EXPLORING INTERRELATIONSHIPS AMONG MORALE, SATISFACTION AND COMMITMENT FROM A POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE: EVIDENCE FROM GREECE

The purpose of the paper is twofold: (i) to contribute to commitment research by exploring the dual nature of normative commitment (Meyer et al, 2006; Meyer and Parfyonova, 2010) in a Greek setting; and (ii) to examine the mediating role of morale in the ‘job satisfaction – organizational commitment’ relationship, within a positive organizational behavior (POB) framework. A total of 331 questionnaires were completed by bank employees. Data were analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability-, correlation-, and mediation analyses. Results reveal that: (i) a two-dimensional model of organizational commitment –characterized by a moral duty mindset and an indebted obligation mindset- fits the data better than the traditional three-component model, providing support to Meyer et al’s (2006) and Meyer and Parfyonova’s (2010) propositions; (ii) a moral duty mindset of organizational commitment is strongly associated with morale and job satisfaction; whereas, an indebted obligation mindset is relatively less strongly associated with job satisfaction and morale, in line with Meyer and Parfyonova’s ( 2010) suggestions; and (iii) morale fully mediates the ‘job satisfaction - organizational commitment’ relationship – in line with expectations.