The effect of career management system applications on organizational commitment and the mediating role of psychological ownership: A study in the aviation sector

Organizational commitment is essential in aviation organizations as in all high-reliability organizations (HRO). Despite the enormous complexity and high risk, the human capital is one of the most critical factors of success in HROs to complete their mission successfully. The human factor is the source of not only success but also failure and possible disasters. What determines the difference is the temperament and competencies of the employees and the human resources practices implemented by the institutions they work for. If these practices are implemented correctly, they enable the employees to integrate with the organization, be committed to work and the organization, and develop psychological ownership of the organization. One of these applications is the adoption of career management systems. A career management system can be defined as assessing the current and future needs of the organization, planning and realizing the career development of the human resources it has to meet these needs, and at the same time monitoring the progress processes of its employees at hierarchical levels. In this context, it has to interact with other human resources practices and functions such as career management, human resources planning, procurement and selection, performance management system, training, and development. This study aims to determine the Effect of Career Management System Applications on Organizational Commitment and the Mediation Role of Psychological Ownership in the aviation sector. For this purpose, the research was designed and implemented. The research sample consists of 253 aviation industry employees. The convenient sampling technique was adopted, and the survey technique was used to collect the data from the participants. The collected data collected was analyzed by Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling PLS-SEM technique with SmartPLS 3.2.9. statistical package software and the results were interpreted considering the path coefficients and significance levels. The results of the analysis show that Career Development affects both Behavioral Commitment and Attitudinal Commitment significantly and positively. Similarly, Career Management has a significant and positive effect on both Behavioral Commitment and Attitudinal Commitment. On the other hand, there is no statistically significant effect of Career Planning on Behavioral or Attitudinal Commitment. Furthermore, the analysis results show that both Emotional and Job-Based Psychological Ownership have a fully mediating role in the effect of Career Development on Behavioral Commitment. Moreover, both Emotional and Job-Based Psychological Ownership have a partial mediating role in the effect of Career Development on Attitudinal Commitment. It has been determined that Emotional Ownership plays a partial mediating role in the effect of Career Management on Behavioral Commitment and a full mediator in effect on Attitudinal Commitment. No mediating role of Business-Based Ownership has been determined. As no effect of Career Planning on Behavioral or Attitudinal Commitment was detected, the mediating role of Psychological Ownership could not be observed.