Impact of inclusiveness on organizational commitment among employees of IT industry

Tapjoy Saha, Sanjay Bhattacharya. Impact of inclusiveness on organizational commitment among employees of IT industry. Cardiometry; Issue 22; May 2022; p. 395-405; DOI: 10.18137/cardiometry.2022.22.395405; Available from:

In the 21st century, most organizations are talking about a diverse and inclusive workforce to remain competitive in the global market. As organizations focus on offering high-quality services and products to their customers, they simultaneously focus on embracing an inclusive culture where employees from diverse backgrounds can co-exist and observe Kundu and Turan. When we talk about diversity in the workforce, it has a fairly wide connotation. It is important to understand that diversity refers to observable descriptions like age, gender, color, sexual orientation, physical ability, and other factors like beliefs, values, ethnic culture, lifestyle, etc., according to Wentling and Palma-Rivas. In addition, the association of an employee with a specific group in an organization is not only limited to demographic variables but also group interaction and organizational practices. As studied by Alderfer, Tucker, and Tucker, the theory of the Intergroup and the theory of the Embedded Intergroup, stated Thomas and Alderfer, analyze these additional considerations to explain the perceived discrimination phenomenon. Discussions around intergroup theory and embedded intergroup theory agree that it is equally necessary to consider an employee’s interpersonal dynamics, such as relationship with the boss, relationship with colleagues, and ultimately a relationship with the company itself, in recognizing and evaluating the effect of perceived discrimination on organizational involvement.

With the changing environment in the business world, a diverse workforce is the need of the hour. When a company welcomes and nurtures employees from different backgrounds, it automatically promulgates diverse cognitive thinking, leading to innovation.

Aligning the organization’s culture towards a diverse and inclusive environment is not all easy, as studied by Pless and Maak. It requires understanding the organization’s current situation and thus gaining access to the employees’ behavior, expectations, and experiences, which will enable to frame strategy to cultivate the desired work culture that fits the current system of respective organizations.

Employees’ organizational commitment is arguably an important aspect to build a sustainable workforce, which warrants further study to understand the impact of inclusive work culture on organizational commitment. Therefore, the present research examines the relationship between different constructs of inclusiveness with the employee’s commitment to the organization.

2    Literature review 2.1    Diversity and inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are two separate concepts but related in some ways. Managing diversity is the first step towards creating an inclusive work culture within an organization. Inclusion as a concept goes deeper than handling diversity. Inclusiveness values the differences among employees or communities [1]. It leverages the potential of a work environment where employees of diverse backgrounds feel empowered and motivated to perform to their fullest, studied by Roberson. In this work culture, various perspectives of employees are valued and further integrated into decision-making processes to improve organizational performance. An inclusive workplace is continually evolving, incorporating diverse viewpoints of employ- 396 | Cardiometry | Issue 22. May 2022

Diversity management has been a key to building an inclusive culture through supportive relationships, and developed networks, stated Wasserman. The research work intended to examine the relationship interactions from a communications perspective [4]. The parties involved in the process worked together to bring more clarity to their job responsibility. The consensus is that supportive relationships in a work environment build an inclusive atmosphere for employees to express their individuality without the fear of exclusion. Good working relationships and successful communication interactions are often considered advantageous in helping minority individuals manage corporate bureaucracy, strengthen intergroup connections, and develop a sense of acceptance. Phillips and O’Reilly of the workforce described diversity in management as one of the most complex and urgent problems in modern organizations. It is defined as a “hot-button” concern demanding more attention. The research primarily discusses the value of recognizing the context of diversity management and the need for more engagement to manage diversity among people from different backgrounds. The research examines how managers of both public and private organizations can consider, foresee, and analyze the complexity of the diverse workforce to make multicultural organizations effective in various diversity initiatives [5].

The importance of diversity was explored by Kun-du and Mor of the workforce and organizational success among IT companies in India. The key goal was to assess the degree to which diversity management perceptions of employees affect their performance and to figure out if diversity perceptions of employees are linked to their background. Upon reviewing the primary data obtained from 402 respondents, they found that employees overwhelmingly accepted diversity and diversity management irrespective of their diverse backgrounds. However, substantial variations were identified in employee expectations of valuing the diversity strategies and programs employed based on their diverse backgrounds [7].

Pless and Maak note that developing a work environment that is open to people of all backgrounds and cultures is no simple task for any organization. They clarified that there are inherent challenges that organizations face in general when coping with inclusion values. They proposed four essential transition phases to create a workplace culture of inclusion. Such phases include (i) raising employee awareness, understanding, and promoting reflection; (ii) creating a longterm inclusion vision; (iii) evaluating core management principles; and (iii) modifying internal processes accordingly [8].

In their study, Gilbert and Ivancevich find the importance of implementing various initiatives of diversity and inclusion and focus on the necessity of skillful supervisors (managers) to deal with workforce inclusion. They highlight three major ethical principles which support diversity initiatives. The first principle deals with providing fair treatment to all employees. The openness needed to implement diversity initiatives responds to the second principle. Finally, Inclusion management addresses the third principle by creating opportunities to reach their maximum potential according to their skills and interests. This research paper gives various insights into the history of diversity management and calls for a new approach to dealing with and administering different diversity initiatives that encourage more collaboration between scholars and management [9].

In his research study, Richard examines the impact of a culturally diverse workforce on an organization’s performance. He developed a framework for understanding the relationship between diverse workforce, business strategy, and organization performance. The research work of Richard further indicates that cultural diversity adds value and leads to the competitive advantage of the company over other competitors. Human resource managers can add value by implementing various organization policies and maintaining a cultural mix in this competitive world. Hence human resource managers need a better understanding of business strategy beyond the traditional HR scope of leveraging a diverse workforce for organizational growth [13].

2.2    Organizational commitment

Over the years, ‘organizational commitment’ started getting much attention from the management of different organizations. It is one of the key constructs for examining the match between individuals and organizations. Many researchers have worked on it and thus variably defined it. According to Mowday, Porter, and Steers, organizational commitment is the psychological relationship a person has with an organization. It is linked to the ideals, behavioral commitments within the organization, and the probability of staying with the organization [14]. Buchanan’s research on developing organizational commitment of employees discussed three constructs - Identification, Involvement, and Loyalty. Identification reflects an employee’s pride in the organization and thus recognizes the organization’s goals and principles. Involvement reflects the psychological absorption of one’s regular work activities in an organization. Loyalty reflects an employee’s affection and emotional commitment, and thus it manifests a wish to stay with the organization. Salancik examined to suggest commitment either as an attitudinal or behavioral concept in a similar line of work. Attitudinal engagement reflects how employees ensure internalization of the company’s values and a willingness to preserve membership. In contrast, behavioral engagement refers to the process by which an employee’s past experiences instigate one to stay or leave the company [15].

In the world of labor, an individual’s high commitment implies a relationship between principles & cor- 398 | Cardiometry | Issue 22. May 2022

In their empirical paper, Hughes, Avey, and Norman explored the relationship between supportive workplace culture and organizational commitment. According to the research work, supportive culture is when employees perceive that their leaders can create a culture of cooperation and support. All employees can thrive and work to accomplish the organization’s mission. Their analysis found that employees are more committed to their organization when they get such supportive work culture. Moreover, when employees are engaged in their job, they are more inclined and committed to investing the necessary cognitive, physical, and emotional energy required to meet organizational goals [19].

Cox suggested that the impact of diversity involves interaction between individuals and their work envi- ronment. He further builds a model on the embedded group concept and interactional research. This model is primarily based on the concept that affiliation or inclination of an individual to any group based on culture, belief, principles, etc., can be interpreted across three levels (individual, group cohesion, and organization at large). Together these factors shaped an organization’s diversity ecosystem. Furthermore, a study by Barak, Cherin, and Berkman successfully employed this method to understand the impact on workplace inclusion of a large electronics firm. Lastly, the researchers have indicated that future studies should also explore the perception of discrimination by an employee and its impact on organizational participation [20].

3    Research methodologies

Considering the state of the literature regarding various antecedents of inclusiveness and the fact that inclusiveness in a work culture may impact the employees’ organizational commitment, this matter would appear to warrant further research. Therefore, this current study is unique in many ways, which is an attempt to build a model that will help to find out the impact of different constructs of inclusion in organizational commitment among employees of the younger generation and thereby increasing the likelihood of capturing different experiences of inclusion throughout an employee lifecycle [22]. To understand the commitment level of the younger workforce age bracket in the target population is kept in the range of 22 years to 35 years. In this current research, inclusiveness is measured by three major constructs:

• •    Relationship with supervisor

• •    Relationship with co-workers

• •    Organization practices

• •    Relationship with supervisor:

• •    Relationship with co-workers:

Relationship with co-workers plays a great role in creating a sense of belonging, which impacts inclusiveness. When individuals feel that they are treated differently by the co-workers, they often feel isolated, which can harm the behavior and attitude. According to Mirage, Sanchez, and Brock, lack of inclusion creates a sense of perceived discrimination when treated unfairly by group members or co-workers.

• •    Organizational Practices:

Different organizational practices build the culture of its organization. Every organization has its own unique culture to deal with its employees. That culture is merely a representation of organizationally nurtured values and beliefs, as studied by Mas’ud. For an organization, a strong culture is a powerful influence. It empowers all employees of diverse backgrounds to succeed in their respective positions.

• •    Organizational Commitment.

3.1    Model

An employee’s organizational commitment is characterized as measuring the employee’s desire to align with the organization’s goals, values, and objectives. Moreover, organizational commitment can also be a good indicator for an employee who wishes to be a part of the organization or wants to leave, studied Mc Neese-Smith.

The current research aims to develop a model to explore the impact of different constructs of inclusiveness on employees’ organizational commitment. The model suggested below also seeks to analyze the relative significance of the various constructs of inclusiveness.

OC= a+ b 1 RS +b 2 RC + b 3 OP

Where,

OC= Organizational commitment

RS= Relationship with supervisor

RC= Relationship with coworkers

OP= Organizational practices

3.2    Model hypothesis

HN1: Relationship with the supervisor has an insignificant effect on organizational commitment

HA1: Relationship with the supervisor has a significant effect on organizational commitment

HN2: Relationship with co-workers has an insignificant effect on organizational commitment

HA2: Relationship with co-workers has a significant effect on organizational commitment

HN3: Organizational practices have an insignificant effect on organizational commitment.

HA3: Organizational practices have a significant effect on organizational commitment.

4    Analysis and discussion 4.1    Sampling population

A sample of 160 responses was collected in the current research work for the data analysis. A detailed questionnaire was circulated among professionals working in different companies to collect responses from the target audience. The age group of the target population ranges from 22 years to 35 years. The intention was to target today’s workforce to form the backbone of the future workforce. For organizations to be successful in the long run, they have to build a sustainable workforce. It can be possible when they nurture their young workforce creating an inclusive work culture.

4.2    Data collection

The primary data was collected from employees working in various IT companies. The objective was to target young employees from various IT companies

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situated in major Indian cities like Bangalore, Gurga-on, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. The questionnaire for the current research work was framed based on multiple published questionnaires.

4.3    Instrument development

A detailed questionnaire was developed based on published research questionnaires to comply with the objective of the current research work. Considering the review literature above and the questions posed, this study explores the relationship between inclusiveness and organizational commitment. This study will help us understand how various constructs of inclusiveness affect employees’ organizational commitment. The questionnaire has four sections:

Section 1: This section is designed to collect the personal information of respondents. It consists of the gender, age, experience, and marital status of the respondents.

Section 2: This section is designed to understand the involvement of a supervisor with his/her employees in creating inclusive work culture. The scale for measuring this inclusion factor (Relationship with Supervisor) is derived from past studies on inclusion, stated Sabharwal.

Section 3: This section is designed to understand the involvement of co-workers in creating an inclusive work culture. The scale for measuring this factor (Relationship with co-workers) is a modified version of the group Inclusion scale developed by Chung, Ehrhart, Shore, Randel, Dean, and Kedharnath. The questions of the present study cover all the aspects of belongingness and uniqueness mentioned in the earlier study.

Section 4: This section is designed to understand different overall organizational practices in creating an inclusive culture for its employees. The scale for measuring this last construct of inclusion (Organizational Practices) is derived from past studies on inclusion, observed Sabharwal.

Section 5: This section is designed to understand the commitment of the respondent towards its organization. The organizational commitment scale is adopted on the questionnaire developed by MARSDEN, PETER & Kalleberg, Arne & COOK, CYNTHIA. These questions capture the major aspects of work commitment measured by the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire adopted by Mowday, Porter, Steers.

4.4    Data analysis

All the sections (2, 3, 4, and 5) consist of six items, and these items were scaled using a 5-point Likert scale. The analysis was done using the statistical analysis tool SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science), version 25. Following tests were undertaken for the analysis.

• •    Reliability test

• •    Multiple regression analysis.

Reliability test

At first, the collected data of the survey were analyzed for reliability in SPSS. The questionnaire of the survey consists of 24 questions. In the reliability test value of Cronbach’s alpha should be greater than 0.7 or 70%. The overall value of Cronbach’s alpha in the current study is 0.920 or 92.0% as shown in Table 1, meaning that the overall reliability of the collected data is sufficient for further data analysis. It is also important to check the reliability test for the individual variables. The first independent variable, ‘Relationship with supervisor,’ consists of six elements with an alpha value of 0.807 (80.7%). The second independent variable, ‘Relationship with co-workers,’ consists of six elements with an alpha value of 0.796 (79.6%). The third independent variable, ‘Organizational practices, ‘ consists of six elements with an alpha value of 0.844 (84.4%). Lastly, the dependent variable ‘Organizational Commitment’ consists of six elements with an alpha value of 0.865 (86.5 %). Hence, it can be concluded that the reliability of all the individual variables is also acceptable.

Table 1

The outcome of the reliability test

Variable		No. of items	Cronbach’s alpha
Independent variables	Relationship with supervisors	6	0.807
	Relationship with co-workers	6	0.796
	Organizational Practices	6	0.844
Dependent variable	Organizational commitment	6	0.865
Overall		24	0.920

The age of the target population ranges between 22 years to 35 years and comprises both males and females. The intention was to capture the responses of the young workforce working in different IT companies across major cities as shown in Table 2. Table 3 Shows the Descriptive statistics.

Table 2

Demographic factors

	Category	Number of respondents	Percentage in the sample (%)
Age (Years)	<=25	37	23.1
	>25 and <=30	82	51.3
	>30 and <=35	41	25.6
Gender	Male	103	64.4
	Female	57	35.6
Total		160	100

Table 3

Descriptive statistics

	Mean	Standard Deviation	No. of responses
Relationship with supervisor	3.4989	.66872	160
Relationship with coworkers	3.8258	.55216	160
Organizational practices	3.7357	.72084	160
Organizational commitment	3.7470	.67421	160

Regression Analysis

The value of the adjusted R square is 0.436 shows in Table 4, which indicates that these three independent variables (Relationship with supervisor, relationship with co-workers, Organizational practices) will estimate 43.6% of the variance independent variable (Organizational commitment). As reflected in Table 5, the regression model is significant (p-value is less than 0.005) for further data analysis.

Table 4

Regression model summary

Model	R	R square	Adjusted R square	Standard error of the estimate
1	0.669	0.447	0.436	0.50614

Table 5

ANOVA outcome

Model		Sum of Squares	Df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
1	Regression	32.311	3	10.770	42.043	.000
	Residual	39.963	156	.256
	Total	72.274	159

Table 6 describes the relationship between independent variables (Relationship with supervisor, Relationship with co-workers, Organizational practice) and dependent variable (Organizational commitment) and with their coefficients, significant value, and variance inflation factor (VIF). The value of standardized coefficients (β) explains the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Suppose the β value is greater than zero. In that case, it signifies that there is a positive relationship between independent and dependent variables. If the β value is negative, it signifies a negative relationship between independent and dependent variables. From Table 6, it is concluded that all the independent variables (Relationship with supervisor, Relationship with co-workers, Organizational practice) have a positive relationship with the dependent variable (Organizational commitment).

Table 6

Regression coefficients (organizational commitment)

	Unstandardized Coefficients (B)	Standardized Coefficients (β)	Sig.	Variance Inflation Factor (VIF)
(Constant)	0.691	-	0.020
Relationship with supervisor	0.312	0.310	0.000	1.543
Relationship with co-workers	0.228	0.186	0.019	1.736
Organizational practices	0.292	0.313	0.00	1.504

Analyzing the significant values of each construct of inclusiveness is necessary to test the hypothesis. In the current study, a 95% confidence interval is considered.

The significant value of the ‘Relationship with supervisor’ variable is less than 0.05. Hence the null hypothesis (HN1) is rejected. That means ‘Relationship with supervisor’ has a significant effect on organizational commitment.

The significant value of the ‘Relationship with co-workers’ variable is less than 0.05. Hence the null hypothesis (HN2) is rejected. That means ‘Relationship with co-workers’ has a significant effect on organizational commitment.

The significant value of the ‘Organizational practice’ variable is less than 0.05. Hence the null hypothesis (HN3) is rejected. That means ‘Organizational practice’ has a significant effect on organizational commitment.

Unstandardized coefficients (B) Shown in Table 6 are used to form the regression equation:

OC = 0.691 + 0.312 (RS) + 0.228 (RC) + 0.292 (OP)

Where,

OC = Organizational Commitment

RS = Relationship with Supervisor

RC = Relationship with Coworkers

OP = Organizational Practices

5    Discussions

Relationship with supervisor, relationship with co-workers, and organizational practices are the three constructs of inclusiveness at a workplace. The present study attempts to examine the effect of these constructs of inclusiveness on organizational commitment among employees. The findings of the statistical analysis highlight inclusiveness in the workplace as an essential aspect of impacting organizational commitment. Further, all three constructs of inclusiveness are reported as significant predictors of organizational commitment. Hence, it is of utmost importance that organizations prioritize initiatives to institutionalize inclusiveness in organization vision, mission, and policies so that benefits of workplace inclusion could be achieved in various aspects of work productivity. It would build a work culture of acceptance among the employees in the long run. These all are intended to increase the commitment level of employees, which in turn would impact productivity at the workplace (Robert, 2015).

The outcome of the data analysis also reflects the relative significance of the three constructs of inclu- siveness on organizational commitment. Results show organizational practices play a great role in positively impacting the commitment level of employees, followed by a relationship with supervisor and a relationship with co-workers. Thus, it indicates that the management of an organization must be cautious about framing policies for regular operational practices to feel included and motivated to continue performing for the organization. The success of such organizational practices depends not only on recognizing and understanding the differences of employees but also the involvement of the senior management in implementing those practices at all levels of the organizations, studied Sabharwal. Similarly, the approach of a supervisor is also critical in maintaining the culture of inclusiveness. The supervisor can cultivate the culture by involving and motivating the employees despite all the differences. Supervisors can be effective leaders when they encourage the team members to perform, accept different perspectives, and ultimately involve them in the decision-making process, observed Kou-zes and Posner. Lastly, co-workers or team members should respect and embrace each other irrespective of the differences, with a sense of mutual trust at its core. Belongingness and uniqueness are the two cornerstones of group inclusion, as observed by Chung, Ehrhart, Shore, Randel, Dean, and Kedharnath, 2020. On one side, nurturing a sense of belongingness will create an extended family atmosphere, where all the employees are included. Similarly, helping one maintain one’s uniqueness and individuality is equally important to make one feel valued, stated Brewer, 1991. On the virtue of group inclusion, when an employee started feeling included and valued in a team, he or she started helping other group members keep in mind the bigger picture and studied Blau. In a nutshell, group inclusion at the workplace will have a major impact on the commitment level of the young workforce.

The findings of the research are unique in multiple ways. Understanding the expectations of employees through commitment level will lead to better decision-making from the management side. As an organization consists of employees from multiple generations, management needs to be proactive in strategizing policy decisions considering all the employees. The inclusiveness of work culture should be analyzed from various standpoints. This study attempts to have a holistic evaluation of work culture, keeping an employee at the center.

6    Conclusions

The goal of the current study is to understand the commitment level of today’s young workforce, considering the impact of inclusiveness in various levels of the workplace. According to this study, today’s young workforce (age ranges between 22 years and 35 years) will play a defining role in the growth and success of an organization in the coming days. A standardized questionnaire is framed based on multiple published research papers to collect responses of the target audience spread across various cities aligning with the study’s objective. Therefore, this current study is unique in many ways, which is an attempt to build a model that will help to find out the impact of different constructs of inclusion in organizational commitment among employees of the younger generation and thereby increasing the likelihood of capturing different experiences of inclusion throughout an employee lifecycle. A reliability test is applied to the collected data at first to verify the consistency of the responses. Subsequently, multiple regression tests are applied to determine the effect of different constructs of inclusiveness on organizational commitment. In the end, the output of data analysis indicates that all constructs of inclusiveness have a significant impact on the commitment level of employees.

6.1    Organizational applicability

Employees are the important assets for an organization. Employees’ organizational commitment is thus regarded as a necessary aspect for sustaining long-term growth and organizational progress. Hence, management should be aware of these factors that highly impact the commitment level of an employee. Considering the analysis of the present study following are the points for recommendations:

• •    A sincere attempt from an organization to create an inclusive culture is recommended as inclusiveness impacts the commitment level of an employee. This work culture inspires and motivates employees to work towards the organizational goals in the long run.

• •    The involvement of the leadership team of an organization is essential to bring necessary changes. Once the leadership team becomes the flag-bearer of the change, the sense of awareness spells binds other supervisors down the hierarchy.

• •    Organizations should conduct workshops on addressing unconscious bias for all team supervisors/ leaders/managers. In those workshops, partici-

• pants can explore how limiting beliefs can affect inclusiveness in everyday workplace situations through interactive exercises.

• •    Pre-established policies drive various organization practices. With the changing time, organizations need to accommodate employees from various generations. Hence special attention should be given to framing neutral policies aligning with the expectation of all kinds of employees.

7    Limitations

Though the findings of the analysis are encouraging, the research study has its limitations. The current data are limited to a handful of IT organizations across major Indian cities. Hence, further studies should extend this process using a wider pool of employees targeting more organizations from other industries and covering other cities.

Moreover, the research findings are precisely an overview of inclusiveness experienced in various Indian organizations; it may not be applicable in international perspectives, specifically in the Western world countries, where the concept of inclusion can be quite different among employees. Further studies can be done by analyzing various other demographic factors like religion, marital status, etc., and capturing experiences of past discrimination to interpret the impact of organizational commitment.

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to acknowledge Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development for providing all the opportunities.

Conflict of Interest

There is no conflict of interest among the authors

Funding

Self-funded

Ethical approval

Not applicable