Factors influencing employee commitment through the mediator job satisfaction - A study of office staffs in Ho Chi Minh city

112 Bui N. B. Khue & Ho N. Quang. Journal of Science Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 7(4), 112-128 
FACTORS INFLUENCING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT 
THROUGH THE MEDIATOR JOB SATISFACTION - A STUDY 
OF OFFICE STAFFS IN HO CHI MINH CITY 
BUI NGUYEN BAO KHUE 
International University - Vietnam National University HCMC - Baokhue92@gmail.com 
HO NHUT QUANG 
International University - Vietnam National University HCMC - hnquang@hcmiu.edu.vn 
(Received: September 25, 2017; Revised: November 23, 2017; Accepted: November 29, 2017) 
ABSTRACT 
This paper examines the relationship between employee-related factors and employee commitment through the 
mediator job satisfaction of office employees in Ho Chi Minh City. The conceptual model is adapted from previous 
research and Herzberg’s two-factor theory. The theory emphasized the certain elements belonging to two categories 
intrinsic and extrinsic value that lead to people’s satisfaction. Four factors include Training, Pay, Working 
Environment, and Leadership. The data is collected through questionnaires from 422 office staffs in Ho Chi Minh; 
then only 395 qualified responses are analyzed. SPSS and AMOS tools are used to analyze the data through 
Reliability test, Model fit test, SEM method. The final result reveals that all factors are significantly related to Job 
Satisfaction meaning these variables also have indirect positive relationship with Employee Commitment through 
the mediator. This research is useful for organizations which aim to build the commitment strategy for keeping best 
talents in the company. 
Keywords: Commitment; Herzberg’s two-factor theory; Office staff; Satisfaction. 
1. Introduction 
According to Salary Report 2016 of three 
credible recruitment consultancies in Vietnam 
- Robert Walters, Adecco and Job Street, 
Vietnam is one of the countries that has the 
lowest salary rate in Asia region, the class of 
workers with 1- 3 years’ experience whose 
salary is 5-6 times lower than Singapore or 2-
3 times lower than Malaysia. Particularly, 
office staffs usually deal with the same kind 
of job for a long time and they need to 
accomplish their tasks as known as their 
responsibilities in rush to keep pace with the 
deadline. Moreover, most office employees 
have to work intensely in the closed space that 
causes some health problems and stress. 
Nowadays, the development of advanced 
technology helps people access a lot of 
information sources than ever. People easily 
search the work vacancies on the Internet, 
which means employees can find new jobs 
anytime and anywhere if they are no longer 
interested in their current firms. Many 
business owners worry about “switching job” 
phenomenon so they try to find the ways that 
motivate good employees who have long-term 
commitment with their firms. Anis et al. 
(2011) confirmed the bad effects caused by 
employee turnover; organizations need to 
maintain their current employee’s 
commitment. However, the staff members 
have to satisfy their needs and requirements 
before they commit to the firm so the 
management team should pay attention to 
employee satisfaction together with 
commitment strategy. Grobler (2005) 
mentioned that employees need to satisfy their 
self-fulfillment, so they have the tendency to 
look for new jobs which are more challenging 
and creative. Hence the more incentive on 
 Bui N. B. Khue & Ho N. Quang. Journal of Science Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 7(4), 112-128 113 
factors related to employee satisfaction at 
work, the more company can reduce the 
turnover rate and retain employee. The main 
purpose of this study is to examine the 
relationship between the selected factors: 
Training, Pay, Working Environment, 
Leadership and office employee Commitment 
through the mediator Satisfaction and find out 
which factors affecting Employee 
Commitment. This study could be helpful for 
companies which are still concerned with the 
strategy to keep talented employees, giving 
them a view on the real scenario and the 
awareness of other problems that may occur 
in the company’s human resource 
management. With the research findings, 
companies can know which factors play 
important roles in successful employee 
commitment strategy 
2. Literature review 
2.1. Job Satisfaction and Commitment 
Hoppock (1935) defined job satisfaction 
as any combination of psychological, 
physiological and environmental 
circumstances that make people honestly feel 
satisfied with their job. Locke (1976) also 
defined “job satisfaction is a pleasurable or 
positive emotional state resulting from the 
appraisal of one’s job or job experience”. 
Organizational commitment is defined as “the 
relative strength of an individual’s 
identification with and involvement in a 
particular organization and can be 
characterized by a strong belief in and 
acceptance of the organization’s goals and 
values, willingness to exert considerable effort 
on behalf of the organization and a strong 
desire to maintain membership of the 
organization” (Mowday, Porter, & Steer, 
1982). After that in 1991, Meyer and Allen 
developed their Three Component Model of 
Commitment stating that organizational 
commitment mainly includes the following 
components: affective commitment, 
continuance commitment and normative 
commitment. These three components have an 
impact on the feelings of employees regarding 
to the organization that they work for. When 
the employees are satisfied with their job, it 
also affects the level of employee 
commitment. Feinstein & Vondrasek (2001) 
did the research in the tourism field and found 
that the level of job commitment depended on 
job satisfaction. It was also confirmed by Lam 
et al (2003); the result showed the strong 
impact of job satisfaction on organizational 
commitment. Gaertner (1999) proved that 
there exists the positive correlation between 
employee satisfaction and commitment. In 
other words, when employee has worked in 
the organization for many years and they 
become bored with their job, their attitudes 
are more negative than before (Lee, 2013). 
Similarly, Bateman and Strasser (1984) 
posited that there was a positive relationship 
between organizational commitment and job 
satisfaction. This result is also supported by 
Jermier & Berkes (1979); they discovered that 
employees who were always satisfied with 
their jobs would have a higher level of 
commitment. Employees who were 
committed to their organization in the tourism 
sector were willing to reach the goal and 
target of the company. When they completed 
the goal; it called “achievement”. In 1959, 
Herzberg researched the factors affecting 
people attitude at work. He classified the 
essential factors into two dimensions Hygiene 
and Motivation. Herzberg said that the 
absence of Hygiene factors could lead to the 
job dissatisfaction and the presence of 
Motivation factors would increase the job 
satisfaction. Based on Herzberg’s Two Factor 
Theory, achievement is one of the factor that 
causes the satisfaction, so the satisfaction now 
is treated as the outcome of commitment, not 
an antecedent (Lam, Pine, and Baum, 2003). 
Therefore, this study hypothesizes the positive 
relationship between Job Satisfaction and 
Employee Commitment. 
114 Bui N. B. Khue & Ho N. Quang. Journal of Science Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 7(4), 112-128 
Table 1 
Job Satisfaction Factors (Herzberg, 1976) 
Factors Leading to Dissatisfaction (Hygiene) Factors Leading to Satisfaction 
( Motivation) 
 Company Policy 
 Supervision 
 Relationship with Boss 
 Work Conditions 
 Salary 
 Relationship with Peers 
 Achievement 
 Recognition 
 Work Itself 
 Responsibility 
 Advancement 
 Growth 
2.2. Training 
Mincer (1962) simply explained training 
is an investment in procurement skills to 
improve employee’s productivity. According 
to the Edwin (1987), “Training is the act of 
increasing knowledge and skills of an 
employee for doing a particular job.” The 
paper of Turkyilmaz et al. (2011) revealed 
that training and personal development 
significantly affect employee satisfaction of 
220 employees in Istanbul Branch of Social 
Security Department. Linking it to this 
business human resource context, when firms 
invest in their human resources in the form of 
training, employees are pleased to receive the 
knowledge and more willing to commit to the 
firms. There are various types of training such 
as on-the-job training, vocational training, 
general and specific training, depending on 
each context, HRM decides an appropriate 
type for employees (Hassan, 2013). 
According to Kulkarn (2013), the essential 
object of training is to provide the availability 
of skilled and well-trained employees who are 
ready to contribute to the organizations. A 
successful training session requires many 
steps of preparation and evaluation due to its 
effect on organization’s operation and budget. 
Hence, this research proposes the positive 
impact between Training and Employee Job 
Satisfaction. 
2.3. Working Environment 
Kohun (1992) defined Working 
environment is the set of forces, actions and 
other influential factors impacting on the 
employee’s activities and performance. 
Opperman (2002), Yusuf & Metiboba (2012) 
defined working environment which consists 
of three components technical environment, 
the human environment and the organizational 
environment in which technical Environment 
is infrastructure and physical, technical factor 
at the workplace. Human environment is the 
interrelationship among people, leadership 
and management and it can affect worker’s 
morale (Clement, 2000; Stanley, 2003). 
Organization environment is mediated task, 
national environment (inputs) and process into 
final products or service (output) (Akintayo, 
2012). Yusuf & Metiboba (2012) also claimed 
that employee behavior such as absenteeism, 
low commitment, and apathy are related to 
working environment. Brill, Weidemann, 
Olsen, Keable & Bosti (2001) revealed that 
the design of workspace has a huge effect on 
employee commitment and satisfaction. Wells 
& Thellen (2002) and Croasmun (2004) 
suggested the working environment which has 
enough privacy, quietude and suitable facility 
for old employees inspires people with 
motivation and satisfaction whereby 
contributes to employee commitment. As a 
 Bui N. B. Khue & Ho N. Quang. Journal of Science Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 7(4), 112-128 115 
result, the next hypothesis is working 
environment positively affects Employee Job 
Satisfaction. 
2.4. Leadership 
There are many definitions of leadership; 
however, in general, there is no unified 
consensus and this is just the influence of one 
person which leads to the actions or attitude of 
other (Wakabi, 2013). According to Okumbe 
(1998), leadership is the process encouraging 
people to do something by their willingness, 
not because they are afraid of suffering the 
consequences or discipline. Mat (2008) 
confirmed that people follow leader’s acts and 
behaviors to achieve organization’s goals. 
Dawley, Andrews, and Bucklew (2010) 
studied the influence of perceived 
organizational support, supervisor support and 
job fit on employees’ turnover intention of 3 
organizations. The paper showed that the 
perceived organizational support, supervisor 
support and job fit significantly impact 
employee satisfaction and that resulted in the 
high commitment. The recommended 
hypothesis is the positive effect of Leadership 
and Employee Job Satisfaction. 
2.5. Pay 
Obviously, people are looking for jobs 
because of not only their passion but also 
money. The most important reason for 
working is that people need money to pay 
everything for their lives and support their 
families. In addition, it is one of reward tools 
to help employees feel more positive at work 
because employees perceive their efforts to be 
recognized worthily (Silbert, 2005). Likewise, 
Gardner et al., (2004) mentioned pay as a 
motivator and technique of employee 
commitment, Milkovich and Newman (2004) 
expressed that among many types of rewards, 
monetary pay is one of the most important 
factors affecting satisfaction. Base pay and 
contingent pay are two main elements of pay 
whereas base pay is accounted for the largest 
part of total reward package for most 
employees (Green, 2010). There are many 
different results conducted by earlier 
researchers about the relationship between 
pay and job satisfaction, some studies found 
the positive correlation (Beutell & Wittig-
Berman, 1999; Sanchez & Brock, 1996), 
weak relationship (Dunham & Hawk, 1977 
and Adams & Beehr, 1998). Judge (2010) did 
a meta-analysis of the literature between pay 
and job satisfaction. In general, pay level is 
only marginally related to satisfaction. The 
reason that leads to the different results may 
come from people’s psychologies and 
characteristics, for instance, Malka and 
Chatman (2003) suggested that people with 
more extrinsic value orientations tightly link 
the level of satisfaction to the level of income. 
A lot of researchers found the positive 
relationship between pay and job satisfaction 
because pay is seen as the critical reason that 
causes overall satisfaction (Smith, Kendall, & 
Hulin, 1969; Hulin, 1991; Heneman & Judge, 
2000). Thus, Pay has the positive relationship 
with Employee Job Satisfaction. 
Based on the literature review of much 
empirical research, the model contains 
popular variables that frequently appear in 
previous studies. The conceptual model is 
adapted from Herzberg two-factor theory. Job 
satisfaction will enhance if the employees can 
access to nice workplace training, 
environment, leadership styles and reward 
(Chen, 2006; Payne, 2005; Mohammad & 
Hossein, 2006). 
The hypotheses for this research are 
summarized as following: 
H1: Training positively affects Employee 
Job Satisfaction. 
H2: Working Environment positively 
affects Employee Job Satisfaction 
H3: Leadership positively affects 
Employee Job Satisfaction 
H4: Pay positively affects Employee Job 
Satisfaction 
H5: There is a positive relationship 
between Job Satisfaction and Employee 
Commitment 
116 Bui N. B. Khue & Ho N. Quang. Journal of Science Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 7(4), 112-128 
Figure 1. Proposed Conceptual Framework 
Source: Alshanbri et al. (2015) and Herzberg (1976) 
3. Research methodology 
This research uses the quantitative 
approach to obtain the purpose of the study. 
The quantitative research tries to gather data 
by objective methods and provides 
information about relations, comparisons, and 
predictions and removes the investigator from 
the investigation (Smith, 1983). In this case, 
the AMOS technique is mainly run to analyze 
the data, information that got from survey 
with initial support from SPSS so that the 
study has the most accurate result. The survey 
is continually chosen as the main method with 
questionnaire tool to collect primary data. The 
questionnaires were directly sent to 422 
people who are classified as the office 
workers in Ho Chi Minh City, spreading from 
under 20 to over 46 years old. 
The questionnaire is synthesized based on 
the previous study such as Koikai (2014), 
Msengeti (2015) and Achieng’Nyaura (2016), 
so that the measurement scale presents a high 
reliability. The questionnaire is divided into 
two sections: Demographic details and 
Perceived Relationship among the factors. 
Each factor includes five measurement 
statements using Likert scale which spreading 
from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. 
4. Results and discussion 
4.1. Sample Demographics 
The data collected by online and offline 
surveys to achieve 422 responses from the 
office staffs in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017. 
However, after eliminating the unqualified 
responses, 395 qualified questionnaires are 
used to analyze the data result. The number of 
Female respondents is 68.61% which is 
double the number of Male and the dominant 
range is from 20-30 years old (69.62%) 
4.2. The Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Test 
This research uses the Cronbach's Alpha 
reliability test before analyzing the EFA to 
exclude inappropriate variables because they 
can produce dummy factors. Acceptable 
values of alpha have a range from 0.70 to 0.95 
(Nunnally, 1994; Bland, 1997; DeVellis, 
2013). If the value is less than 0.6, the number 
of item in the questionnaire is low or the 
measurement questions are not inter-related to 
each other. Moreover, it is impossible to get 
the value greater than 0.9. This value indicates 
that the items are redundant and duplicate; the 
survey consists of many same questions but 
different. 
Mediating Variable 
H4 
H3 
H2 
H1 
Working 
Environment 
Leadership 
Pay 
Job 
Satisfaction 
H5 
Employee 
Commitment 
Training 
Independent Variables 
Dependent Variable 
 Bui N. B. Khue & Ho N. Quang. Journal of Science Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 7(4), 112-128 117 
Table 2 
Cronbach’s Alpha Results ways of expressing (McClelland, 1980). 
 Number or Items Cronbach's Alpha 
 Training 5 .898 
Pay 5 .788 
Working Environment 5 .829 
Leadership 5 .855 
Job Satisfaction 5 .769 
Employee Commitment 5 .858 
The Cronbach’s Alpha for all variables 
range from .769 to .898 depicts the moderate 
consistency among internal items. Especially 
Training has Cronbach’s Alpha value.898 
illustrates that all items measuring training are 
reliable and consistent. Because the results 
satisfy the requirements for Reliability test 
thus there is no variable to be eliminated and 
the measurement scales are appropriate for 
EFA analysis. 
4.3. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 
After running Cronbach’s Alpha test, the 
second assessment to test the validity of all 
variables is EFA. This method evaluates two 
important values of the scale: Converging 
value and distinctive value. EFA helps to 
rearrange the scale into multiple sets. The 
variables belonging to the same set 
will measure the same concept. It is based on 
the correlation between variables 
(interrelationships). Promax rotation and 
Principal axis factoring are chosen to run EFA 
test for independent variables and Principal 
Component is applied for mediator and 
dependent variables. As the adjusted outcome 
of EFA and Reliability test, there are 18 items 
belonging to 4 groups of components. The 
final EFA result is reached at the third time 
after deleting unqualified measurement scales 
PAY4, PAY5. 
Table 3 
Factor Analysis – Independent variables 
 1 2 3 4 
Train4 .871 
Train3 .862 
rain2 .846 
Train5 .811 
Train1 .612 
Env2 .794 
Env5 .754 
Env1 .719 
Env4 .661 
118 Bui N. B. Khue & Ho N. Quang. Journal of Science Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 7(4), 112-128 
 1 2 3 4 
Env3 .589 
Lead4 .798 
Lead5 .751 
Lead3 .720 
Lead1 .650 
Lead2 .517 
Pay3 .912 
Pay1 .569 
Pay2 .488 
This is the final EFA result for 4 
independent variables; all component variables 
are regrouped into the same set of measurement. 
Both mediating and dependent variables are also 
grouped perfectly in EFA test. In the meantime, 
KMO and Barlett’s Test is conducted in table 3 
in order to present the appropriateness of factor 
analysis with actual data. 
Table 4 
KMO and Barlett’s Test 
 Independent Variables Mediating Variable Dependent Variable 
KMO index .889 .753 .833 
Sig. .000 .000 .000 
Cumulative % 55.622 52.964 64.660 
KMO value of independent variables is 
.889, Bartlett's Test of Sphericity is significant 
with p-value .000 (<.05). Moreover,