The Commitment of Employees to Quality: A Comparative Study of Public and Private Organizations

Abstract

The objectives of this article are to study the factors infl uencing employees’ quality commitment in public and private organizations and to compare the levels of employees’ quality commitment in public and private organizations. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 717 employees in two ministries and 696 employees in private sector companies.

The factors infl uencing the employee’s quality commitment were analyzed by using a structural equation model based on 6 latent variables and 26 observed variables. According to the model, the factors with a direct infl uence on the employee’s quality commitment in the public organizations were transformational leadership, continuous improvement and job satisfaction. The factors indirectly influencing quality commitment were transformational leadership, quality of work life and empowerment. The factor with the most infl uencing effect on quality commitment was transformational leadership, followed by job satisfaction, empowerment, continuous improvement and quality of work life. On the other hand, the factors with a direct infl uence on the employees’ quality commitment in the private organizations were transformational leadership, empowerment, continuous improvement and job satisfaction. The factors indirectly infl uencing the quality commitment in the private organizations were transformational leadership, quality of work life and empowerment. The factor with the most influence on quality commitment was transformational leadership, followed by empowerment, job satisfaction, continuous improvement and quality of work life.

A comparative analysis of the levels of employees’ quality commitment in public and private organizations shows that both types of organizations had a high level of employees’ quality commitment and that the difference between public and private organizations was not statistically signifi cant.