personality as an indicator of organisational

PERSONALITY AS AN INDICATOR OF ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT Barbara Hoffmann University Centre “César Ritz” Brig, Switzerland [email protected] Elizabeth M. Ineson Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester, UK [email protected] and Morag I. Stewart The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management Dubai, UAE [email protected] ABSTRACT Organisational commitment (OC) has three components: affective, continuance, and normative commitment. Literature suggests a high degree of affective commitment (AC) enhances job performance, service quality, extra-role performance, and customer satisfaction; additionally it reduces absenteeism and turnover. This study examined whether personality is an indicator of OC. Questionnaires assessing personality type and OC were completed by 145 operatives in sales and marketing and reservation departments of five-star hotels in Germany. The findings support a relationship between personality and AC. Personality assessment could determine employees with higher AC and hence identify those persons most likely to contribute to organisational effectiveness and success. Key Words: Organisational commitment; personality type; human resource management practices; and organisational effectiveness. INTRODUCTION Shepherd and Mathews (2000) suggest that employers view OC with increasing interest and importance. Given that employees’ OC is an underlying factor for organisational success, Kusluvan (2003) indicates that progressive Human Resources Management (HRM) practices should include careful selection and development of employees. This progressive HRM approach is critically important in the hospitality industry, where employees’ attitudes and behaviours play a vital role in the delivery of tangible and intangible services. Meyer, Paunonen, Gellatly, Goffin and Jackson (1989) report a correlation between OC and job performance while Simons and Walsh (2001) indicate a positive relationship between AC in employees and their observed service quality. Consequently, OC has an effect on customer service and therefore also on customer satisfaction. In addition, highly and affectively committed employees have lower employee turnover and absenteeism, an important consideration in most hospitality organisations (Mowday, Porter and Steers, 1982). Conceptually, OC has three sub-components: affective, continuance and normative commitment. Meyer and Allen (1997) relate an employee’s OC to the employee’s reason for remaining with the organisation. They state that affectively committed employees stay because they want to, employees with continuance commitment (CC) stay because they need to, whereas normatively committed employees stay because they ought to. Furthermore, Meyer and Allen (1997:44) suggest there is “… consistent evidence that individuals with particular personality characteristics are more or less likely to become affectively committed to an organization …” Recent studies have focused on factors that might influence OC. In their three-component model of OC, Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, and Topolnytsky (2002) denote a variable labelled “Personal Characteristics” as the only variable that influences all three OC sub-components. Personal Characteristics are understood to comprise both demographic and disposition variables. Personality is a disposition variable that can be assessed using trait or type theories (Furnham, 1992); there is reason to believe that personality type may influence OC. The present study examined the relationships between the personal characteristics, that is. demographic profiles and personality types, and OC of hotel employees in Germany. Based on theoretical and empirical prior research, a descriptive research approach was deemed most appropriate.

ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT (OC) Although OC was initially conceived as a reflection of observed behaviours (Becker, 1960), Porter, Steers, Mowday and Boulian (1974) emphasised the attitudinal aspects of OC then Porter et al. (1974: 604) conceptualised this attitudinal view by defining OC “.. in terms of the strength of an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular organisation. Such commitment can generally be characterised by at least three factors: (i) a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization’s goals and values; (ii) a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization; (iii) a definite desire to maintain organizational membership”. Attitudinal commitment focuses on the psychological state, that is, the emotional attachment of employees to their organisation and its goals and values. Rather than viewing OC as a single construct, Meyer and Allen (1984) developed a multidimensional construct of OC. They referred to OC based on the “side-bet” theory (Becker, 1960) as CC and OC based on attitudinal commitment as affective commitment (AC). To understand the nature of these dimensions of OC, Meyer and Allen (1984) investigated whether CC and AC should be regarded as two independent constructs. Their findings indicated that CC and AC are interrelated. Further extending the research on OC, Allen and Meyer (1990) suggest that it is better to view the types of commitment as ‘components’ of commitment, since the different psychological states within an employee that forms AC, CC and NC might be present at the same time, although to different degrees. Meyer and Allen (1991) integrated Wiener’s conceptualisation of commitment, defined as the obligation felt towards an organisation, as a third component of commitment and referred to this third component as normative commitment (NC). Using these three OC components, Meyer and Allen (1991) developed an instrument to measure employees’ perceived obligation towards the organisation. The reliability and validity of Meyer and Allen’s three-component commitment scale has been affirmed by other researchers (Hackett, Bycio and Hausdorf, 1994; Dunham, Grube and Castaneda, 1994; Meyer et al., 2002). Based on this prior research and looking at OC from a multidimensional perspective, the Meyer and Allen’s (1997) instrument, Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment Scale, was deemed appropriate for use in the present study to assess employees’ OC. Before examining the relationship between OC and personality type, pertinent literature pertaining to personality type is discussed. PERSONALITY TYPE The concept of personality type is based on Jung’s theory (1921) which explains that a person’s personality can be categorised into two mental functions and one attitude function. The mental functions are determined on a preference scale comprising the two dichotomous pairs thinking/feeling and sensing/intuition. Jung also categorises personality based on a person’s attitude preference: individuals are naturally either introverts or extraverts. Briggs and Myers Briggs (1995) added a fourth function to Jung’s model, the dichotomous pair perceiving and judging Although Briggs and Myers Briggs (1995) developed an instrument to categorise individuals according to their personality type, in common with Jung’s classification their underlying concept is based on theory. Keirsey (1998:20) however believes that personality has two facets, temperament and character. In articulating the difference between these facets he indicates temperament is: “… a configuration of inclinations, while character is a configuration of habits. Character is disposition, temperament is pre-disposition …” To Keirsey, personality theory is temperament theory and consequently individuals can be categorised by their use of words and tools. To measure a person’s personality type, Keirsey developed an instrument similar to the instrument of Briggs and Myers Briggs (1995). Keirsey’s (1998) conceptualisation of temperament categorises the personality types according to their use of words (abstract or concrete) and tools (cooperative or utilitarian) with these four main groups distinguishing four different personality types as shown in Figure 1. Keirsey calls his four groups: Idealist (NF), Guardian (SJ), Rational (NT), and Artisan (SP). The Idealist is characterised by prevailing intuition and feeling functions, the Guardian by dominant sensing and judging functions. The Rational type emphasises intuition and thinking, whereas the Artisan mainly uses the sensing and perceiving functions. Although Keirsey’s (1998) conceptual foundation is Jung’s and Briggs and Briggs Myers’, his framework is more practical than their theoretical one. However, there remain similarities to the Briggs and Briggs Myers’ model of personality types. Keirsey’s conceptualisation attributes an individual’s behaviour, expressed in the use of words and tools, to one of 16 personality types or one of four personality groups respectively. Thus, knowing a person’s personality type or group, others are enabled to predict this person’s behaviour. Keirsey’s approach can therefore be regarded as a relatively practical approach to personality typology. Because of its practicality, Keirsey’s Temperament Sorter was deemed a suitable instrument for use in the present study to measure personality types. Figure 1 Keirsey’s framework of temperament

Words Tools

Idealist Cooperative Utilitarian Rational

Abstract NF NT

Concrete SJ SP

Guardian

Artisan

Source: Kiersey, 1998:8 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT As discussed previously, Meyer et al. (2002) propose personal characteristics as an antecedent variable influencing all three components of OC: AC; CC; and NC. Since personal characteristics comprise both demographic and disposition variables, it is likely that individual demographic and disposition variables will influence OC. Reviewing literature pertaining to demographic variables, Meyer and Allen (1984) proposed that age has a positive correlation with OC. To test this relationship, the first hypothesis was formulated: H1 OC is associated with age. Meyer and Allen (1984) also suggested that tenure correlates positively with OC, leading to the formulation of the second hypothesis: H2 OC is associated with organisational tenure. Studies by Mathieu and Zajac (1990) and Meyer et al. (2002) found no relationship between gender and OC. On this basis, the third hypothesis was formed: H3 OC is not associated with gender. With regard to disposition variables, personality type is the variable of interest. From the Meyer and Allen (1991) model, it would appear that personality type influences OC. To further assess this relationship, a fourth hypothesis was formulated: H4 Personality types differ with respect to their predisposition towards one of the three components of OC. Prior research had shown that high affective commitment leads to the desirable employee behaviours associated with extra-role performance and reduced employee turnover (Meyer et al., 2002). Therefore to examine whether personality type is an indicator of degree of commitment, hypothesis five was formulated: H5 personality types differ regarding their degree of commitment. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY To assess the extent to which there is a relationship between personality type and OC of hotel employees, a quantitative study method was applied. A quantitative study is “an inquiry into a social or human problem, based on testing a theory composed of variables, measured with numbers, and analyzed with statistical procedures” (Creswell, 1994: 2). Since the study at hand is descriptive in nature, a survey technique was chosen to gather the information. A survey generates data from a sample, which allows the researcher to “generalize the findings from a sample of responses to a population” (Creswell, 1994: 117). A quantitative approach was deemed preferable to a qualitative one because the reasoning process to test the underlying theory is deductive, the theory will be tested empirically and the study strives for generalisation of the findings (de Vaus, 2002). A postal questionnaire was selected for data collection based on time and cost factors (Zikmund, 2000). Germany was chosen as the geographical location because the proportion of non-native employees working in the hospitality industry is estimated to be relatively low, i.e. 26.6% in the year 2000 (DeHoGa, 2004); thus cultural differences as an extraneous variable and possible differences in the perception of OC could be minimised. The sampling frame comprised all German hotels with a five-star rating. Limiting the list to five-star hotels guaranteed similar ratings across the sample, thus minimising the potential influence of different quality standards on the study’s independent variables. The list of five star hotels was obtained from the German hotel guide Deutscher Hotelführer 2004, published by the Deutsche Hotel- und Gaststättenverband (2003). Purposive sampling, based on: (i) a minimum of 100 beds and (ii) adhering to progressive HRM practices, generated a list of 41 hotels, 28 of which accepted the invitation to participate in this study. Ulrich, Halbrook, Meder, Stuchlik and Thorpe (1991) suggest that a higher degree of AC will relate positively to a higher customer attachment. The study chose employees likely to have initial customer contact, and hence those who were fluent in the German language and more likely to be German nationals. This decision further reduced the impact of culture as an extraneous variable. Consequently, the participants were selected based on their department (sales and marketing and reservation), and tenure (one year minimum), excluding interns and those serving in apprenticeships. Of the 200 questionnaires mailed to hotel employees selected at random, 148 were returned of which 145 were deemed acceptable for analysis; the high response rate of 72.5 per cent to the postal questionnaire may be perceived as an indicator of high OC. The questionnaire was developed in three sections: (i) demographic data; (ii) the independent variable personality type was assessed through the 70-item Keirsey Temperament Sorter (two hundred copies were purchased for this study); and (iii) each of the three components of OC, the dependent variables, was measured using the revised Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment Scales developed by Meyer and Allen

(1997). The questionnaire was translated into German and back-translated by an independent translator; a few adjustments were made where deemed necessary to account for language equivalence (Birbili, 2000). A twophased approach was used to pilot test the questionnaire. Firstly, six employees working in reservations assisted in pilot testing the instrument to assess the clarity and lack of ambiguity in the wording. Several minor modifications were made. Subsequently, a longitudinal study was administered with 30 participants to “examine continuity of response” (Zikmund, 2000) and to test the questionnaire for reliability. The McNemar and the paired t-test were used to test for differences in the responses over time. Because no significant differences were found for either of sections 2 or 3 in the paired-sets of surveys administered during the longitudinal pilot test, sections 2 and 3 were included in the final questionnaire without further changes. Initially, frequencies and descriptive statistics were prepared to summarise the distribution of the sample. Then the hypotheses were tested. Independent t-tests were run to examine the possible influence of the demographic variables gender, age and tenure on OC, thereby testing H1, H2 and H3. Chi-square tests were employed to uncover any possible differences amongst personality types in terms of predisposition towards one of the three OC types. Multiple ANOVA tests with one factor (personality groups) and four levels of this factor (NF, NT, SJ, SP) were used to compare the means for each of the three types of OC of the different personality groups. The ANOVA tests not only gave insight into the general predisposition towards one of the three OC types, as established using the chisquare tests, but also informed how the personality types ranked within each OC type (cf. de Vaus, 2002). Throughout the study a confidence level of at least 95 percent was accepted. FINDINGS Of the 145 survey respondents, 88 were female (60.7%) and 57 were male (39.3%); proportions that closely reflect the overall German hospitality industry (DeHoGa, 2004). The age band 20 < 40 had 77.2% of respondents; the remaining 22.8% were aged 40 or over. In the tenure range from one year < five years there were 62.8% of respondents; the remaining 37.2% had tenure of five or more years. Regarding the distribution of personality types, ESFJ (Extrovert Sensing Feeling Judging) stood out as the prevailing personality type with 18.6%, which was not surprising considering their employment in a service-oriented industry. This finding is consistent with Briggs Myers and Myers (1995) description of personality types. They state that ESFJs generally favour service oriented professions and explain that individuals with sensing and feeling as their dominant functions characteristically “focus their attention on facts, but they handle these with personal warmth. They tend to be sympathetic and friendly, and they enjoy occupations that provide practical help and service for people” (p. 150). The frequencies for the demographic personality type showed that the subgroup sizes of some of the types were very small (frequencies of one and two) rendering most of the planned statistical tests impractical and unreliable. Therefore, as recommended by Diamantopoulos and Schlegelmilch (2000), personality types were combined into Keirsey’s (1998) four groups of temperament; Idealist (NF), Guardian (SJ), Rational (NT), and Artisan (SP). This regrouping resulted in the 2 x 2 matrix as shown in Figure 2. The dominant personality groups were Guardians (41%) and Idealists (26%). This finding could be linked to the fact that the respondents were employed in exacting and caring roles in the luxury service-oriented hotel sector. Guardians, as Keirsey (1998: 76) explains, are prone to favour rules and regulations, to oversee that the processes and resources necessary to reach a set goal are in place, and to meet “the needs of others and keeping them from want or harm”, qualities ideally suited to service-oriented occupations. It is highly probable that the imbalanced group distribution reflects the nationality of the sample. The emotional need of the German culture for regulations and rules is associated with their strong uncertainty avoidance society (cf. Hofstede, 1991). After collapsing the personality types into the four personality groups, hypotheses four and five were reworded to reflect personality group rather than personality type: H4 Personality groups differ with respect to their predisposition towards one of the three components of OC and H5 personality groups differ regarding their degree of commitment. A sixth hypothesis was then added to examine the possible intervening influence of extraversion/introversion: H6 extraversion/introversion does not influence the relationship between personality groups and OC. Hypothesis six was required because after combining the 16 personality types into four personality groups, the attitude function extraversion/introversion was no longer present. Figure 2: The four groups of personality (n=145) Idealist Cooperative Utilitarian Rational

Abstract NF (25.5%) 37 NT(17.9%)26

Concrete SJ (40.7%)59 SP (15.9%)23

Guardian

Artisan

To determine the influence of demographic variables on OC, independent t-tests were employed. The tests indicated no significant difference between the two age categories mean ratings of OC (AC: p = 0.16; CC: p = 0.1; NC: p = 0.37); therefore H1 was rejected. Testing H2, the relationship between tenure and OC, the results indicated a significant positive correlation for both the AC and CC components of OC (AC: p = 0.04; CC: p = 0.01), indicating that longer tenure increases the degree of AC and CC. Therefore H2 was accepted regarding AC and CC. However, since no significant difference could be found between the two tenure categories and NC (p = 0.22); H2 had to be rejected with respect to NC. H3, postulated that there is no difference between female and male respondents with respect to OC. H3 was based on Meyer and Allen’s (1984) and Mathieu and Zajac’s (1990) findings of no significant correlation between these two variables. The t-test results support no significant difference in the degree of AC and CC between female and male respondents (AC: p = 0.1; CC: p = 0.72) indicating gender does not influence AC and CC. However, a significant result was found regarding NC (p = 0.05). From the mean scores, it was shown that male respondents had a higher degree of NC than female respondents. Therefore, H3 was rejected regarding NC, indicating there is a difference in NC based on gender. Gender was found to influence NC but not AC or CC. To test H4, a possible predisposition of personality groups towards one of the three components of OC, a chi-square test was performed. For all four personality groups the number of counts of expected and observed frequencies of the prevailing commitment type was compared. As expected, the findings indicate that there is a significant association between personality groups and their predisposition towards AC, CC and NC, thus supporting the fourth hypothesis (χ2 = 45.57, p = 0.001). However, to gain deeper insight and to test H5, further comparative means tests were performed to assess the degree of commitment within each personality group. To test H5 i.e. the differences among the personality groups regarding their degree of commitment, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. ANOVA tests compare “variances to make inferences about the means” (Zikmund, 2000: 489). According to Diamantopoulos and Schlegelmilch (2000), to be able to use ANOVA, the following criteria should be met: (i) the dependent variable is of interval or ratio-scale; (ii) normal distribution of the sample population; (iii) equality of groups’ variances, and (iv) random sample. Since many psychological and sociological texts regard the Likert scale as interval data (Bryman & Cramer, 2001), the present study considered the data gathered on the dependent variable OC to be of interval-scale, satisfying criterion (i). To find out whether the research population was normally distributed, a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was run. The tests on AC, CC and NC were non-significant (AC: p = 0.24, CC: p = 0.56, NC: p = 0.1) therefore it could be assumed that the distribution of the population is normal, satisfying criterion (ii). The equality of the groups’ variances was tested by performing a Levene’s test. It was found that the differences in the variances of each of the OC types for all four groups of personality were non-significant for NC. Therefore, the condition of equality of groups’ variances was met, satisfying criterion (iii). Since the study’s sample was chosen randomly during the second stage of the multistage sampling approach, all four criteria were fulfilled; hence it was considered appropriate to use ANOVA. One-way ANOVA tests with one factor (personality groups) and four levels of this factor (NF, NT, SJ, SP) were run for all three OC types. The F ratios and significance values of CC and NC indicate that there is no significant difference in the means between the four personality groups (CC: F = 0.19, p = 0.9; NC: F = 1.3, p = 0.28). Therefore none of the personality groups is more likely to show a higher degree of CC or NC than the others. H5 had to be rejected regarding those two components of commitment. However, since the means between the four personality groups and AC produced a significant difference (F = 4.733, p = 0.004), H5 could be accepted with respect to AC. This finding indicates that personality groups differ with respect to their degree of AC. To gain insight as to which groups significantly differ, a post-hoc test was used to compare all groups with each other. Since the population variances were shown to be equal but the sample sizes for each of the four personality groups were quite different, Hochberg’s GT2 test was chosen, as recommended by Field (2000). Significant differences were found between NFs and SPs (p = 0.003), as well as SJs and SPs (p = 0.01). However there was no significant difference between NFs and NTs (p = 0.39), NFs and SJ (p = 0.93), NTs and SJs (p = 0.86), and NTs and SPs (p = 0.41). These findings indicate that both NFs and SJs are more likely to have higher AC than SPs; however no inferences could be made for NTs, since no significant difference was found between NTs and the other three personality groups (NF, SJ, SP). In order to examine the final hypothesis, H6, whether extraversion/introversion has an intervening influence on the relationship between personality groups and OC, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) test was run. The dichotomous variable extraversion/introversion was included in the test of relationship between personality group and OC as a covariate variable. Thus, it was possible “to obtain an accurate picture of the proportion of variance in y [AC] that x [personality group] is capable of accounting for; in other words “… [the] power is increased” (Wendorf, 2004). The ANCOVA tests indicated that the variable extraversion/introversion (E/I) as covariate does not significantly influence the relationship between personality groups and the three components of OC (AC: p = 0.055; CC: p = 0.16; NC: p = 0.27); therefore H6 was accepted.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS H1, H2 and H3 were set up to test whether demographic differences (age, tenure and gender) have a significant effect on OC. Independent t-tests were conducted. The present study identified a link between age and OC, in agreement with Labatmediene, Endriulaitiene and Gustainiene (2007) whose research focused on Lithuanian employees in various organisations, although contradicting Meyer & Allen (1984) who indicate that tenure correlates positively with OC. The present findings did show that tenure has a positive effect on AC and CC; AC and CC become stronger with longer tenure although tenure was not found to have an effect on NC. According to Wiener (1982), employees with a prevailing NC feel obliged to act in a way that they believe is expected of them. This feeling of obligation could result in a somewhat indifferent bond to the organisation, which would be unlikely to change with a longer tenure. A longitudinal study to evaluate the relationship between tenure and NC is needed. Meyer and Allen’s (1984) sample comprised psychology students, whose mean age might have been younger than that of the students in the present study. Furthermore, Meyer and Allen’s (1984) study was conducted in the United States whereas the present study was undertaken in Germany. This contrast in locations leads to the question of whether the inconsistent findings result from differences caused by the different age distribution, by the different national cultures of respondents or by other factors. Further study is needed to more fully examine the relationship between age, national culture and OC. In fact, Gelade, Dobson and Gilbert (2006) note that AC varies significantly by country, is strongly related to dimensions of personality and significantly linked with some aspects of national culture. The present study found a significant difference between female and male respondents regarding NC, a finding that implies that males are more likely to display a higher degree of NC than females. This finding is contrary to meta-analytic reviews of literature that support no significant difference between the two genders regarding their degree of OC (cf. Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002). As far as AC and CC were concerned, no significant difference between the genders was found, thus supporting the findings of Meyer et al. (2002). The finding regarding NC suggests that males feel more moral obligations than females. Marsden, Kalleberg and Cook (1996) stated that inconsistent findings in regards to gender may also result from different “work characteristics and experiences” between female and male employees; further research is necessary in this context H4 looked for a difference amongst the personality groups with respect to their predisposition towards one of the three components of OC. A general difference among the personality groups in their propensity towards OC was indeed found. It showed that both Guardians (SJs) and Idealists (NFs) tend to be more affectively committed, whereas Rationals (NTs) show a stronger association with NC. Artisans (SPs), on the other hand, have a propensity towards CC and NC. However, it has to be emphasised that the present study examined the OC of operatives working in the service industry, namely in the sales and marketing and reservations departments of five-star hotels in Germany. Employees in other occupations or working at other hierarchical levels and from other cultures might internalise a different type of commitment. OC itself is not a general predisposition, but an attitude towards the organisation and the work that is performed within it. This attitude might change based on working conditions. Future research, therefore, should examine whether the findings can be supported when changing the various conditions regarding occupation and job level. Descriptive statistics indicate that Guardians (SJs) were the prevailing group in the sample, followed by Idealists (NFs). Also Guardians (SJs) and Idealists (NFs) had an inclination towards AC. Prior research indicates that SJs and NFs have the common denominator that they are both cooperative in the ways in which they use ‘tools’. Their use of ‘tools’ includes a supportive, accommodating and understanding way of interacting with other people, as well as a willingness to follow the rules that have been set to reach the organisation’s goals (cf. Keirsey, 1998). These features seem to be in line with the characteristics that are expected from serviceoriented employees. SJs and NFs only differ in the ways in which they use ‘words’. According to Keirsey (1998:78), SJs are found to express more the “concrete particulars they observe in their material or social surroundings”, whereas NFs are more likely to think and articulate ideas in an abstract way. They prefer to talk of “… what can only be seen with the mind’s eye …” (Keirsey, 1998:120). Keirsey explains that Artisans (SPs) and Rationals (NTs), on the other hand, are utilitarian in the ways in which they use ‘tools’. Their interest, in general, is the utility of goal-directed action, where interpersonal relationships do not matter to them as much as they do for SJs and NFs. SJs and NFs are therefore much more predestined for service-oriented occupations, such as the hospitality industry. Jessup (2002) states that people often select the occupation that best corresponds with their personality type. Therefore, it was not surprising that the majority group in the sample was Guardians (SJs), followed by Idealists (NFs). Furthermore, SJs’ and NFs’ attitudes towards their organisations are based on an emotional linkage. This emotional linkage can be measured in their degree of AC, since AC is an expression of emotional attachment towards the organisation (cf. Mowday et al., 1982). Thus, the SJs’ and NFs’ inclination towards AC was to be expected.

As Keirsey (1998) explains, SPs and NTs are more interested in effective and efficient operations, not asking whether their work performance meets with social approval. Generally, SPs and NTs are not interested in finding agreement with other individuals or groups and do not necessarily feel obliged to adhere to rules and regulations imposed on them. This disposition makes them less suited to front-line, service-oriented occupations, such as sales and marketing or reservations. The SP’s and NT’s attitude towards the organisation is more critical and less emotional in nature. Their linkage to the organisation is “… bound by his [or her] actions and through these actions to beliefs that sustain the activities and his [or her] own involvement …” (Salancik, 1977: 62). Artisans (SPs) and Rationals (NTs), therefore, tend towards a behavioural commitment supporting the theories of CC (Becker, 1960) and NC (Wiener, 1982). The findings from the present study are consistent with this viewpoint in that H4 showed that Rationals (NTs) are more prone towards NC and Artisans (SPs) equally towards CC and NC. H5 stated that personality types differ in their degree of commitment. This hypothesis had to be rejected regarding CC and NC, as no significant differences were found amongst the personality groups in their degree of CC and NC. CC and NC are influenced through external variables, such as investments (Becker, 1960) and felt obligations (Wiener, 1982). The findings suggest that belonging to a certain personality group does not predict the degree of commitment of CC and NC. However, employers should not focus on these two components of commitment. Mowday et al. (1982) found that CC correlated negatively with on-the-job behaviour; a higher degree of CC reduced employees’ attendance. Meyer et al. (1989) identified a negative correlation between CC and job performance. With increased CC employees’ job performance decreased. NC, on the other hand, is based on internalised normative pressures enforced on receptive employees that make them act in accordance with the organisation’s needs and goals (Wiener, 1982). It is unlikely that these employees display an extra-role performance that goes beyond an employer’s basic requirements of work performance. This aspect would certainly be worthy of further research. Employers should focus on which employees are more likely to be affectively, thus, emotionally committed and how to foster employees’ AC. As Mowday et al. (1982) stated, it is most likely AC that enhances an extra-role performance within employees. To have operatives that meet organisational standards and are willing to go beyond the call of duty enhances organisational effectiveness (Turnipseed, 2003). Regarding existing differences in the degree of AC, H5 was confirmed amongst the various personality groups. ANOVA indicated a significant difference amongst these groups with respect to their degree of AC. Furthermore, both Guardians (SJs) and Idealists (NFs) were shown to be more highly affectively committed than Artisans (SPs). It might be assumed that in the scope of their work within the hospitality industry it is in the SJs’ and NFs’ nature to be more affectively committed. The literature supports that AC correlates negatively with turnover and absenteeism (Mowday et al., 1982). Therefore, a higher degree of AC generally reduces the time an employee is absent from work and reduces the likelihood of an employee leaving the organisation. This fact will reduce costs involved with replacing departing and absent employees and in training and developing new employees (cf. Sims, 2003). Furthermore, Meyer et al., (2003) present evidence that AC correlates positively with job performance, implying that a higher degree of AC results in an employee’s enhanced job performance. Since the present study found that SJs and NFs were more highly affectively committed than SPs, it can be inferred that both SJs and NFs in the context of their service-oriented occupation might be less absent, are less likely to have the intention to leave the organisation and might perform better than SPs. No inferences could be made with respect to NTs, since no significant difference was found between NTs and the other three personality groups (NFs, SJs, SPs). However, future research could examine the causal relationship between personality groups, AC and the behavioural outcomes of absenteeism, turnover and job performance. H6 was formulated in order to examine whether extraversion/introversion had an influence on the relationship between personality and OC. It was hypothesised that this attitude function does not have a significant intervening influence on the relationship between personality group and OC. H6 was based on Jung’s (2001) assumption that it is the functions sensing/intuition and thinking/feeling through which the core personality develops and not the attitude function extraversion/introversion. The attitude function solely describes how a person is energised (Bradley & Hebert, 1997). The analysis indeed found no intervening influence of the covariate extraversion/introversion on the relationship between personality groups and OC. This finding contradicts Keirsey’s (1998) approach to looking at personality as a structure combining the two basic dichotomous mental functions sensing/intuition and thinking/feeling. However, it supports Silva (2006: 324) who found that “.. extroversion and conscientiousness are related to commitment” and Erdheim, Wang and Zickar (2006) who related extraversion significantly to AC, CC, and NC. These inconsistencies might arise because different instruments were used to measure the extraversion/introversion and OC variables. Further study is needed to better understand the attitude function extraversion/introversion and how it relates to OC Several limitations became evident during the course of the study. While a working population of operatives in five-star hotels in Germany was selected, it leaves open the question as to whether the findings might differ based on hotel type, position in the organisational hierarchy and/or the respondents’ departmental

area. Although cultural demographic variables were omitted from this study, these deserve further attention they may explain some of the inconsistencies found between this study and prior studies pertaining to demographic variables. The sample proved to be too small to allow the planned testing of the personality type variable. With the uneven distribution of personality type (ESFJ with 27 respondents compared to INTP with 1 respondent), type could not be used as a variable in the chi-square hypothesis testing. Either a much larger sample size should be used or some form of proportional or stratified sampling should be adopted to allow testing of the personality group variable. This study has both academic and practical implications. Firstly, it showed that personality type should be considered as an antecedent variable to OC. Meyer et al.’s (2002) three-component model of OC could decompose the antecedent variable personal characteristics into demographic and disposition variables with personality type being a disposition variable. The present study contributes towards a greater understanding of the model of OC. However, further research is needed especially to examine whether similar findings would emerge if the study were to be replicated in different countries. It would also be interesting to see whether similar findings occur when examining the relationship between personality and OC at different management levels, in different functional areas of hospitality organisations or in other types of organisation. The recommendation to consider personality type assessment in order to understand and manage OC in organisations is supported. Personality assessment could be used during employee recruitment and development or for job design purposes in order to find employees that are highly affectively committed and therefore who will contribute more towards the organisation’s overall effectiveness and success. The study’s findings give rise to further questions and considerations. The study was carefully planned and executed in terms of its research base and research design, taking care to formulate hypotheses based on findings from prior research. However, the high level of complexity involved in isolating and controlling variables given the natural relationships and interrelationship between these variables became evident. As has been discussed, the frequency distribution of personality types across the sample was very imbalanced, giving rise to the question as to whether or not there is a significant difference in the proportions of each personality type working in service-related positions in the hospitality industry compared to the population at large. Exploration of personality type and its relationship with the components of OC is further complicated by the potential for interrelationships. Porter et al. (1974) found a difference in the relationship between AC and turnover between employees within their first year of employment (no relationship was found) and employees with more than one year of employment (a significant negative relationship was found), suggesting that a change in employees’ AC occurs over the early stages of employment. Based on Porter’s study, purposive sampling was adopted here to ensure that employees had at least one year of tenure in their organisations. 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