HRM practices and organizational commitment link: maritime scope

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices bundles and organizational commitment, and find answers for questions on which of these bundles contribute how to the employees’ performance and loyalty according to their demographic characteristics in maritime market. Design/methodology/approach: Two separate surveys were applied to 104 employees of international maritime companies. Factor and reliability analyses were carried out to ensure the surveys’ validity and reliability. Then, correlation analysis was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment. Finally, independent groups t-test was used to determine if perceptions of employees on HRM practices and their organizational commitment vary according to their demographic characteristics. Findings: Moderate positive and negative linear relationships between HRM practices bundles and organizational commitment were found. Also, significant differences between the organizational commitment levels of employees and their perceptions on the effects of HRM practices to their performance were determined. Research limitations/implications: Surveys were conducted only on Turkish employees in maritime sector and companies only that published annual and social responsibility report were examined. Practical implications: HR managers should pay attention on HRM practices bundles to increase the level of employee’s organizational commitment and performance. While doing this, they also should take their employees’ demographic characteristics on account. This study can give clues about management of employees with different perceptions on performance and commitment. Originality/value: The authors add the literature by identifying the link between HRM practices bundles and organizational commitment. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study, which reveals the link between HRM practices bundles and organizational commitment dimensions, separately. Also, an original new questionnaire was produced, which measures the employees’ perceptions on the effects of HRM practices to performance.