The Effect Of Human Resource Management Practices And Servant Leadership On Organizational Commitment: The Mediating Role Of Organizational Learning Capability in A Malaysian Government-Linked Company

Abstract

Uncertainties and increasing challenges in economics have led to the importance of organizational commitment in an organization. Government-linked companies in Malaysia, the leading economic players that play a substantial role in contributing to the country's economic growth, are responsible for overcoming these challenges. Given the complexity in predicting employee commitment and the difficulties faced by today’s organizations in maintaining the workforce, there is a need to conduct further organizational commitment studies. Empirically, human resource management practices and the evolving servant leadership style are exemplary factors found to be the antecedents for organizational commitment. Researchers are also interested in examining the role of organizational learning capability between the antecedents mentioned above and organizational commitment. However, there are minimal studies on the mediation role of organizational learning capability, thereby necessitating a further investigation to examine such association. Recognizing the gap in linking or incorporating human resource management practices, servant leadership, organizational learning capability, and organizational commitment, this research was conducted to explore the context of organizational commitment specifically in a selected government-linked company in Malaysia. Adopting quantitative and qualitative methods, data collection was conducted on a sample of 270 (for quantitative analysis), and 4 samples (for qualitative analysis) of employees in Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad. The quantitative data were analyzed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling(PLS-SEM) software while the qualitative data was analyzed using ATLAS-ti7. The findings indicated support for all hypothesized relationships between organizational commitment antecedents, except for human resource management practices. An indirect effect was found between human resource management practices and organizational commitment with organizational learning capability acting as mediator. This is further supported by the qualitative findings in this study. Theoretically, this study provides additional insights into the context of organizational commitment, particularly in Malaysia. Furthermore, a detailed discussion of the research's practical implications is also provided, including identification and suggestions for potential approaches in future endeavours. Finally, this study also contributed to further augmenting the vast landscape of organizational commitment