The Influence of Corporate Culture on Employees

The study found a significant and positive relationship between involvement and commitment. This means that employees are committed to their organizations when they are involved in decision making. The key success factors for organizations today are employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee development. These enable managers and employees more committed to work and feel that they own a piece of the organization. People at all levels feel that they have at least some inputs into decisions that will affect their work and that their work is directly connected to the goals of the organization.

There was no significant relationship between consistency and commitment. As much as organizations try to maintain a strong culture by being highly consistent, well coordinated, and well integrated, this does not impact significantly on the level of employee commitment. Employees prefer to be given the freedom to do the job rather than being compelled to do it in a rigid manner. The key success factor for organizations today is flexibility rather than consistency. While organizations need to maintain a strong corporate culture, they need to be flexible.

Furthermore, the positive relationship between adaptability and employee commitment has been well established in this research. Adaptability predicts employee commitment more than any other corporate cultural variables. Employees are more committed to organizations that adapt to changing circumstances.

The study however found no significant relationship between mission and commitment. This means that employees' identification with the purpose, mission, and goals of the organization does not elicit commitment to the organization. Ironically, most employees of SMEs in Nigeria are not concerned with the mission of their organization but are concerned with where they can work and earn a living, irrespective of what the organization stands for. Moreover, most SMEs do not clearly define the mission of the organization, which makes employees unaware of the future direction of the organization.

The influence of demographic characteristics on the study variables needs to be discussed. While the influence was not much, the issue that stands out is the significant relationship between marital status and commitment. Married employees are more committed to their organizations because of the family responsibilities they shoulder. As a result, they become more committed to the organization not necessarily because they cherish the organization but because they need to earn money to cater for their family.