Communication Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: A Study in Three Guatemalan Organizations

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between organizational communication and organizational commitment in Guatemala. To investigate these areas, three different organizations were studied: 1) a private educational institution, 2) a private children hospital, and 3) a private food factory. Data were collected using questionnaires and an open question survey. The questionnaires used were: 1) Cal W, Downs' (1990) Communication Audit Questionnaire (CAQ), the Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1979) Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), the Cook and Wall (1980) Organizational Commitment Instrument (OCI), and the Downs and Varona (1991) Commitment Questionnaire. The qualitative data were content analyzed according to the most recent standards of content analytic procedures, and the quantitative data were statistically analyzed using the SPSS, version 4.1. Results indicted that there was an explicit positive relationship between communication factors and employees' organizational commitment. The school teachers were significantly more satisfied with the communication practices and more committed to their organization than were the employees of the hospital and the food factory. The quality of the relationship that took place in the communication process was the most important dimension in the conceptualization of communication satisfaction• The supervisors were significantly more satisfied than were the subordinates with overall communication and similar in their levels of overall organizational commitment to their organizations. Both supervisors and subordinates acknowledged that issues related to Communication Climate, Supervisor Communication, and Communication with Top Managers were the critical ones in fostering, inhibiting or improving communication satisfaction. Work ethic, mission commitment, and a desire of self actualization were perceived as the most important motivators of organizational commitment. However, relational factors such as lack of communication, appreciation, and trust were perceived as the most important inhibitors of organizational commitment. Identification with the organization's mission, to give one's best in order to do a good job, and to perform some obligations in exchange for getting some economic and social benefits were the three most important dimensions in the conceptualization of organizational commitment. Motivational strategies, economic incentives, the improvement of communication and interpersonal relationships, and changes in some organization features were recognized as the best strategies to manage organizational commitment by the Guatemalan employees. There was a positive and significant relationship between tenure and organizational commitment; employees with more tenure were significantly more committed to their organizations • Tenure, however, did not correlate significantly with communication satisfaction. The Downs's CAQ, the Mowday, Porter, and Steers OCQ, and the Downs and Varona commitment scale were measures that displayed a satisfactory internal reliability with the Guatemalan sample. The Cook and Wall composite and theorized factors, however, did not achieve a satisfactory internal reliability in this study. The correlations between the commitment composites and factors used in this study were all significant but moderate. They interacted, however, differently with the communication satisfaction factors. The three factor solution for the Cook and Wall OCI did not emerge, as it had been theorized by its authors, from this sample. However, a three factor solution did surface but with a different structure of factors. For the Mowday, Porter, and Steers OCQ a two factor solution emerged as appropriate for the Guatemalan sample.