Impact Of Religiosity On Work Commitment Of Public Service Employees: A Study Of Structural Equation Modeling

Work commitment of public officers is one of the most significant components of effectiveness of public service delivery. Strengthening commitment to work will be in favor of the public interest since personnel will serve at better quality once they honor the work ethic. Therefore, it is important to investigate the possible factors strengthening individuals’ work commitment in public and private organizations. Religiosity level of employees is one of the socio-cultural factors affecting this commitment remarkably. Though a number of scientific studies on effectiveness exist in Turkey, there is no empirical studies examining the impact of religiosity on effectiveness. In this study, the data from World Values Survey conducted in 84 countries by World Values Survey Association was used. Results of the survey public employees participated were used to identify the latent religiosity variable. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), latent variable of religiosity reflecting indicators of public officers’ religiosity level was developed. Conceptualising religiosity as blief and religious practice, multiple indicators was included in the latent variable of religiosity by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Likewise, dependent latent variable of work commitment consisting of multiple indicators was developed. Determining the degree of dedication, the impact of religiosity on work commitment level of public employees was analyzed by taking into account various social and economic factors. Results quantitatively indicated the degree and the direction of influence of gender, education level, economic status, marital status, age and religiosity. The study results supported the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between religiosity and work commitment. The results demonstrated that public officers with higher level of religiosity are more likely to exhibit higher work commitment. Consistent with the previous studies in the literature, this study identified a positive relationship between religiosity and work commitment among public service employees in a Muslim country, Turkey. Research has contributed to methodological and theoretical literature.