The influence of social factors in corporate governance policy on workplace commitment for female employees in the South African banking industry

Abstract

Employment equity legislation facilitates the entry of women into the workforce; as a consequence there is now a need to investigate factors that would increase female employees’ commitment levels in the workplace. One such factor is perception of social aspects of the corporate governance policy. The present study investigated the influence of employee perceptions of the value of social factors of company policy, on affective, continuance and normative commitment levels. This study was conducted in order to ascertain whether a perception of high value of social factors of corporate governance correlates with high levels of organisational commitment. A positive relationship between these variables would direct and inform the corporate governance policy in an organisation, resulting in a more committed and productive workforce. The study was contextualised in the South African banking industry- in FNB, Standard Bank, Nedbank and Absa. A literature review was undertaken to gain insight into previous work in the fields of organisational commitment studies and corporate governance. A quantitative study was then conducted, using a researcher-constructed questionnaire. Data was analysed using an SPSS statistical package. Findings indicated that the respondents are satisfied that employee welfare, gender equality, increased promotion opportunities for female employees, flexible working hours, parental responsibilities, retaining, training and developing women in the workplace, and employee health and safety are all important considerations in a company’s corporate governance policy. The findings revealed that overall these positive perceptions of the social factors of the corporate governance policy in respondents’ organisations correlated positively with respondents’ workplace commitment levels in the organisation. Findings were then discussed in relation to the literature. Conclusions, recommendations and areas for further study were presented. Copyright