Work Opportunities and Organizational Commitment in International Organizations

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12951
• Author: David Giauque,Frédéric Varone
• Date: 01 May 2019
• Published date: 01 May 2019

Work Opportunities and Organizational Commitment in International Organizations 343

Abstract: This article applies social exchange theory to investigate the relationships between work opportunities

and organizational commitment in four United Nations agencies. It demonstrates that international civil servants

who are satisfied with their altruistic, social, and extrinsic work opportunities are more likely to declare high levels

of organizational commitment. Furthermore, perceived organizational support mediates these relationships. The

empirical findings highlight the importance of considering the specificity of organizational features in explaining

international civil servants’ attitudes and behaviors. Their preferences for altruistic, social, and extrinsic work

opportunities are not similar to the motivational orientations and rewards valued by public or private sector employees,

confirming the hybrid characteristics of international organizations. Drawing on these original results, the research

identifies some practical implications for human resource management in international organizations.

Evidence for Practice

• Organizational work opportunities may help shape organizational commitment in international

organizations.

• International organizations possess some hybrid characteristics that may impact employees’ organizational

commitment.

• Altruistic, social, and extrinsic work opportunities are important antecedents of organizational commitment

in international organizations.

• Perceived organizational support is of great importance as well.

Studies comparing organizational features in

the public and private sectors have investigated

preferences for work opportunities, values,

and incentives (Rainey 1983; Rainey and Bozeman

2000). By contrast, administrative officials working

at the international level are not usually included

in comparative human resource (HR) management

studies. This situation is quite surprising, since

international organizations (IOs) are key players that

influence all societal fields and political levels (Devin

and Smouts 2011). Therefore, a better understanding

of IOs’ internal functioning is both socially and

politically relevant. Since IOs are first and foremost

composed of employees, understanding what sustains

employees’ organizational commitment and what

types of work opportunities are likely to meet their

expectations and allow them to perform meaningful

work is crucial.

IOs are a particularly suitable field of research for

organization scholars because of their distinctive

features. In terms of “publicness” (Antonsen and

Jorgensen 1997), IOs occupy an intermediary

position in comparison with private and public

organizations (Schemeil 2013). IOs are interesting

comparative cases for public administration (Ege

and Bauer 2013) and for business-oriented (Balding

and Wehrenfennig 2011) research perspectives.

Nevertheless, early calls to view them through an

organizational lens (Ness and Brechin 1988) have

only recently begun to be heeded (Balding and

Wehrenfennig 2011; Brechin and Ness 2013; Ellis

2010; Haack and Mathiason 2010). However, with

the exception of some notable contributions (see

several chapters in Reinalda 2013), IO employees

have been disregarded in this research agenda.

Although the HR management of the United Nations

(UN) is far from being a paragon of good practice

(Beigbeder 2004) and is permanently under reform

(Salomons 2004), little is known about the work

preferences of international civil servants and what

types of HR management practices sustain their

willingness to make a difference by working in their

organizations. To fill this gap, two research questions

inform this research: (1) What work opportunities

are related to the organizational commitment of

international civil servants? (2) Are these relationships

mediated by perceived organizational support?

David Giauque

University of Lausanne

Frédéric Varone

University of Geneva

Work Opportunities and Organizational Commitment in

International Organizations

Frédéric Varone is full professor of

political science at the University of Geneva.

His research interests include comparative

policy analysis, public administration,

program evaluation, interest groups, and

political elites. He is coauthor of The

Public Policy Process (Routledge, 2017).

E-mail: frederic.varone@unige.ch

David Giauque is associate professor

of sociology of organizations and public

administrations at the University of

Lausanne. He is author or coauthor of

numerous books and scientific articles

on public administration reforms, public

management, human resource management

in the public sector, and the sociology of

public administrations.

E-mail: david.giauque@unil.ch

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 79, Iss. 3, pp. 343–354. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12951.

Research Article