Motivators of employee commitment at multinational organisations in emerging economies: Empirical evidence from Nigeria

In the past decade, there has been an increase in the studies on employee turnover in Nigeria. The spate of studies is suggestive that employees are not very committed to their jobs in most organisations. Nevertheless, the unemployment rate poses a big constraint to the mobility of labour and thus increases the possibility of disguised commitment. To this end, this study sought to ascertain the major determinants of employee commitment in business organisations. The specific objectives were to investigate the extent to which stunted mobility, extrinsic motivators, intrinsic motivators and organisational climate influence employee commitment, as well as the extent to which respondents’ perception of employees’ commitment relates to socio-demographic variables like age, gender and educational qualification. The population of sthe study consisted of employees of seven multinational companies in Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states of Nigeria. The study employed the survey design with a questionnaire serving as the research instrument. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results indicated that stunted mobility, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation and organisational climate are significant motivators of employee commitment. Respondents’ perceptions did not vary with demographic variables.