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Classmate - Effects of Equity, Perceived Organizational Support and Job Satisfaction On Organizational Commitment in Macao's Gaming Industry
Classmate - Effects of Equity, Perceived Organizational Support and Job Satisfaction On Organizational Commitment in Macao's Gaming Industry
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0025-1747.htm
satisfaction on organizational
commitment in Macao’s 2433
gaming industry Received 9 November 2021
Revised 19 April 2022
Accepted 17 June 2022
Wai Ming To
Faculty of Business, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao SAR, China, and
Guihai Huang
Faculty of Business, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao SAR, China and
Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies, Macao Polytechnic University,
Macao SAR, China
Abstract
Purpose – This study explores the relationships between equity, perceived organizational support, job
satisfaction, organizational commitment and counterproductive work behavior in Macao’s gaming industry.
Additionally, it investigates whether the Covid-19 outbreak has effects on employees’ perceptions and
behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from two surveys using convenience sampling, one
involving 260 casino employees in 2019 and another involving 250 employees in 2020 after the outbreak of
Covid-19.
Findings – No significant difference was observed between mean scores from respondents in the first and
second surveys on job equity, pay equity, perceived organizational support and job satisfaction (p > 0.05).
However, significant changes were found in mean scores for three organizational commitment items (negative
changes; p < 0.05) and three counterproductive work behavior items (positive changes; p < 0.05). Results of
structural equation modeling indicated that job equity and pay equity affected perceived organizational
support and job satisfaction while perceived organizational support impacted organizational commitment
directly and indirectly through job satisfaction, all with R2 values greater than 0.6. Organizational commitment
negatively influenced counterproductive work behavior.
Research limitations/implications – The Covid-19 impact on casino employees’ perceptions and behaviors
was contingent upon the duration of pandemic.
Originality/value – The study is one of the first empirical studies to integrate social exchange theory and
equity theory to organizational commitment in Macao’s gaming industry. Job equity and pay equity were found
to influence organizational commitment through perceived organizational support and job satisfaction.
Additionally, the Covid-19 did not have significant effects on employees’ equity, perceived organizational
support and job satisfaction perceptions.
Keywords Equity, Perceived organizational support, Job satisfaction, Organizational commitment
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected many industries including the hospitality
industry across the world (Hao et al., 2020; Karatepe et al., 2021) and numerous firms no
matter they are big or small (Baum and Hai, 2020; Pappas and Brown, 2021). For cities such as
Macao, Hong Kong and Singapore that rely on tourism to support their economies, or at least
Management Decision
Vol. 60 No. 9, 2022
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable pp. 2433-2454
comments and suggestions. © Emerald Publishing Limited
0025-1747
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. DOI 10.1108/MD-11-2021-1447
MD part of the city’s economy, the travel restrictions imposed by countries are hurting businesses
60,9 in the tourism and hospitality sector (Lim and To, 2022). Macao’s gaming companies that
used to make billions of dollars profit every year reported significant losses in 2020 (Moura,
2021). Nevertheless, Macao’s gaming companies take corporate social responsibility seriously
(Huang and To, 2018). They have not initiated layoffs widely but have asked their local
employees to take unpaid leave voluntarily, lowering their operational cost during the
ongoing pandemic. Additionally, Macao’s gaming companies pledge to support local
2434 employment and work with their employees to reach out to help people with economic
difficulties in the community (GGRASIA, 2020; Huang and To, 2022). In doing so, they hope to
maintain employees’ organizational commitment and believe that employees will be more
devoted to the companies when situation improves.
Using social exchange theory and equity theory (Adams, 1965; Blau, 1964) as a
framework, the study explored how Macao’s gaming employees perceived the support from
the companies they work in the time of difficulty and whether they were committed to the
company. Additionally, Chinese are pragmatic. They emphasize on both processes and
outcomes and see job equity and pay equity as motivational factors, on top of perceived
organizational support (Pan and Zhang, 2004; Westwood et al., 2001). Job equity refers to the
degree to which employees perceive the level of fair treatment they receive (Tai and Sims,
2005). Pay equity refers to the degree to which employees perceive that they are properly paid
in relation to other people for the work they do (Buttner and Lowe, 2017a). More specifically,
the study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) how do job equity, pay equity,
perceived organizational support and job satisfaction affect organizational commitment? (2)
Do job satisfaction and organizational commitment influence counterproductive work
behavior? (3) Does the Covid-19 pandemic influence employees’ perceptions and work
behavior? The findings of the study can contribute to a better understanding of important
motivational factors of organizational commitment in Macao’s gaming industry.
Additionally, the impacts of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on
counterproductive work behavior can be quantified. The influences of Covid-19 pandemic
on Macao’s casino employees are also evaluated. Specifically, the study can advance our
understanding of whether and how equity, social exchange such as perceived organizational
support, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and counterproductive work
behavior take place in a collectivistic society like Macao before and after the outbreak of
Covid-19. The study’s findings will shed light on how casino management can maintain
employees’ organizational commitment by focusing on the intrinsic and extrinsic
components of jobs in this difficult period of time.
The rest of the article is structured as follows. First, the next section presents a literature
review on organizational commitment, its antecedents and consequences, and the associated
hypotheses. The method section describes the study’s sample, measures and data analysis
approach. It is followed by results, discussion, theoretical and practical implications, and
limitations. The final section concludes the study.
Figure 1.
The theoretical model
of the study
MD satisfaction. Additionally, job satisfaction and organizational commitment will have negative
60,9 effects on counterproductive work behavior.
Method
The context and sample
The gaming industry has contributed to over 40% of Macao’s gross domestic product since
2438 2003 (Macao Statistics and Census Service, 2019). Additionally, the gaming industry
employed 86,700 people, over 25% of Macao’s total workforce in 2019 (Macao Statistics and
Census Service, 2020). In order to enhance employees’ competencies and service quality in the
gaming industry, the Macao Government and casino operators subsidize and support
employees to study undergraduate programs in gaming and management at a local higher
education institution. With the agreement of instructors who taught gaming and
management-related subjects, our research team invited students who worked as casino
frontline employees to take part in the surveys voluntarily. The team asked students to
distribute questionnaires to and collect the completed questionnaires from their friends and
colleagues who worked in Macao’s gaming industry. In January–March 2019, 500
questionnaires were distributed and 260 completed questionnaires were collected at the
end of the first survey. During the analysis of the collected data and the preparation of article,
the Covid-19 pandemic began and negatively affected Macao and the rest of the world (Lim
and To, 2022). Thus, another 500 questionnaires were distributed in September–November
2020 and 250 completed questionnaires were returned at the end of the second survey – the
one after the Macao Government lifted quarantine requirements for travelers from mainland
China due to decrease in the locally transmitted Covid-19 cases to almost zero in mainland
China. Thus, response rates were 52% in 2019 and 50% in 2020, respectively. The purpose of
the study was stated on the cover page of questionnaire. Additionally, respondents were
ensured the anonymity and confidentiality of the collected data. They were also informed that
they could withdraw from the survey at any time.
Measures
Items of all measures were adapted from the extant literature to ensure content validity and
construct reliability. Job equity refers to the degree to which employees perceive to be fairly
treated considering their education, training, experience, responsibilities, etc. Six items of job
equity were adapted from Tai and Sims (2005). Pay equity refers to the degree to which
employees perceive to be fairly paid in relation to other employees in the same or different
companies. Four items of pay equity were adapted from Buttner and Lowe (2017a, b).
Perceived organizational support characterizes the extent to which the organization cares
about employees’ contribution, well-being, values and satisfaction. Five items were adapted
from Wayne et al. (1997). Job satisfaction is defined as employees’ feelings toward various job-
related factors. Five items were adapted from Warr et al. (1979). Organizational commitment
reflects employees’ emotional attachment to and employees’ feelings of obligation to stay
with the organization. Six items were adapted from Meyer and Allan (1991).
Counterproductive work behavior refers to employees’ behaviors that intentionally
endanger the interests of the organization and its members. Four items were adapted from
Spector et al. (2006). Items of job equity, pay equity, perceived organizational support,
affective commitment and normative commitment were rated using a 5-point Likert scale
with 1 5 “strongly disagree” to 5 5 “strongly agree.” Items of job satisfaction were rated
using a 5-point scale with 1 5 “very dissatisfied” to 5 5 “very satisfied.” Items of
counterproductive work behavior were rated using a 5-point scale with 1 5 “never” to
5 5 “always.” The 30 items are shown in Table A1. The Cronbach’s alpha values of job equity,
pay equity, perceived organizational support, job satisfaction, organizational commitment Macao’s
and counterproductive work behavior were 0.923, 0.898, 0.914, 0.846, 0.894 and 0.803, gaming
respectively, all above the threshold value of 0.7 as suggested by Hair et al. (2010).
industry
Results
Among the 260 employees who responded to the first survey (i.e. Survey 1) in 2019, slightly
less than half were male (48.8%). Most respondents aged between 30 and 39 years (43.8%).
Most respondents were married with children (46.9%), followed by single and living with
parents (26.2%). Most respondents had a high school education (58.9%), followed by having a
bachelor’s degree (38.8%). Most respondents worked as frontline employees (57.3%). Many
respondents had been working for eight-years or more (36.9%). Among the 250 employees
who took part in the second survey (i.e. Survey 2) in 2020, slightly more than half were male
(50.8%). Most respondents aged between 30 and 39 years (40.4%). Most respondents were
single and living with parents (39.2%), followed by those married with children (35.6%). Most
respondents had a bachelor’s degree (65.6%). Most respondents worked as frontline
employees (56.8%). Over half of respondents had been working for eight-years or more
(50.4%). As a whole, almost half of the respondents were male (49.8%). Most respondents
aged between 30 and 39 years (42.2%), were married with children (41.4%) and had a
bachelor’s degree (52.0%). Most respondents worked as frontline employees (57.1%). Most
respondents had been working for eight-years or more (43.6%). Table 1 presents the
demographic profile of respondents. Chi-square tests showed that there were no significant
differences between the distributions of gender and age group of the two surveys (p > 0.05)
while there were significant differences between the distributions of marital status,
education, position and working experience of the two surveys (p < 0.01).
Mean scores of job equity items ranged from 3.08 to 3.36 (SD range 5 0.92–1.03) for
respondents in the first survey and ranged from 3.08 to 3.41 (SD range 5 0.83–0.93) for
respondents in the second survey. Mean scores of pay equity items ranged from 3.17 to 3.25
(SD range 5 0.95–1.08) for respondents in the first survey and ranged from 3.14 to 3.24
(SD range 5 0.91–1.01) for respondents in the second survey. Mean scores of perceived
organizational support ranged from 2.99 to 3.32 (SD range 5 0.99–1.07) for respondents in the
first survey and ranged from 2.83 to 3.29 (SD range 5 0.86–0.94) for respondents in the second
survey. A series of t-tests showed that there was no significant difference between the two
groups for job equity items, pay equity items and perceived organizational support items.
Mean scores of job satisfaction items ranged from 3.03 to 3.46 (SD range 5 0.89–1.01) and
from 3.18 to 3.48 (SD range 5 0.79–0.94) for respondents in the first and second surveys,
MD Frequency (percent)
60,9 Character Class Survey 1 (%) Survey 2 (%) Total (%)
respectively. Results of t-tests showed that there was no significant difference between the
two groups for job satisfaction items. Mean scores of organizational commitment items
ranged from 3.10 to 3.62 (SD range 5 0.90–1.00) and from 3.02 to 3.34 (SD range 5 0.86–0.93)
for respondents in the first and second surveys, respectively. Results of t-tests showed that
there were significant differences between the two groups for three items – “I feel like ‘part of
the family’ at my organization”, “I believe that a person must be loyal to his or her
organization” and “I feel that I owe the organization quite a bit because of what it has done for
me”. Mean scores of these items dropped significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic
(p < 0.05). Mean scores of counterproductive work behavior items ranged from 1.86 to 2.30
(SD range 5 0.91–0.96) and from 2.10 to 2.49 (SD range 5 1.01–1.11) for respondents in the
first and second surveys, respectively. Results of t-tests showed that there were significant
differences between the two groups for two counterproductive work behavior items – “Talk
about in the working setting, you delayed actions on matters that were important to others”,
“Talk about in the working setting, you made fun of a co-worker personal life” and “Talk
about in the working setting, you daydreamed rather than you could have worked”, as shown
in Table 2. Indeed, the Covid-19 pandemic did not have a significant effect on most of the
selected constructs, except that it impacted three items each of organizational commitment
and counterproductive work behavior.
Table 3 shows means, standard deviations (SD), constructs’ composite reliabilities (CR),
average variance extracted (AVE) and correlations between variables. The values of CR
ranged from 0.808 to 0.925 and AVE ranged from 0.516 to 0.692, supporting convergent
validity (Hair et al., 2010). The square root value of AVE of each construct was equal or Macao’s
greater than correlations between the construct and all other constructs, supporting gaming
discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Demographic variables such as gender and
education did not have any significant association with the selected constructs while age,
industry
marital status, position, working experience and survey number (i.e. Survey 1 and Survey 2)
had no significant relationship or very weak relationship (jrj ≤ 0.167) with the selected
constructs. Specifically, the number of survey (i.e. before or after the Covid-19 outbreak) did
not have any significant effect on job equity, pay equity, perceived organizational support 2441
and job satisfaction while it had a very weak negative effect on organizational commitment
and a very weak positive effect on counterproductive work behavior.
Table 3 also shows that job equity (r 5 0.764, p < 0.001) and pay equity (r 5 0.623,
p < 0.001) were positively and significantly associated with perceived organizational support.
Job equity (r 5 0.705, p < 0.001), pay equity (r 5 0.606, p < 0.001) and perceived organizational
support (r 5 0.723, p < 0.001) were positively and significantly associated with job
satisfaction. Job equity (r 5 0.629, p < 0.001), pay equity (r 5 0.554, p < 0.001), and perceived
organizational support (r 5 0.695, p < 0.001), and job satisfaction (r 5 0.691, p < 0.001)
were positively and significantly associated with organizational commitment. On the
other hand, counterproductive work behavior did not have significant relationships with job
equity (r 5 0.034, n.s.), pay equity (r 5 0.046, n.s.) and perceived organizational support
(r 5 0.037, n.s.). Nevertheless, counterproductive work behavior was negatively, weakly
and significantly associated with job satisfaction (r 5 0.128, p < 0.01), and organizational
commitment (r 5 0.140, p < 0.01), respectively. Data were checked for normality using the
Shapiro–Wilk and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. Results of these tests showed that all
constructs were normally distributed. Additionally, the values of skewness and kurtosis
statistics ranged from 0.379 to 0.626 and 0.267 to 0.682, respectively. Both of them were
less than ±1.0, supporting that construct data were normally distributed.
OC4 I feel like ‘part of the family’ at my organization 3.62 (0.90) 3.14 (0.93)
OC5 I believe that a person must be loyal to his or her organization 3.53 (0.92) 3.34 (0.92)
OC6 I feel that I owe the organization quite a bit because of what it has done for 3.27 (1.00) 3.06 (0.91)
me
CWB1 Talk about in the working setting, you delayed actions on matters that 2.28 (0.96) 2.49 (1.11)
were important to others
CWB3 Talk about in the working setting, you made fun of a co-worker personal 1.86 (0.92) 2.10 (1.09)
life Table 2.
CWB4 Talk about in the working setting, you daydreamed rather than you could 1.90 (0.91) 2.19 (1.01) Items with significant
have worked difference (p < 0.05)
MD
60,9
2442
Table 3.
and correlations
between variables
Mean, SD, CR, AVE
Correlation coefficient
Variable Mean SD CR AVE Gender Age Status Edu Posit Exp Survey JE PE POS JS OC CWB
Six-factor model (baseline 889.0 390 0.000 2.282 0.952 0.947 0.050 – –
model)
Five-factor model; job equity 1263.6 395 0.000 3.199 0.917 0.909 0.066 374.6 5
and pay equity were
combined as a factor
Four-factor model; job equity, 1741.3 399 0.000 4.364 0.872 0.860 0.081 852.3 9
pay equity, and perceived
organizational support were
combined as a factor
Three-factor model; job 2357.3 402 0.000 5.864 0.813 0.798 0.098 1468.3 12
equity, pay equity, perceived
organizational support, and
organizational commitment
as a factor Table 4.
One-factor model 3138.1 405 0.000 7.748 0.739 0.720 0.115 2249.1 15 Fit statistics for
Note(s): Δχ and Δdf were calculated based on the difference between the alternative model and the six-factor different measurement
2
2444
Figure 2.
The structural model
organizational support and job satisfaction on organizational commitment. It was found that
perceived organizational support had the greatest total effect on organizational commitment,
followed by job equity. Gender and age were controlled for in the structural model. Gender
was found to have an insignificant effect on job satisfaction (unstandardized regression
weight B 5 0.026, p 5 0.508) and organizational commitment (unstandardized regression
weight 5 0.012, p 5 0.747). Age was found to have a very weak but significant effect on job
satisfaction (unstandardized regression weight 5 0.057, p 5 0.006) and organization
commitment (unstandardized regression weight 5 0.071, p < 0.001).
Effect on JS Effect on OC
Factor Direct Indirect Total Direct Indirect Total
Discussion
Macao’s gaming employees generally agreed that they were treated and paid fairly because
mean scores of job equity and pay equity items were all above 3.0. They perceived that
organizations adequately supported them because four out of the five item-mean scores of
perceived organization support were greater than 3.0 before Covid-19 and three out of the five
item-mean scores were greater than 3.0 after the outbreak of Covid-19. They were generally
satisfied with job because all job satisfaction items had a mean score greater than 3.0 before
and after the outbreak of Covid-19. Additionally, they were committed to the companies but
employees’ organizational commitment decreased slightly after the outbreak of Covid-19 (see
Table A1). They seldom had negative work behaviors because mean scores of
counterproductive work behavior items were all below 2.5. Nevertheless, results of t-tests
showed that some aspects of employees’ organizational commitment deteriorated
significantly after the outbreak of Covid-19, including feelings as ‘part of the family’ and
loyal to the companies. The negative effect of Covid-19 on employees’ organizational
commitment was consistent with the one reported by Chanana (2021) who focused on
teachers in private schools in India. Additionally, frequencies of some negative work
behaviors such as delaying actions on matters that were important to others, and
daydreaming in the work setting tended to increase (see Table 2). This finding was consistent
with the study of Fei and Hahn (2021) in which job insecurity due to the Covid-19 was found to
positively influence employees’ counterproductive work behavior in Chinese IT firms.
JE → POS 0.795*** (95% CI: 0.652, 0.938) 0.798*** (95% CI: 0.651, 0.945)
PE → POS 0.229*** (95% CI: 0.137, 0.321) 0.079ns (95% CI: 0.003, 0.161)
JE → JS 0.118 (95% CI: 0.025, 0.261)
ns
0.318*** (95% CI: 0.169, 0.467)
PE → JS 0.129** (95% CI: 0.047, 0.211) 0.092** (95% CI: 0.023, 0.161) Table 6.
POS →JS 0.473*** (95% CI: 0.312, 0.634) 0.405*** (95% CI: 0.254, 0.556) Unstandardized
regression weights of
POS → OC 0.188** (95% CI: 0.045, 0.331) 0.333*** (95% CI: 0.176, 0.490) the paths from
JS → OC 0.558*** (95% CI: 0.333, 0.783) 0.474*** (95% CI: 0.270, 0.678) structural equation
OC → CWB 0.173* (95% CI: 0.324, 0.022) 0.045ns (95% CI: 0.196, 0.106) models (before and
Note(s): JE – job equity; PE – pay equity; POS – perceived organizational support; JS – job satisfaction; OC – after Covid-19
organizational commitment; CI – Confidence interval; ns – non-significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 outbreak)
MD Structural equation modeling results showed that as a whole, job equity had a significant
60,9 impact on job satisfaction directly and indirectly through perceived organizational support
(see Table 5). Pay equity had a significant, but weak impact on job satisfaction directly and
indirectly through perceived organizational commitment. Job equity and pay equity did not
influence organizational commitment directly. However, they influenced organizational
commitment through perceived organizational support and job satisfaction. When the
magnitudes of influences were compared, job equity had much greater influences on
2446 perceived organizational support, job satisfaction and organizational commitment than pay
equity. It could be well understood because Macao’s casino employees have been well paid in
the past decade (Tang, 2021; Zeng et al., 2013). According to the statistics published by Macao
Statistics and Census Services (2021), Macao’s casino employees in average earn about
USD3,000 per month in 2021, with a 20% higher salary than the median salary of Macao’s
residents at USD2,500 per month. Additionally, organizational commitment was found to
have a negative and weak effect on counterproductive work behavior, and the effect became
insignificant after the outbreak of Covid-19. It was because Macao’s casinos have tried their
best to keep jobs and most employees understood that the Covid-19 pandemic is a force
majeure that cannot be dealt with by individuals, organizations or even countries. When all
direct and indirect effects were taken into consideration, perceived organizational support
had the greatest total effect on organizational commitment, followed by job equity. With
respect to employees’ job satisfaction, its most influencing factor was job equity, followed by
perceived organizational support.
Casino gaming is a big business and Macao’s casino operators are public companies listed
in Hong Kong and the US (Huang, 2011), no longer dominated by Chinese family businesses
that might breed employees’ counterproductive work behavior (Zheng et al., 2017). Casino
operators are expected to take corporate social responsibility seriously to mitigate the
negative consequences of gaming (Huang and To, 2018, 2022). Additionally, the Macao
Government urged gaming operators to fulfill their social responsibility such as supporting
small local businesses, and safeguarding local residents’ employment rights (Macao
Government, 2016). Their performance on social responsibility may even affect the likelihood
of obtaining new concessions to continue their gaming business when the concessions expire
in June 2022 (Blaschke, 2022). In January 2021, all Macao’s casino operators announced a
discretionary allowance that was equivalent to one-month salary capped at USD5,600 for
their employees before the Lunar New Year, even though all operators suffered huge financial
loss due to the Covid-19 pandemic (Macau Daily, 2021). Inevitably, some casino employees
were required to take unpaid leave or even made redundancies. Thus, employees have a sense
of uncertainty that probably led to the mean score of a job satisfaction item – “‘the job
security” dropping from 3.37 to 3.26 after the outbreak of Covid-19, even though there was no
statistically significant difference between the scores.
Theoretical implications
Perceived organizational support was found to have a strong, positive and significant effect
on organizational commitment. This result was consistent with the findings of Joiner and
Bakalis (2006), and Panaccio and Vandenberghe (2009) who reported perceived
organizational support positively influenced organizational commitment in the Western
culture. Yet, the study tested the relationships between perceived organizational support and
organizational commitment and between equity and organizational commitment in the
Chinese context and specifically in Macao’s gaming industry. The strong link between
perceived organizational support and organizational commitment could be well reasoned
through the lens of social exchanges. Nevertheless, the insignificant link between job equity
(or pay equity) and organizational commitment showed that job equity and pay equity were
found to have effects on organizational commitment through perceived organizational Macao’s
support and/or job satisfaction. This finding extended the findings of Jiang et al. (2018) who gaming
reported job satisfaction mediating the relationships between job and organization’s
variables and employees’ organizational commitment. Interestingly, while Shore and Strauss
industry
(2012) reported that job equity had a smaller effect than pay equity on perceived
organizational support, the study’s results showed the other way around. It is probably
because Macao’s gaming employees are well paid comparing than their counterparts in other
industries, resulting that gaming employees are more concerned with job equity rather than 2447
pay equity. Additionally, the study’s findings supported Herzberg’s two-factor theory that
employees’ job satisfaction was largely dependent on intrinsic rather than extrinsic elements
of jobs, i.e. job equity vs pay equity (also see Maidani, 1991).
The study is one of the first empirical studies to integrate social exchange theory and
equity theory to explain employees’ organizational commitment in Macao’s gaming industry.
Chinese are pragmatic and the role of reciprocity significantly influences organizational
commitment (Hu et al., 2011). Specifically, Hu et al. (2011) used Chinese employees who
studied MBA programs in China, and employees who studied MBA programs,
undergraduate business or psychology programs in the United States. They reported that
Chinese tended to use a holistic approach to understand their situations and thus interactions
between social exchange, economic exchange and organizational commitment were clearly
evidenced. However, Hu et al.’s (2011) study did not find any interactions between exchange
and commitment constructs among those US samples. Our study showed that job equity and
perceived organizational support had the greatest total effects on job satisfaction and
organizational commitment, implying that the perceptions of support from and to the
organizations are likely reciprocal. The empirical findings revealed the complex nexus of the
direct and the mediated relationships (via perceived organizational support) between job/pay
equity and job satisfaction and the mediated relationships (via perceived organizational
support and job satisfaction) between job/pay equity and organizational commitment.
Managerial implications
Limitations and future research. The study has limitations. First, it was a two-survey study
relying on respondents’ self-reports of their perceptions, psychological state, attitude and
behavior. Thus, it could be subject to common method bias. A Harmon’s single-factor test was
performed. Results showed that no single factor emerged and the first factor accounted for
around 45% (i.e. less than half) of the variance, suggesting that common method bias did not
pose a serious problem. Second, the Covid-19 pandemic would have a long-lasting effect on
the economic and social conditions. As the second survey was conducted in September–
October 2020, the economic, social and psychological impacts of Covid-19 on the society and
humans (including organizations’ employees) were still manifesting themselves. It is
necessary to replicate the survey at some future time so as to identify changes in employees’
perception of equity and organizational support, their commitment, job satisfaction, and
work behavior due to the ongoing pandemic and the wake of Covid-19. Specifically, the recent
decline in Macao’s gaming revenue and cost saving measures undertaken by casinos (The
Standard, 2022) might affect casino employees’ morale and perceptions significantly.
Conclusions
The study explored the effects of job equity, pay equity, perceived organizational support and
job satisfaction on employees’ organizational commitment through the lens of social
exchange theory and equity theory in Macao’s gaming industry. It also investigated whether
and how organizational commitment affected counterproductive work behavior. A two-
MD survey study was conducted to collect employees’ responses in 2019 and 2020 – the one after
60,9 the outbreak of Covid-19. Results showed that organizational commitment was greatly and
significantly influenced by perceived organizational support and job satisfaction directly.
Organizational commitment was affected by job equity and pay equity indirectly through
perceived organizational support and job satisfaction. Results of the structural equation
modeling with multi-group analysis indicated that Covid-19 did not affect the paths
significantly between the studied variables. Item-by-item analysis indicated that employees’
2448 loyalty and feelings of “part of the family” deteriorated after the outbreak of Covid-19.
Additionally, some negative work behaviors such as delaying actions on matters that were
important to others and daydreaming in the work setting became more frequent.
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Appendix Macao’s
gaming
industry
Item mean scores
Item (standard deviation) Factor
code Item 2019 2020 loadings
2453
Job equity
JE1 I am fairly treated considering the job and responsibilities 3.27 (1.03) 3.36 (0.83) 0.802
that I have
JE2 I am fairly treated considering the amount of education 3.32 (0.95) 3.41 (0.86) 0.795
and training that I have
JE3 I am fairly treated in view of the amount of experience that 3.36 (0.92) 3.34 (0.89) 0.840
I have
JE4 I am fairly treated for the amount of effort that I put forth 3.25 (0.95) 3.23 (0.93) 0.856
JE5 I am fairly treated for work that I have done well 3.33 (0.97) 3.28 (0.84) 0.876
JE6 I am fairly treated for the stresses and strains of my job 3.08 (1.00) 3.08 (0.90) 0.748
Pay equity
PE1 My salary is fair in relation to my colleagues in the same 3.25 (1.08) 3.24 (1.01) 0.814
department
PE2 My salary is fair in relation to all other colleagues in the 3.18 (0.99) 3.14 (0.93) 0.792
company
PE3 My salary is fair in relation to other people with 3.23 (0.95) 3.18 (0.92) 0.875
comparable qualifications and experience in the same
industry
PE4 My salary is fair in relation to other people with 3.17 (0.99) 3.24 (0.91) 0.844
comparable qualifications and experience in other
industries
Perceived organizational support
POS1 Management cares about my general satisfaction at work 3.13 (1.05) 3.16 (0.93) 0.778
POS2 Management strongly considers my goals and values 2.99 (1.01) 2.83 (0.91) 0.832
POS3 Management cares about my opinions 3.08 (1.07) 2.95 (0.94) 0.836
POS4 Management takes pride in my accomplishments at work 3.15 (0.99) 3.04 (0.87) 0.847
POS5 Help is available from management when I have a 3.32 (1.04) 3.29 (0.86) 0.835
problem
Job satisfaction
JS1 The physical conditions in which you work 3.36 (0.96) 3.42 (0.79) 0.732
JS2 Relation between you and your immediate manager 3.46 (0.98) 3.48 (0.82) 0.722
JS3 The job security 3.37 (0.99) 3.26 (0.92) 0.705
JS4 Freedom to choose your own working methods 3.03 (1.01) 3.18 (0.93) 0.665
JS5 The recognition you get for good work 3.34 (0.89) 3.24 (0.94) 0.786
Organizational commitment
OC1 I really feel as if the organization’s problems are my own 3.10 (0.98) 3.02 (0.86) 0.662
problems
OC2 The organization has a great deal of personal meaning for 3.20 (0.93) 3.07 (0.86) 0.790
me
OC3 I have a strong sense of belonging to my organization 3.26 (0.97) 3.12 (0.93) 0.851
OC4 I feel like ‘part of the family’ at my organization 3.62 (0.90) 3.14 (0.93) 0.811
OC5 I believe that a person must be loyal to his or her 3.53 (0.92) 3.34 (0.92) 0.629
organization
OC6 I feel that I owe the organization quite a bit because of 3.27 (1.00) 3.06 (0.91) 0.826
what it has done for me
Table A1.
(continued ) Constructs and items
MD Item mean scores
60,9 Item (standard deviation) Factor
code Item 2019 2020 loadings
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