Female human resource professionals’ job embeddedness in relation to commitment foci: An exploratory study

Abstract

Orientation: Managers and human resource practitioners who are concerned about managing talent as a critical resource need to recognise how employees’ job embeddedness relates to their commitment foci within the organisation. By understanding this relationship, gaps can be identified and talent can be managed optimally.

Research purpose: The purpose of the study was, firstly, to establish whether a significant relationship exists between job embeddedness and a set of commitment foci and, secondly, to identify the variables that contribute the most to the relationship.

Motivation for the study: Organisations increasingly devote more attention to initiatives that enhance the commitment and job embeddedness of their employees in order to assist in the design of a sound talent management plan to close the talent gaps.

Research approach, design and method: A quantitative approach was used in this study, utilising a cross-sectional survey design to achieve the objective of the study. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product-moment correlations and canonical correlation analysis were conducted. The participants were primarily black women at an early stage of their career, who were employed in the human resource management field in a professional capacity.

Main findings: The results indicated that job embeddedness significantly and positively accounted for the variance in organisational and occupational commitment foci of the participants.

Practical and managerial implications: Human resource practitioners and managers need to consider how the job embeddedness of employees – specifically female employees – affects their commitment foci in developing talent management plans as part of the organisational strategy.

Conclusions: The findings of the study provided empirical confirmation of theoretical views on the psychological aspects that keep employees embedded in their jobs and how these aspects relate to their commitment foci.