Human resource practices as predictors of engineering staff's organisational commitment

Orientation: Human resource practices are an important means of retaining professionally qualified employees and improving and increasing their future level of organisational performance in today's turbulent and perpetually competitive world of business. Research purpose: This study examined whether human resource practices (as a core aspect of organisational culture) positively predict organisational commitment. Motivation for the study: In South Africa, high voluntary turnover and skills shortages of professionally qualified people such as engineers are a major obstacle to economic growth and job creation. Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey and quantitative design were used with a non-probability purposive sample of 284 early career professionally qualified engineers from a South African engineering organisation. Correlational statistical techniques were employed to achieve the research objective. Main findings: Job satisfaction, training and development and rewards and remuneration positively predicted affective commitment. Leadership, rewards and remuneration and training and development also positively predicted normative commitment. Human resources policies and procedures positively predicted continuance commitment. Practical/managerial implications: Managers and human resource practitioners need to take a proactive approach in facilitating an organisational culture that reflects the practices embodied by the variables measured in this study in order to increase organisational commitment. Contribution: The findings add new knowledge that may be used to help managers and human resource practitioners understand how these human resource practices may guide retention strategies in the engineering environment.