Determinants of organizational commitment: The case of information technology department employees in banks operating in Turkey

The focus of this study is organizational commitment and it inquires mainly about the determinants of organizational commitment. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors are surveyed for this purpose. The scope of the work covers IT employees in Turkish banking sector.A set of hypotheses are constructed to examine the relationship between motivation types and organizational commitment as well as to determine the levels of organizational commitment dimensions in different bank groups.The study found that IT employees in Turkish banking sector are more motivated by intrinsic factors than extrinsic factors. A significant positive relationship between both motivation types and organizational commitment was also found. In addition, affective commitment was found to be highest in participation banks while public banks had the highest level of continuance commitment in their employees. The study did not find significant difference between bank groups in terms of normative commitment. Of the demographic characteristics, organizational tenure and marital status were found significant to affect organizational commitment.On the other hand, the level of organizational commitment was observed as mediocre. This means that IT workers in Turkish banking sector are neutral to their organizations. The level of intrinsic motivation was relatively higher. However, extrinsic motivation turned out to be below average.