Gender Differences in Commitment to State Employment: The Role of Coworker Relationships

• Author: Melissa M. Sloan
• Published date: 01 June 2017
• Date: 01 June 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0091026017702612
• Subject Matter: Articles

702612PPMXXX10.1177/0091026017702612Public Personnel ManagementSloan
research-article2017
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Public Personnel Management
2017, Vol. 46(2) 170 –187
Gender Differences in
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DOI: 10.1177/0091026017702612
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Employment: The Role of
Coworker Relationships
Melissa M. Sloan1
Abstract
Using survey data from a large sample of state employees, this research investigates
gender differences in affective organizational commitment to state employment.
Following relational cohesion theory, I hypothesize that perceived emotional
support among workers within the workplace is positively associated with affective
commitment to state employment. I also expect that women’s greater commitment
to state employment compared with men is due to their higher levels of perceived
coworker support. The results of the analyses largely support the hypotheses and
suggest that public-sector managers would do well to encourage the development of
supportive relationships among employees.
Keywords
affective commitment, commitment to state employment, coworker support, gender
differences
Organizational commitment is an important predictor of several employee perfor-
mance outcomes. In particular, affective organizational commitment is associated with
increased job satisfaction, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors
and decreased turnover and absences from work (e.g., Fields, 2002; Hassan, 2012;
Iverson & Buttigieg, 1999). Given the value of its consequences to organizations,
managers are motivated to increase the affective commitment of their employees. A
key predictor of affective commitment that has received attention in the public
1University of South Florida Sarasota–Manatee, USA
Corresponding Author:
Melissa M. Sloan, University of South Florida Sarasota–Manatee, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, SMC263,
Sarasota, FL 34243, USA.
Email: melissasloan@sar.usf.edu

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Sloan
171
administration literature is coworker support (Chiaburu & Harrison, 2008; Eisenberger,
Armeli, Rexwinkel, Lynch, & Rhoades, 2001; Eisenberger, Cummings, Armeli, &
Lynch, 1997; Wayne et al., 2009). Coworker support is a notable antecedent of affec-
tive commitment because it may be encouraged through modifications of the work-
place culture, without requiring substantial organizational resources (Grandey, Foo,
Groth, & Goodwin, 2012; Iverson & Buttigieg, 1999; Noblet, Teo, McWilliams, &
Rodwell, 2005).
Recent research on coworker support has highlighted the importance of demo-
graphic characteristics in predicting supportive coworker relationships. In particular,
women tend to perceive more supportive relationships with their colleagues than do
men (e.g., McGuire, 2012; Schieman, 2006; Sloan, Newhouse, & Thompson, 2013).
However, previous research has not assessed the implications of gender differences in
perceived coworker support. More specifically, scholars have not examined how gen-
der disparities in coworker support may relate to organizational outcomes. Although
studies have yielded mixed findings concerning gender differences in organizational
commitment (e.g., Becker, Klein, & Meyer, 2009), some research on general samples
has shown that women tend to report higher levels of organizational commitment than
men, net of work characteristics (Lincoln & Kalleberg, 1990; Marsden, Kalleberg, &
Cook, 1993; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Singh, Finn, & Goulet, 2004; Wynen, Op de
Beeck, & Hondeghem, 2013), and research suggests that this gender difference may be
even greater among public-sector workers (Llorens, Wenger, & Kellough, 2008).
Given the link between coworker support and affective commitment, increased feel-
ings of coworker support among women workers may help to explain their higher
levels of organizational commitment. In this study, I utilize survey data from a large
sample of state employees to examine the interrelationships among gender, perceived
coworker support, and affective organizational commitment.
Gender and Affective Organizational Commitment
The focus in this study is gender differences in affective commitment to state employ-
ment. Over the past two decades, an extensive amount of public administration litera-
ture has been devoted to the study of organizational commitment (e.g., Hassan, 2012;
Jung & Ritz, 2014; Liou & Nyhan, 1994; Noblet et al., 2005; Park & Rainey, 2007;
Wynen et al., 2013). Scholars have identified various components of worker commit-
ment, including normative, continuance, and affective commitment (Allen & Meyer,
1990; Meyer & Allen, 1991). According to Meyer and Allen’s (1991) Three-Component
Model, workers high in normative commitment, or a felt obligation to the employer,
stay with an organization because they “ought to,” and workers high in continuance
commitment, or commitment due to a lack of better alternatives, stay because they
“need to.” In contrast, affective commitment refers to an emotional attachment and
identification with an organization. Workers who are affectively committed to an orga-
nization stay because they “want to” (Meyer & Allen, 1991, p. 67). Affective organi-
zational commitment has been noted by researchers as the most beneficial type of
commitment to organizations in terms of worker productivity and retention (Hassan,

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Public Personnel Management 46(2)
2012; Iverson & Buttigieg, 1999; Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002;
Park & Rainey, 2007) and is therefore a psychological state that employers likely seek
to encourage among their employees. Furthermore, unlike the case with antecedents of
other types of commitment such as availability of alternatives or transferability of
skills, the strongest predictors of affective commitment stem from workplace experi-
ences, such as positive feelings that evolve out of supportive coworker relationships,
which may be cultivated by management (Meyer & Allen, 1991; Meyer et al., 2002;
Noblet et al., 2005; Rousseau & Aubé, 2010).
Although several studies provide evidence that, when in comparable positions,
women tend to show greater organizational commitment in general (Mathieu & Zajac,
1990; Singh et al., 2004) and greater affective commitment to their work organization
in particular (Lincoln & Kalleberg, 1990; Marsden et al., 1993) relative to men, other
studies have illustrated a lack of gender differences in organizational commitment (see
Becker et al., 2009). Previous public administration literature suggests, however, that
there may be gender differences in commitment to state employment in particular. The
public sector employs disproportionately more women than men (Bernhardt & Dresser,
2002; Gornick & Jacobs, 1998; Llorens et al., 2008), and due to a lowered potential for
gender-based discrimination and greater opportunities to achieve work–family bal-
ance, women may receive more benefits from public-sector employment than from
employment in the private sector (Benditt, 2015; Buelens & Van den Broeck, 2007;
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016; Llorens et al., 2008; Moynihan & Landuyt, 2008).
Furthermore, female public-sector workers have been shown to have lower levels of
turnover intention relative to men (Moynihan & Landuyt, 2008; Paillé, 2013). For
example, a recent survey of U.S. federal employees found that women show greater
commitment than men to holding a federal job (Wynen et al., 2013). Accordingly,
women may be more committed to their public-sector employment relative to men
(Hassan, 2012).
Hypothesis 1: Compared with men, women will report higher levels of affective
commitment to state employment.
Gender, Coworker Support, and Affective Organizational
Commitment
The association between gender and affective commitment to state employment may
also be influenced by the positive association between affective organizational com-
mitment and the quality of supportive social relationships in the workplace. The grow-
ing literature on the impacts of workplace social relations on worker well-being has
linked perceived coworker support to a number of positive outcomes, including
increased job satisfaction (Banerjee & Perrucci, 2010; Chou & Robert, 2008;
Ducharme & Martin, 2000; McCann, Russo, & Benjamin, 1997; Sloan, 2012),
decreased turnover intention (Ducharme, Knudsen, & Roman, 2008), and decreased
job stress and role overload (Chou & Robert, 2008; LaRocco, House, & French, 1980),
as well as increased affective organizational commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991;

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Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001; Noblet et al., 2005; Rousseau & Aubé, 2010).1 In many
workplaces, coworkers have sustained daily interactions with each other, and this
extensive contact, combined with shared workplace experiences, can make coworkers
particularly valuable sources of support (Hochschild, 1997; Hodson, 1997, 2001;
Korczynski, 2003; Lively, 2000; Marks, 1994; McGuire, 2007; Thoits, 1986, 2011).
According to Lawler and colleagues’ relational cohesion theory (Lawler & Yoon,
1996; Yoon & Lawler, 2005), commitment to groups occurs as an outcome of emo-
tional attachment. Repeated positive interactions with coworkers, such as those that
lead workers to perceive their colleagues as emotionally supportive, generate positive
emotional experiences which may then lead perceptions of commitment to those
workplace relationships and to the work organization as a social group (Lawler, Thye,
& Yoon, 2014; Yoon &...