Organizational Culture, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions: The Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support

Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Scholars Compass

0eses and Dissertations Graduate School

2013

Organizational Culture, Job Satisfaction and

Turnover Intentions: “e Mediating Role of

Perceived Organizational Support

David Emerson

Virginia Commonwealth University

Follow this and additional works at: h1p://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd

Part of the Accounting Commons

0is Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in

0eses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact libcompass@vcu.edu.

Downloaded from

h1p://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/2965

Organizational Culture, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions:

The Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in Business at Virginia Commonwealth University.

by

David J. Emerson, CPA

Bachelor of Science, Excelsior College, 2006

Masters of Business Administration, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008

Ph.D. Candidate

Accounting Department, School of Business

Virginia Commonwealth University

Major Director: Benson Wier, Ph.D.

Professor of Accounting

Dean’s Scholar

Accounting Department, School of Business

Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond, Virginia

March 14, 2013

ii

DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When I first submitted my application for entry into the doctoral program at Virginia

Commonwealth University, I noted that I had a “transcendent support system.” No truer words

have ever been written. Had it not been for the constant encouragement and support of my wife

my chosen path would have been far more difficult, if not impossible, to traverse. She has

served as my perpetual advocate and promoter, my mate and best friend. Through separation

and hardship she remained stalwart, encouraging, and supportive of my dream. I believe there

are few women who could endure being displaced from a comfortable and secure life, being

wrenched away from family and friends, seeing her household income decimated, being obliged

to change jobs three times, and submitted to a vagabond (and cramped) existence in a thirty-four

foot motor home with the aplomb, grace and good cheer as she. She has never faltered in pursuit

of our goals. For these reasons, and many more, I dedicate this dissertation to my wife,

Catherine Emerson.

I would also like to acknowledge the debt I owe to my committee. Dr. Norman is an

inspiration and a trusted mentor. I only hope that all of my future Department Chairs will share

even a portion of her astute and insightful leadership. Dr. Kepes provided extensive guidance

and support in refining my methodology, and Dr. Brink offered many valuable insights. In

addition, Dr. Giaedi was invaluable in helping me to navigate the treacherous bureaucracy that is

the VHA. Lastly, my chair, Dr. Benson Wier has been a source of wisdom and support. He has

helped me grow as a teacher, scholar, and individual. I am fortunate to have been the

beneficiary of his guidance. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to each of these individuals

and to acknowledge their contribution. I could not have done it without any of you.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………. ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………………………………………… iii

LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. vi

LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………………………………………………… viii

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ix

CHAPTER I …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1

INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 1

CHAPTER II ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7

LITERATURE REVIEW AND DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES …………………. 7

Job Satisfaction ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7

Perceived Organizational Support and Perceived Supervisor Support ……………………… 9

Organizational Support Theory……………………………………………………………………… 10

Antecedents to Perceived Organizational Support …………………………………………… 14

Perceived Organizational Support and Organizational Outcomes………………………. 16

Organizational Culture …………………………………………………………………………………….. 19

Overview ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 19

iv

Measurement of Organizational Culture …………………………………………………………. 23

Organizational Culture and Organizational Outcomes ……………………………………… 28

Culture Intercorrelation ………………………………………………………………………………… 39

Time Effects ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 39

Intra-organizational Cultural Differences ……………………………………………………….. 41

CHAPTER III ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 46

SAMPLE ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 46

Measures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 49

Instrument ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 49

Analysis Approach ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 56

Structural Equation Modeling ……………………………………………………………………….. 56

CHAPTER IV ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 58

RESULTS ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 58

Model Identification…………………………………………………………………………………….. 58

Hypothesis Testing………………………………………………………………………………………. 69

CHAPTER V ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 80

DISCUSSION, LIMITATIONS and CONCLUSIONS ……………………………………….. 80

Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 80

v

Limitations …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 86

Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 88

REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 90

TABLES AND FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 104

APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 126

APPENDIX I 2004 VHA ALL EMPLOYEE SURVEY …………………………………….. 126

APPENDIX II – DATA ACQUISITION …………………………………………………………. 132

Timeline …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 132

Communication between D. Emerson and NCOD …………………………………………. 133

D. Emerson WOC Contract with VHA…………………………………………………………. 193

Communications between B. Wier and Senator Webb and Congressman Cantor . 194

APPENDIX III WORK GROUPS & OCCUPATIONAL CODES …………………….. 210

APPENDIX IV AMOS® OUTPUT ………………………………………………………………… 242

CURRICULUM VITA ………………………………………………………………………………….. 254

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1 COMPETING VALUES FRAMEWORK ……………………………………………………… 104

FIGURE 2 THEORETICAL MODEL …………………………………………………………………………… 105

FIGURE 3 SCREE PLOT 2010 AES …………………………………………………………………………….. 106

FIGURE 4 FITTED THEORETICAL MODEL………………………………………………………………. 107

FIGURE 5 STRUCTURAL MODEL …………………………………………………………………………….. 108

FIGURE 6 PATH MODEL ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 109

FIGURE 7 HUMANISTIC CULTURE CHANGE ………………………………………………………….. 110

FIGURE 8 PRESCRIPTIVE CULTURE CHANGE ……………………………………………………….. 111

FIGURE 9 CULTURAL TREND LINES ………………………………………………………………………. 112

FIGURE 10 CULTURE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SUPV AND STAFF ………………………. 113

vii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1 SAMPLE SIZE ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 114

TABLE 2 DEMOGRAPHICS ………………………………………………………………………………………. 115

TABLE 3 INDICATOR RELIABILITIES ……………………………………………………………………… 116

TABLE 4 CORRELATIONS ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 120

TABLE 5 FIT INDICES ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 121

TABLE 6 RESIDUAL COVARIANCE MATRIX ………………………………………………………….. 122

TABLE 7 MEDIATION ANALYSIS ……………………………………………………………………………. 123

TABLE 8 NESTED MODELS ……………………………………………………………………………………… 124

TABLE 9 COMPARATIVE MODEL FIT……………………………………………………………………… 125

viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AES – All Employee Survey

ACCT – Governmental Accountants

AVE – Average Variance Extracted

CFI – Comparative Fit Index

GFI – Goodness of Fit Index

HUM – Humanistic Culture

JSAT – Job Satisfaction

NCA – National Cemetery Administration

NCOD – National Center for Organizational Development

NFI – Normed Fit Index

OC – Organizational Culture

POS – Perceived Organizational Support

PRE – Prescriptive Culture

PSS – Perceived Supervisor Support

RMSEA – Root Mean Square Estimate of the Approximation

SEM – Structural Equation Modeling

SRMR – Standardized Root Mean Square of the Residual

SUPV – Supervisors

TOI – Turnover Intentions

VA – Department of Veterans Affairs

VBA – Veterans Benefit Administration

VHA – Veterans Health Administration

VISN – Veterans Integrated Service Network

WOC – Works Without Compensation Contract

ix

ABSTRACT

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, JOB SATISFACTION AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS:

THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT

David J. Emerson, C.P.A., B.S., M.B.A., Doctoral Candidate

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctoral of

Philosophy in Business at Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2013

Major Director: Benson Wier, Ph.D.

Professor of Accounting

Dean’s Scholar

Accounting Department, School of Business

This study investigates how the culture of an organization is related to the job satisfaction and

turnover intentions of government accountants. I show that perceived organizational support

serves as a mediator between organizational culture and both turnover intentions and job

satisfaction. I evaluate how cultural effects have changed over time, and assess how the relations

between the hypothesized associations differ between supervisory and staff accountants. I also

look for differences in how accountants and primary care nurses may perceive organizational

culture. I develop the constructs of interest, describe the proposed relationships, develop

hypotheses, describe the sample frame, provide a detailed review of the methodology and

describe the results. I conclude with a discussion of implications and limitations.

Keywords: Organizational Culture, Perceived Organizational Support, Job

Satisfaction, Turnover, Accounting,

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Organizational culture has been extensively studied by scholars with over 4,600 articles

published on the topic since 1980, and much of this research has focused on the purported link

between organizational culture and organizational outcomes (Hartnell, Ou, and Kinicki 2011).

Organizational outcomes can be broadly categorized as employee attitudes, operational

effectiveness or financial effectiveness (Hartnell et al. 2011). Previous research has shown

substantive relationships between different cultural archetypes and a wide variety of specific

organizational outcomes including team effectiveness, organizational safety climate, employee

job satisfaction, product quality, employee involvement, turnover intentions, customer service,

physician satisfaction, patient satisfaction, organizational profit, market performance and

organizational commitment (e.g., Cameron and Freeman 1991; Denison and Mishra 1995;

Detert, Schroeder, and Mauriel 2000; Goodman, Zammuto, and Gifford 2001; Gregory, Harris,

Armenakis, and Shook 2009; Hartmann, Meterko, Rosen, Zhao, Shokeen, Singer, and Gaba

2009; Hartnell et al. 2011; Lukas, Mohr, and Meterko 2009; Meterko, Mohr and Young 2004;

Quinn and Spreitzer 1991; Strasser, Smits, Falconer, Herrin, and Bowen 2002).

While the extant research provides convincing evidence of the influence of organizational

culture on organizational outcomes, some scholars have called for additional empirical research

into the mechanisms through which organizational culture affects those outcomes (Gregory et al.

2009). One potentiality is that organizational culture influences the attitudes of employees,

which in turn induces or contributes to such organizational outcomes as the support employees

believe is provided by the employer, the satisfaction that the employee feels toward their job and

any intentions the employee may have to leave the organization (Gregory et al. 2009; Mauseth

2008; Siehl and Martin 1990). This paper investigates the role that perceived organizational

support (POS) plays in mediating the relations between organizational culture and the

organizational outcomes of job satisfaction and turnover intentions. I also evaluate how these

associations differ across the organizational hierarchy, between work groups, and across time.

Perceived organizational support represents the extent to which employees believe that

their employer values their contribution to the organization and cares about their well-being

(Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, and Sowa 1986). Perceived organizational support has