Pancasila International Journal of Applied Social Science E-ISSN 2988-0750 P-ISSN 2988-0769 Volume 3 Issue 03.
September 2025.
Pp.
DOI: https://doi.
org/10.
59653/pancasila.
Copyright by Author Evaluating Organizational Commitment inHigher Education through Models Analysis Saifaldin Idris Onia University of Khartoum.
Sudan Corresponding Email: saifonia89@gmail.
Received: 12-06-2025 Reviewed: 14-07-2025 Accepted: 29-08-2025 Abstract The concept of organizational commitment has gained currency over the last few years and has become the primary cornerstone in both management and behavior sciences.
To this importance, this paper strived to shed light on the concept of organizational commitment in higher education and review of some related models and theories of organizational The paper concludes that organizational commitment is essential in any institution because highly organizationally committed staff can demonstrate positive work The paper reviewed several models of organizational commitment.
O'Reilly and ChatmanAos model concluded that commitment took three types: compliance, identification, and MorrowAos model identifies five major commitments: affective organizational commitment, continued organizational commitment, career commitment, employee involvement, and work ethic.
EtzioniAos model of organizational commitment encompasses three perspectives, namely: moral commitment, calculative commitment, and alienative Meyer and AllenAos three-component model referred to as being affective, continuance, and normative commitment.
Keywords: Organizational commitment.
O'Reilly and ChatmanAos model.
MorrowAos model.
EtzioniAos model.
Meyer and AllenAos model.
Introduction Organizational commitment at universities has recently started to attract growing attention (Tekin.
Kayacan, & Bektas, 2.
The level of staff commitment is a crucial tool for predicting whether staff will leave an organization soon or is willing to stay longer (Bin Jomah.
This organizational commitment defined as a degree of loyalty, strength of identity, and obligation towards a common goal and the level of engagement and willingness to make efforts to accomplish that goal (Mowday.
Steers & Porter, 1979.
Camp, 1994.
Hulpia.
Devos & Rosseel, 2.
Therefore, the concept of organizational commitment has gained currency over Pancasila International Journal of Applied Social Science the last few years and has become the primary cornerstone in both management and behavior sciences (Mousa & Alas, 2.
Research into organizational commitment demonstrated that maintaining a high level of organizational commitment is one of the most important predictors of many desirable organizational outcomes (Garipaaolu, 2.
Similarly, organizational commitment is a factor that is considered a measure of an organization's success, and many research findings indicated that lack of organizational commitment could reduce organizational effectiveness (Banjarnahor et al.
, 2.
That's why organizational commitment is essential in any organization because highly organizationally committed employees can demonstrate positive work behaviors (Selamat & Nordin, 2.
To that importance of organizational commitment, this paper strived to shed light on the concept of organizational commitment in higher education and review of some related models and theories of organizational commitment.
Literature Review Review of the literature demonstrates that organizational commitment in higher education institutions has been the topic of many scholars.
Yalcin.
Akan, and Yildirim .
aimed to investigate the organizational commitment of academicians at the Erzincan Binali Yldrm University.
According to the results reached in the study, the organizational commitment levels of the academicians were at a moderate level.
Academicians' emotional commitment is strong, normative, and their attendance commitment was moderate when measured in terms of the sub-dimensions of organizational commitment.
Bashir and Gani .
examine the state of organizational commitment among university teachers in India across various dimensions to see if there are any significant differences between demographic groups and teachers' perception over their organizational commitment issues.
This study shows that the majority of teachers have a continuance commitment to their jobs, as they consider the costs and risks of leaving the university, and they will go if given better options.
Only the degree of education is found to significantly impact university teachers' engagement among the demographic variables.
Teachers respond with more outstanding commitment when they experience high organizational participation, as they see themselves as an integral part of the organization.
They are more motivated and dedicated to meeting and achieving organizational goals.
Furthermore, universities depend on dedicated faculty to build and maintain a competitive edge and produce superior results.
A study conducted by Lorch .
attempted to establish predictors of organizational participation in community college faculty, using Meyer and Allen's three components of this A faculty survey of all 22 community colleges in Arkansas showed that few of the characteristics identified predicted organizational commitment, namely race/ethnicity, gender, teaching disciplines, and student-to-faculty ratio.
Overall, however, the data showed high rates of organizational commitment from those studied, suggesting that Arkansas faculty is significantly different from national trends in a positive manner.
Evaluating Organizational Commitment in Higher Education through Models Analysis Another study was conducted by Kassaw and Golga .
to assess the academic staffAos level of organizational commitment.
The study revealed a moderate level of organizational commitment among academic staff at the university.
With this level of organizational commitment, individual work success objectives and institutional priorities and college vision are less likely to be accomplished.
Therefore, it is recommended that the university's working environment be revisited by giving due importance and resolving the determinants that minimize the staff's organizational commitment.
Koc .
aimed to demonstrate the correlations between academiciansAo organizational commitment and their intention to resign from their job.
The study found that academics' intention to leave their job was low.
Still, their level of organizational commitment was high and they had the most emotional commitment, followed by normative commitment and continuing commitment.
The aim of lecturers employed in foundation universities was higher than those used in state universities to leave their jobs.
There were higher levels of emotional commitment among lecturers working in state universities than those working in foundation universities.
It is also found that the rate of lecturers leaving work is reduced as their emotional and normative commitment rates increased in both state and foundation Bin Jomah .
carried out a study to establish the validity of psychological empowerment in improving the commitment levels among institutions.
The level of organizational commitment is measured through a survey questionnaire.
The items in both questionnaires were rated on a 7-point Likert scale.
The study results indicated that organizational commitment relied heavily on the level of autonomy given to the employee in decision-making at the workplace.
Koul .
examines the teachers' organizational commitment levels in select Government Colleges of Chandigarh.
This study aimed at investigating the degree of organizational commitment among male and female teachers in government colleges.
The teachers' organizational commitment to their qualifications was also evaluated.
Also, teachers 'impressions of their engagement have been studied.
The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire by Allen and Meyer .
was used to collect data.
Commitment ratings for substantive participation were the highest.
No significant difference between male and female teachers was observed for their level of commitment.
Also, teachers' commitment levels did not vary depending on their qualification and years of service.
According to Lovakov .
, faculty members are a university's most valuable asset and decide its performance.
In the academic profession, faculty attitudes toward their institution are particularly significant.
The essential antecedents of faculty members' affective, normative, and continuance dedication to their university are investigated in this report.
The regression analysis revealed that being an undergraduate inbred .
working at the university from which one graduate.
predicted both affective and normative commitment to the university while working at another higher education institution only predicted affective Also, faculty members who work at several universities have lower levels of emotional attachment to the primary university.
Pancasila International Journal of Applied Social Science Fika.
Ibi, and Abdulrahman .
carried out a study to determine the relationship between staff utilization and staff commitment in Borno State Colleges of Education.
Nigeria, and to assess the level of commitment among staff in Borno State Colleges of Education.
The study found that staff commitment was low in Borno State Colleges of Education.
There was no substantial relationship between staff utilization and commitment in Borno State Colleges of Education.
It was recommended that there be a need for increased and sustained staff welfare to enhance and improve staff commitment at Colleges of Education in Borno State.
There is flexibility on the part of Colleges of Education authorities in creating an atmosphere conducive to the desire of college staff to work and engage freely and commit themselves to their work.
Gamer .
conducted a study to investigate the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction among staff members at Dongola University, and the effect of some variables .
ender, years of experience, age, academic qualificatio.
Results showed:
organizational commitment and job satisfaction were high degrees.
There is no statistically significant relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction.
Also, there are no statistically significant differences in organizational commitment and job satisfaction differences due to the variable gender.
There are statistically significant in the organizational commitment and job satisfaction due to the variable years of experience differences in favor of 11 years and over.
There are also differences in organizational commitment attributed to the educational qualification variable in favor of teaching assistants.
There are no differences in the organizational commitment due to the variable age and job satisfaction, academic qualification variable.
Another study conducted by Yahaya.
Chek.
Samsudin, and Jizat .
investigated the level of organizational commitment in Malaysian public higher education.
The study utilized the Organizational Commitment Questionnaires to measure the organizational commitment of the faculty members.
Overall, the results showed that faculty members are very the majority .
7%) of the respondents were rated as very committed .
score between 68 and .
The remaining 12.
3% of those polled were neutral .
score between 53 and .
None of the participants were deemed uncommitted.
The results also revealed no significant difference between male and female faculty members regarding their level of organizational commitment.
Austin-Hickey .
conducted a study to examine organizational commitment focusing specifically on developmental math faculty in community colleges in Florida.
The study found that affective commitment increased with full-time status and years of experience, but decreased when the faculty held outside employment.
Additionally, the normative commitment was strong in that faculty felt obligated to help students, and years taught positively affected continuance commitment.
There were no differences based on age.
however, age positively correlated with a degree, years of experience, and employment status, which all affected organizational commitment.
Evaluating Organizational Commitment in Higher Education through Models Analysis Research Method An extensive literature review was conducted using multiple search methods.
Thus, information gathered for this paper was collected from the scholarly journals and books.
addition, the electronic databases used to obtain information to conduct this literature review included: ERIC.
SAGE.
ProQuest, and Google Scholar.
The keywords and phrases used in the research include organizational commitment, staff commitment, theories and models of organizational commitment.
Original and peer reviewed articles were considered for this Result and Discussion The Concept of Organizational Commitment Meyer and Allen .
stated that organizational commitment was defined and measured differently for years.
The concept of organizational commitment is the subject of interest in many organizations because it refers to the level of investment in an organization and signifies the strength of binding between an employee and an organization (Peretomode.
Bello, 2.
Therefore, the concept of organizational commitment has gained currency over the last few years and has become the primary cornerstone in both management and behavior sciences (Mousa & Alas, 2.
Organizational commitment is a concept that has developed from the quest for efficient and effective organizations based on human and business relationships.
Therefore, the importance of this term as one of the organization's fundamental performance variables has been growing day by day (Kiral & Kacar, 2.
Ahmad and Rainayee .
argued that the concept of organizational commitment had been critically analyzed and evaluated by different Yet, several different definitions of organizational commitment revealed no real consensus on the very structure of the organizational commitment.
It is high time that the distinct views on the concept of organizational commitment were condensed and simplified to arrive at some familiar inflection.
According to Allen and Mayer .
, organizational commitment is a psychological state that encourages an employee's engagement with his organization and reduces the likelihood that he will leave.
Robbins .
saw organizational commitment as a working attitude of employees who have a sense of identification to accomplish organizational goals and wish to maintain a good relationship with members within the organization.
Park and Rainey .
described the organizational commitment as a bond between the organization and the employee.
Employee recognition of organizational objectives and ability to exert effort on behalf of the organization, engage in decision-making and internalize organizational values are defined by the organizational commitment from this perspective (Lee & Miller, 2001.
Zangaro, 2.
This perspective seems to agree with Mayer and Schoorman .
They carried out that organizational commitment is accepting and believing in organizational objectives and values and internalizing them, willing to put forth effort for the sake of the organization, and a desire to remain in the organization.
Pancasila International Journal of Applied Social Science Models of Organizational commitment Research in the literature shows that the study of organizational commitment can be classified into various models.
Models are important in the study of organizational commitment as they explore the different perspectives studied and documented and how they are expressed in an organizational setting.
These models are discussed in depth in the following.
OAoReilly and ChatmanAos model O'Reilly and Chatman .
have developed a multidimensional model based on the assumption that commitment reflects an attitude towards the organization and that there are different mechanisms by which attitudes can evolve as discussed in Meyer and Herscovitch .
For this model, the fact that this model was first to make a clear distinction between instrumental exchange and psychological attachment as forms of engagement was noted as a Instrumental refers to reward-based commitment while psychological attachment is the deeper type (Weibo.
Kaur & Jun, 2.
According to Ruokolainen .
, it reflects "the extent to which the employee internalizes or adopts the characteristics or perspectives of the organization" .
O'Reilly and Chatman .
based on Kelman's .
research on change in attitude and behavior concluded that commitment took three types, namely:
Compliance: it occurs when attitudes and related behaviors are adopted for different Compliance is, therefore, the first phase of commitment.
It is a shallow undertaking (Balay, 2.
Identification: this occurs when an entity acknowledges power in developing or sustaining a satisfactory relationship.
Identification of the individual is a double integration with the organization for the things with a sense of value (Aydin.
Sarier.
In addition to.
Internalization: This occurs when influence is accepted because the attitudes and behaviors an employee is being encouraged to adopt are congruent with existing values.
It represents the highest level of loyalty to which he or she is identified by the worker as an important component of the company.
It is based entirely on the compromise between the principles of the individual and those of the organization.
In internalization, it is critical that the employee sincerely accepts and internalizes the values and standards of the organization as his or her own without coercion .
Noaltay, 2.
MorrowAos major commitments Morrow .
in her book identifies five major commitments that she believes are mutually influential.
These five commitments are split into two major groups.
The first group examines commitments that influence work attitude with no relation to the organization in which the worker is employed.
This involves obligations such as the Ethics of Christian work (Mirels & Garret, 1.
Career Engagement (Greenhaus, 1.
, and Work Engagement (Blau & Boal, 1.
The second group includes commitments that are influenced directly by the organization in which the worker is employed, including both continuance and affective organizational commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1.
According to Morrow .
, career Evaluating Organizational Commitment in Higher Education through Models Analysis commitment is connected to the continuance and affective commitment to the organization.
Continuing loyalty to the organization, in addition, is an affective commitment, and both of these responsibilities have an influence on job participation.
Therefore.
Morrow .
argued that between the various levels of commitment there is a reciprocal relation.
The MorrowAos .
model of five universal forms of work commitment .
ffective organizational commitment, continued organizational commitment, career commitment, employee involvement, and work ethi.
was reviewed by Cohen .
in his paper to determine whether of those five forms has empirical support.
The paper investigated the unequal validity between the five scales of these types of commitment.
Results of confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analysis showed acceptable discriminant validity among the five commitment foci.
The paper concludes with implications for the ongoing assessment of Morrow's conceptualization to establish an acceptable definition and measurement of universal forms of work commitment.
EtzioniAos model EtzioniAos .
model of organizational commitment encompasses three perspectives, namely: moral commitment, calculative commitment, and alienative commitment.
Similarly.
Penley and Gould in 1988 again propose three constructs of organizational commitment, which is EtzioniAos .
model in the base, namely moral commitment, which they refer to as the acceptance of and identification with organizational goals.
Calculative commitment, which is based on employee's receiving inducement to match contribution.
In addition, alienative commitment refers to attachment, which occurs when an employee no longer perceives that incentives are commensurate with investments.
but due to environmental strain, he stays with the organization.
Moral commitment: is one of the two emotional perspectives of organizational Etzioni .
saw it coming from a system of symbolic adherence.
The acceptance and identification with organizational goals are characterized by moral commitment (Patchen, 1.
Wiener .
labeled such forms of affective organizational attachment .
moral involvemen.
, commitment.
Calculative commitment: according to Etzioni .
, calculative commitment is based on the employee receiving inducements to match contributions.
He saw this type of organizational attachment as typical compliance systems that are based on an exchange.
It is thus conceptually embedded in Barnard's .
and March and Simon's .
theory of exchange.
Therefore, calculative commitment needs not to be reduced to the willingness to retain organizational membership.
Alienative commitment is initially described by Etzioni .
as typical of prison or basic military training camp where a system of coercive compliance prevails.
Moreover, alienative commitment represents an affective attachment to the Likewise, alienation can be viewed as a basis for organizational commitment if one thinks of an employeeAos commitment to the organization as a consequence of lack of internal organizational control and perceived lack of organizational commitment alternatives (Etzioni, 1.
Pancasila International Journal of Applied Social Science Meyer and AllenAos Three-Component Model Meyer and AllenAos three-component model has been the leading approach in studying organizational commitment for more than 20 years (Cohen, 2.
It has recently become the most commonly recognized definition of organizational commitment (Herrbach, 2.
Organizational commitment is reflected in at least three general topics, according to Meyer and Allen .
: active association with the organization, the predictable costs of leaving the organization, and the obligation to stay in the organization.
All three methods are referred to as being affective, continuance, and normative commitment.
Affective Commitment Affective commitment refers to an employee's emotional attachment, involvement, and interest in their business (Bryant et al.
, 2.
Affective commitment is also characterized as the employees' willingness to continue to work on an effective and voluntary basis at that Workers who are so committed to their organizations continue to work there because they "want to," not because they "have to" (Nasiri, 2.
Affective commitment further defines the degree to which an individual is psychologically attracted to an employing organization through feelings such as loyalty, affection, belongingness (Lee et al.
, 2.
Enriquez et al.
explain that employees' value organizational goals, vision, and sense of independence are three determinants of the level of affective commitment of the employees.
Perry .
further points out that promoting healthy, friendly, and supportive discussion with supervisors can positively affect the level of affective commitment of employees.
Nazneen and Bhalla .
states that affective commitment is considered a more effective measure of organizational commitment since it indirectly influences the other two dimensions of organizational commitment.
The findings revealed Technical University faculty members have a moderate degree of affective and continuance engagement and a high level of normative commitment.
Both government and private university faculty members have a reasonable degree of organizational responsibility.
Continuance Commitment Continuance commitment, applies to the expected termination costs of an employee (Bryant et al.
, 2.
Becker .
suggests that employees in their organizations invest time, energy, safety, cash, etc.
Such investments have a substantial impact on their decisions and plans to leave or stay in their organizations.
Accordingly.
Sharma and Sinha .
argue that an increase in the age and tenure of employees within organizations increases the perceived cost of leaving them when considering the decision to leave their jobs.
Employees can also find their insurance, education, job security, and unused holidays.
In addition, continuance commitment is an attachment to an organization based on an employee's awareness of the costs of discontinuing membership (Reza, 2.
Therefore, it is an employee's reluctance to maintain or towards membership in the company.
This inertia primarily has two antecedents:
erceived sacrific.
and lack of alternatives (Ahmad & Rainayee, 2.
In continuance commitment, when an employee realizes that their investment in the company is at risk or that there are no other options available, they develop a determination to Evaluating Organizational Commitment in Higher Education through Models Analysis stay with the company (Rego et al.
Salary and benefits, retirement programs, skills, social relationships, and missed opportunities are examples of physical, cognitive, and emotional assets (Lambert et al.
, 2.
Some of the factors that may lead to the development of continuance commitment include age, tenure, career satisfaction, and intent (Kont & Jantson, 2.
Normative Commitment Normative commitment reflects the obligation of an employee to remain in his organization (Bryant et al.
, 2.
Likewise, organizational culture, rewards, punishments, and autonomy of employees play a vital role in determining the level of normative commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1997.
Chang, 2002.
Haar & Spell, 2004.
Sharma & Sinha, 2.
Buchko et .
characterized normative loyalty in this context as an obligation to stay with an Therefore, it may be the consequence of an internalized norm developed by the person before joining the organization through the values inherent or other socialization One should be loyal to one's organization (Ahmad & Rainayee, 2.
A study conducted by Koul .
claims that workers with a solid normative commitment found it their responsibility to work at the organization and continue working at the organization as proper behavior and obligation because of their values and ideologies.
Normative commitment has its antecedents in an employee's values as determined by their cultural, social, and familial background and prior experiences.
In more precise terms, normative commitment could be focused on organizational commitment in an employee who then feels a moral obligation to stay with the organization based on social or cultural expectations of the employee and assumes one should be loyal to the organization (Mosadeghar, 2.
Conclusion Organizational commitment in higher education institutions has been the topic of many Organizational commitment is essential in any institution because highly organizationally committed staff can demonstrate positive work behaviors.
To this importance, this paper strived to shed light on the concept of organizational commitment in higher education and review of some related models and theories of organizational commitment.
The concept of organizational commitment is the subject of interest in many organizations because it refers to the level of investment in an organization and signifies the strength of binding between an employee and an organization.
Therefore, the concept of organizational commitment has gained currency over the last few years and has become the primary cornerstone in both management and behavior sciences.
Therefore, the importance of this term as one of the organization's fundamental performance variables has been growing day by day.
Review of the literature demonstrates several models of organizational commitment.
Models are important in the study of organizational commitment as they explore the different perspectives studied and documented and how they are expressed in an organizational setting.
Pancasila International Journal of Applied Social Science O'Reilly and ChatmanAos model of organizational commitment concluded that commitment took three types: compliance, identification, and internalization.
MorrowAos model identifies five major commitments: affective organizational commitment, continued organizational commitment, career commitment, employee involvement, and work ethic.
EtzioniAos model of organizational commitment encompasses three perspectives, namely: moral commitment, calculative commitment, and alienative commitment.
Meyer and AllenAos three-component model referred to as being affective, continuance, and normative commitment.
Declaration of conflicting interest The author declares that there is no conflict of interest in this work.
References