The Effect of Supportive Work Environment on Employee Commitment-Mediating Role of Employee Engagement in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

A supportive work environment develops an atmosphere to attract and retain a talented and motivated workforce to an organization. It further improves the commitment and dedication of employees towards more work. As a key player of the Sri Lankan economy and the second-largest foreign exchange earner to the country, the apparel industry requires to consider keeping such a workforce by creating a supportive work environment. In the Sri Lankan context, few empirical studies are available which were addressed the work environment in the apparel sector. The existing empirical knowledge gap concentrates on giving attention to this aspect. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to analyze the relationships among the supportive work environment, employee engagement, employee commitment and explore the mediating role of employee engagement in the effects of supportive work environment on employee commitment of selected apparel firms in Sri Lanka. To achieve these objectives, data were collected from 203 machine operators of the selected two apparel companies using a structured questionnaire. The sample was chosen through Stratified Random sampling technique. Stratified sampling is where the population is divided into subgroups (strata) and a random sample is taken from each subgroup. The researcher was chosen machine operators based on the company size from the whole population. In this case, subgroup was grounded on company size. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. In this study, the supportive work environment is the independent variable, employee commitment is the dependent variable and employee engagement is the mediating variable. The results indicated that significant positive relationships exist between independent, dependent and mediating variables and complementary partial mediation effect of employee engagement in the effects of supportive work environment on employee commitment. As a result of this study, Managers of Apparel companies must give their attention to a combination of a supportive work environment and employee engagement to increase the level of employee commitment. This study only covered two firms in Nuwaraeliya Apparel Industry. So in the future scope will be expanding beyond the research area, it will be effective and useful.

Keywords: Apparel Industry, Employee Commitment, Employee Engagement & Supportive Work Environment