Impact of HR Practice Variability on Organizational Commitment in South Africa Diverse Sectors

In this study, Organizational Commitment (OC) and Human Resource (HR) practices are investigated in relation to each other across sectors in South Africa, using a sample of 3,180 employees in the state-owned enterprises (SOEs), private sector, and public sector. The participants were 20 to 72 years old, 57.1% male and 42.5% female, with an average age of 37.8 years and a tenure between one month to 42 years. Standardized questionnaires were used to collect data on different HR practices such as Communication (Com), Diversity Management (Div), Staffing (Sta), Supervisor Support (SS), Performance Management (PM), Remuneration (Rem), and Training and Development (T&D) as well as on overall HR practices (TOT) and OC. Statistical analyses, including ANOVA and correlation coefficients, indicated significant differences in T&D, Div and Com in these sectors, where the private sector demonstrated the highest correlations between HR practices and OC (r = 0.51). Also, the regression analysis revealed that HR practices account for 23% of the variance of OC with the percentage contribution of the highest from the private sector (27%). It is demonstrated in this research that targeted HR practices are vital to organizational commitment and that sector-specific HR practices are necessary to promote employee engagement and retention.