Culture as a Moderator in High Commitment Management: Affective Commitment Link slawomir jarka Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland slawomirjarka@sggw.pl maciej rucinski Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland rucinskimaciej@gmail.com Affective organizational and occupational commitment is crucial for organizations. It has been proven that usage of High Commitment Management (hcm) practices improves affective organizational commitment, but no attention was paid to its influence on occupational type of commitment. They also measured direct influence of national culture on both construct; however, their findings often did not support with each other. By conducting a comparative research among university employees in the Netherlands and Poland hcm was proven to positively influence affective organizational and occupational commitment. Obtaining mixed results from moderated linear regression (only one cultural dimension had actual impact on the correlation between hcm and a focus of commitment) led to leaving the issue of influence of national culture on this correlation. Yet, there are perquisites that led to conclusion that confirmatory studies need to be done in the future to support these findings. Key words: affective commitment, High Commitment Management, national culture, moderator Introduction Commitment of employees towards an organization was investigated successfully for more than four decades. One of the first consistent and most often cited definitions of organizational commitment was provided by Porter (Porter et al. 1974) describing it as (a) a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization's goals and values; (b) a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization; (c) a definite desire to maintain organizational membership. Described as attitudinal commitment, a definition was used in a variety of studies (Malik et al. 2010; Mathieu and Zajac 1990; Siders, George, and Dharwadkar 2001; Whitener 2001; Yousaf, Sanders, and management 10 (3): 235-254 Slawomir Jarka and Maciej Rucinski Shipton 2011). Contemporary researchers, basing on this typology, distinguish between three types of commitment: affective, continuance, and normative commitment. Affective (value-based) commitment is related to emotional bonding, identification, and strong involvement. Continuance commitment is understood as a calculation of costs caused by leaving an organization. Third, normative commitment is an obligation to stay in an organization as perceived by an employee (Meyer and Allen 1991). In the 1980s the unity of focus of employees' commitment was questioned (Morrow 1983). Further researches confirmed multi-focus of commitment within organization (Becker 1992). Although scientists are not consistent in the differentiation of foci of commitment, supported is that employees distinguish between issues which they are committed to, i.e. organization itself, supervisors, co-workers, work, or occupation (Meyer and Herscovitch 2001; Swailes 2002). Very often organizational commitment is considered jointly attached to all the issues that are related to organization. The objective of this study is to consider factors influencing employees' affective commitment links within the framework of concept of High Performance Working Systems (hpws). The literature presents use of human resource management practices as hpws, which describe methods, which would allow an employer to improve efficiency of employees (Berg 1999; Pfeffer 1995). Development of these methods polarized researchers who focused on hpwss at a more detailed level. Managing commitment turned out to be one of the issues playing a crucial role in organizations which led to development of High Commitment Human Resource Management (hc-hrm) stimulating employees' commitment by using proper hrm (Guest 1997). Another issue that arises along with human resource management refers to its worldwide applicability. The question of sensitivity of commitment models on cultural differences was raised repeatedly, as well. The issue of commitment of employees was researched in a variety of national organisations settings, with outcomes not always supporting each other. However, the main result was that it has significant impact on employees' attitude towards organisation. Affective commitment, which is considered as most in line with value-based definition of commitment, has been differentiated among various foci, while most often researchers focused on affective organisational and occupational commitment. Examination into distribution of commitment on these two approaches is essential, and this is why this research focuses on them. Thus, the objective of this research management • volume 10 Culture as a Moderator in High Commitment Management is therefore to describe the impact of hcm practices, used on focusing employees' affective commitment, on particular targets. This is to be done in line with comparative analysis of cultural influence on obtained correlations. Analysis of cultural differences will be able to be achieved by running an empirical study in the Netherlands and Poland. Following research hypotheses were developed: hi Usage of High Commitment Management practices has positive influence on (a) affective organizational commitment, and (b) affective occupational commitment. H2a National culture does take moderating role in shaping correlation between use of hcm practices and affective organizational commitment. H2b National culture does take moderating role in shaping correlation between use of hcm practices and affective occupational commitment. Figure 1 describes theoretical assumptions of the framework that is meant to help providing the answer for main research hypothesis. The core of the study considers moderating influence of national culture on prescribed correlation. The starting point of the study is verification of hypothesis hi that assumes that there is measurement of two correlations: High Commitment Management practices and affective organizational commitment (Hia), and High Commitment Management practices with occupational commitment (Hib). Then, the second hypothesis states that given relations are dependent upon influence of national culture (H2a and H2b). Hypotheses Hi was raised basing on reasoning drawn from researches regarding affective organizational and occupational commitment, and usage of hcm practices. Hypothesis H2 was based on lack of consistency between researchers in the field of cultural influence on these factors. Lack of literature on the topic of culture as a moderator of correlation between these constructs caused that H2 was supported with hypothetical and logical reasoning. Nonetheless, both hypotheses were constructed so their verification would allow answering the research hypothesis sufficiently. It is crucial to emphasise that confirming Hi is not a necessary condition for confirming H2. If moderating relation would be found to confirm H2 while there would be no support for Hi it would mean that the given sample is an example of culture where application of hcm does not influence affective commitment. Nonetheless, if the setting of cultural dimensions differed, such correlation would occur. number 3 • fall 2015 237 Slawomir Jarka and Maciej Rucinski Literature Study affective organisational and occupational commitment Since the very beginning, scientists were describing commitment as an attitudinal factor (Porter et al. 1974). The developed theory regarding affective commitment was based on emotional attachment of employees to an organization. The multidimensionality of commitment and distinguishing among different types led to disputes regarding the core of commitment. Nonetheless, most of the researchers were pursuing the original, attitudinal assumption and were basing their researches (successfully, very often) on affective commitment (although this term was not established yet) as core of organizational commitment (Bate-man and Strasser 1984). The study of (Meyer, Allen, and Smith 2002) shows that, although normative and continuance commitment are significantly correlated with the majority of the same outcomes as affective commitment, in cases of affective commitment these correlations are visibly stronger. affective occupational commitment Occupational commitment is considered in terms of devotion to one's career, occupation, or profession (Morrow 1983). Occupational commitment has an affective dimension since it refers to acceptance, identification with, and following the values related to a particular occupation. It is also related to determination to continue to work in that occupation (Vandenberg and Scarpello 1994). Cohen (2000) argues that occupational commitment should be considered as the most influential among other foci, especially in professional envi- management • volume 10 Culture as a Moderator in High Commitment Management ronment. This is because professional employees may be more fo-cussed on the goals driven by their own occupation (career) than by an organization. Morrow and Wirth (1989) discuss occupational commitment in terms of one's profession. When researchers first leaned over the subject of occupational and organizational commitment, they were using the term of occupation, career, or profession interchangeably (Morrow 1983). Yet, their followers raised question whether these terms should be considered as synonyms in terms of occupational commitment. Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993) reject the term of career because its meaning may be considered as ambiguous. Although profession is not thought to be inappropriate, occupation is considered to be more accurate (Morrow and Wirth 1989). Following logics of Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993), both professionals and nonprofessionals are capable of experiencing commitment to what they do. Therefore, occupational commitment is a term used in general as what is understood an emotional attachment to somebody's occupation or profession. It is to be clearly stated that there is an evident distinction between occupational and organizational commitment (Morrow and Wirth 1989). Though slight correlations exist between the two, they are below the level of significance. Therefore, organizational commitment may be considered as an individual construct (Blau 1988). Besides, there is a number of researchers who suggest that focus of commitment changes depending on the changing variables that influence employees (Johnson 1996). Nevertheless, it has to be remembered that both organizational and occupational commitment are considered from affective perspective. Therefore, following basic definition by Porter et al. (1974) they are based on intrinsic beliefs which cannot be influenced and changed overtime (Morrow and Wirth 1989). Only environmental conditions, which are conformed to pursued values, may alter affective commitment. Occupational commitment has a great value for employees in terms of its outcomes. Researchers argue that high commitment to one's profession decreases intentions of withdrawal from occupation, which often is linked with leaving an organization (Lee, Car-swell, and Allen 2000). Klassen and Chiub (2011) found that high level of commitment to profession among teachers can lead not only to decrease of intentions to quit but also lower overall stress, and stress among students. Besides, it impacts positively the way that students engage in the classes, and allows a teacher to manage classroom more easily and effectively. number 3 • fall 2015 39 Slawomir Jarka and Maciej Rucinski high commitment human resource management Application of particular Human Resource Management practices has its theoretical base in social exchange theory (Blau 1964). It is a long term relation; the assumption of building emotional bonds between employee and organization (Aryee, Budhwar, and Chen 2002). Theory behind High Commitment Management design of antecedents of organizational commitment, or usage of practices stimulating organizational commitment is described as High Commitment Management (Guest et al., 2003). Using these practices, an organization aims to improve the efficiency of its employees by building their identification with organizational goals and values. Committed employees were more willing to work efficiently in order to follow these values and reach the goals (Arthur 1994; Whitener 2001). Marchington and Wilkinson (2005) following Pfeffer (1998) list components of'best practice' hc-hrm. It consists of: • Employment security and internal labour markets, • Selective hiring and sophisticated selection, • Extensive training, learning and development, • Employee involvement, information sharing and worker voice, • Self-managed teams/team-working, • High compensation contingent on performance, and • Reduction of status differentials/harmonisation. Methodology of Research In order to investigate the influence of culture on relation between usage of hcm practices and employees' foci of commitment, empirical research was done. The research was done among the workers of Wageningen University and Research Centre (wur) and Warsaw University of Life Sciences (sggw) in the Netherlands and Poland, respectively. The reason for choosing academic institutions was motivated mostly by convenience and ease in accessibility of the respondents. The choice of Poland and the Netherlands was also based on convenience reasons. Comparison of these countries using their scores in the research of Hofstede (2010) shows that they differ in terms of all cultural dimensions. Figure 2 presents scores of Poland and the Netherlands in five Hofstede's dimensions. Poland, on Power Distance Index (pdi) scale, scored with 68 while the Netherlands scored with 38 (out of 100). The results of both countries maybe considered management • volume 10 Culture as a Moderator in High Commitment Management 100 _ 0 _ pdi uai idv mas lto figure 2 Comparison of Cultural Dimensions as moderately strong, but they are on contrary sides of the scale. The spread of scores in Uncertainty Avoidance Index (uai) was at the level of 40. Poland was found as strongly uncertainty avoiding with a score of 93. The Netherlands placed in the middle of the scale with the uai of 53. The results show that in case of Individualism Index (idv). Poland and the Netherlands were placed on the 'individual' side of the scale. Although, the Netherlands are more extremely individual, scoring 80 on idv, Poland was not so far behind them, scoring 60. In the study of (Hofstede 2010) the Netherlands scored with extreme value of 14 on Masculinity Index (mas), while Poland had moderate 64 points. It is the biggest spread between these two countries in all of the dimensions. Finally, the scores of both Poland and the Netherlands in Long-term Orientation Index (lto) were rather moderate but on opposite sides of the scale (67 - the Netherlands; 38 - Poland). Given this description, it is to conclude that significant spreads of scores of these countries make them appropriate to this research. The survey was aimed at all employees (academic, technical, and administrative) of both universities. At wur, requests were sent to the heads of the Science Groups. Finally, cooperation with two out of five Science Groups was arranged, and the questionnaire was spread among approximately 2000 employees (number obtained from the hr departments, which were forwarding e-mails with the survey). Within three weeks of being on-line, the questionnaire was answered 278 times. At sggw, the questionnaires were sent to all employees of the university basing on lists of employees given on the websites of par- number 3 • fall 2015 41 Slawomir Jarka and Maciej Rucinski ticular departments. There were approximately 2000 of employees reached with the survey (some emails were forwarded by Dean's offices of particular departments). The questionnaire was on-line for the same period as Dutch version was, it was answered 360 times. Three weeks of data collection resulted with receiving a total number of 638 responses from the Netherlands and Poland. A large amount of respondents did not complete the survey, and therefore, in total 342 respondents were taken into account. As one of the questions referred to the sub-department that participants work in (Chair Group level in the Netherlands, and Cathedral in Poland), in total responses from 92 sub-departments were collected. Still, there were sub-departments in which only one employee filled in the questionnaire. Finally 318 respondents were selected (nNL = 151; nPL = 167) spread among 68 sub-departments (nNL = 25; nPL = 43). A minimum of respondents per sub-department was n = 2, however maximum number of respondents was nPL = 13 in Polish, and nNL = 50 in Dutch sample. The empirical study was set using on-line survey software -Qualtrics (www.qualtrics.com). The use of this particular software provided ease in designing, launching, and collecting the surveys, which were sent to the respondents using e-mail. They were to fill in the questionnaire using a web browser, thus every answer given was recorded on Qualtrics account. The inquiry form was built in three versions. First, an English version was created, basing on the questionnaires used repeatedly in prior researchers. Then, translations to Dutch and Polish languages were provided, in order to allow respondents answering the questions in their mother tongues. The translations to both languages were provided by independent, native speakers of that language, three from each case. Data Analyses and Results The data obtained in the field research were analysed with three major methods, using correlation analysis, linear regression, and multilevel modelling. The following sections present the confrontation of research results with prior findings. control variables The control constructs, which were included in the empirical model, were age, gender, seniority within the occupation and organization, and proactive personality of respondents. The results were consistent, in general, although there were some differences depending on the sample, and focus of commitment (table 1). Gender (The Nether- management • volume 10 table 1 Correlation Matrix: All Constructs o un to OJ Netherlands Poland 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Mean sd Mean sd 1 3-44 0.72 3.68 0.78 1 0.467** 0.160 -0.144 0.142 0-135 0.147 -0.077 0.221** 0.126 0.035 0.406*' 2 3-94 0.56 4.10 0.62 0-353** 1 0.281** -0.087 0.003 -0.042 -0.037 -0.109 0.076 0.184* -0.004 0.325*' 3 3-30 o-53 3-39 0.62 0.100 0.276** 1 0.168* -0.155 - -0.092 -0.197* 0.058 -0.095 0.246** -0.135 -0.133 4 1.38 0.49 1.63 0.48 -0.070 -0.055 ^3.047 1 -0.337** - -0.226** -0.272** 0.192* -0.042 0.111 -0.185* -0.237*' 5 45.17 12.08 41.64 11.69 0.302** 0.026 0.006 -0.431** 1 0.796** 0.785** -0.002 0.124 0.152 0.196* 0.176* 6 2-34 0.82 2.19 0-75 0.271** 0.073 -0.042 -0.395** 0.856** 1 0.887** -0.138 0.079 0.154 0.112 0.116 7 2.14 0.86 2.04 0.82 0.277** 0.001 -0.071 -0.432** 0.828** 0.839** 1 -0.122 0.161 0.177* 0.145 0.142 8 1.25 o-43 1.05 0.21 0.150 -0.221** -0.073 0.278** 0.090 0.066 0.051 1 0.154 0.015 0.068 -0.189* 9 3-54 o-53 2-93 0-75 0.129 -0.141 -0.021 0.247** 0.127 0.135 0.208* 0.121 1 0.256** 0.097 0.096 10 3.60 0.65 3-69 0.69 0.134 -0.036 -0.063 0.284** -0.109 -0.132 -0.094 244* * -0.115 1 -0.013 -0.014 il 1.86 0.60 2.23 0.76 0.052 -0.101 -0.058 -0.167* 0.093 0.060 0.054 0.050 -0.013 -0.051 1 0.110 12 3.00 0-55 2.68 0.65 0.295** 0.202* -0.099 0.097 -0.021 -0.082 -0.092 0.204* 0.055 0.189* -0.011 1 notes Constructs: (i) orc, (2) occ, (3) proactive personality, (4) gender, (5) age, (6) seniority within occupation, (7) seniority within organization, (8) occupation, (9) collectivism, (10) uncertainty avoidance, (11) masculinity, (12) hcm. Occupation coding: academic employee = 1, administrative or technical employee = 2. Seniorit coding: 1 = less than 5 years, 2 = between 5 and 15 years, 3 = more than 15 years. Dutch sample below diagonal. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 TABLE 2 Estimators' Comparison Parameter Model 1 (moderating variable: collectivism) Model 2 (moderating variable: masculinity) Moderated linear regression Multilevel modelling Moderated linear regression Multilevel modelling Estimate Sig. Estimate Sig. Estimate Sig. Estimate Sig. Occupation -0.270 0.000 0.022 0.869 -0.242 0.002 0.034 0.792 Proactive personality 0.247 0.001 0.342 0.001 0.290 0.000 0-353 0.001 hcm 0.220 0.005 0.116 0.280 0.331 0.000 0.272 0.008 Collectivism -0.110 0.130 -0.109 0.244 -0.112 0.150 -0.128 0.155 hcm x collectivism 0.226 0.004 0.114 0.090 0.155 0.061 0.165 0.019 o s S o p. P M <ß 13" O O p> P p> cfq notes Dependent variable: occ. Slawomir Jarka and Maciej Rucinski lands - 53,25% male respondents; Poland - 40,12% male respondents) was not found correlated to either affective organizational commitment (orc), or affective occupational commitment (occ). This is in line with common results of various researchers who measured the influence of demographic variables as correlates of affective occupational or organizational commitment (Goswami, Mathew, and Chadha 2007; Meyer, Allen, and Smith 1993; Morrow and Wirth 1989; Yousaf 2010; Yousaf, Sanders, and Shipton 2011). Regarding age, it correlated positively with orc, and this link was found to be significant only in case of Dutch sample. Seniority in organization and occupation were found significantly correlated to affective organizational commitment only in Dutch set of respondents. This inconsistence between samples might be surprising, since logical reasoning suggests that years spent in profession should improve one's occupational commitment. Yet, over the years, findings of various researchers showed that the time spent in an organization, or within an occupation does not have significant impact on employees' commitment towards organization or occupation (Goswami, Mathew, and Chadha 2007; Morrow and Wirth 1989; Yousaf 2010). In case of Proactive Personality (pp) variable, there were significant relationships noticed in both samples, with occ only. Also in linear regression, this construct was not significant in the first step of model building. However, this holds for Dutch sample only because in case of Polish set of respondents the coefficient of this variable was significant (pPL< 0.05). Looking at the definition of this construct, researchers who investigated issues being consanguineous to proactive personality have usually found them meaningfully influential towards organizational commitment (Becker 1992). Looking at the results obtained from this research, it may also be assumed that, since responses referring to affective organizational commitment are not entirely consistent with prior findings, they may be considered as not utterly valid. The pattern related to the pp-orc/pp-occ links is just an assumption based on meta-analytical observation, and cannot be supported with any theoretical bases. Although this assumption may strengthen validity of ORC-related results, they still need to be taken analysed with caution. The Influence of High Commitment Management and National Culture on Affective Commitment The results regarding hcm - affective commitment link were not surprising. The studies which were conducted in the past show that there is a direct, and positive influence of hcm practices on affective management • volume 10 Culture as a Moderator in High Commitment Management commitment in organizations (Whitener 2001; Wood and Albanese 1995; Wood and de Menezes 1998; Zeidan 2006). hcm in this research was strongly correlated to both orc and occ, which is in line with prior studies. Besides, although validity of linear regression was questioned by occurrence of correlations within groups of respondents, hcm variable was strongly significant in all models, which it was entered into. Finally, multilevel modelling showed that adding hcm construct to the model increases explanation of variance therefore application of hcm practices does have impact on affective commitment. Lack of studies on influence of hcm on affective occupational commitment stems judgement whether such pattern is found as a general paradigm, but its existence in all models, across both samples may strengthen this assumption. Significant correlations of hcm with affective commitment in both samples are in line, as well as against the conclusions of researches conducted in the past. Boselie, Paauwe, and Jansen (2001) argued that Human Resource Management practices, which aimed in improvement of employees' commitment were widely, and successfully applied in organizations for many years. On the other hand, Stankiewicz and Moczulska (2012) concluded that High Commitment Management does not meet expectations of Polish workers, and therefore it does not have influence on their commitment. Nonetheless, the results clearly show that there is a meaningful direct influence of hcm on both foci of commitment, no matter where the research was conducted. The other element that was taken into consideration was related to national culture and its impact on affective commitment of employees. In this case, the results were partially consistent. In the Dutch sample, there was no particular case where this correlation would be shown, while the outcome of Polish set of responses did exhibit correlations between orc and collectivism, and occ with uncertainty avoidance. Both results are in line with conclusions of some of the prior researchers, who in fact did not find common ground and agree upon whether culture influences commitment, or not. National Culture and hcm: Affective Commitment Link The main assumption of this research was to investigate possible influence of national culture on the correlation between application of hcm and employees' reaction in terms of improvement of their affective organizational or occupational commitment. Previous studies focused on direct correlations between culture and commitment, or hr practices. Various, and inconsistent outcomes did not let the re- number 3 • fall 2015 45 Slawomir Jarka and Maciej Rucinski searchers build a general model which would provide unequivocal paradigm. Moderating influence of culture was investigated by building multiple moderated linear regression models (West and Aiken 1996) which examined different sets of cultural interaction variables and their influence on connection between hcm and one of two foci of affective commitment. These models were run once in each sample in order to have ability of making further comparative analyses. As a result only one model (Model 1 hcm x Collectivism with occ as dependent variable in Dutch sample) turned out to be significant in terms of interaction variable having meaningfully high beta coefficient (p < 0.01). Having only one model (out of twelve) which would suggest moderating impact of culture there was need for running further analyses in order to establish the cause of such low significance of other estimators. By using multilevel modelling Model 2 (hcm x Masculinity with occ as dependent variable in Dutch sample) was found to be significant in terms of moderating influence of cultural factor, while interaction variable of Model 1 was above the commonly accepted significance cut-off point (p = 0.05), and therefore it had to be rejected. Regardless of the factors other than statistical, Model 2 can be thus assumed as valid, and confirmatory for moderating role of culture. Summing the results up, moderated linear regression and multilevel modelling analyses gave similar results, although their significance differed. There were two models (both in Dutch sample, and referring to occ as dependent variable) which in the final step had coefficients of interaction variables on the opposite sides of p = 0.05 significance cut-off point. Table 2 presents comparison of models which in the last step of adding the coefficients had interaction variable significant at the level p < 0.10. All of them were obtained from Dutch sample of respondents. In Polish sample, there was no model, which would have a significant interaction variable. Collectivism interaction variable that was entered to the model constructed with moderated linear regression is significant (^nl = .226**), while coefficient of the same variable in multilevel model has much lower value, and by the rule of thumb should not be considered as significant (^nl = .114***). On the other hand, considering Masculinity interaction variable, there is an opposite situation. Its coefficient obtained in moderated linear regression is of doubtful significance (^nl = .155***), while the estimate from multilevel model can be considered as significant (^nl = .165**). Given inconsistency has been already partially explained in the section describing icc. High management • volume 10 Culture as a Moderator in High Commitment Management 3.0 < 0.5 Low hcm High hcm figure 3 Masculinity as a Moderator of hcm-occ correlation within particular sub-departments might have breached validity of linear regression. Yet, the results of conducted multilevel modelling analyses (although inverted) seem to confirm outcomes obtained before. Given results show that both, Collectivism and Masculinity interaction variable had influence on the models that they were entered in. Although this was experienced in Dutch set of respondents only, running two analyses showed that the influence is significant. However, Collectivism interaction variable in multilevel modelling analysis had its significance level not fitting in commonly accepted cut-off point (p < 0.05). Therefore, Model 1 has to be rejected, while Model 2 can be considered as valid in further research. Figure 3 presents a plot that explains Model 2 where Masculinity has moderating influence on hcm-occ link. A tool designed by Dawson (n.d.) was applied facilitating presentation of moderating relation. Whenever Masculinity as a feature of national culture is low, application of High Commitment Management practices seem to have only marginal impact on increase of affective occupational commitment. The slope that represents hcm-occ link in an environment with low masculinity is characteristic because of its (almost) unnoticeable flexibility. On a contrary, the slope describing high Collectivism environment is evidently more elastic. According to this model, in such conditions application of hcm practices should significantly improve affective occupational commitment. The plot presents one more interesting feature of hcm-occ link. Regardless of the level of national culture, application of High Commitment Management practices should result with approximately the same level of occ, no matter what level of national culture is. Nonetheless, the model shows that lack of hcm should lead to significant drop of affective occupational commitment in highly collectivistic cultures, while in cultures with low collectivism this decrease would rather not be meaningful. number 3 • fall 2015 47 Slawomir Jarka and Maciej Rucinski Given these results, there are a number of major issues that have to be stressed out next to these findings. Firstly, Model 2 was built with occ as dependent variable. None of analysed models, neither in linear regression or multilevel modelling, turned out to have a significant interaction variable when orc was considered as dependent item. It was already stated that analyses investigating control variables showed few inconsistencies regarding their correlations with affective occupational commitment. The most visible and important contradiction was concerning lack of correlation of orc with Proactive personality. If it is assumed that noticed pattern regarding proportions of correlations Proactive personality with different foci of commitment is true, the dataset is valid and the in fact culture does not moderate hcm-orc link. Yet this this is not the scope of this study, and there is too few information available in the dataset to verify this assumption. On a contrary, if the assumption about this pattern is false, the problem lies in wrongly assessed sample, or another unknown environmental factor. The second major issue refers to the fact that any significance regarding moderating correlations was found in Dutch sample, only. As stated earlier, occupation should not have significant influence on either affective occupational or organizational commitment. Considering the studies that came up with such results were conducted in different countries (Blau 2003; Guest et al. 2003; Malik et al. 2010; Yousaf, Sanders, and Shipton 2011), national culture does not have impact on this issue, as well. Nonetheless, these statements come from studies on the direct influence of culture on commitment. Since there were no particular studies were conducted in order to investigate moderating effect of culture, it is not sure whether the same correlation is true in this setting of constructs. It may be applied also in other issues like kind of organization, or sector that it exists in. Although both organizations that were researched are universities, Polish institution seems to be financed by government in greater level than Dutch. It positions them differently regarding the sector that they operate in. Third, only one out of three culture-related variables turned out to have significant influence on hcm - affective commitment correlation. Again, it is impossible to give an unequivocal reason for appearance of this phenomenon mostly because of no points of reference in prior researches. None of the commitment foci was found dependent upon Masculinity dimension (moderator in Model 2) neither in Polish, nor Dutch sample. Although in Dutch sample, where management • volume 10 Culture as a Moderator in High Commitment Management Model 2 was significant, none of the other culture-related constructs correlated with orc or occ. Because of lack of arguments supporting the lone Model 2 it is difficult to decide whether Masculinity dimension may be considered as moderator of hcm-occ link. Applying logical reasoning to interpretation of Model 2, employees living in a low-masculinity culture would have higher occ whenever an organization provide, for example, workers with trainings regarding enhancing women at the labour market of this particular occupation. However, other any logical reasoning regarding collectivism or uncertainty avoidance is not backed up with particular model. This might also mean that, although Model 2 is statistically significant, it is just a side effect of wrongly assessed sample. Having a retrospective look into methodology part, described sample is not only spread across broad number of groups, but also their distribution within these groups is widely unequal. As intra-class correlation has meaningfully disturbed the results of regression analysis, such an unequal distribution of respondents might have disturbed the results of multilevel modelling. In that case Model 2, despite of its statistical significance, would have to be rejected. Conclusions and Results hypotheses verification The impact of hcm was investigated in the field of organizational commitment, with researches focusing specifically on affective organizational commitment. There were minor attempts to pinpoint the effect of hcm practices on affective occupational commitment, although there were reasonable theoretical rationales. Therefore, a hypothesis was built stating that usage of High Commitment Management practices has positive influence on (Hia) affective organizational commitment, and (Hib) affective occupational commitment. Basing on the discussion it can be concluded that both hypotheses are supported statistically, because of significant relations found in correlation analysis, linear regression, and multilevel modelling. Although correlations were found, a number of objections can be raised. Since the results regarding orc were not entirely consistent with prior researches in the area of control variables, caution with interpretation of these results is advised, especially regarding Hia. Both regression-based analyses resulted with significant hcm coefficients across all models, although existence of intra-class correlations and unbalanced distribution of respondents among sub- number 3 • fall 2015 49 Slawomir Jarka and Maciej Rucinski departments could have disturbed their validity. It was therefore concluded that, despite of obtaining repetitive results and prior findings, which support hi, a confirmatory study on more reliable sample is needed in order to ensure its validation. The second hypothesis was based on inconsistency between prior researches regarding direct impact of culture on both, hcm practices and affective commitment. The scientists could not find common ground when investigating immediate correlation, thus it was assumed that national culture does take moderating role in shaping correlation between use of hcm practices and affective organizational commitment (H2a), and between use of hcm practices and affective occupational commitment (H2b). As it was already discussed, pioneering nature of this research disallowed analysing the results by comparison with prior findings. No significant model concerning orc as dependent variable was found to support H2a, regardless of investigated sample, or used method. H2a was therefore refuted. In case of H2b, one out of six models had statistically significant moderating features. Nonetheless, five others did not, and it would be the main objection for accepting this hypothesis. On the other hand, the masculinity dimension is still a cultural factor. Although it was confirmed as a moderator in one sample only, there still are no theoretical, logical, or statistical prerequisites to deny masculinity as a moderator of hcm-occ link. This is why H2b is neither supported nor rejected. Formulating a conclusion, there is no certain answer to be given for the main research question. It is true that usage of High Commitment Practices does have positive impact on both, affective organizational and occupational commitment. National culture, on the other hand, does not moderate hcm - affective commitment link in case of organizational focus. However, finding one statistically significant model against five not valid suggests that the question regarding hcm-occ link has to be left unanswered. Still, uncertainties that arose along with development suggest leaving other questions open, as well. Repeatedly mentioned unreliable sample, and lack of support for results regarding part of control variables may seriously impeach validity of these answers. On the other hand, because of no corresponding researches that could be taken as a reference point, it is impossible to unequivocally state that all correlations with used control variables behave the same way in case of direct and moderating influence. Therefore, further confirmatory researches need to be done, meanwhile the question regarding moderating impact of national culture on hcm - affective commitment link has to be left opened. management • volume 10 Culture as a Moderator in High Commitment Management References Arthur, J. B. 1994. 'Effects of Human Resource Systems on Manufacturing Performance and Turnover.' The Academy of Management Journal 37 (3): 670-87. Aryee, S., P. S. Budhwar, and Z. X. Chen. 2002. 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