PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT: A STUDY OF MANAGEMENT TRAINEE OFFICERS

This study examines the relationships between perceived organizational support (POS) and the organizational commitment of the employees inducted through the Management Trainee Officers Program in the banking sector of Pakistan. Management trainee officers program is a rigorous recruitment, selection and training program in the banking industry. The theoretical foundation of the study lies on the social exchange perspective (Blau, 1960), the perceived organizational support (POS) theory (Eisenberger, Hutchinson, Huntington & Sowa, 1985; Shore & Shore; 1995), which is also referred to as the commitment of the organization to its employees, the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1964) and other relevant literature in the field. A questionnaire was filled by 70 Grade II banking officers inducted through Management Trainee Officers (MTOs) program. For the measurement of perceived organization support (POS), the questionnaire was adapted from Eisenberg, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa (1986). Questionnaire developed by Modway, Steers & Porter (1979) was used to measure the organizational commitment. The preliminary investigations thus conforming the theoretical foundations have revealed that there is a strong positive correlation between perceived organizational support and organizational commitment. That is, those who feel their organization has a favorable orientation towards them in turn reciprocate with higher level of attachment and involvement with their organization.