The Mediating Role of Affective Commitment in the Organizational Rewards– Organizational Performance Relationship

Human resources are the most important factor of quality at universities and in research. Therefore, universities must try to improve their human workforce quantitatively as well as qualitatively, by creating, attracting, and retaining experts at universities. The aim of this research is to evaluate the importance of the reward system as a factor of affective commitment and the effect of affective commitment on the organizational performance. The research was conducted in the universities located in the Central and Eastern Europe. In order to test the proposed hypotheses, exploratory factor analysis and mediation tests are applied, using 148 sample data from universities’ academic and administration staff. The results indicate that organizational rewards play a significant role in influencing employees’ attitudes related to improving the organizational performance. However, organizational performance is not influenced directly by organizational rewards, but through affective commitment. Organizational rewards are needed to increase the level of employees’ commitment that will in return have a positive effect on employees’ desire to contribute more to the organizational performance.