Abstract

THERON, Anthonie Van Straaten  and  DODD, Nicole Marguerite. Organisational commitment in a post-merger situation. S. Afr. j. econ. manag. sci. [online]. 2011, vol.14, n.3, pp.333-345. ISSN 2222-3436.

The aim of this study was to investigate organisational commitment in an organisation that had recently experienced organisational restructuring (a merger). The psychological contract that exists between employees and organisations is brittle due to many organisational changes that stem from organisational restructuring. When psychological contracts are breached, employees may experience reduced commitment to the organisation. The target population for this study consisted of all employees working at three recently-merged higher education institutions in the Nelson Mandela Metropolis (n=100) and a selfadministered questionnaire was distributed amongst staff. The results indicated that an increase in the number of positive human resource management (HRM) practices reported by respondents correlated with a decrease in violation and breach of the psychological contract, despite organisational restructuring. It was further revealed that effective management of the psychological contract is crucial during organisational restructuring, in order to maintain the commitment and loyalty of employees.

Keywords : psychological contract; employment relationship; organisational commitment; merger; acquisition; organisational restructuring; human resource management practices; psychological contract breach; psychological contract violation.

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