WORKERS' AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT AND THE ROLE OF MANAGERS' INGRATIATION IN TOURISM-BASED ORGANIZATIONS.

This paper examined the impact of managers’ ingratiation on workers’ affective commitment in tourism related business organizations in Port Harcourt. The paper adopted a cross-sectional survey research design, involving a population of 170 workers. The research data were collected through questionnaire and analyzed using Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient (rs). It was found that managers’ ingratiation has become a referent power factor which managers in the tourism sector have used to elicit and sustain workers affective commitment. The paper concludes that managers’ flattery behavior to appear likeable is a strong affective commitment factor in the workplace. Based on this, the paper recommends that managers should build on their referent power to enhance their charismatic capital necessary to engender workers’ emotional and selfless interest, dedication to job, sense of belongingness and civic virtue.