focuses on the understudied public sector, and assesses the contribution of total quality-based human resources practices to enhancing employees’ organisational commitment, as well as the mediating role of job satisfaction in such relationship. A structural equation modelling approach was applied to data collected in three organisations belonging to the Portuguese public social security system. The findings are, to a large extent, in agreement with earlier fragmented studies, since they confirm the idea hypothesised according to which total quality-based human resources practices would have a significant effect on each of the dimensions of organisational commitment. Moreover, there is evidence of a mediation effect of employees’ job satisfaction on the relationship between total quality-based human resources practices and affective and normative dimensions of employees’ organisational commitment.