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.
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
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
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
Table 3
Descriptive Statistics and Pearson Correlation
Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
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
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**
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
0.26** 0.16**
-0.35**
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
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