The similarities or differences amongst millennials and

post-millennials pertaining to organisational commitment and

loyalty and the factors contributing towards the same

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Risha Lodha

Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai

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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to compare the similarities or differences amongst millennials and
post-millennials pertaining to organisational commitment and loyalty and the factors contributing
towards the same. Employee loyalty and organisational commitment plays an important role in
every organization. Every organization's success depends upon the loyalty of the employees
because a loyal employee creates value and they are responsible for the success and growth of
the organization. The data was collected through a self-administered close ended questionnaire.
The questionnaire was filled by 26 respondents. The results of study may be beneficial for
devising such policies as to reduce the employees’ turnover which has been an area of major
concern for the human resource professionals.The empirical findings of this thesis showed that
while some definitions of employee loyalty and the factors which are affecting it are similar
between the groups, there were also some differences. Furthermore, there seem to be some
differences amongst millennials and post-millennials regarding employee loyalty which is why
this thesis recommends organisations to be responsive to its employees’ needs and adapt their
management to all employees.

Keywords: Employee loyalty, Organisational commitment

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INTRODUCTION

Employees are considered the core of an organization and the success or failure of the
organization is attributed to the performance of the employees. It is of prime importance that the
employees are loyal to the organization and don’t actively search for other alternative
opportunities. Employees are the most important resource in any organization since they
represent a significant investment in terms of locating, recruiting, training; let alone salaries,
healthcare, plans, bonuses etc. The management of many organizations develops their training
programmes, benefit packages, performance appraisal and work system based on their company
policies. These policies are usually aimed at cultivating loyal workers, as this leads to a longer
tenure.

Organizational commitment is a part of organisational behaviour. The psychological

commitment or loyalty of an employee to the company in general. Employees and companies
share obligations in a mutually beneficial relationship. Employees and organisations have
specified reciprocal responsibilities and mutual commitments in their relationship.
Sometimes managers persuade employees to adopt new strategies. It is unrealistic for managers
to have high expectations from their employees. There are three main dimensions in all
companies. These are formal, psychological and social.

Organizational commitment is an attitude reflecting an employee’s loyalty to the organization,

and an ongoing process through which organization members express their concern for the
organization and its continued success and well being. Organizational commitment is the degree
to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to
maintain membership in the organization.

A person's commitment or sentiment of attachment to a specific entity, which may be another

person or group of people, an ideal, an obligation, or a purpose, is referred to as loyalty. It
manifests itself in both thought and behaviour, with the intention of aligning the loyal person's

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interests with those of the organisation. Organizational commitment has been described as a
multifaceted concept involving an employee's loyalty to the organisation. Identifying the
employees' attitudes and behaviours is also an important part of Organizational commitment.

There are many factors which affect the organizational commitment and loyalty of employees.
These include the financial inducements. Among other factors inducing organizational
commitment and loyalty of employees are - good relations between supervisors and employees,
good career opportunities, role in organizational goal setting, lesser ambiguity in role, and
fairness in appraisal of performance.

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this study is to compare the similarities or differences amongst the two
groups i.e. millennials and post-millennials pertaining to organisational commitment and loyalty
and the factors contributing towards the same.

METHODOLOGY USED

❖ The research is based on primary data. Data was collected through a self-designed
questionnaire.
❖ The questionnaire was prepared on a Likert scale to evaluate organizational commitment
and employee loyalty and the factors contributing towards the same. The Likert scale is a
five point scale which allows individuals to express how much they agree or disagree
with a particular statement.

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❖ In this study, a Judgmental sampling technique was used. It is also called purposive
sampling or authoritative sampling, is a non-probability sampling technique in which
the sample members are chosen only on the basis of the researcher's knowledge and
judgment.

❖ The purpose of this questionnaire is to :

Compare the similarities or differences amongst millenials and post-millenials pertaining
to organisational commitment and loyalty and the factors contributing towards the same.

❖ Sample of 28 individuals were taken, out of which 14 were millennials and the remaining
14 were post-millenials.

❖ Demographic Characteristics of Respondents: It is seen that the sample is the

representation of an equal number of respondents as half are post- millennials (less than
25) and other half are millennials (25 and more) i.e. 50:50 ratio. Sample is having
representation of male and female respondents in 40:60 ratio.

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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Discussing Organizational commitment and employee loyalty

Organizational commitment involves the loyalty of employees’ to the organization, their

readiness to put exertion on organization’s behalf, the level of coincidence of personal goals with
the organization, and an aspiration to continue employment with the organization.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether people of different age groups i.e millennials
(Group A) and post-millennials (Group B) perceive organisational commitment and loyalty
differently.

As this is not a quantitative study, no conclusion will be drawn whether the results would be the
same for the whole population, but this study can still highlight what the respondents of the
different groups find important. As the empirical findings showed, there are some differences
between the two groups, but also many similarities.

There are three distinct types of organisational commitment:

1. Affective commitment - It relates to how much employees want to stay at their

organisation.
2. Continuance commitment - It relates to how much employees feel the need to stay at their
organisation.
3. Normative commitment - It relates to how much employees feel they should stay at their
organisation.

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The question posed in the questionnaire related to organizational commitment is given below:

Organizational commitment has three basic components:

(a) Recognition of an organization's goals and principles, as well as a deep belief in and
acceptance of them.
(b) Effort, a desire to contribute to the organization's goals;
(c) Loyalty, a desire to remain a part of the organization.

Employee organisational commitment is at four main levels, commitment to:

1. Organisations’ Vision and Mission
2. Organisation’s core values
3. Organisation’s objectives and goals
4. Job role

The question posed in the questionnaire related to employee loyalty is given below:

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When looking at the answers from both groups, there are some things that they agree upon and
others that they think a bit differently about.
The main thing that both groups used to describe loyalty was that it depends on time and job
security. Also, worth mentioning here is that these differences were not between the groups but
between the respondents within the groups.

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One thing that could be seen as a difference between the two groups is the ethical behaviour of a
loyal employee. Some of the respondents from Group A saw a loyal employee as someone who
talked good about their employer and one of them mentioned protecting secrets. As a small
contrast, all of the respondents from Group B talked about representing the company, talking
about it in a positive manner, treating others fairly as well as respecting rules and regulations and
protecting secrets as loyal behaviour in employees.

Factors contributing towards employees’ loyalty and organizational commitment:

1. Interpersonal relationship
2. Social security and compensation
3. Work autonomy
4. Performance recognition
5. Organisation work culture
6. Promotional aspect
7. Competence development
8. Involvement in decision making

Discussing the Factors Affecting Employee Loyalty

The second sub-purpose of this study was to investigate whether people of different age groups
i.e millennials (Group A) and post-millennials (Group B) value different factors when
choosing to stay loyal towards their employer.

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As this is not a quantitative study, no conclusion will be drawn whether the results would be the
same for the whole population, but this study can still highlight what the respondents of the
different groups find important. As the empirical findings showed, there are some differences
between the two groups, but also many similarities.

This study shows that when talking about what the respondents find important in order to be
loyal, the biggest difference is regarding the factors competence development and responsive
organisation. Competence development was found important for all respondents of Group A, but
only mentioned by 3 respondents of Group B. Responsive organisation (Involvement in decision
making) was found important by ten of fourteen respondents of Group B, while only one of
fourteen respondents of Group A mentioned it. It can be speculated that these similarities are due
to the differences in experience.

What the groups have in common are that factors which can be related to “good organisations” in
the sense of organisational work culture, interpersonal relationship, work autonomy, performance
recognition are mentioned far more than factors like compensation and other physical rewards.
The study further supports that interpersonal relationships are often more important than
individual factors like salary. This can be very important for organisations to know that instead
of only focusing on perks and rewards, they should focus on building good teams with
colleagues who enjoy working together.

To summarize, the factors affecting employee loyalty are both similar between people of
different age groups i.e millennials (Group A) and post-millennials (Group B).

CONCLUSION

Employees increasingly expect to get more out of their jobs, and are more willing than ever
to walk away from an employer if they feel undervalued or unfulfilled. The advent of economic
liberalisation and globalization has boosted this trend and the industry is now facing the
ever-growing pressure from both local and overseas competitors. More and more employers
begin to realize that customer loyalty depends on employee loyalty. Issues related to employees’

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loyalty in educational organisation has become vital. The purpose of this study was to explore
the factors affecting the employee loyalty in the education sector organisation. The study
indicates the positive correlation between employee loyalty and different affecting factors. The
study suggested that management should pay more attention to improving factors like
Organisation Work Culture, Skill Development Opportunity, Involvement in Decision Making
and Promotional Prospect in building employee loyalty. Findings of the study revealed that
organization commitment plays an important role in employee loyalty.

The empirical findings suggest that employee commitment and loyalty are positively associated
with higher levels of workplace performance.Moreover, our employee level analysis of the
determinants of employee attitudes suggests not only a role for worker characteristics, but also
for workplace characteristics, in particular human resource practices and engendering employee
trust in the organization, in influencing such attachments. Such findings suggest that
establishments may be able to exert some control over the loyalty and commitment of its
workforce, which, in turn, may enhance establishment performance. One interesting area of
future research entails exploring how the interaction between different types of employee
commitment may influence firm performance, as well as how human resources practices
influence different types of commitment.

To summarize, the organisational commitment and employee loyalty and the factors affecting
employee loyalty are both similar between people of different age groups i.e millennials (Group
A) and post-millennials (Group B). There is not a significant difference in the perceptions of
millennials and post-millennials pertaining to organisational commitment and employee loyalty.

A final word on commitment and loyalty is that there is no one size fits all. Different things
motivate people. It is therefore critical to adapt commitment and loyalty interventions to ensure
that they address peculiarities found among employees both as a group and as individuals. While
there are some who may become more committed and loyal because of having their material
needs addressed by the organisation, some may be more interested in intrinsic needs such as
opportunities for growth, sense of fulfillment and transcendence. The challenge for

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organisational leadership is to identify practices that work for their talent pool and for individuals
within that pool.

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APPENDIX

DETAILS OF AUTHOR

Name : Risha Lodha

College : Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai
Class : TYBCom (E101)
SAP Id : 45208180368
Contact number: 9829089494
Email Id : rishalodha2000@gmail.com

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