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SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY, 2007, 35 (6), 735-750

© Society for Personality Research (Inc.)

The Effects of Quality of Work Life on


Commitment and Turnover Intention

Tung-Chun Huang
National Central University, Chung-li, Taiwan
John Lawler
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
Ching-Yi Lei
Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Taiwan

Although previous studies have demonstrated the importance of balance between family
and work life, few have included quality of work life (QWL) and job-related attitudes.
The aim of this study was to examine the impact of quality of work life on auditors’
career and organizational commitment in Taiwanese public accounting firms, and how
those commitments, in turn, affect turnover intention. Our findings indicate that different
dimensions of QWL result in distinctive effects on organizational and career commitments
and turnover intentions. Managerial implications for both researchers and practitioners are
discussed.

Keywords: quality of work life, auditors, organizational commitment, career commitment,


turnover intention.

Employee turnover in public accounting firms is not a new problem; however,


it has become a significant issue recently. The major reason is that losing talented
professionals may contribute to a decline in productivity, efficiency, and profits
(Larkin, 1995; Roth & Roth, 1995). Even though vacancies can be filled by new

Tung-Chun Huang, PhD, Institute of Human Resource Management, National Central University,
Chung-li City, Taiwan; John Lawler, PhD, Professor, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA; and Ching-Yi Lei, Senior Manager,
Performance Improvement Department, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Taiwan.
Appreciation is due to reviewers including: Ralph Kober, Department of Accounting & Finance,
University of Auckland Business School, Private Bag, Auckland, 92019, New Zealand, Email:
r.kober@auckland.ac.nz
Please address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr. Tung-Chun Huang, Professor, Institute
of Human Resource Management, National Central University, 300 Chung-Da Road, Chung-li City,
32054 Taiwan. Phone: 886-3-4262271; Fax: 886-3-4227492; Email: tch@mgt.ncu.edu.tw

735
736 EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT

recruitments, their competency may be lower than that of former employees


due to lack of experience and knowledge accumulation (Half, 1982). Lockwood
(2003) suggests that the cost of employee turnover and the accompanying loss of
valuable company knowledge can be significant. In addition, the changing nature
of increasing competition, client demands, and training costs is forcing firms to
reconsider the issue of turnover (Stallworth, 2003). Since public accounting firms
are highly dependent on their staff’s professional input, it is imperative to find
ways to retain experienced accountants if the firms are to be successful (Taylor
& Cosenza, 1998).
After years of economic development and income growth, compensation
and benefits are no longer the only goals that employees pursue. Taylor and
Cosenza (1998) mention that while money is still important, it is not sufficient to
inspire accountants’ loyalty. The changing values of the workforce indicate that
current employees are more interested in elevating their quality of life. Beyond
earnings, workers expect to gain benefits from their jobs such as challenge and
achievement, career development and growth, balance between work and family
life, a harmonious organizational climate and a supportive managerial style.
It is suggested that companies offering better quality of work life and
supportive working environments will likely gain leverage in hiring and retaining
valuable people nowadays (May, Lau, & Johnson, 1999). This is because better
job characteristics and work environments positively relate to organizational
commitment, which in turn reduces the intention of turnover (Steers & Mowday,
1981). An IBM workforce survey indicates that the decision of the highest
performers on whether or not to stay with the company is most likely to depend
on their ability to balance work and personal responsibilities (Landauer, 1997).
Besides better human resource outcomes, the practices of quality of work life
seem to also benefit business performance. Comparing the companies that are
identified as the “best companies to work for” to the Standard and Poor’s 100
companies, Lau and May (1998) found that companies with high quality of work
life enjoy exceptional growth and profitability.
Though many studies (Fields & Thacker, 1992; Grover & Crooker, 1995;
Landauer, 1997; Nadler & Lawler, 1983) in sociology and management
demonstrate the importance of balance between family and work life, studies
involving quality of work life and job-related attitudes have rarely appeared in
the accounting literature. Quality of work life practices may offer accounting
researchers and practitioners valuable insights into several areas including
organizational commitment and employee retention in public accounting firms.
This study aims to examine the impact of quality of work life on auditors’
organizational and professional commitment in public accounting firms and how
those commitments in turn affect turnover intention. Prior research has examined
auditors’ turnover intention using correlation and regression analysis that
EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT 737
examines only a single relation at a time. We extend this research by employing
a comprehensive model, and testing this model by using LISREL (Jöreskog
and Sörbom, 1996), which provides simultaneous testing of the complicated
relationship between QWL, commitments, and turnover intentions. It is hoped
that the results will provide insight into the roles of QWL and commitments in
retaining talented auditors.

Quality of Work Life and Commitment


Many organizational behavior studies examine individuals’ psychological
attachment to their work organizations. Most studies use organizational
commitment to examine employees’ relationships with their firms. Research
on accounting firms also focuses on organizational commitment and its
antecedents and consequences. Allen and Meyer (1990) identified three types of
organizational commitment: affective, continuance, and normative commitment.
The literature of public accounting studies indicates the existence of both affective
and continuance commitment (Kalbers & Fogarty, 1995; Ketchand & Strawser,
2001). Recently, Stallworth (2003) conducted an integrated examination of the
dimensions of organizational commitment and its effect on intention to leave the
public accounting organization.
Most of the studies about the antecedents of organizational commitment were
oriented to job characteristics and work experience variables such as scope of
work, job challenge, degree of autonomy, variety of skills, and amount of feedback
provided on the job (Bamber & Iyer, 2002; Dunham, Grube, & Castaneda, 1994;
Steers, 1977), participation in decision making and support from management
(Zaffane, 1994), communication with superiors (Belgan, 1993), job quality,
material income (Andolsek & Stebe, 2004) and recognition fairness (Parker &
Kohlmeyer, 2005). Several accounting studies have demonstrated the importance
of situational factors on organizational commitment. Ferris (1981) found that
organizational commitment was primarily influenced by the utility of rewards.
Colarelli, Dean, and Konstans (1987) suggested that organizational commitment
was primarily influenced by job autonomy and feedback. Dean, Ferris, and
Konstans (1988) concluded that the commitment of professional accountants
was influenced by the organization’s ability to meet employees’ expectations.
The present study defines QWL as favorable conditions and environments
of work and life aspects such as family/work life balance, self-actualization,
compensation, and supervisory behavior. Better work experience may nurture
public accountants’ affective commitment to their firms. Thus we proposed:
Hypothesis 1: That the quality of work life has a positive impact on
organizational commitment.
The concept of an individual’s attitude toward his or her vocation or career can
be described in several terms such as professional commitment, professionalism,
738 EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT

and career commitment. Since career commitment has greater generalizability


and conceptual distinctiveness, and has been recommended for further research
(Chang, 1999), the construct of career commitment has proven to be distin-
guishable from that of organization commitment (Blau, 1989). Individuals who
commit to their careers are more likely to develop their job skills and knowledge.
Hence firms that provide better training and development opportunities are
more likely to affirm employees’ career commitment. The results of work by
Aryee, Chay, and Chew (1994) indicate that the expected utility of a present job,
supervisor support and motivating job characteristics have significant positive
influences on career commitment. Therefore, it was hypothesized:
Hypothesis 2: That the quality of work life has a positive impact on career
commitment.
Previous studies (Aranya, Pollock, & Amernic, 1981; Norris & Neibuhr,
1984) indicate that a firm with the ability to facilitate realization of employees’
professional expectations and strengthen professional identity can increase their
organizational commitment. Most empirical research seems to support this
argument. For example, Kalbers and Fogarty (1995) found that internal auditors
with higher levels of professional identification also have higher organizational
commitment. Russo (1998) found that newspaper journalists exhibit high
identification with both their profession and organization. Recently, Bamber
and Iyer (2002) examined the professional and organizational identification of
the five largest auditing firms in the USA. Their results show that professional
identification has a significant and positive influence on organizational
identification. Accordingly, we expected:
Hypothesis 3: That career commitment is positively associated with
organizational commitment.

Quality of Work Life, Commitment, and Turnover Intention


Many studies consistently report a significant negative effect of organizational
commitment on turnover intentions. It is suggested that highly committed
employees should have a strong desire to remain with the current organization,
which, in turn, reduces the turnover intention. This is because that employee
who has developed a higher level of organizational commitment is less likely to
consider alternative job opportunities (Ketchand & Strawser, 2001). In his classic
work, Steers (1977) examined two samples – hospital employees, scientists
and engineers – and found that commitment is positively related to the desire
to remain in both samples. In addition, commitment was found to be inversely
related to turnover in the hospital sample. Targeting the professional employees
of public accounting firms, Stallworth’s (2003) research results indicate that
affective commitment is the single best predictor of intention to leave. Recently,
Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, and Topolnytsky (2002) conducted a meta-analysis
EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT 739
on the consequences of affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the
organization. They found that the correlations between the three commitment
scales and turnover were all negative. Among them the strongest is the relation
between affective commitment and turnover.
Prior studies also provide empirical evidence that perception of quality of
work life is negatively related to turnover intentions. High relative pay and
benefits are reported as inversely related to employee turnover (Shaw, Delery,
Jenkins, & Gupta, 1998). Autonomy in decision making is associated with lower
propensity to quit (Hom & Griffeth, 1995). Grover and Crooker (1995) found
that employees with access to more family-responsive practice benefits showed
greater organizational commitment and lower intention to leave. Recently, Batt
and Valcour (2003) investigated the impact of human resources practices on work-
family outcomes and employee turnover. Their results indicate that high relative
pay and employment security tend to decrease turnover intentions. However,
the presence of career development opportunity is positively associated with the
probability of turnover.
Chang (1999) mentioned that an individual who possesses a stronger career
desire may become more attached to the company. This means that the attitudes
of individuals toward their career may also affect their attitudes toward their
company. In testing the generalizability of career commitment and its impact,
Blau (1989) found that career commitment is significantly negatively related
to turnover. The practitioner literature reveals that internal auditors with high
professional commitment have lower turnover intentions (Harrell, Chewning,
& Taylor, 1986). Examining the relation between career commitment, turnover
intentions, and turnover behavior, Bedeian, Kemery, and Pizzolatto (1991)
indicate that when turnover intentions were holding constant, no direct relation
was found between career commitment and turnover. However, turnover had
a direct effect on turnover intentions. Therefore, they concluded that career
commitment affects turnover through turnover intentions. The findings of
previous studies led us to hypothesize:
Hypothesis 4: That organizational commitment has a negative impact on
turnover intention.
Hypothesis 5: That perception of quality of work has a directly negative effect
on turnover intention, and an indirect effect through its positive impact on career
and organizational commitment.
Hypothesis 6: That career commitment has a directly negative effect on
turnover intentions, and an indirect effect through its positive impact on
organizational commitment.

Control Variables
Some personal characteristics are related to commitment and intention to leave.
740 EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT

Previous studies have revealed that age, tenure, and being married are positively
related with organizational commitment (Ketchand & Strawser, 2001; Meyer et
al., 2002; O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986), but negatively associated with turnover
intention (Bamber & Iyer, 2002; Batt & Valcour, 2003; Rasch & Harrell, 1990).
Hence age, tenure, and marital status were treated as controls in our analysis to
avoid confounding the results.

Method

Sample
A random sample of 600 auditors in the four largest accounting firms in
Taiwan received the questionnaire. Of these, 326 validated responses were
returned, which represented a 54.3% response rate. Among the respondents, 38%
were male and 62% were female. The average age was 28, those aged under 25
represent 30%, 49% were between the ages of 26 and 30, and the other 21% were
older than 30 years. Only 17% of the respondents were married.

Variables Measure
Quality of work life Twelve items developed by Chen and Farh (2000) were used
to represent the four dimensions of the quality of work life - work/life balance,
job characteristics, supervisory behavior, and compensation and benefits (Table
1). Each QWL dimension scale is measured by 3 items. Respondents were asked
to indicate their perception about each QWL question with anchors ranging from
strongly agree (6) to strongly disagree (1). Six-point Likert scales were used to
offset the central tendency bias that may be encountered with Asian respondents
(Chen, Lawler, & Bae, 2005). We performed exploratory factor analysis to
reduce the complexity of the components. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity is
significant at p < 0.01 (Approximate chi-square = 1541.87, degree of freedom
= 66) and the KMO measure of sampling adequacy (0.796) shows that factor
analysis is appropriate. The Principal Component Analysis and the Varimax
Rotation Method were employed to categorize the dimensions of quality of work
life.
Table 1 shows that the 12 items were grouped into four factor categories.
Table 1 indicates that altogether 70.50% of variance was explained by the four
factors. When reliability tests were conducted for each of the scales, the internal
consistency measures (Cronbach alpha) were all higher than 0.70 and within the
acceptable range (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1995). The scale for each
QWL factor was obtained by calculating the average of the items contained
within each factor respectively.
Affective Commitment and Career Commitment This study uses 5 items adapted
from Meyer and Allen (1984) to measure affective commitment and 5 items
Table 1
Factor Analysis on the Perception of Quality of Work Life

Items Factor Loadings


Work/Life Job Supervisory Compensation
Balance Characteristics Behavior and Benefits

1. My current job does not interrupt my family life .739


2. The overtime of my current job is reasonable .866
3. The workload of my current job is reasonable .853
4. My job permits me to decide on my own how to go about doing the work .734
5. My job is challenging .818
6. My job is creative and meaningful .752
7. My supervisor instructs me how to improve my job .833
8. My supervisor provides me with assistance to solve my job problems .870
9. My supervisor acknowledges me when I perform well in my job .755
10. I am fairly rewarded compared to similar jobs in my organization .776
11. I am fairly rewarded compared to similar jobs outside my organization .886
12. My organization cares about employee welfare .577

Eigenvalue 2.268 1.924 2.301 1.966


Explanation of Variance 18.904 16.033 19.171 16.387
Cronbach a 0.818 0.704 0.820 0.743
EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT
741
742 EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT

adapted from Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993) to measure career commitment.
The Bartlett’s test of sphericity is significant at p < 0.01 (Approximate chi-square
= 1376.43, degree of freedom = 45) and the KMO measure of sampling adequacy
(0.875) indicates that factor analysis is appropriate. Results of the factor analysis
(Table 2) show that affective commitment and career commitment are loaded on
different measures, indicating the validity of those two concepts.

Table 2
Factor Analysis on the Dimensions of Affective Commitment and Career Commitment
Items Factor Loadings
Affective Career
Commitment Commitment
1. I really care about the fate of this organization .793
2. I am proud that I am a member of this organization .817
3. This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me .814
4. I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own .778
5. I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization .765
6. I am proud to be in the auditing profession .648
7. I want the auditing profession to be my life-time job career .682
8. I keep my knowledge of auditing up to date .726
9. I feel a strong sense of belonging to the auditing profession .811
10. I regret having entered the auditing profession (R) .531
Eigenvalue 3.413 2.602
Explanation of Variance 34.133 26.024
Cronbach a 0.882 0.757
Note: R = reverse scored

We also conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the discriminant


validity to see whether the two dimensions could be proven empirically. We
compared a model in which the relevant questionnaire items were associated
with two hypothesized factors versus a model with one single underlying factor.
The various fit indices were better for the two-factor model (RMSEA = 0.08,
GFI = 0.94, AGFI = 0.90, NFI = 0.93) than for the one-factor model (RMSEA =
0.16, GFI = 0.84, AGFI = 0.74, NFI = 0.81). The results of CFA support the use
of separate affective and career commitment indexes.
Turnover intention The variable of turnover intention was measured by a scale
score comprising three items that asked whether respondents plan to stay with
their present employer until retirement (reverse scored), if they frequently think
about leaving their current organization, and whether they plan to continue their
career in the current accounting firm (reverse scored). A 6-point Likert scale was
also used to offset the central tendency bias. The Cronbach alpha index for the
three items was 0.820, which means that the internal consistency of our turnover
intention scale was reliable.
EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT 743
Results and Discussion

Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients among the variables are


shown in Table 3. The four QWL dimensions are all significantly and positively
related to career commitment and affective commitment (p < 0.01). In contrast,
the four factors of QWL are all negatively related to turnover intention at p
< 0.01. Structural equation modeling with LISREL was employed to test the
hypotheses. The maximum likelihood method of estimation was applied to
analyze the covariance matrix. LISREL allows us to evaluate all the predicted
relations in our integrated model simultaneously.

Table 3
Descriptive Statistics and Pearson Correlation

Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Turnover Intention 4.49 0.93 1.00


2. Affective Commitment 3.62 0.92 -0.56**
3. Career Commitment 3.77 0.71 -0.46** 0.53**
4. Work/Life Balance 2.53 0.94 -0.48** 0.35** 0.21**
5. Job Characteristics 4.24 0.75 -0.22** 0.38** 0.36** 0.32**
6. Supervisory Behavior 4.05 0.85 -0.26** 0.38** 0.19** 0.26** 0.31**
7. Compensation & Benefits 3.49 0.89 -0.35** 0.48** 0.29** 0.43** 0.39** 0.46**
** p < 0.01

Table 4 presents the structural model’s statistics. The Chi-square statistic of


the model is nonsignificant (X2 = 10.20, degree of freedom = 9, p = 0.34), which
means that no significant difference exists between our data and the model. In
addition, all the fit indices well exceed the recommended cut-off values. GFI
and NFI values of 0.99, the AGFI value of 0.97, and the RMSEA value of 0.019
indicate that our hypothesized model fits the data very well. Moreover, 21%,
43% and 44% of the variance in career commitment, affective commitment, and
turnover intention were explained respectively by our model. Figure 1 presents
the significant paths of the structural model.
Three of the four QWL dimensions have significant effects (p < 0.01) on the
affective commitment, excepting only job characteristics. Among the dimensions
of QWL, compensation and benefits is the strongest predictor (Beta = 0.23) of
affective commitment, followed by supervisory behavior (Beta = 0.17) and work/
life balance (Beta = 0.12). The results show that the perception of fair reward and
adequate benefits is the most important QWL factor in promoting an auditor’s
organizational commitment. However, when managers in accounting firms
improve their supervisory skills such as providing subordinates with appropriate
instruction, assistance, and recognition, auditors’ organizational commitment
744 EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT

will also improve. In addition, if the auditors’ workload is reasonable and work/
family life are balanced, their firm commitment will also be advanced. Hence,
our hypothesis (H1) that perception of QWL has a significant and positive effect
on organizational (affective) commitment is supported.
As hypothesized (H2), the effects of both job characteristics and compensation
and benefits on career commitment are positive and significant at p < 0.01.
However, the impacts of work/life balance and supervisory behavior are not
statistically significant. This means that when auditors perceive that their jobs
are autonomous, creative, meaningful, and full of challenge, they will be more
committed to the accountancy profession. In addition, if auditing professional
employees believe that they are fairly paid compared to other jobs inside the
organization or other auditors outside the firm, their professionalism is also
promoted. However, perceived balance between work and life and supervisory
behavior have no influence on an auditor’s career commitment. Hence, our
hypothesis (H2) which proposes that QWL has a positive impact on career
commitment is only partially supported.

Table 4
Structural Equations Results and Estimated Coefficients for the
Hypothetical Model

Independent Variables Dependent Variables


Career Commitment Affective Commitment Turnover Intention
Beta t-value Beta t-value Beta t-value

Exogenous Variables
Age 0.12 2.09* - - - -
Marital Status 0.16 2.77* - - - -
Work/Life Balance - - 0.12 2.55** -0.35 -7.63**
Job Characteristics 0.26 4.80** - - 0.11 2.36**
Supervisory Behavior - - 0.17 3.60** - -
Compensation & Benefits 0.20 3.60** 0.23 4.35 -
Endogenous Variables
Career Commitment - - 0.41 9.28** -0.23 -4.58**
Affective Commitment - - - - -0.36 -6.9**

Squared Multiple Correlation


for Structural Equation 0.21 0.43 0.44

Goodness of Fit Statistics


Chi-Square 10.20 (p = 0.33)
RMSEA 0.019
GFI 0.99
AGFI 0.97
NFI 0.99

Note: The dummy variable of marital status is defined as single = 0; being married =1; * p < 0.05;
** p < 0.01
EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT 745

Age Marital Status


Job Characteristics 0.11**
0.12 *

0.26** 0.16**

Compensation & 0.20**


Benefits Career -0.23**
Commitment
0.23** Turnover
Intention
0.41**
Supervisory Behavior -0.36**
0.17** Affective
Commitment
Work/Life Balance 0.12**

-0.35**

Figure 1: The result of Structural Equation Modeling


* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01

As predicted, the impact of career commitment on organizational (affective)


commitment is positive and significant at p < 0.01. Therefore, hypothesis
3 is supported. Among the influential factors of organizational (affective)
commitment, career commitment is the strongest determinant (Beta = 0.41).
This result indicates that when auditors are more committed to their auditing
profession, their commitment to the current firm is also increased. Therefore,
accounting firms would find that providing an appropriate environment and
climate for the development and growth of auditors’ professionalism is a very
useful tool in enhancing auditors’ organizational commitment.
Table 4 and Figure 1 show that organizational (affective) commitment is the
strongest predictor (Beta = -0.36, p < 0.01) of turnover intention. It indicates
that an auditor who commits to his or her accounting firm also has a lower
intention to leave the organization. The result confirms the findings of previous
researchers such as Kalbers and Fogarty (1995), Russo (1998), and Bamber and
Iyer (2002), and our fourth hypothesis is verified. There are two factors of QWL
that significantly explain the intention of turnover. As expected (H5), auditors
who perceive that their workloads are reasonable and family/work life is balanced
also have lower intention to leave the current accounting firm. However, the
746 EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT

influence of job characteristics on turnover intention is significant but negative,


which is contrary to our prediction. This may be due to the fact that autonomous,
creative, and challenging job assignments develop the auditors’ knowledge and
competence, which in turn increase the auditors’ external employability. The
perception of balancing family and work life has a very strong positive effect on
reducing auditors’ intention of leaving the current accounting firm.
The final significant predicting factor of turnover intention is career
commitment. As expected (H6), the effect of professionalism on leaving
intention is negative. As already mentioned, career commitment has a strong
impact on the growth of affective commitment, and affective commitment is
positively related to an auditor’s willingness to stay in the current organization.
Our sixth hypothesis is supported. Though some factors of QWL do have a
directly significant influence on turnover intention, and some of them have
an indirect effect on turnover intention via the impact of career and affective
commitment, some of them do not. Therefore, the findings of this study only
partly verified the argument of hypothesis 5.
There are several interesting findings when we put the whole hypothetical
relations together. First, though the four dimensions of QWL are all significantly
related to career commitment (CC), organizational commitment (AC) and
turnover intention (TI), the human resource outcomes they reveal are different.
Among them, work/life balance can improve an auditor’s AC and reduce TI; job
characteristics result in high CC and TI; supervisory behavior benefits only AC;
compensation and benefits enhance both CC and AC, but have no direct effect
on TI.
Secondly, though the direct effect of job characteristics on TI is positive and
significant, its indirect effects through the impact on CC (+) to the TI (-) and via
CC (+) to AC (+) to TI (-) are negative. The total effects of job characteristics
on TI reduce to 0.01 (direct effect 0.11 plus indirect effect -0.098). This finding
means that the undesired effect of job characteristics on TI is negligible when the
indirect effects are counted. Finally, the results of standardized total effects (see
Table 5) show that the two QWL factors have stronger influences on AC than
do marital status and age. Career commitment is the most important determinant
(0.41) of AC, following by compensation and benefits (0.31) and supervisory
behavior (0.17). On the other hand, perception of work/life balance has the most
power in reducing an auditor’s turnover intention (-0.39). The other predictors
of TI are career commitment (-0.38) and affective commitment (-0.36), which
share almost the same influences as work/life balance on decreasing intention
of turnover.
EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT 747
Table 5
The Result of Path Analysis: Standardized Total Effects on Dependent Variables

Independent Variables Dependent Variables


Career Commitment Affective Commitment Turnover Intention

Exogenous Variables
Age 0.12 0.05 -0.05
Marital Status 0.16 0.07 -0.06
Work/life Balance - 0.12 -0.39
Job Characteristics 0.26 0.11 0.01
Supervisory Behavior - 0.17 -0.06
Compensation & Benefits 0.20 0.31 -0.16

Endogenous Variables
Career Commitment - 0.41 -0.38
Affective Commitment - - -0.36

Conclusions and Implications

This paper presents an integrated model used to investigate the effects


of auditors’ perception of work life quality on professional identification,
organizational commitment, and their turnover intention. Employing the survey
data collected from 326 auditors who work in the four largest Taiwanese public
account firms, this study presents several noteworthy findings. Our confirmatory
factor analysis results indicate that although auditors’ career commitment and
affective commitment are related, they are meaningful separate constructs. In
addition, the LISREL results show that career commitment is a very important
antecedent determinant of organizational commitment; however, no significant
effect was found from organizational commitment to career commitment.
We found that the four factors of QWL were significant predictors of the
outcomes of commitments and turnover intentions. The most important finding
is that different dimensions of QWL may result in different kinds of human
resource outcomes. For example, job characteristics and compensation and
benefits are good for the development of professionalism. Also, work/life
balance, supervisory behavior, and compensation and benefits enhance auditors’
commitment to their organization. While perception of work/life balance reduces
auditors’ intention of turnover, in contrast, creative and meaningful job charac-
teristics encourage their leaving intentions. However, when taking the indirect
effects into account, the negative effects of job characteristics on turnover
become very minor.
These findings have implications for both research and practice. For
researchers, this model provides an integrated conceptual framework from which
to study employees’ behaviors and attitudes. Employing a structural equation
model with LISREL analysis allows us to evaluate the overall configuration
748 EFFECTS OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND COMMITMENT

of variable relations simultaneously. The new approach helps researchers


to estimate variables’ effects more accurately than is possible with a single
regression model. For managers, the results of this study suggest that public
accounting firms can benefit by instituting policies and practices to foster a
sense of professionalism. This is because creating auditors’ career commitment
not only encourages them to commit more to the current organization but also
reduces their intention of leaving. In addition, multiple practices of quality of
work life must be incorporated together to get the best results in employees’
commitment and talent retention. Competitive and fair reward of pay and
benefits are useful for fostering auditors’ career and organizational commitment,
but not the best solution for the retention of talented auditors. Our results
indicate that auditors are becoming more interested in elevating their quality of
life. Those public accounting firms that fail to offer policies and practices that
enhance employees’ work and family life balance may find it difficult to retain
qualified auditors.

References
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