Job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the maritime industry

A manager needs to manage the manpower in the business in a coordinated manner in line with the objectives. For this coordination, employees should be able to evaluate their job satisfaction and organizational commitment levels. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are topics that are frequently studied in social sciences. In the literature, the attitudes of the employees towards the job and the work environment are called job satisfaction. Organizational commitment called a behavior that is taken shape by the relationship of the employees with the organization. At the same time Organizational commitment is a factor that affects whether employees continue in the organization they work for. Many studies reveal that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are affected by many factors such as organizational factors, working environment, individual wishes and desires. These elements are very diverse and can vary according to the work done. The maritime sector refers to the whole of the organizations that undertake the organization of all commercial activities carried out by sea, at sea and on land. These organizations include shipyards, ports, marine insurance companies, marine operations, yachting, fisheries, educational institutions, brokers and many more. The maritime industry can differ in terms of working conditions when compared to other business lines. The adaptation of an individual accustomed to living conditions on land to the marine environment can be shown as the most obvious example of these differences. In particular, the working conditions of a ship's personnel working in maritime transportation, which is one of the main locomotives of this sector, are quite different from those of a land-based personnel. Seafarers are exposed to many stress factors due to the nature of their job. Noise and vibration are the leading stress factors arising from the ship in the business environment. The ship is not only a work environment but also a living environment for seafarers during their voyage. Therefore, a seafarer spends his rest time outside of working hours in this noise and vibration environment. In addition, being away from their loved ones is one of the psychological burdens of the sector, as seafarers who work by struggling with harsh natural conditions. In all emergencies that may occur in the ship environment, seafarers have a duty even if they are resting. Studies show that these negative conditions have a negative effect on job satisfaction. In this section, the factors affecting job satisfaction and organizational commitment will be revealed and evaluated in terms of seafarers.