Organizational Culture and Its Effect on Organizational Performance of

Ethiopian Civil Service University: The Mediating Role of Employee’s

Organizational Commitment

A Thesis Submitted to School of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University

for Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Master in Public

Management and Policy

By: Aleazar Ali

Advisor: Jemal Abagisa (PhD)

Addis Ababa University

College of Business and Economics
October, 2020
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Declaration
I, the undersigned, declare that this study entitled “Organizational Culture and Its Effect on
Organizational Performance in Ethiopian Civil Service University: The Mediating Role of
Employees Organizational Commitment” is my original work and has not been presented for a
degree in any other university, and that all sources of materials used for the study have been
duly acknowledged.

Declared by:

Name: Aleazar Ali Gebeyehu

Signature _________________________________________

Date______________________________________________

Confirmed by:

Name: Jemal Abagisa (PhD)

Signature _________________________________________

Date______________________________________________
DDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

Organizational Culture and Its Effect on Organizational Performance of

Ethiopian Civil Service University: The Mediating Role of Employee’s
Organizational Commitment

By: Aleazar Ali Gebeyehu

Approved by: Board of Examiners:

Internal Examiner: Shumey Berhie , (Ph.D) Signature __________ Date __________

External Examiner: Yohannes Workeafarahu (Ph.D) Signature__________ Date__________

Advisor: Jemal Abagisa (Ph.D) Signature __________ Date _________

Acknowledgements

The finalization of this thesis was made possible by the help and supports of a number of
people and organizations. Firstly, I would like to extend my sincere thanks with great
appreciation and gratitude towards my advisor Dr.Jemal Abagissa, for his helpful guidance
and his professional support in this study.

Second, my sincere thanks go to the academic and administrative staffs of Ethiopian Civil
Service University for their cooperation in filling and responding the survey
questionnaires. I also thank my lovely wife Fikirte Girma and my children Ezrael and
Joshua for their tolerance and emotional support in the journey of this study. Most of all, I
would like to be grateful to my Almighty of God for giving me health and strength to strive
and finalize this study.
Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine organizational culture and its effects on organizational
performance of Ethiopian Civil Service University/ECSU/ with the mediating role of employees'
organizational commitment. Out of 507 employees of ECSU, 108 academic and 111
administrative staff selected using Kothari's (2004) sample determination formula. To gather
relevant data survey questionnaire with a five Likert scale was used. The study used descriptive
statistics and explanatory design to analyze the collected data. Furthermore, the effect of
organizational culture on employee commitment and organizational performance tested with
structural equation modeling. The findings of the study portrayed that ECSU employees
perceive that organizational culture, employees' organizational commitment, and
organizational performance practices of the university were low. The result of the hypothesis
testing in structural equation modeling portrayed the effect of organizational culture, and
employee commitments individually and jointly had a positive and statistically significant
impact on organizational performance. The mediating role of employees' organizational
commitment was positive and statistically significant on the relationship between organizational
culture and organizational performance. The indirect effect of organizational culture through
the employee organizational commitment was significantly higher than the direct one. 61.8
percent of the organizational performance of the university was explained by organization
culture and employee commitment jointly. From the finding, it is promising to conclude that the
organization culture, employee commitment, and organizational performance of ECSU were
rated low by the respondents. It is also possible to recommend that if the university wants to
boost its performance, it is significantly necessary to work on both organizational culture and
employees' organizational commitment

Keywords: Organizational Culture, Employees Commitments and Organizational

Performance

Table of Contents
Table of Contents............................................................................................................................ i
List of Tables................................................................................................................................iii
List of Figure.................................................................................................................................iv
Chapter One .................................................................................................................................. iv
1.1 Background of the Study......................................................................................................... .1
1.2 Statement of the Problems ....................................................................................................... 3
1.3 General Objective of the Study………………………………………………………………5
1.3.1 Specific Objectives of the Study……………………………………..…………………….5
1.4 Scope of the Study.................................................................................................................... 6
1.5 Significance of the Study ......................................................................................................... 6
1.6. Limitation of the Study ........................................................................................................... 6
1.7 Operational Definition of Terms....................................................................... .......................7
1.8 Organization of the Study ……………………………………………………………………7
Chapter Two................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Review of Related Literature ..................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 8
2.2 Theoretical Review Literature ............................................................................................... ..8
2.2.1 Overview of Organizational Culture................................................................................. .... 8
2.2.2 Organizational Culture Models ............................................................................................9
2.3 Empirical review literature .................................................................................................... 17
2.4 Organizational Performance .................................................................................................. 19
2.5 Relationship Between Organizational Culture and Organizational Performance.................. 20
2.6 Employees Organizational Commitment and Organizational Performance..........................21
2.7 Research Gap..........................................................................................................................22
2.8 Conceptual Framework of the Study ..................................................................................... 22
2.9. Specification of the Model....................................................................................................23
Chapter Three…………………………………………………………………………………...24
Research Methodology………………………………………………………………………….24
3.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................ 24
3.2 Research Design..................................................................................................................... 24
3.3 Sample and Sampling Techniques ......................................................................................... 24
3.4. Instruments of Data Collection……………………………………………………………..26
3.4.1 Pilot Testing ........................................................................................................................ 26
3.5 Assumptions of Structural Equation Modeling ..................................................................... 27
3.6 Methods of Data Analysis..................................................................................................... 29
3.7 Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................................... 30
Chapter Four…………………………………………………………………………………….31
4. Data Presentation and Analyses………………………………………………………...……31
4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................ 31
4.2 Demographic Background of the Respondents...................................................................... 31
4.3.The Practice of Organizational Culture, Employees Organizational commitments and
Organizational Performance…………………………………………………………………….33
4.3.1. Organizational Culture…………………………………………………………………...34
4.4 Employees Organizational Commitments ............................................................................. 40
i

4.5. Organizational Performance………………………………………………………………..45

4.6 Structural and Measurement Models Analysis ...................................................................... 50
4.6.1 Measurement Model Analysis. ........................................................................................... 51
4.6.2 Assessment of Structural Model ......................................................................................... 59
Chapter 5 ...................................................................................................................................... 61
5. Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations....................................................................... 61
5.1 Summary of the Study ........................................................................................................... 61
5.2 Conclusions............................................................................................................................ 64
5.3. Recommendations………………………………………………………………………….67
5.3.1 Recommendations for Further Studies................................................................................69
Reference......................................................................................................................................70
Annex 1........................................................................................................................................77
Annex 2........................................................................................................................................82
 ii

List of Tables

Table 4.1 Organizational Culture Attributes- Employees Involvement....................................... 34

Table 4.2 Organizational Culture Attributes- Consistency.......................................................... 35
Table 4.3 Organizational Culture attributes- Adaptability .......................................................... 36
Table 4.4 Organizational Culture Attributes- Mission................................................................. 37
Table 4.5 Employees Organizational Affective commitment..................................................... 41
Table 4.6 Employees Organizational - Normative commitment ................................................. 42
Table 4.7 Employees Organizational Continuance Commitment................................................ 42
Table 4.8 Organizational Performance - Customer Perspective .................................................. 45
Table 4.9 Organizational Performance - Internal Process Perspective........................................ 46
Table 4.10 Organizational Performance - Learning & Growth Perspective................................ 47
Table 4.11 Organizational Performance - Financial Perspective................................................. 48
Table4. 12 Indicator and their Outer Loading.............................................................................53
Table 4.13 Internal Composite Reliability and Convergent Validity.......................................... .54
Table 4.14 Cross Loading of Indicators in Each Latent Variables............................................ ..55
Table4.15 Fornell-Larcker Discriminant validity Criterion........................................................ 56
Table 4.16 Significance Testing Results of the structural Model Path Coefficients.................... 56
Table 4.17 Results of Coefficient of Determination .................................................................... 58
Table 4. 18 Results of Coefficients of Determination (R2) and Predictive Relevance Q2)......... 59
Table 4. 19 Results of f2 and q2 Effective size........................................................................... 60
 iii

List of Figures

Figure 2. 1 Conceptual Framework of the Study......................................................................... 23

Figure 4.1 Sex of Respondents ....................................................................................................31
Figure4.2 Employement Category Respondents.......................................................................... 32
Figure 4.3 Education Level of Respondents................................................................................32
Figure 4.4 Experience of the Respondents...................................................................................33
Figure 4. 5 Overall Mean of Organizational Culture...................................................................48
Figure 4.6 Overall Mean of Employees’ Organizational Commitment....................................... 43
Figure 4.7 Overall Mean of Organizational Performance ...........................................................49
Figure 4.8 Latent Variables with Path Analysis........................................................................... 52
Figure 4.9 Latent Variables with Path Analysis........................................................................... 58
 iv

Chapter One
1.1 Background of the Study

The dynamism that challenges the global system creates an impact on both public and private
organizations around the world. The ability of an organization to develop and maintain a
competitive organizational culture can only survive in this world market. One of the factors that
delineate high performer organizations from the lower is due to differences in the culture of the
organization (Peters & Waterman: 1999). Strong organizational culture is not adopted or
constructed within a short period, but it is established and progressed throughout a time when
employees interact in various activities of the organization. The role of top-level management is
crucial to maintain a consistent organizational culture. They should have a commitment and
accountable for their deeds in their respective organizations.

Organizational culture is the artifacts, values and underlying assumptions organizations have to
embed people to work together to achieve the mission of an organization (Schein: 1991). It is a
system of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions employee has. According to Nicklas & Janz
(2010), organizational culture is divided into three levels. The values at the strategic level
include mission and objectives. The second level of culture of the organization is the believes
and norms of employees at a tactical level. The third level includes organizational life aspects at
an operational level.

Researchers like Fakhar, Iqbal, and Gulzar (2013) described an organizational culture in terms
of employee involvement, communication, innovation, customer service orientation, and reward
system of the organization. On the other hand, Wahjudi.et.al (2016) classified organizational
culture as individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity, and long-term
orientation of the organization. Furthermore, Chilla& et.al (2014) examines organizational
culture as an organization control system, organizational structure, organizational power,
symbols, rituals, and routine, stories, and myth.

Denison & Mishra (1995) also examine organizational culture as the cultural traits of employee
involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission of organizations to achieve their goals. The
different ways of investigating organizational culture from a different angle might indicate that
the issue is still a fertile ground for further research. The investigations of the impacts of
organizational culture on organizational performance are scrutinized in developed nations

compared to developing countries. In developing countries, organizational culture is often

overlooked, even if the issue is a foundation stone to carry out the strategy to attain the mission
of the organization (Indiya& et.al, 2018).
Good culture held by the workforce of the organization can improve organizational
performance. Concerning this, Indiya (2018) showed that organizational culture is a strong
determinant of organizational performance. The most important cultural elements that affect
organizational performance are organizational values (Indiya, 2018).

Organizational commitment employee is used as a mediator, not as a moderator variable in this

study. Mediation variables have a strong relationship between the predictor and the dependent
variable; on the other hand, moderator variables have a weak relationship between those
mentioned variables (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Here, the relationship between organizational
culture and organizational performance is strong (Nikpour, 2017).

The researcher examined the relationship between organizational culture and organizational
performance through the mediating effect of employee commitment. And found out that the
culture of the organization has a direct and indirect impact on organizational performance.
The indirect effect of organizational culture through the organizational commitment of
employees was significantly higher than the direct one.

The finding of Haijama (2018) conducted in Ethiopian Abattoir enterprises showed that
organizational culture has a positive effect and has a significant relationship with the
performance of employees. The study indicated that clan, adhocracy, market, and bureaucratic
culture had a significant impact on employee performance. The dominant culture practiced in
the enterprises was a market culture

Various organizations in Ethiopia context tried to focus on financial and non-financial reward
systems to motivate employees to get high organizational performance. However, such
organizations provide less attention to an organizational culture that can play a significant role
in enhancing performance. In line with this, Kandula (2006) explained that the critical factor
that helps organizations to achieve high performance is a strong working culture. The author
further depicted that due to differences in organizational culture, organizations with similar
strategies and locations with the same industry do not have similar achievements.

Ethiopian Civil Service University is one of the Federal Government organizations stationed in
Addis Ababa that provides teaching & learning, research and community services, training, and
consultancy services to capacitate public organization employees. The management system of
the university is fragile and lacks consistency, as the student researcher perceived. The
organization culture is not consistent and well established to encourage workers to enhance
organizational performance.

As a student researcher, the issue creates an eagerness to find out the effect of organizational
culture on organization performance through the mediating impact on organizational
commitment of employees. The university, organization culture, and its impact on its
performance were not investigated by researchers previously. The nature of organizational
culture different from the organization to the organization since it is necessary to assess and
examine the organizational culture to forward a recommendation for the betterment of its
performance.
The university tried to assess its performance through employee evaluation surveys and external
customer satisfaction surveys in the country. However, the effect of the day-to-day working
culture practices of Ethiopian Civil Service University seems ignored that the student researcher
is supposed to investigate. As a result, this research attempted to examine the effect of
organizational culture that exists on organizational performance through the mediating role of
employee organizational commitment.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Organizations in the contemporary world are under pressure of extensive competition in the
business world, whether it is public or private. These challenges need to create an organizational
culture that is supportive of the mission of the organization. The working culture of the
organization should also serve as a competitive advantage for the firms by economies of scale
and innovation (Pfeffer, 1994).

Organizational culture is a significant issue that enhances organizational performance through

cohesion of employees, development of trust, and aligning strategies of organization with
objectives. Poor organizational performance may not be as a result of poor recruitment
strategies and selection processes, lack of employee motivating strategies, poor management,
and leadership or any other employee well-being initiatives, but the failure of organizational

management to understand the effect organizational culture on organizational performance

(Omukaga, 2016).

Ethiopian Civil Service University was established in 1996 to enhance the capabilities of civil
service employees through teaching, research, training, and consultancy. Now a day the
university provides such services for both governmental and private organizations. However,
the university has confronted problems in executing the mentioned services. In this regard,
Demis (2017) that conducted on Assessment of the Implementation of Performance Appraisal
System in Ethiopian Civil Service University. The finding of the study showed that performance
appraisal results were used to provide information about administrative decisions.

The mentioned study portrayed that there are various problems such as subjectivity of the
performance evaluation criteria, biasedness of the appraisers, and limited commitment to
provide feedback in the university. We can understand from such an explanation is that the level
of employee participation in assessing the performance of the workers is minimal. The issue has
a direct implication and manifestation of organizational culture problems in the university. In
line with this, Delison (1990) explained that one of the main pillars of the culture of the
organization is employee involvement. Employees should involve in their organization affairs
for the betterment of organization performance.

Furthermore, research conducted by Dejene (2011) on Practices and Prospects of Knowledge

Management in a knowledge-intensive organization the case of Ethiopian Civil Service
University and Ethiopian Management Institutes. The finding of the study depicted that
Ethiopian Civil Service University had problems related to culture, leadership, capacity
development, absence of motivational tools, employee attitudinal problems, and inconsistency
of knowledge management activities.

There is limited research conducted on organizational culture in Ethiopia. Furthermore, there is

no research conducted on the mediating role of employee organizational commitment in the
relationship between organizational culture and organizational performance in Ethiopia in
general and Ethiopian Civil Service University (ECSU) in particular. Specifically, the effects of
organizational culture such as mission and strategies, adaptation to change, and consistency of
purposes and employee involvement towards ECSU organizational performance have not been

explored. This gap should be examined to fetch organizational learning and for consistent
innovation to serve a customer at the required and expected level.

Hence, the issue of organizational culture and its effect on organizational performance via the
mediating role of employee organizational commitment is not examined in the Ethiopian
context in particular. Furthermore, the culture of an organization differs across organizations.
This situation created a fertile ground for research to investigate the issues. Therefore, the
following hypotheses of the study were developed to achieve the objectives.

H1: Organizational culture of Ethiopian Civil Service University has a positive and significant
effect on the organizational performance of the university.
H2: Employee's organizational commitment to Ethiopian Civil Service University has a positive
and significant effect on the organizational performance of the university.
H3: Organizational culture of ECSU has a positive and significant effect on Organizational
employees’ commitment to Ethiopian Civil Service University
H4: Organizational employees commitment mediate the relationship between organizational
culture and performance of Ethiopian Civil Service University
1.3. General Objective of the Study
The general objective of the study is to examine the mediating effect of Employee’s
Organizational Commitment on the Relationship between Organizational Culture and
Performance in Ethiopian Civil Service University.

1.3.1 Specific Objectives of the Study

The specific objectives of the study include:
 To investigate the effect of organizational culture on organizational performance of
ECSU.
 To examine the effect of employee's organizational commitments on organizational
performance of ECSU.
 To examine the effect of organizational culture on employee's organizational
commitments of ECSU.
 To predict the mediating effect of employee's organizational commitment on
organizational culture and organizational performance of ECSU.

1.4 Scope of the Study

The scope is the depth and coverage of the study. Geographically, the study focused on
Ethiopian Civil Service University in Addis Ababa. It was also thematically concentrated on
organizational culture and its effect on organizational performance with the mediating role of
employees' organizational commitment in Ethiopian Civil Service University. The target
population is both the academic and administrative staff of the university. Methodologically, the
study focused on a quantitative approach in which data were collected cross-sectionally from
respondents.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The study of organizational culture and its effect on organizational performance with the
mediating role of employee’s organizational commitments are considered to be the means to
improve the performance of Ethiopian Civil Service University. The study can serve the target
organization to assess the existing capacity gaps concerning organizational culture, employees’
organizational commitments, and organizational performance practices. Besides, the study
organization and other similar engaged organizations can be benefited from a study by
understanding the relationships and effects of organizational culture on organizational
performance through employees’ commitment. The findings can also be used as an input to
advance similar plans and strategies in improving university performance.

The study also expected to provide an insight to decision-makers and stakeholders in

identifying the major weakness that affects organizational performance and suggest some
solutions to tackle the aforementioned difficulties. Furthermore, as to the knowledge of the
researcher, the research is the first of its kind in the Ethiopian context. Hence, the research
outputs will serve as reference material for future related research. The finding of the research
will also be used as a foundation on which additional local research can be conducted related to
the thematic area. Lastly, it can be used as a springboard for other concerned researchers to
make advanced examination in the research area

1.6. Limitation of the Study

This research was limited to Ethiopian Civil Service University employees whereas, there are
many other stakeholders such students, employers, government, and other bodies that can have
their views on the university organizational culture, employees’ commitment, and performance.

The other limitation of the study was that there is limited research conducted on the relationship
between organizational culture and performance with the mediating role of organizational
commitment, particularly in developing nations. Therefore, the researcher used the limited
available resources to develop the conceptual framework of the study.

The study is also limited to Ethiopian Civil Service University and hence may not entirely
represent the different cultures in various organizations. Future researchers could widen the
scope of this study by including employees from other industries and perform comparisons
across various industries. The study was also focused on the quantitative approach, with limited
open-ended and interview questions therefore; the results provided more on numerical
descriptions rather than qualitative aspects of human perception.

1.7 Operational Definition of Terms

The following terms and phrases are operationalized for their use in this study.
Organizational Culture is a management tool that enables internalization of the desired
organizational norms and values; promoting loyalty, enthusiasm, diligence, and devotion to the
achievement of desired organizational goals (Cameron & Quinn, 2006).
Organizational performance is defined as how well the organization is managed and the value
that an organization provides to the customers (Moullin, 2003).
Employees’ organizational commitment is a psychological condition that characterizes the
employees’ affiliation with the organization which implies the employees’ decision to continue
in the organization (Meyer & Allen, 1997)

1.8 Organization of the Study

This study comprises five chapters. The first chapter focuses on the background of the study,
statement of the problem, research questions, the objective of the study, the significance of the
study, the scope, Operational definition, limitation, and organization of the thesis. The second
chapter reviewed the literature part, and the third chapter dealt with the research methodology.
Chapter four of the document deals with results and discussion. Finally, chapter five described a
summary of the main findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

Chapter Two

2. Review of Related Literature

2.1 Introduction
This part of the study tries to investigate the theoretical and empirical studies of relevant
studies. The first part focuses on the theoretical examination of organizational culture concepts,
theories, and models. While the second part emphasizes reviewing research conducted on
organizational culture and its effect on organizational performance in various contexts and
methodologies.
2.2 Theoretical Review Literature
The theoretical review of related literature of the study is focusing on the major issues of
organizational culture, organizational employees’ commitments and organizational
performance. First overview of organizational culture, importance and characteristics of
organizational culture and models of organizational culture discussed.
2.2.1 Overview of Organizational Culture
Organizational culture refers to a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that
demonstrate people what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior (Slocum, 2005). Culture is
the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language,
religion, cuisine, social habits, music, and arts. Schein (1999) defines culture as a pattern of
shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it is helpful to solve problems of external
adaptation and internal integration. There is no single organizational culture. Culture differs
from organization to organization and from country to country. There might be similarities and
differences but it is difficult to get perfect similarities and differences.

These values people hold in the organization have a strong impact on their behavior and
performance. The term organizational culture was popular in the 1980s but still a relatively new
and fast-growing concept in the area of management. Organizational culture affects all
employee behaviors, thinking, and behavioral patterns. Employees are more aware of their
organization’s culture when they have the opportunity to compare it to other organizations.

An organization’s culture may be one of the strongest assets for any organization. Firms should
have an organizational culture that fits with their demands and environment. For instance, if an

organization working as a high tech industry and its organizational culture encourages
innovativeness and adaptability, then the culture has positive and supportive to increase its
performance. On the other hand, the same industry may have organizational culture
characterized by stability and sticking to traditional rules and procedures, the organization may
suffer because of its culture. Having the right culture, in the organization create a competitive
advantage whereas the wrong culture creates performance difficulties and may be responsible
for organizational failure.

Organizational culture has also an effective control mechanism that can dictate employee
behavior. It is a more powerful tool that manages and controls employee behaviors than
organizational rules and regulations. Organizational culture consists of both visible and invisible
aspects. Generally, according to Schein (1993), organizational culture can be demonstrated into
three interrelated levels. At the deepest level, there are basic assumptions. It is a belief about
human nature and reality.

In the second level, we can get values. It is the shared principles, standards, and goals of the
organization. In the third level, which is found at the surface, we get artifacts. It is visible and
tangible aspects of organizational culture such as dressing style, physical environment,
employees’ interaction, and organizational policies in the organization.

To understand organizational culture, we may start by observing its artifacts. Observing the
physical environment, how people dress, where they relax, and how they talk to others is
certainly a good start to comprehend culture. Furthermore, it is necessary to examine the values
and assumptions to have a clear picture of organizational culture. The values and the
assumptions that shape the organization’s culture can be uncovered by understanding beliefs
and perceptions regarding what is right and appropriate behavior to the organization employees
(Schein, 1999).
2.2.2 Organizational Culture Models
There are various models of organizational culture developed by different scholars in the field.
Some of them are Edgar Schein’s, Robert A Cooke’s, Hofstede's, Denison’s, and Kim Cameron
and Robert Quinn's model.

9
A). Edgar Schein’s Model
Edgar Schein developed a model of organizational culture based on levels of organizational
culture. According to him, this includes artifacts, values, and assumptions (Schein: 2016).
Schein elaborated artifacts as the first level of an organizational culture characterized by easily
viewed, felt, and heard by individuals in the organization. This type of organizational culture is
predominantly tangible and portrayed by specific cultural predispositions such as dress code,
furniture, and other facilities in the organization.

Generally, Schein elaborated that the artifacts of organizational culture include the physical
environment of the organization, employee communications, organization policies and
procedures, rules and regulations, reward systems, and other tangible entities. The second level
of organizational culture according to Schein is the values of the organization held by
employees. This is the thought process and attitude of employees who have deep influences on
organizational behavior and culture.

The understanding of employees and their predispositions can have a significant impact on
organizational culture and in turn affect workplace performance. The values of an organization
can shape the organization’s culture which can be uncovered by observing how employees
interact and the preferences they make and following on what is right and acceptable behavior
in the organization.

The third level of organizational culture is assumed values. Such values are not measured.
These are beliefs and facts held by the employees but they are hidden. The hidden and
unconscious aspects of human nature can be categorized under this level. Various organizations
practiced such assumed values in different ways. The practices are not discussed but understood
by organizational members.
B). Robert a Cooke’s Model
Robert Cooke illustrated organizational culture by classifying into three categories (Cooke
1989). This includes constructive, passive, and aggressive cultures. Constructive Culture is an
organizational culture that facilitates good interaction among employees for the betterment of
organizational and personal goal achievements. In this type of organizational culture, employees
have the freedom to share ideas freely and to come up with innovative solutions that can benefit
all in the organizations.
 10

Employees are active participants in decision making regarding the issues of their organization.
Conflicts in the organization can be solved with discussion based on reasons and logic. The
constructive organizational culture has the advantages of better achievements of organizational
goals through encouraging individual employees. Furthermore, it helps individuals to boost
their potential for the benefits of organization and self. Furthermore, the employees avoid
conflicts and unnecessary disputes and promote a positive relationship among employees in the
workplace (Cooke 1989).

The second category of organizational culture according to Cooke’s is Passive Culture. In this
type, employees are not free to share their ideas transparently with their counterparts and
supervisors. The employees' motives are curtailed to please the superiors to secure the current
position and if it is possible to have a better career in the organization. This type of culture is
more common in less-developed nations such as Ethiopia.

In such a culture, employees are unhappily to follow policies and guidelines in the
organization. Employees are expected to get approval from their supervisors before they are
implementing any ideas regarding their work. Furthermore, they are bounded by procedures,
rules, and regulations and standard only designed by the organization. Besides, employees are
highly dependent on supervisors to make any decision even regarding their day to day work.
They also expected to follow the orders of supervisors blindly. They avoid their interest and
simply follow and act according to organization policies.

The third type of organizational culture according to Cooke is Aggressive Culture. Any
organization which follows such a culture is promoting competition among employees.
Employees expected to compete for power, better results, and to get appreciation from the
organization. The performance of employees is evaluated against the performance of the
colleagues. Employees who seek assistance from fellows are considered incompetent. This type
of culture discourages teamwork in the organization.

C). Hofstede's Model

Based on the research conducted, Hofstede (1980) identified six dimensions of national
cultures. It includes power distance orientation, Masculinity vs. Feminity, individualism vs.
collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, long term vs. short term orientation, tolerance vs.
restrained culture.

11

Power Distance Orientation

Power distance is the degree to which people in a society accept an unequal distribution of
power. It refers to the extent to which a nation accepts the fact that differences in its citizens’
physical and intellectual capabilities give rise to inequalities in their well-being. In power
distance oriented culture, the leader/manager should be respected and its orders and advice
strictly followed. However, in less power distance oriented nations, employees have
accountability for their performance. They get equal treatment from the management and have
to take ownership of their work.
Masculinity vs. Feminity
Masculinity and feminity can be explained that the differences a society provide on gender
values among the section of the society. In organizations where the male workforce is
dominating compared to female counterparts will follow different policies as compared to
organizations where females dominating companies. It is expected that males are more
aggressive as compared to females, whereas, females counterparts are softer and caring
compared to males. The responsibilities of both sexes are varied according to their gender
values expected from society.
Individualism Vs Collectivism
It is the extent to which an organization integrates a group mentality and promotes a strong
sense of community as opposed to independence in the organization. In other words, some
organizations strongly rely on teamwork whereas others believe in individual performance for
the organizational performance. According to Hofstede, the nations can be generally into two
general categories that are western and eastern culture. According to him, the Western is
individualistic and the Eastern is more collectivist.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index
These refer to the degree to which the organizational readiness to take a risk. Organizations
employees know how to react to the unusual and unexpected state of affairs. It deals with the
tolerance level of the employees in both comfortable and uncomfortable situations. Taking risks
is one of the key issues in the business environment in this dynamic world. Some organizations
are highly sensitive to risk and tried to avoid but others are ready to take a calculated risk.
Those who take risks are more innovative whereas those who avoid trying to keep their

12

organizations statuesque's. The level of uncertainty avoidance index has its implications for the
future growth of an organization through innovation.
Long Term Orientation vs. Short Term Orientation
This is the degree in which an organization focuses to gain short or long term gains. Some
organizations have a culture to get short term gains whereas; strive to get long term gains.
Besides, some organizations tried to establish long term relationships with employees for the
benefits of organizations and employees compared to other counterparts.
In such organizations, people have a consistent approach and endeavor their effort to live up to
the expectations of the organization's requirements. In such cases, workers are highly attached
to the organizations to get their long term objectives with the organizations. Quite the opposite
vein, other organizations, and employees have a short-lived relationship with each other.
Organizations and employees live together until the organizations maximize profits and
employees have got better positions and salaries.
Tolerance vs. Restraint
Tolerance and restraint are connected with spending on resources of an organization to fulfill
the needs of employees and organizations. In some organizations, they have a culture of limiting
employees' and organizations' needs and preferences to restraint to spend. The restrained culture
organizations have strict rules and regulations for tapping company resources.
D). Denison’s Model
Denison (1990) developed a well-known and more practical model that showed the relationship
between organizational culture and organizational performance. The model explains the four
basic characteristics of organizational culture which include involvement, consistency,
adaptability, and mission. Denison's model of organizational culture has become one of the
most popular models commonly used models for the analysis of organizational culture. The
Denison model provides a basic assessment of organizational performance by investigating
organizational effectiveness and innovation.
Organization Mission
The mission attributes of the Denison model characterized by the organization’s aims and
directions. Organizations have the nature of serving stakeholders for a long period. They are
future-oriented to advance organization performance strategically. The mission of the
organization describes the main working boundaries of an organization with defined objectives

13

and goals that are specified in terms of future perspectives and a vision. The mission of the
organization relatively long term and if there is a change in a mission it may require changes in
organizational culture (Denison: 1990).
Employees Involvement
The involvement aspects focused on employees’ participation in decision making for the
betterment of organizational and individual goal achievement. In this case, employees are
empowered and teamwork is valued and priorities are given to capacitate employees. The
achievements of goals and objectives in the organization are highly affected by employees’
participation in a team and as an individual in the organization. To get the maximum out of
employees in the organization there should be a clear system that makes them participate
without fear and intimidation. Employees should get the opportunity to air their ideas and
contribute to the organization. If it is so employees show commitment and contribute their
efforts diligently to make the organization more effective. Finally, the interests of the
organization become their interests with the feelings that they own a part of the organization
(Denison: 1990).
Organization Consistency
The consistency part of the Delson organizational culture attributes portrayed that the
organization expected to have stability and integration to make an organization effective and
efficient. An organization should have a clear chain of command and communication to
facilitate integration and to make decisions on time. The effectiveness and efficiency of an
organization are strongly associated with the consistency of organizational culture. In this type
of organization, there is no communication gap between leaders and followers. Employees are
well trained and accustomed based on organization mottos and much difference on the major
pillar of the organization is not entertained. Ethical dimensions of strong cultures are well
defined and a set of core values are well-coordinated and well-integrated.
Organization Adaptability
This is the fourth attribute of organizational culture according to Delson. It is a situation in
which an organization flexibly responds to costumers' requirements, takes risks, learns from
their own mistakes, and takes measures to entertain changes. This attribute is commonly
associated with highly dynamic and customer-oriented organizations that require the
implementation of new ideas and change depending on the interests of the stakeholders.

14

Adaptability is one of the most difficult things to accommodate for those well-integrated
organizations. They are un-conformable to get out of their comfort zones. This is because new
changes required both internal and external compliance. However, organizations do not have a
hole to escape from such changes during their lifetime. They are expected to confront and join
new changes to satisfy their stakeholder expectation. It is the responsibility of both leaders and
followers to accommodate new changes. These new changes will improve the organization and
providing high values to their customers at the end (Denison: 1990).

E). Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn Model

Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument was developed and used to measure
organizational effectiveness and success. Cameron and Quinn (1999) identified four culture
types which include clan, Adhocracy, Market, and Hierarchy culture.
Clan Culture
This is more of an internal focus and flexible culture. It is a friendly workplace where leaders
act like father figures. Such type of culture is strongly associated with positive workers'
attitudes and a belief in product and service quality. The common features of clan culture
include organization’s trust, employees’ commitment, open communication, and employee
involvement (Cameron & Quinn, 1999).
Adhocracy Culture
This type of culture is an external focus and flexible. It is a dynamic workplace with leaders that
encourage innovation in the organization. Employees tried to take a risk for innovation and
testing new ways of doing things. The leaders are commonly considered as innovators and risk-
takers. An organization that is guided by such culture has a long term emphasis on growth and
acquiring new resources ((Cameron & Quinn, 1999).
Market Culture
The market culture is commonly external focus and controlled. It is a competitive workplace
environment. Market culture is more associated with innovation and financial effectiveness
criteria. They develop clear goals and contingent rewards motivate employees to aggressively
perform and meet stakeholders' expectations.

Hierarchy Culture
This type of culture is more focusing on the internal aspects of the organization and believing in
a more controlled system. According to Cameron & Quinn (1999), this culture is a highly

15

structured and formalized workplace environment in which leaders are like coordinators. In this
culture, the major concern is long term stability. It is expected that performance should be
achieved with efficiency through the smooth working operation with proper scheduling and
cost. To measure organizational culture, we can use various tools. For instance, Cameron and
Quinn (1999) used a tool to examine the organizational culture type, strength, and congruence.
The organizational culture assessment instrument (OCAI) has six dimensions which include:
1. Dominant characteristics- This dimension used to identify whether an organization is
 A very personal place like a family,
 Entrepreneurial and risk-taking,
 Competitive and achievement-oriented, or
 Controlled and structured.
2. Leadership style – it deals on
 Mentoring, facilitating, or nurturing,
 Entrepreneurial, innovative, or risk-taking,
 No-nonsense, aggressive, results-oriented, or
 Coordinating, organizing, efficiency-oriented.
3. Management of employees – which emphasizes
 Teamwork, consensus, and participation,
  Individual risk-taking, innovation, freedom, and uniqueness,
 Competitiveness and achievement, or
 Security, conformity, predictability.
4. Organizational glue – that keeps the organization together are
 Loyalty and mutual trust,
 A commitment to innovation and development,
 Emphasis on achievement and goal accomplishment, or
 Formal rules and policies.
5. Strategic emphasis – which emphasizes
 Human development, high trust, openness,
 Acquisition of resources and creation of new challenges,
 Competitiveness and winning, or
 Permanence and stability.

16

6. Criteria for success – defined as

 Development of human resources, teamwork, and concern for people,
 Offering new and unique products and services,
 Winning in the marketplace and outpacing the competition, or
 Being dependable, efficient, and low cost.
2.3 Empirical Review Literature
Addisalem (2019) conducted research entitled with the Effect of Organizational Culture on
Organizational Performance in the cases of Bank of Abyssinia. The main objective of the study
was to assess the effect of organizational culture on the non-financial organizational
performance of the bank. The researcher used Denison's model to investigate the relationship
between organizational culture and organizational performance.

The findings of Addisalem depicted that there is a significant relationship between

organizational culture and the non-financial organizational performance of Abyssinia Bank. The
study concluded that all basic components of organizational culture such as involvement,
consistency, mission, and adaptability attributes of organizational culture affect the non-
financial organizational performance. The researcher recommended that the management of
Bank of Abyssinia should maintain and improve organizational cultures such as employees’
involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission-oriented culture in the organization to
improve the non-financial performance of the bank.

Kamau (2019) investigates the relationship between corporate culture and organizational
performance: A case of Mayfair casino, Nairobi city county, Kenya. The study focused to
examine the effects of values, teamwork, employee involvement, and leadership on
organizational performance. These four components formed the independent variables of the
study and were used as indicators of the corporate culture. The dependent variables were
effectiveness, efficiency, productiveness, and satisfaction which were used as indicators of
organizational performance.

The results of the study portrayed that satisfaction, productiveness, and effectiveness are vital to
organizational performance. The study concluded that there exists a strong positive correlation
between corporate culture and organizational performance. The study recommended that for
organizational performance to improve, corporate culture should be supportive and compatible

17

with intended strategies and day to day activities of employees. In addition to this, Ahmed &
Shafiq (2014) conducted on the same issue in the Telecom industry of Pakistan. The result
showed that all dimensions of organizational culture affect positively in different perspectives
of organizational performance in the Telecom industry of Pakistan.
Hajima (2018) also explored the effects of organizational culture on employee performance at
Addis Ababa Abattoirs Enterprise. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative
methods to generate data. Correlation and regression analysis were used to examine the
relationship between organizational culture and employee performance.

The findings of Hajima (2018) depicted that there is a significant relationship between
organizational culture and employee performance. The study clearly showed that clan,
adhocracy, market, and bureaucratic cultures had a significant effect on employee performance.
Market culture is the dominant culture found in the enterprise. Finally, the researcher
recommends that the organization Abattoir Enterprise of Addis Ababa City Government better
to empower and enhance the welfare of the employees to maximize employee performance in
the desired direction.

Michael (2018) researched the effect of organizational culture on employees' performance of the
GIZ-Ethiopia office. The study adopts explanatory research with a qualitative research approach
to find links between the two. Furthermore, the researcher used Denison's (1990) model of
organizational culture (involvement, mission, adaptability, and consistency) to assess
organizational culture practiced in the company. The finding of the study portrayed that there is
a significant positive relationship between organizational culture such as adaptability and
involvement of employees in the decision making with employee performance in the
organization.

Wambugu (2014) also researched the effects of organization culture on employee's performance
with a focus on Wärtsilä Limited, a private company in Kenya. The study used four elements of
organizational culture (organization values, organization climate, leadership styles, and work
processes) effect on the employee's performance. The results of the study showed that
organizational values have a more significant effect on employee's job performance than the
organization climate as is mostly assumed as a vice versa relationship. There is also a positive
relationship between organizational culture and employee performance.

18

2.4 Organizational Performance

Organizational performance is an extensively used idea in many areas in many years. It is a
measurement of how well an organization achieves its purpose in its lifetime. In other words,
organizational performance can be defined as how well the organization is managed and the
value that an organization provides to the customers (Moullin: 2003).
Organizational performance can be measured by effectiveness, efficiency, and customer
satisfaction (Neely: 1998). Effectiveness is the performance of the organization towards
achieving its desired goals and objectives, whereas, efficiency is achieving the best possible
results with minimum resources. It is the ratio of outputs to inputs. On the other hand,
customers’ satisfaction is the ability of an organization to meet customers’ expectations.

Generally, organizational performance has measured by using financial and nonfinancial

measures from both objective and perceptual sources. Objective measures are used as a
secondary source of financial measures such as return on assets, return on investment, and profit
growth. These measures are particularly useful for single-industry studies because of the
uniformity in measurement across all organizations in the sample (Venkatraman & Ramunujam,
1986).
In the public sector, organizational performance such as financial performance for profitability
and return on asset is not a priority. The priority is given on effectiveness, efficiency, and
customer satisfaction. Organizations should use public finance to get maximum performance
with limited finance as far as possible. To measure the overall performances of organizations,
most public sector organizations in Ethiopia used a balanced scorecard. The scorecard was used
to investigate both financial and non-financial performance. Let see the details of the scorecard.

Balanced Scorecard
The balanced scorecard was developed by Norton and Kaplan. It is one of the most known
performance measures in various organizations now a day. The scorecard tried to measure
organization performances in terms of financial, customer, internal process, and growth and
learning perspectives (Kaplan and Norton, 1992).
According to Isorait (2008), the balanced scorecard perspectives such as financial measures
focus on financial ratios and various cash flow measures. The customer perspective measures
the level of internal and external customers’ satisfaction. The internal perspective emphasized
what business processes the organization used to excel its performances. The internal business
19

processes focused on mission-oriented and support oriented performance. The learning and
growth perspective has also measured the level of employee training and organizational
attitudes related to both employee and organizational improvement through, training,
innovation, and creativity.
2.5 Relationship between organizational culture and organizational performance
Various researches such as Denison tried to illustrate the relationship between organizational
culture and organizational performance. For instance, Denison (1984) collected data from 34
American firms on cultural performance for over five years and investigate the relationship
between organizational culture and organizational performance over time.
Furthermore, Kotter and Heskett (1992) investigate the relationship between long-term
organizational performance and economic performance across more than 200 organizations.
Such studies contributed to the establishment of a relationship between organizational culture
and performance. Furthermore, they find out that there are strong associations between culture,
management practices, and performance.

According to Saffold (1998), culture can give shape to the organizational processes which again
helps to create and modify culture. Secondly, culture likely contributes to performance is
significant. In general most of the writers and successful managers and practitioners suggest that
strong organizational culture is a very critical element for organizational performance.
According to Selvalakshmi& Guru (2017), organizational culture contribution to organizational
performance is significant, this is because of organizational culture is extremely fixed with the
social control that may cause to make influences on the employee’s decisions and their behavior
in the organization.

Furthermore, organizational culture works as a social glue to link the employees together. Such
a link makes employees feel self-belonged to corporate organizations. Such experience is even
useful to attract new staff and retain the best performers in the organization. Finally,
organizational culture is very useful to assist the sense-making process, helps the employees to
understand the organizational events and objectives, which enhance the efficiency and
effectiveness of the employees and then increase the performance of the organizations
(Selvalakshmi & Guru, 2017).

20

2.6 Employees Organizational Commitment and Organizational Performance

Organizational commitment has three major components. According to Allen and Meyer
(1990), illustrated as affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Affective commitment
is an attitudinal process in which employees want to stay in the organization due to the
congruency of individual values and goals with the organization. On the other hand, normative
organizational commitment refers to an employee’s desire to stay with the organization based
on a sense of duty, loyalty, or a moral obligation.
Continuance Organizational Commitment is also described as a need to remain in the
organization based on the costs associated with leaving. The costs include individuals gain
tenure in an organization they accrue investments in the form of pension plans, seniority,
specialized and un-transferable job skills, local affiliations, familial ties, and so on which may
be sacrificed or damaged by changing jobs. Individuals may also feel as though they have to
remain in their current jobs because they do not have any alternative job prospects. Employees
with strong continuance organizational commitment stay because they have to do so.

Generally, employee organizational commitment is the commitment employees have when they
are working in the company. Singh and Das (1978) illustrated that the level of employee
commitment rose significantly by organizational culture. Boon and Arumugam (2006)
generalized that the dimensions of organizational culture such as mission, adaptability,
involvement, and consistency of organization help to bring improvement in employees’
organizational commitment. Organizational commitment is also an outcome of organizational
culture. In return organizational commitment has direct impact on organizational performance
(Bonaparte: 2008, Ahmed &et.al:2011). In the same vein, organizational culture is a useful
predictor of organizational performance.

Irefin and Mechanic (2014)) confirmed that organizational culture can increase organizational
performance. The work and employee-oriented organizational culture can enhance employees’
commitments in the organization. Kashefi et al. (2013) also illustrated that organizational
commitment has an impact on organizational performance. Furthermore, the findings of the
Nikpour (2017) portrayed that organizational culture has a direct and indirect impact on
organizational performance. The indirect effect is through an employee’s organizational

21

commitment. When we compare the direct and indirect effect of organizational culture on
organizational performance, the indirect impact was significantly higher than the direct impact.

From the above explanation, we can understand that organizational culture has a direct and
indirect impact on organizational performance. The direct effect such as employee involvement,
consistency of the organizational values, flexibility, or adaptability to changes, and orientation
of the organization towards a predesigned mission affects financial and non-financial
organizational performance. Furthermore, the indirect effect through employee organizational
commitment such as affective, normative and continuance commitment enhances the
performance of the organization.
2.7 Research gap
The literature reviewed shows that the breadth and depth of research have been done up to know
portrayed the gaps in the research. Accordingly, the research gap found in this thesis is the
relationship and effects of organizational culture and employees’ organizational commitment on
organizational performance in Ethiopia particularly at Ethiopian Civil Service University is not
examined. Besides, there is no universal organizational culture that can work to all
organizations throughout the world. This is due to a difference in context and other settings; the
other gap is researchers used first-generation techniques of data analysis such as multiple
regression analysis, exploratory analysis, multidimensional scaling, and logistic regret ion. This
study deployed a second-generation data analysis technique called partial least square structural
equation modeling.
2.8 Conceptual Framework of the Study
The theoretical and empirical literature reviews enable us to propose a model that uses to
investigate the organizational culture and its effect on organizational performance with the
mediating roles of employee's organizational commitment. To measure the aforementioned
relationship, the following conceptual framework was used.

22

Figure 1 Conceptual Framework of the Study c

ulture

Organizational
 Organizational
Performance

Organizational
commitment

Source: Review of Related Literature

2.9 Specification of the Model

To scrutinize the effect of organizational culture on organizational performance with mediating
role of organizational commitment, the study used conceptual framework illustrated in review
literature part of figure one.

The Independent variable of the study is organizational culture. This can be explained by the
observed variable of involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission of the organization.
The independent variable can affect both employees’ organizational commitment and
organizational performance. On the other hand, the mediating variable which is organizational
commitment can be explained by the affective, normative, and continuous commitment of
employees in the organization affect organizational performance. Finally, organizational
performance is a dependent variable that is determined by balanced scorecard measures such as
customer, internal process, learning &growth, and financial perspectives performance of the
organization.

23
 Chapter Three

Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction
This study centers on the mediating role of employees' organizational commitment on the
relationship between organizational culture and organizational performance. The chapter
indicates the way how the research is conducted to answer the basic questions. It covers
research design, samples and sampling techniques, instruments of data collection, pilot testing,
and research model specification, assumptions of structural equation modeling, data analysis,
and ethical considerations of the study.
3.2. Research Design
Research design is the structure of research that holds all the elements in a research project
together. It is a plan of the proposed research work (Akhtar, 2016). It is also the arrangement of
conditions for the collection and analysis of data to achieve the research purpose with the
economy and acceptable standards. Generally, a research design is a blueprint for the sample
selection, data collection methods and procedures, data presentation, and data analysis.
The study was used in both descriptive surveys and explanatory research designs to achieve the
purposes of the study. The survey design was used to gather factual information from a
relatively large population to make a conclusion from the samples to the population. The survey
method is also helpful to assess the current practices in organizations. On the other hand, an
explanatory research design was used to examine the relations and their effect on organizational
culture, employees’ organizational commitment, and organization performance in ECSU.

3.3 Sample and Sampling Techniques

The target population of the study was employees of Ethiopian Civil Service University
stationed at Addis Ababa. The university classified its employees into academic and
administrative staff. Academic staffs are those who directly participate in teaching & learning,
research & community services, delivering training and consultancy services. There are 300
employees. Among these employees, 250 are in their duties and others are working on their
further education in Ethiopia and abroad. On the other hand, those who provide support services
in the university are 860 employees.
 24

The support service employees of the university who didn't participate in the core process
directly were 603 and intentionally left out of the study. This is because they are temporary
workers and don`t directly involve in the core process of the organization. These are janitors,
waiter/waitress, cookers, receptionists, gardeners, and security guards. Hence, the population of
the study was 250 academic and 257 administrative staff of the university. Hence, the total
population for the study was 507 employees of the University. To select the sample population,
Kothari (2004) sample determination formula for the finite population was used.
𝑧2 𝑝𝑞𝑁
n=
e²�N−1�+ z².p.q

n= sample size

z= the value of standard at a given confidence level

N= total population of the study

p= sample proportion q= 1-p

e = given precision rate or acceptable error

z = 1.96

N= 507

p= 0.5 (conservative value)

e = 0.05

𝑧2 𝑝𝑞𝑁
n=
e²�N−1�+ z².p.q

1.962 0.5(0.5)507
n=
0.05²�507−1�+ 1.962 (0.5)�0.5�

n=219

According to the formula, 219 respondents were selected from the total population. To keep
the proportion of respondents from each staff employee stratified sampling technique was
employed. Hence, 108 academic staff and 111 administrative staff were selected. To identify

25

sampled individual respondents from each staff of the university systematic random sampling
was used.

3.4 Instruments of data collection

To collect the relevant data questionnaire was used. It has closed and open-ended items. The
Likert scale type was used to denote the level agreement and disagreement on the rating scale. A
five-point Liker scale type ranging from strongly agrees to strongly disagree was used to collect
data. A score of 5 means strongly agree, a score of 4 means agree, a score of 3 means neutral, a
score of 2 means disagree, and a score of 1means strongly disagree.

The questionnaire has four parts. The first part dealt with some background information
regarding participants sex, employment category, education level and years of experiences in
current organization. The second part was an organizational culture variables. It was categorized
as employees involvement, adaptability, consistency and mission of the organization. This part
consists of 36 questions. The third part focused on organizational employees’ commitment and
categorized as affective, normative and continuance commitment and comprised 18 questions.
Finally, the last part dealt with the organizational performance explained in terms of customer,
internal process, learning and growth, and financial perspective examined with 27 items.
Besides, open-ended questions were included at the end of closed ended items.

The instrument for organizational culture, organizational commitment, and organizational

performance variables were adopted from Delison & Neale (2011), Meyer& Smith (1993), and
Taib & Mohammed (2016) respectively. The data was also collected through a self-
administered technique to minimize errors in data collection. Furthermore, an interview guide
was prepared for the Ethiopian Civil Service University College Deans and administrator
directors. There are three colleges and 24 administrative directorates in the university. All of the
deans and 25 % (6) administrative directors were planned to make interview. The data gathered
through interview were used to triangulate the results of quantitative data with qualitative ones.
3.4.1 Pilot testing
To get feedback from respondents and to bring improvement, the draft questionnaire was
distributed to non-sample staff. Based on the feedback from both categories (academic and
administrative) of the respondents, vague statements were corrected. The validity of data

26

collection instruments tested through the face validity technique. The questionnaire also
delivered to two professionals and took their feedback to improve the coverage and the depth of
the instruments.

Furthermore, to use structural equation modeling, construct, discriminant validity, and

composite/construct reliability were tested. Validity in structural equation modeling is measured
by convergent and discriminant validity. On the other hand, reliability can be verified by the
Composite/ construct reliability. Validity and reliability of the model should be significant
otherwise, without fulfillment of such criteria the model seems garbage in and garbage out.

Convergent validity shows the variable loadings on the construct. It shows that the variable
contribution to the variance of factor is valid to describe the factor accordingly. Factor loadings
are the first step to observe convergent validity. The loadings as a rule of thumb should be ≥.70
for every observable variable (Kumar &Upadhaya, 2017). Discriminant validity is the way of
checking whether each latent variable is different or not. If the covariance between the two
constructs is high (≥.60), the constructs are reflecting similarities. If it is so, it is necessary to go
for second-order modeling by combining the constructs which may affect the degree of freedom
in the model.

Composite reliability describes the ability of measured variables to present the latent factor. The
Cronbach Alpha for reliability is not valid in the SEM. In SEM the unobserved latent factor is
predicted by the observed variables, so this is the necessary condition that the variables should
be reliable and have high composite reliability (≥.70) (Kumar & Upadhaya,2017).

3.5 Assumptions of Structural Equation Modeling

Structural equation modeling has its assumptions like that of the regression analysis model. In
structural equation modeling, the researcher may use many regression equations together.
Hence, the assumptions of regression models are valid for the structural equation models.
Hence, the assumptions of linearity, normality, no multicollinearity, or fixed homoscedasticity
no autocorrelation. According to Civelek (2018).the following are the basic summary
assumptions of the structural equation model.

Linearity is one of the assumptions of structural equation modeling. Structural equation

modeling is the amalgamation of factor and regression analysis. Therefore, linearity, which is
the most important assumption of regression analysis, also applies to the structural equation
27

model. In the structural equation model, it is assumed that there are linear relationships among
latent variables and between observed and latent variables. It is also required to avoid outliers in
the observed variables. The outlier affects the significance of the results negatively. Besides,
multiple measurements are required to conduct a structural equation model. There should be at
least three or more observed variables to measure each latent variable (Civelek, 2018).

The sample size also has affected the results of structural equation modeling. In the structural
equation modeling system, the fit indices are affected by the number of sample size. The
minimum sample size to use structural equation modeling is 150 respondents. The sample size
also expected at least 10times the number of parameters that can be estimated in the model.
According to Çelik&Yılmaz,(2013), the sample size required for structural equation modeling
should be at least 200and/or 200-500.

Multicollinearity is essentially the assumption that the predictors are not too highly correlated
with each other. When independent variables are strongly correlated, it is difficult to
differentiate the individual independent variables' effect on the dependent variables. If the
variables have strong and significant relation, it is better to combine into one new variable.
According to Muijs (2010), Tolerance and Variance Inflation Factors (VIF) can be used as a test
mechanism to check whether there is multicollinearity among independent variables or not.
According to the author, to meet multiple regression assumptions, we need a tolerance score
above 0.2 and VIF scores below 10.

Autocorrelation is the assumption that investigates the relationship of error terms among the
indicators. Error term variance should be constant along time. it is to check whether there is
autocolleration or not the Durbin Watson test was used. This model assumes that the error terms
are stationary and normally distributed with mean zero and contestant variance. The test results
estimated between 0 and 4 with a value of 2 indicating that the residuals are uncorrelated. A
value greater than 2 indicates a negative correlation and a value less than 2 depict a positive
correlation but the major concern is when the estimated value is either greater than 3 or below 1.
In this case, there is a high correlation among the error terms.

Normality is also identified as the assumption of structural equation modeling. This assumption
is used to determine whether the residuals are normally distributed. This can be tested by
looking at the Histogram. To say the Normality assumption of this study is met, the Histogram

28

should be symmetric along the center. Generally, structural equation modeling is classified into
two. Covariance based (CB-SEM) and Variance based (PLS- Partial Least Square). Almost all
of the assumptions explained before served for CB-SEM. PLS, based on structural equation
modeling don’t need such types of assumptions strictly. If researchers want to investigate the
relationship between formative indicators and latent variables multicollinearity test should be
conducted.

3.6 Methods of Data Analysis

To analyze and interpret the collected data both SPSS and structural equation modeling was
used. SPSS was used to analyze the demographic characteristics of respondents through
percentages. To analyze the entire latent variables, a descriptive analysis was used. Such
analysis includes mean standard deviation and rank.
The result of the mean was analyzed by Za idatol and Bagheri (2009) cut points. Those mean
score below 3.39 is assumed to be low, the mean score from 3.40 up to 3.79 is considered as
moderate and the mean greater than 3.79 is high. In addition to this, Huajuan (2012), developed
the evaluative criteria for the Likert items with their meaning. According to Huajuan, the gap
for breaking the range for each variable calculated as follow:

The range = (maximum-minimum)/maximum

(5-1)/5= 0.8

It means the score fall between the rages of:

 1.00-1.80 are considered as strongly disagree

1.81-2.06 are considered as disagree

2.61-3.40 are considered as neutral

3.41-4.20 are considered as agree

4.21-5.00 are considered as strongly agree

In summary the interval classification of Likert Scale by Zaidation and Bagheri (2009) and
Huajuan (2012) are very similar. The difference between the researchers is Zaidation and
Bagheri (2009) classified below 3.40 ranges as low whereas Huajuran identified neutral from
2.61 to 3.40. Employees in their organization expected to have clear understanding on their

29

organization activities. Neutral might be an indication for confusion. If it so, organization lacks
proper communication and orientation to the employees. Hence, it is necessary to avoid such
confusion for betterment of organization performance.

Structural equation modeling was also used to examine the relationship and effects of
organizational culture, employees’ commitment on organizational performance. To apply the
model, there are various computer programs. The most well-known programs include LISREL,
AMOS, MPlus, EQS, and Smart PLS. The study used Smart PLS version 3 Software since it has
a visual program that is easier to use than other programs. Path analyses were used to check the
relationship among constructs of the study. The results were compared with the p-value
(p<0.05) to test the formulated hypothesis in the study.

3.7 Ethical Considerations

In this study ethical consideration is respected. Information and data from the respondents are
confidential. Respondents will be informed clearly about the purposes of the study and
respondents if they are only voluntary to do so. The data generated from each respondent will
not be identified individually. Personal related information will not be written on the data
collection tool. Generally, the information generated from respondents will not be exposed to a
third party and they are highly confidential and worked based on informed consent.
 30

Chapter Four

Results and Discussion

4.1 Introduction

This chapter illustrated presentation and analysis of collected data with a discussion of the
finding. Data were presented and analyzed to describe demographic background of the
respondents, the practice of organizational culture, employees' organizational commitment, and
organizational performance of the university through the mean. It was also used path analysis
through Smart PLS 3 to test the relation and effects of organizational culture and employees'
commitment to organizational performance.

To deal with the effects of independent variables (organizational culture and employee
commitment) on dependent variables (organizational performance), reliability and validity tests
of items were checked. In the study, 219 questionnaires were distributed to employees and 182
(83.12%) questionnaires were returned. This response rate in the study was very good to make a
conclusion and recommendation. According to Saunders & et.al (2007) a response rate of 50%,
60% and 70% and above are adequate, good, and very good respectively.
4.2 Demographic Background of the Respondents
The personal profiles of the respondents were analyzed as per their sex, employment category,
years of service, and education level of Ethiopian Civil Service University. The frequency and
percentage was used to analyze the demographic variables of the respondents. The presentation
was also shown by graph for the purpose of convenience and clarity.
Figure 4.1.Sex of Respondents (N=182)

182
200
150 120
100.0
Frequency
100 62 65.9
34.1 Percent
50
0
Female Male Total

Source: Own Field Survey, 2020

31

There were 182 respondents participated in the survey. The finding portrayed that 120 (65.9%)
and 62(34.1%) were males and females respectively. This indicated that the majority of
participants in the survey were male in Ethiopian Civil Service University.
Figure 4.2 Employment Category of Respondents

200 182
180
160
140
120 106 100 Frequency
100 76
Percentage
80 58.2
60 41.8
40
20
0
Academic Administrative Total
 Source: Own Field Survey, 2020
Employment category of respondents categorized into academic and administrative
employees.106 (58.2%) percent of respondents were administrative and 76 (41.8 %) were
academic. This portrayed that administrative employees were greater than academic employees
in the university.
Figure 4.3 Education Level of Respondents

200 182
180
160
140
120 100
100 86 Frequency
79
80 Percentage
60 47.3 43.4
40
17 9.3
20
0
1st degree 2nd degree 3rd degree Total

Source: Own Field Survey, 2020

32

The education level of respondents is classified into first, second and third degree. As figure 3
portrayed that 47.3 %, 43.4 % and 9.3 % of respondents were undergraduate, masters and PhD
holders respectively. Furthermore, undergraduates' and masters' holders respondents were
nearly equal.
Figure 4.4 Years of Experience of the Respondents

200
182
180
160
140

120
100
100 92 Frequncy

80 Percentage
 60 50.5
43
39
40
21.4 23.6
20 8 4.4

0
< 1 year 1-5 Years >5-10 Years > 10 Years Total

Source: Own Field Survey, 2020

As can be seen from figure four, 4.4 percent of the respondents had less than one year of work
experience in the university. Over half of the respondents had 1 to 5 years of work experience.
Among the total respondents in the survey, 55 percent of employees’ handwork experience of
below five years. Besides, 45 percent of the respondents had over five years of experience. This
showed that the majority of employees in the university had below 5 years of experience.

4.3 The practice of organizational culture, employees’ organizational commitment and

organizational performance

There are three important latent variables in this study (organizational culture, employee’s
organizational commitment, and organizational performance). Each has its own category. For
No Employees Involvement Mean Std. Rank
1 Decisions in ECSU are made at the levels where right information is available 3.00 1.02 3
2 ECSU employees believe that they can have a positive impact to their 3.42 1.04 9
Organization
3 Employees of ECSU participate on their issue & there is clear mechanisms to 2.96 1.05 1
happen such participation
4 Cooperation across different parts of the organization is encouraged in ECSU 3.11 1.05 5
5 Teamwork in ECSU is used to get work done, rather than hierarchy 3.14 1.09 6
6 ECSU employees work like they are part of a team 3.21 1.08 7
7 There is a continuous investment to develop the skills of employees 3.05 1.15 4
8 The capabilities of employees are viewed as an important source of 3.19 1.09 8
competitive advantage
9 Authority is delegated in the university so that employees can act on their own 2.98 1.10 2
Average of the mean 3.12
i
nstance, organizational culture attributes classified into involvement, consistency, adaptability,
and mission. On the other hand, employees’ organizational commitments are classified as
normative, affective, and continuance commitment. Finally, the performance of the organization

33
 is explained in terms of customer, internal process, learning and growth, and financial
perspective.
Organizational culture was used as an independent variable whereas organizational performance
as dependent variables. Between the two variables of employees, organizational commitment is
used as an intervening variable.
4.3.1 Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is a series of shared mental assumptions that lead interpretation and
action in organizations by describing proper behavior for a variety of positions. In this study,
organizational culture variables are analyzed by mean, standard deviation, and rank. Each
variable under the organizational culture is described to explain the practice of the university in
order to determine the extent of the employees' agreement with the employees' involvement in
the organization's decisions, consistency, adaptability, and mission of the organization
employees.
Table 4.1Organizational culture attributes- Employees Involvement (N=182)

As indicated in table 4.1, ECSU employees 'participation in their issue & the presence of c
lear
mechanisms to happen was low. The mean value (2.96) was below the cut point 3.40. Employ
ees
agree that their participation in their issues was limited. They also disagree on the presence of c
lear
mechanisms and systems that made them participate in their affairs. With regard to autho
rity
Source: Own Field Survey,(2020)
delegation to the university employees to act on their own was also low.
The mean value (2.98) for item 9 signified that employees have disagreed with the issues rai
sed.
Hence, the employees were not satisfied with the authority delegation of the university. If there i
s no

34
No Consistency Mean S. Dev. Rank
1 Managers of ECSU practice what they are preaching 2.78 1.013 1
2 There is a consistent set of values that govern the way of ECSU 2.88 1.026 3
3 There is an ethical code that guides employees behavior and tells right 3.19 1.045 9
from wrong
4 When disagreements occur in ECSU, employee work hard to achieve a 2.93 1.017 5
"win-win" solutions
5 There is a clear agreement among employees regarding the right way & 3.08 1.012 8
the wrong way to do things in the ECSU
6 It is possible to reach consensus in ECSU, even on conflicting issues 3.03 .979 7
7 Employees from different parts of the ECSU share a common perspective 2.92 .994 4
8 It is easy to coordinate projects across different parts of the ECSU 2.94 .997 6
9 The approach to do business is very consistent in the university 2.83 1.063 2
Average of the Mean 2.95

proper delegation of authority, employees are unable to contribute their efforts to the wellbeing a
nd
achievement of the university mission. In addition, item 1 illustrated that decisions in ECSU are m
ade
at the levels where the right information is available was a mean of 3.00 which is below 3.40. Th
is
portrayed that employees believed that decisions were made without the right information.

The largest mean (3.42) in the employment involvement variable was, ECSU employees believe th
at
they can have a positive impact on their Organization. Employees had self-confidence in the
ir
contribution to their organization if they had room to do so. Generally, all except item2 had below
the
cut point of 3.40. This indicated that employees had dissatisfied with their involvement in th
eir
organization various issues.
The overall mean of employees’ involvement in the university was 3.12. This indicated th
at
respondents were dissatisfied with organizational culture attributes of involvement. In this rega
rd,
Lawler& et.al (2003) explained that effective organizations participate in their employees at differ
ent
 levels. They empower and build their organizations around teams, and develop employees' capabil
ity
at all levels. In such cases, employees are committed to their work and feel that they are part of th
e
organization. People at all levels have their own input into decisions that will affect their work a
nd
organizations.

Employees of Ethiopian Civil Service University requested to respond on their organization

consistency with nine items with liker scale questions. As can be seen from table 4.2
respondents were dissatisfied with all items. The mean value of such items was below 3.40. The
item 1with a mean value 2.78 showed that employees disagree that managers of ECSU practice

35
No Adaptability Mean S. Dev Rank
1 Improved ways to do work are continually adapted 3.02 .97 2
2 Different parts of the organization cooperate to create change 3.10 1.03 3
Table ECSU
3 respond to bothCulture
4.2 Organizational internal Attributes-
and external Consistency
changes in the(N=182)
business 3.16 1.03 4
environment
4 Customers comment leads to changes and influences decision making 3.29 1.07 5
5 Employees of ECUS understand customers’ needs 3.52 .99 8
6 Customers inputs directly influences company's decisions 3.42 1.04 7
7 Innovation is encouraged at ECSU 2.95 1.09 1
8 Learning is an important objective in a day-today work of the company 3.52 1.11 8
9 ECSU view failures as an opportunity for learning and improvement 3.05 1.01 3
Average of the Mean 3.23

what they are preaching. This implied that managers’ practice and their preaching were different
in the university.
Source:that
Respondents of ECSU disagree Ownthe
Field survey,(2020).
approach to do business in the university is very
consistent (mean value = 2.83). Consistency in doing business is one of the key elements in the
organizational culture of any institution. With regard to item 2, the mean value was 2.88. It
portrayed that employees disagree with a consistent set of values that govern the way of ECSU.
If there is no consistency in the organizations, the values, norms, and ethical standards of the
 organization change from time to time, and difficult to mobilize employees to achieve
organizational goals. Furthermore, employees lack confidence in their organization.
The overall mean of the consistency of organizational culture was 2.95. This indicated that the
organization lack consistency of values and employees are dissatisfied by the same. In this
regard, Denison & Mishra, (1995) illustrated that some organizations are ineffective because
they have weak cultures that are inconsistent, poorly coordinated and lack of proper integration.
The author recommends that the behavior of employees in the organization should be in line
with a consistent set of core values, and leaders and followers should be skilled to reach
agreement even when there are diverse points of view. This type of consistency is a powerful
tool for stability and internal integration. This result is gained from a common mindset and a
high degree of conformity which enhances organization productivity and quality (Denison &
Mishra, 1995).

The results in table 4.3 depicted that, the mean ratings of the employees regarding their level of
agreement on ECSU organizational adaptability. The overall mean (3.23) of adaptability was
36
No Organizational Mission Mean S. Deviation Rank
1 ECSU has a clear mission that gives meaning and direction 3.71 1.09 8
2 ECSU strategic direction is clear to me 3.47 1.11 6
Table
3 4.3 Organizational
There Cultureand
is a long-term purpose Attributes- Adaptability
direction of the ECSU (N=182) 3.55 1.04 7
4 Leaders set goals that are ambitious, but realistic 3.25 .99 5
5 ECSU continuously track its progress against the stated goals 3.16 .97 3
6 There is widespread agreement about the goals of the ECSU 3.16 .96 3
7 Employees have a shared vision of what the organization will 3.14 .99 2
look like in the future
8 ECSU creates excitement and motivation for employees 2.77 1.14 1
Average of the Mean 3.28

less than 3.4 which was below the Z aid atol and Bagheri (2009) cut point. This portrayed that
ECSU respondents generally disagreed
Source: Ownwith
Fieldthe adaptability situation of the university. The
Survey,(2020)
university expected to endeavor more to achieve a higher level of agreement in those
parameters.
 The level of agreement of ECSU respondents on the items of innovation is encouraged at the
university was low. The mean value (2.95) of item 7 was below the cut point 3.40. On the other
hand, item 5 and 8 which was employees of ECUS understand customers' needs and learning is
an important objective in a day-today work of the university had got positive rating with a mean
value of 3.52. In addition, Customer inputs directly influence the organization's decisions had
got moderate agreement from the respondents. The standard deviation of item 8 has high
variability among the respondents compared to other item variations.

Generally, the rating of respondents on ECSU adaptability with new situations and
environments had mixed results. Some of them were below the cut point and others were above.
Most of the mean was below 3.40 which was a low rating. Only items 5,6 and 8 had a moderate
agreement. In addition, there was no mean that indicated a high response of agreement in the
adaptability of organizational culture. In this regard, Stalk (1988) described that adaptive
organizations are continuously changing their system so that they are improving the
organization's collective abilities to provide value for their customers. They are risk-takers and
learn from their mistakes. They are creative and change agents. Contemporary organizations are
expected to be adaptive to the internal and external environment to go forward in this
competitive world. If it doesn’t so, they will fail and lack customers (Stalk, 1988).

37

Tablerespondents
The 4.4 Organizational
of ECSU Culture
in table Attributes-
4.4 item 1 Organizational Mission
with the mean value 3.71(N=182)
depicted that respondents
moderately agreed that ECSU has a clear mission that gives meaning and direction. In addition, they also
agreed that the university has a strategic direction that was clear to them. Moreover, the respondents
were moderately agreed on the presence of long term purposes and direction of the university with the
mean 3.55. On the contrary, the rest of the items (4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) in table 4.4, portrayed that
respondents were dissatisfied with the items mentioned.

Item 8 in table 4.4 showed that had the lowest mean (2.77). This showed that respondents believed that
the university didn’t create excitement and motivation for employees. This implied that it is difficult and
sometimes unthinkable to get many endeavors from the employees without proper motivation in the
organization. With regard to theSource: Own
deviation Field
of the Survey,(2020).
responses of the respondents, items of 4, 5, 6, 7 had
below one, and items 1, 2, 3, and 8 had between 1.04 and 1.14.

The overall mean (3.28) of the respondents on organizational culture attributes of the mission was low.
This portrayed that respondents have disagreed with the organizational culture of the mission. In this
regard, Addisalem (2019) depicted that all basic components of organizational culture such as
involvement, consistency, mission, and adaptability attributes of organizational culture affect
organizational performance significantly.
Figure 4.5 Overall Mean of Organizational Culture

Mean

3.28
3.3
3.23
3.25
3.2
3.12
3.15
3.1
3.05
Mean
3 2.95
2.95
2.9
2.85
2.8
2.75
Employees Organization Organization Organization
Involvement Consistency Adaptability Mission

Source: Own Field Survey,(2020).

38

The grand mean for all organizational culture attribute components was in figure five is 3.15.
The university organizational culture didn't show a high level of maturity. In order to achieve
such a level, the mean is expected to reach above 3.8 points of the mean. To compare the mean
of each attribute, consistency (mean of 2.95) had the lowest, and the organization mission (3.28)
was the highest. Generally, the mean of organizational attributes was low. In this regard, Kamau
and Wanyoike (2019) illustrated that to improve organizational performance; organizational
culture should be supportive and compatible with intended. Data gathered from the open-ended
questions regarding the organizational culture of ECSU showed that the university was unable
to:

 Deploy the right person to the right position

 Encourage administrative staffs by top management
 Conduct comprehensive reform starting from top to bottom of organizational structure
 Entertain the interests of employees fairly
 Reduce turnover of employees due to lack of fair treatment
 Redefine the mission and vision of the organization
 Create awareness on organizational culture
 Bring change due to lack of readiness to receive any comment and ideas from employees
 Provide sufficient further education beyond the first degree

One of the respondents explains his idea is that “Nothing is creative and business is going in a
very normative way." Furthermore, the respondents explained that an attempt to solve problems
in the university is also done in a way that we are accustomed to, new change, creative
approach, mission and vision revision, understanding timely demands, etc need to be addressed
as quickly as possible, if not we live as usual and leave the university without significant
delivery of output.

Data gathered from Key informants through interview indicated that organizational culture of
the university is not well organized and not communicated to employees of the university.
Employees of university are participating in different teams to accomplish their daily activities.
However, employees believed that the university is highly centralized and the suggestions of
academic and administrative staffs are not included as they expected.

39

The interviewee also deemed that the university is unable to create awareness to employees on
university values and norms consistently. The university lack education and training policy and
standards to evaluate whether the system is consistent or not. Employees of university are not sure
on the ethical code that guides their behavior and tells right from wrong due to lack of awareness
creation by concerned bodies. Working business in the university is inconsistent and there is no clear
binding rules and regulation to run.

The university has good history in adopting and implementing various reforms such as business
process reengineering (BPR), balanced scorecard (BSC) & Kaizen. However, none of such
management tools implementation are effective now a day. For instance, recently there was
good implementation of Kaizen and there was a good change in some offices of the
organization, however, such changes did not continue due to lack of monitoring and rewards. In
nut shell, the university has positive appetite to accommodate changes but such changes are not
entertained consistently until the end due to lack of mobilization of employees and reward
system.

The interviewee deemed that the university has clear mission and vision. The mission of the
organization is to capacitate public sector employees through education, training, consultancy
and research. The university endeavors based on its mission and conduct customer satisfaction
survey annually to check customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the university develop a vision to
be center of excellence in Africa in 2025 nevertheless, there is no clear strategy how to reach
there.

4.4 Employees Organizational Commitment

Employees' organizational commitment attributes in the organization are measured by affective,
normative, and Continuance Commitment. For the sake of convenience, each organizational
employee’s commitment is depicted in separate tables. The first variable is affective
commitments of employees. It is an attitudinal process in which employees want to stay in the
organization due to the congruency of individual value with goal organization. The collected
data regarding affective commitment indicated in table 4.5

40
No Affective Commitment Mean S. Deviation Rank
1 I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career at ECSU 3.03 1.16 1
2 I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own 3.33 1.17 6
3 I feel ECSU as part of my family 3.21 1.20 4
4 I am emotionally attached to ECSU 3.14 1.11 3
5 ECSU has a great deal of personal meaning for me 3.10 1.18 2
6
Table I4.5
feel a strong sense of
Organizational belonging to
Employees ECSU Commitment (N=182) 3.29
Affective 1.16 5
Average of the Mean 3.12

As table 4.5 indicated that the average mean of respondents (3.12) was lower than the men
Source: Own Field Survey, (2020).
3.40. This indicated that employees were not comfortable staying in the organization due to
the congruence of individual values and organizational goals.
Table 4.5 was also portrayed that the results of all items from 1 to 6 were less 3.40. This
indicated that the level of respondents’ agreement on affective commitment was low. This
depicted that the level of agreement of employees to stay in ECSU was negative. Specifically,
the mean value of items 1, 2,3,4,5 and 6 were 3.03, 3.33, 3.21, 3.24, 3.10 and 3.29 respectively.
The dispersion of respondents to the items was ranging from 1.16 to 1.20 which indicates that
there is a difference among the respondents in reacting to each item.

Affective commitment has an influential power to predict turnover, absenteeism, and deviant
workplace behavior in the organization. Employees who are working in the organization with
lower affective commitment indicate that they are working without the love and affection of
their organization. Research conducted at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia portrayed that
nearly half (48.4%) of the employees have rated their affective commitment was low (Desalegn,
2016).

41
Table 4.6 Employees Organizational - Normative Commitment (N=182)

No Organizational Employees Normative Commitment Mean S. Deviation Rank

1 I feel as obligation to stay with ECSU 2.99 1.14 5
2 Even if it is my advantage to join other organization , I feel it 2.63 1.15 1
would be right to stay at ECSU
3 I would feel guilty if I left ECSU now 2.97 1.13 4
4 This organization deserves my loyalty 2.94 1.16 3
5 I would stay my organization right now because of my sense of 2.80 1.11 2
obligation to it
6 I owe a great deal to ECSU Own Field Survey,(2020).
Source: 3.29 1.15 6
Average of the Mean 2.94

Employees organizational normative commitment is an employee’s desire to stay with t

he
organization based on a sense of duty, loyalty, or moral obligation. As table 4.6 indicated th

No Organizational Employees Continuance Commitment Mean S. Deviation Rank

1 It would be very hard for me to leave my job at ECSU right now 2.96 1.12 3
even if I wanted to
2 Too much of my life would be disrupted if I leave my ECSU 2.95 1.16 2
3 Right now, staying with my job at ECSU is a matter of necessity as 2.68 1.08 1
much as desire
4 I believe I have too few options to consider leaving ECSU 3.25 1.06 6
5 One of the few negative consequences of leaving my job at ECSU would 3.12 1.12 4
be the scarcity of available alternative elsewhere
6 One of the major reasons I continue to work at ECSU is that 3.15 1.11 5
leaving would require considerable personal sacrifice
Average of the Mean 3.02
 at
the overall mean value (2.94) was below 3.40. This portrayed that employees lack mo
ral
obligation and loyalty to stay in the university. All items mean in table 4.7 had a lower me
an
value compared to the cutting point of 3.40. Employees in item 1 asserted that they didn’t fe
el
an obligation to stay at ECSU. In the same vein, employees had the interest to join anot
her
organization if they get the advantage. In addition, item 4 portrayed that respondents believ
ed
that ECSU didn't deserve their loyalty. The better rating of respondents in normati
ve
commitment was item 6 with the mean value of 3.29. Generally, respondents in normati
ve
commitment showed that they were dissatisfied by their university.

Table 4.7 Employees Organizational Continuance Commitment (N=182)

42

Source: Own
Continuance Organizational Commitment is Field Survey,(2020)
described as a need to remain in the organization
based on the costs associated with leaving. Table 4.7 showed that all items mean was
below3.40. In other words, it was not very hard for ECSU employees to leave their job right
now if they wanted to do. Furthermore, too much of the respondents' life would not be
disrupted if they leave ECSU. Similarly, right now staying with their job at ECSU is a matter
of necessity as much as desires were low.

All items in table 4.7 showed that the cost associated with leaving ECSU was low. This
indicated that ECSU employees lack opportunities to leave their organization. It implied that if
they had opportunities, they were motivated to leave. Generally, respondents believed that the
cost of leaving ECSU was not significant if they had got new opportunities to move. The
overall mean (3.02) of the respondents in continuance organizational commitment was also
low. This showed that the continuance commitment of the university was low. They were
working in the organization due to a lack of opportunities rather than the cost of leaving ECSU
is high.
With regard to this, Desalegn (2016) indicated that 57% of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
working in the organization without true commitment. Rather they are staying due to lack of
alternatives. It is difficult for employees to make them productive if they are working in their
organization due to a lack of alternatives.
Figure 4.6 Overall Mean of Employees’ Organizational Commitment

Mean

3.2 3.12
3.02 3.03
3.1
2.94
3
2.9 Mean
2.8

Mean

Source: Own Field Survey, (2020).

43
Figure 4.6 showed that the overall mean of employees' organizational commitments. It indicated
that the grand mean (3.03) was below the cutting point of 3.40. This portrayed that employees’
organizational commitment was low. The rank of their commitments was also showed that
normative was the lowest and affective commitment was the highest.
Similar research conducted at Ethiopian Management Institutes showed that the level of
organizational commitment of employees was moderate (Hygot, 2017). The researcher
concluded that most Ethiopian Management Institute employees feel a sense of identification,
involvement, and emotional attachment to the institute. Data gathered from the respondents
through the open-ended questionnaire indicated that: Employees lack interest to stay in the
university.
 The university unable to open to discussion with staffs to bring solutions to the problems
 Informal group in the university has big hands and dominate the formal organization.
 Poor leadership with poor academic culture hinders employees commitment
 Many questions raised from the employees in the university but there is no change
 Most employees used their current job as springboard to get better job
 Lack of consistency of rules and regulation in the university

Finally let me close the issue with one respondent quote, “I am surprised when I think I am still
here.”

Data gathered from key informants of the university showed that there is congruence of
organizational and personal goals. Most of the employees join the university to get further
education. This may be a good issue to sustain employees in the university. The academic staffs
have unlimited access to further education but administrative staffs are limited access. The
limited access for education for non academic staffs discourages them not to stay in the
university.

The turnover rate of administrative staffs is greater than academic staffs. Generally, the
interviewee believed that an administrative employee of the university lacks commitment. In the
same line, some of the academic staffs of the university are very busy on their business. They
are working in different higher education to improve their life. Most of the administrative staffs
are also dissatisfied and lack commitment due to lack of incentives. Generally, interviewee
believed that employees’ commitments are not as expected due to low salary and rewards. The
 44

amount of salary employees received per month doesn't help them to live a decent life in
this
double digit inflation nation.
4.5 Organizational Performance
Organizational performance variables can be measured by a balanced scorecard measure. Th
No Customer Perspective Standard Rank
Mean Deviation
1 The university conducts an annual survey to examine student level of satisfaction 3.36 .997 7
2 The university uses students feedback to improve performance 3.21 1.000 4
3 ECSU employees are satisfied by their organization performance 2.82 .999 1
4 Students get respect from the academic & administrative staff in the university 3.50 1.007 8
5 The university offers services for students & trainees in the shortest possible time. 3.52 .984 9
6 The university is enthusiastic to provide high-quality services 3.34 1.059 6
7 ECSU Students have a good image on ECSU 3.11 1.201 2
8 The university-trained highly qualified students who could contribute to society 3.21 .975 4
9 The university serves the community effectively through research & consultation 3.13 1.083 3
Average of the Mean 3.24
ese
include customer, internal process, learning and growth, and financial perspective. For the sa
ke
of convenience, each organizational performance variables are discussed in the separate tabl
es.
 As indicated in table 4.8, the respondents' mean score was ranging from 2.82 to 3.52. As
the
cut point of Za idatol and Bagheri (2009) showed that the mean below 3.40 was low. On
the
other hand the mean above 3.39 to 3, 79 indicated moderate performance. Based on th
Table 4.8 Organizational Performance - Customer Perspective (N=182)
ese
categories, scores of items 1, 2,3,6,7, and 8 were below 3.40. It denoted that responde
nts
tended to disagree with those issues raised in the items. The lowest mean (2.82) on custo
mer
category performance of the university was employees dissatisfied by their organizat
ion
performance. The moderate rating of respondents in table 4.8 was on students get respect fr
om
the academic and administrative staff in the university (3.52) and the university offers servi
Source: Own Field Survey, (2020)
ces
for students & trainees in the shortest possible time (3.50).

The rank by the mean portrayed that the first three lowered rank by the respondents w
ere
ECSU employees are satisfied by their organization performance (1st), ECSU Students hav
ea
good image on their university (2nd) and the university serves the community effectiv
ely
through research &consultation (3rd). The average mean of respondents in table 4.9 was a
lso
3.24. It assured that the customer perspective performance of the organization was below
the
45
No Internal Process Perspective Mean S. deviation Rank
1 The ECSU offers several new service such as new courses, 3.53 1.00 5
program, curriculum & training
2 The university provides an acceptable ratio of academic staff to 3.29 .98 4
students.
3 The ECSU offers all the facilities as required in proportion to the 3.22 1.01 2
number of students & trainees.
4 Communication in various levels of a university is smooth and 2.99 1.07 1
Table productive
4.9 Organizational Performance - Internal Process Perspective (N=182)
5 The university deploys academic staffs based on university 3.28 1.00 3
standards
Average of the Mean 3.26

expected average. In nutshell, respondents were dissatisfied with the university customer-
related performance. The variability of respondents is ranging from 0.975 to 1.201. This
showed that the standard deviation of respondents was around one. {

Source: Own Field Survey,(2020).

The internal perspective is a business processes and systems that the organization used to excel
its performances. It can be measured by five items in table 4.9. The mean of the items are
ranging from 3.22 to 3.53 on internal process perspective. The respondents rated positive and
moderate rating on the university that offers several new services such as new courses, program,
curriculum & training (3.53).

The other items (2, 3, 4&5) were rated below 3.40. This showed that respondents were
disagreed with most of internal process performance of the university. To cite some of them,
communication in various levels of a university was not smooth and productive, the university
facilities were not in proportion to the number of students & trainees and the university deploys
academic staffs not based on its own standards. The average of the mean (3.26) was also low.
This indicated that the university respondents were negative rating on the university internal
process perspective. The variability of the respondents was also ranging from 0.98 to 1.01.
Table 4.10 Organizational Performance - Learning & Growth Perspective(N=182)
46
No Learning and Growth Perspective Mean S. deviation Rank
1 Top management encourages staff to receive awards such as 2.70 1.106 1
patents, excellence awards
2 Top management dealing seriously with the staff suggestions 2.71 1.080 2
3 Top management is enthusiastic in adapting to new technology and 2.91 1.096 4
new ideas.
4 Top management contributes to the involvement of all the staff to 2.88 1.075 3
develop competencies.
5 Top management encourages academic staff to increase research 3.13 1.077 8
productivity.
6 Academic excellence is top management objective (through an 3.10 1.039 7
increasing publish articles in journals, scientific conferences, and
scientific awards)
7 Top management creates a mechanism to provide short term 2.95 1.095 5
training for the staffs
8 Top management creates an opportunity of long term training for 2.98 1.133 6
the staff to increase their rank
9 Average of the Mean 2.92
Source: Own Field Survey, (2020).

The learning and growth perspective is a measure of the level of employee training and
development to achieve the goal of the organization. As depicted in table 4.10 all items of were
below the cutting point of 3.40. This showed that respondents were dissatisfied in all of the
learning and growth items. Particularly, the first three top disagreement of the respondents were
top management unable to encourage staff to receive awards such as patents, excellence awards
st nd
(1 rank), top management unable deal seriously with the staff suggestions (2 rank) and top
management has limited contribution and involvement to capacitate all the staff to develop
rd
competencies (3 ). The average of the mean (2.92) also portrayed that the respondents were
dissatisfied on learning and growth perspective of the university.

The internal perspective is business processes and systems that the organization used to excel in
its performances. It can be measured by five items in table 4.10. The mean of the items is
ranging from 3.22 to 3.53 on the internal process perspective. The respondents rated positive
 and moderate rating on the university that offers several new services such as new courses,
program, curriculum & training (3.53).

47

The other items (2, 3, 4 &5) were rated below 3.40. This showed that respondents have
Table 4.11 Organizational Performance - Financial Perspective (N=182)
disagreed with most of the internal process performance of the university. To cite some of them,
communication in various levels of a university was not smooth and productive, the university
No IV. Financial Perspective Mean S. deviation Rank
1 The university gets an increase in the funding rate from time to time 3.26 1.010 5
2 Investment in human resources is a priority for the university 3.01 1.163 2
3 Top management encourages staff and students to get annual grants. 2.64 1.086 1
4 Most of the financial resources are deployed for the core process 3.06 1.131 4
(teaching & learning) of ECSU
5 The university encourages more
Source: Ownefficient
Fielduse of financial resources
Survey,(2020). 3.02 1.056 3
Average of the Mean 2.99
facilities were not in proportion to the number of students & trainees and the university deploys
academic staff not based on its standards. The average of the mean (3.26) was also low. This
indicated that the university respondents were negative ratings on the university's internal
process perspective. The variability of the respondents was also ranging from 0.98 to 1.01.

As table 4.11 indicated that the average mean financial perspective was 2.99. The value
portrayed that employee's dissatisfaction on financial perspective of the university. Besides, the
mean results of all items in table 4.11 showed that it was below 3.40 which illustrated that the
 respondents’ dissatisfaction. The first three top negative responses by the respondents include;
top management unable to encourage staff and students to get annual grants (1st) investment in
human resources was not priority for the university (2nd) and the university didn’t encourage
more efficient use of financial resources (3rd). Generally, it is possible to conclude that the
university performance in financial perspective was unable to achieve moderate and or high
level of respondent agreement.

48

Figure 4.7 Overall Mean of Organizational Performance

Mean
3.3 3.24 3.26
3.2
3.1
3.1
2.99
3 2.92
2.9
2.8
2.7 Mean

Source: Own Field Survey,(2020)

To have clear picture on the organizational performance of Ethiopian Civil Service University,
the grand mean for the four perspectives was calculated in figure 4.7. The grand mean (3.10)
was below 3.40whichindicated that the organizational performance was low. Besides when we
look the rank of organizational performance from the lower to higher, learning and growth,
financial, customer and internal process perspective ranked 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. In nut
shell respondents believed that organizational performance of the university was below their
expectation. Data gathered from open-ended questionnaire also showed that:

 Employees should get benefits according to their performance

 Top management should work hard to make university effective
 Some staffs of the university are very busy with their personal business than university
duties.
 Poor utilization resources and technology
 The university needs to give a due attention on the development of human resources
 The performance of the university is also low
 There is gap between top management and employees of the university, therefore, the
top management should changed such type of approach for better performance

49

Data gathered from the key informants of the university portrayed that the organizational
performance is average. The performance measures used for the university are customer
satisfaction, internal process, learning and growth and financial perspective in balanced
scorecard format. The university strives to meet the satisfaction of students as first priority. The
interviewee believed that if the students are complaining in various issues, they are heard
immediately by university management compared to the employees complain. The university
was also unable to mobilize and motivate employees for better commitment to perform well.
Generally, the key informants believe that students and trainees in the university satisfied than
academic and administrative staffs of the organization.

Key informants believed that the internal process of the university was entangled with various
problems. The organizational communication in the university is not smooth and productive.
The facilities that the university provide to the teaching learning process is not adequate and on
time. The university had more masters degree students compared to first degree. The ratio of the
students to the available resources is not adequate. For instance the class size of masters’
students is high. Besides, the key informant believed that the provision of various inputs to the
teaching learning process was not on time. The purchasing process was so long and employees
are not able to provide the service on time with the desired quality and quantity.

The key informants deemed that learning and growth perspective implementation of the
university is good for academics staffs. They can get access to long term training, on the other
hand the opportunity for administrative employees were low. Generally, the interviewee
believed that the opportunity to the short term training for the employees relevant to work
position was low in Ethiopian Civil Service University.
Finally, the data gathered from the key informants’ interview portrayed that the university
budget utilization was good in terms of achieving its goals. However, there are so many
inefficiencies to provide the purchased goods to the departments and various offices based on
requested time and quality.

4.6 Structural and Measurement Models Analysis

Structural equation modeling is a second-generation statistical tool used to test and estimate
causal relationships among variables. According to Gaskin (2014), the model has good strength
to test complex relationship among latent variables. Structural equation modeling can be seen in

50

terms of covariant-based and variance based. PLS-SEM models are more compatible when the
sample size is small and many indicators in the model.

Covariance based structural equation modeling is suitable when the sample is large and
indicators are not large in number. Due to this reason, this study used more relevant structural
equation modeling of PLS -structural equation modeling. Partial Least Square technique of
estimations is a well-known method that estimates the path coefficients in structural models.
The model has been widely used in contemporary researches. PLS method of estimation has
become popular in marketing and management research due to its ability to test and estimate the
relationships of latent variables without strict assumptions of normality and sample size.

4.6.1 Measurement Model Analysis

It is the assessment of outer model in structural equation modeling. In the assessment, indicator
reliability analysis, Internal Consistency Reliability, convergent validity and discriminant
validity were checked by using acceptable specification.
Indicator reliability Analysis
Indicator reliability is a condition for validity. It is necessary to check the indicators strength to
explain their respective latent variables. The strength of the indicators are checked by reflective
outer loading values. The loading which has less than 0.7 are discarded whereas, above 0.7 are
selected for testing and estimating the model. There are three latent variables which include
organizational culture, employees’ commitment and organizational performance.

In organizational culture variable, there are 35 questions in which 10 of them are selected and
others are discarded based on the threshold criteria. Besides, there are 18 items in employees’
commitment latent variables. Among them 10 questions are selected. Finally from 27
organizational performance related indicators, 15 of them are selected. Generally, a total of 35
items were fulfilling indicator reliability from 80 questions. The selected items, code and their
outer loading are indicated in table 12.

51

Figure 4.8 Latent Variables with Path Analysis

 Source: Smart PLS Output (2020)

As figure 4.8 showed that OC (organizational culture), EC (employees commitments) and OP

(organizational performance) items with their outer loading illustrated. These items are fulfilling
consistency and validity criteria to run PLS algorism. Besides, the model showed that
organizational culture affects employees’ commitment and organizational performance. On the
other hand, employees’ commitment affects the organizational performance.

52
Latent
variable Code Indicators Loading
OCI1 Decisions in ECSU are made at the levels where right information is available 0.767
OCI3 Employees of ECSU participate on their issue & there is clear mechanisms to 0.773
Organizational happen such participation
Culture OCI4 Cooperation across different parts of the organization is encouraged in ECSU 0.775
OCI5 Teamwork in ECSU is used to get work done, rather than hierarchy 0.703
OCI8 The capabilities of employees are viewed as an important source of competitive 0.755
advantage
OCI9 Authority is delegated in the university so that employees can act on their own 0.712
OCC8 It is easy to coordinate projects across different parts of the ECSU 0.776
OCA1 Improved ways to do work are continually adapted 0.710
OCA3 ECSU respond to both internal and external changes in the business environment 0.708
OCA7 Innovation is encouraged at ECSU 0.716
EOCA1 I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career at ECSU 0.762
EOCA2 I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own 0.730
Employees
EOCA3 I feel ECSU as part of my family 0.769
Commitment
EOCA4 I am emotionally attached to ECSU 0.759
EOCA5 ECSU has a great deal of personal meaning for me 0.813
EOCA6 I feel a strong sense of belonging to ECSU 0.827
EOCC2 Too much of my life would be disrupted if I leave my ECSU 0.767
EOCC4 I believe I have too few options to consider leaving ECSU 0.765
EOCC5 One of the few negative consequences of leaving my job at ECSU would be the 0.765
scarcity of available alternative elsewhere
One of the major reasons I continue to work atECSU is that leaving would
EOCC6 0.762
require considerable personal sacrifice
OPC2 The university uses students feedback to improve performance 0.706
OPC3 ECSU employees are satisfied by their organization performance 0.719
OPC6 The university is enthusiastic to provide high-quality services 0.710
OPI4 Communication in various levels of a university is smooth and productive 0.717
Organizational Top management encourages staff to receive awards such as patents, excellence
OPL1 0.767
Performance awards
OPL2 Top management dealing seriously with the staff suggestions 0.765
OPL3 Top management is enthusiastic in adapting to new technology and new ideas. 0.814
OPL4 Top management contributes to the involvement of all the staff to develop 0.780
competencies.
OPL5 Top management encourages academic staff to increase research productivity. 0.793
OPL6 Academic excellence is top management objective(through an increasing publish 0.701
articles in journals, scientific conferences, and scientific awards)
OPL7 Top management creates a mechanism to provide short term training for the staffs 0.712
OPF2 Investment in human resources is a priority for the university 0.752
OPF3 Top management encourages staff and students to get annual grants. 0.795
OPF4 Most of the financial resources are deployed for the core process (teaching & 0.762
learning) of ECSU
OPF5 The university encourages more efficient use of financial resources 0.784
Table 12 Indicator and their Outer Loading

Source: Own Field Survey,(2020).

53
As indicated in table 4.12, all indicators loading are greater than 0.7 and they fulfill the criteria
of indicator reliability.
Internal Consistency Reliability Analysis
It was common to use Cronbach’s alpha to measure internal consistency in social science
research, however, PLS structural equation model developed a conservative measurement of
composite reliability. The argument was that Cronbach’s alpha is sensitive to a number of
indicators and underestimates the values of indicators. The threshold of composite reliability
according to (Hair et al., 2012) is greater than or equal to 0.7. From Table 13, such values are
Table 13.Internal Composite Reliability and Convergent Validity
shown to be larger than 0.7, so high levels of internal consistency reliability have been
demonstrated among all three reflective latent variables.
Latent Variables Cronbach's Rho.A Composite Average Variance
Alpha Reliability Extracted (AVE)
Organizational Culture 0.908 0.91 0.924 0.548
Employees Organizational Commitment 0.925 0.928 0.937 0.597
Organizational Performance S ource: Source: Smart
0.945
PLS Output (2020)
0.946 0.951 0.566

Convergent validity
To check the convergent validity of the latent variables, we use Average Variance extracted
measurement (AVE). The minimum threshold for convergent validity is that the AVE should be
greater than 0.5. As shown in Table 13, the convergent validity of organization culture,
employee commitment, and organizational performance latent variables is more than 0.5 and
met the criteria.
Discriminant validity
It is the assessment tool that reflects the extent to which the latent variable indicators are distinct
from other latent variable indicators by empirical standards (Hair.etal, 2014). This type of
validity can be tested by cross-loading of indicators and Average Variance Extracted. The cross-
loading of each indicator associated with the latent variable should be greater than on all its
loading in the other latent variable indicators. If it is so, the indicators have discriminant
validity. As table 16 showed that the criteria were fulfilled.
Indicators Employees commitment Organizational culture Organizational performance
EOCA1 0.762 0.452 0.471
EOCA2 0.730 0.359 0.404
EOCA3 0.769 0.357 0.421
EOCA4 0.759 0.416 0.404
EOCA5 0.813 0.468 0.422
EOCA6 0.827 0.520 0.565
EOCC2 0.767 0.455 0.458
EOCC4 0.765 0.495 0.472
EOCC5 0.765 0.461 0.469
EOCC6 0.762 0.426 0.467
OCA1 0.347 0.710 0.523
OCA3 0.413 0.708 0.515
OCA7 0.438 0.716 0.579
OCC8 0.432 0.776 0.584
OCI1 0.486 0.767 0.609
OCI3 0.435 0.773 0.582
OCI4 0.467 0.775 0.580
OCI5 0.421 0.703 0.534
OCI8 0.475 0.755 0.588
OCI9 0.309 0.712 0.477
OPC2 0.432 0.560 0.706
OPC3 0.420 0.590 0.719
OPC6 0.487 0.548 0.710
OPF2 0.554 0.624 0.752
OPF3 0.479 0.585 0.795
OPF4 0.385 0.556 0.762
OPF5 0.417 0.590 0.784
OPI4 0.388 0.561 0.717
OPL1 0.498 0.616 0.767
OPL2 0.435 0.591 0.765
OPL3 0.482 0.610 0.814
OPL4 0.402 0.510 0.780
OPL5 0.444 0.557 0.793
OPL6 0.353 0.508 0.701
OPL7 0.480 0.492 0.712

54

Table 14. Cross loading of indicators in each latent variables

known by the name after Fornell- larcker criteria. It is assumed that the square root of each
latent variable AVE should be greater than its highest correlation with any other latent
variables.
The second criteria used to check discriminant validity is Average variance extracted. It is well

55
Employee Organizational Culture Organizational
Latent Variables Commitment Performance
Employee Commitment 0.773
Organizational Culture 0.576 0.740
Table 4. 15 Fornell-Larcker Discriminant
Organizational validity Criterion
0.594 0.736 0.753
Performance
Hypothesis Path Path coefficients t-Values p- Values Hypothesis
H1 OC -> OP 0.624 25.661 0.000 Accepted
H2 OC -> EC 0.565 9.761 0.000 Accepted
H3 EC -> OP 0.241 3.947 0.000 Accepted
H4 OC -> EC-> OP 0.136 3.409 0.001 Accepted
Source: Smart PLS Output (2020)

As shown in table 15 the square root of AVE of each latent variable is greater than the other
latent variable. For example, the latent variable employees’ commitment AVE is 0.597 that is
indicated in table 15. Therefore, its square root 0.773 which is larger than the correlation values
in the column of employees' commitment. Generally, the result indicated that discriminant
validity is well established and pass the criteria to use the model.
4.6.2 Assessment of Structural Model
The fulfillment of outer model criteria such as reliability and validity permits us to assess the
structural model. In this analysis, the relationship between independent and dependent variables
with its strength and impact would be evaluated. The strength of the structural model was
evaluated by path coefficients. The higher the coefficients are the higher the strength of
predictability of the relationships of the variables (Hair, et al, 2014). The coefficients expected
to be ranged between -1 to +1. Path coefficients close to +1 indicated a strong positive and
statistically significant relationship between independent and dependent variables. On the other
Table
hand, 4.16 Significance
a coefficient closeTesting Resultsthat
to -1 showed of the
theStructural Model
relationship Path Coefficients
of variables is strong negatively and
statistically significant. In the other way, the low value close to zero portrayed that the
relationship is weak and no statistically significant

Source: Smart PLS Output (2020)

56
In Smart PLS, the relationship between latent variables determined by examining the path
coefficients and t- values. As can be seen from table 16, the path coefficients are significant.
The coefficient of organizational culture to organizational performance was 0.624. In addition,
the coefficient of organizational culture to employees’ organizational commitment was 0.565.
All the t- values in the model are greater than 1.96 and p- values are also less than 0.05. These
showed that all of the structural model relationships are statistically significant. In other words,
the effect of the organizational culture of the university has a positive and statistically
significant effect on the organizational performance of the university.

Table 16 also showed that organizational culture has a positive and statistically significant
effect on employees’ organizational commitments. Furthermore, employees’ organizational
commitments also have a positive and statistically significant effect on organizational
performance. Finally, the relationship between organizational culture and organizational
performance in which there is direct, indirect, and total effect. The total effect is calculated by
the summations of direct (0.624) and indirect (0.136) effect of the specified model. Hence the
total effect was 0.760. The direct effect has more effect than indirect on the relationship
between organizational culture and organizational performance.

Generally, the hypothesis that was proposed prior to the relationship among latent variables
were accepted. The effect of organizational culture on organizational performance is statistically
significant. The relationship and its effect on the aforementioned latent variables were also
examined by Nik Pour (2017). The finding portrayed that the model had an appropriate fit and
organizational culture had a direct and indirect effect. The mediation of employee’s
organizational commitment between organizational culture and organizational performance was
significantly higher than the direct effect. NikPour's (2017) finding was contrary to this research
finding. In this research, the direct effect (organizational culture) has a significantly higher
effect on organization performance than the indirect effect. The difference of those finding may
indicate the difference of organization culture from organization to organization.
 57

Figure 4.9 Path Analysis and R Square of the Model

Source: Smart PLS Output, 2020

The model indicated that the relationship between organizational culture (OC), employee
commitment (EC), and organizational performance (OP). The numbers found in the circle
indicated the result of R square. The number indicated between circles (latent variables) is the
Latent Variable R Square R Square Adjusted path coefficient of the model.
EC 0.320 0.316 Finally, the numbers found in t
OP 0.618 0.614
he outer model indicated the o
uter
load of indicators.

58

A coefficient of determination is one of the significant elements that need to be evaluated in the
structural model. R Square and adjusted R square are almost the same in this study. According
to Cohen (1988), a model can be assessed as substantial if R square is equal or more than 0.26,
moderate if R square more than 0.13, and weak if R square equals or less than 0.02. The PLS
Path model estimation of table 17 showed that the overall R Square showed that substantial.

As can be seen from table 17, 61.8 percent of organizational performance was explained by the
joint effect of organizational culture, and employees' organizational commitments. The model
also showed that 32 percent of the variation in employees’ organizational commitment was
explained by the organizational culture of the university. Generally, the effects of organizational
2 2
Endogenous Latent variables R Q culture and employees’ commitm
e Employees Commitment 0.320 0.186 nt individually and jointly have
Organizational Performance 0.618 0. 339
a
substantial effect on the
organizational performance of the university. 2
Table 4.17 Results of Coefficient
2
of Determination (R )
Predictive relevance (Q )
2
It is an assessment of Stone-Geisser’s predictive relevance (Q ) in the latent variables. It checks
whether the measurement model of an endogenous construct in reflective indicators are
Source: Smart PLS Output, 2020
predicted accurately or not. It needs the checking of the blindfolding procedure in Smart PLS.
Employee commitment (EC) and organizational performance (OP) is the two endogenous
constructs in the model. Table 18 showed the results of blindfolding.
 2
Table 4. 19 the Results of f and q2 Effective Size

The criteria for predictive relevance of the model is that if the results of the blindfolding of Q2
is greater than zero, the endogenous latent variable has good predictive relevance (Chin,1998).
Therefore, the results of predictive relevance in table 18 portrayed that endogenous latent
variables have strong predictive relevance.
Effective size Source: Smart PLS Output (2020)
Smart PLS can assess the effect of specific exogenous constructs on the endogenous construct if
the exogenous variables are deleted from the model. The effect size can be generated from the
2 2 2 2
coefficient of determination (R ) and Predictive Relevance (Q ). The effect sizes of f and q are

59
Latent Variables Path Employees Commitment Organizational performance
2 2 2 2
Coefficients f effective q effective f effective q effective
size size size size
Organizational 0.624 0.470 Not2 available 0.693 0.182
2
Table
culture18. Results of coefficients of determination (R ) and Predictive Relevance (Q )
Employees 0.241 Not Not available 0.103 0.031
Commitment available

2 2 Source: Smart PLS Output,22020 2 2

derived from (R ) and Q respectively. The effect size of f can be calculated as f = (R included-
2 2 2
R excluded)/ (1-R excluded). The effective size of q has also been calculated with the
2 2 2 2
formula of q = (Q included- Q excluded)/ (1-Q excluded). The results of the calculation have
shown in table 19.

The results of table 19 showed that the effective size f2of organizational culture on employees'
commitment and organizational culture on organizational performance were 0.470 and 0.693
respectively. In the same line, the effective size of employees’ commitment on organizational
 performance was 0.103. On the other hand, the effective size q2oforganizational culture on
organizational performance and employees’ commitment to organizational performance was
0.182and 0.031respectively. The results of effective size showed that the effect of exogenous
variables on endogenous are ranging from medium to high. According to Cohan (1988), the
value of effective size 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 are interpreted as small, medium, and large

60

Chapter Five
5. Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations
This chapter of the study comprises summaries, conclusions, and recommendations. The
summary part of this study focused on the main findings. The conclusions part of the study also
aimed at illustrating the implications that the results portrayed. Finally, the recommendation
part tried to show suggestions to concerned bodies to solve and minimize the problems they
face.
5.1 Summary of the Study
The main objective of the study was to examine organizational culture and its effects on
organizational-culture in Ethiopian Civil Service University with the mediating role of
employee organizational commitment. To achieve the purpose of the study the following
hypothesis developed.
H1: Organizational culture of Ethiopian Civil Service University has a positive and significant
effect on the organizational performance of the university.
H2: Employee's organizational commitment to Ethiopian Civil Service University has a positive
and significant effect on the organizational performance of the university.
H3: Organizational culture of ECSU has a positive and significant effect on Organizational
employees’ commitment to Ethiopian Civil Service University
H4: Organizational employees commitment mediate the relationship between organizational
culture and performance of Ethiopian Civil Service University

The target population of the study was employees of Ethiopian Civil Service University. The
university has academic and administrative staff employees. The total population in this study
was 250 academics and 257 support service workers in the university. To select the sample
population, Kothari (2004) sample determination formula was used. Hence, 219 respondents
were selected for the study. To keep the proportion of respondents from each category stratified
sampling technique used. To this end, a sample of 110 academics, and 114 administrative staff
were selected. To gather relevant data survey questionnaire was used. A five option Likert scale
questionnaire developed. To analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics and structural
equation modeling were used. Generally, the followings were the finding of the study.

61

The participation of employees in their issue & the presence of clear mechanisms to happen was
low. Delegation of authority to the university employees to act on their own was low. The
employees disagree that decisions at ECSU are made at the levels where the right information is
available. The overall mean of employee participation in the university (mean of 3.12) was also
low. It implied that respondents were dissatisfied with organizational culture attributes of
employee involvement.

The respondents of the study rated on the consistency attribute of the organizational culture of
the university were low. To cite some of them, the managers of ECSU did not practice what
they are preaching. The approach to do business and the set of values that govern the university
is inconsistent. The adaptability attributes of the organizational culture of ECSU are rated low
by the respondents. ECSU respondents believed that innovation did not encourage at the
university; however, the respondents have a positive rating on the university to understand the
needs of customers and learning as a significant objective in the day-to-day work of the
university (with a mean value of 3.52). Furthermore, items such as inputs of customers directly
influence university decisions had got moderate agreement from the respondents.

The organizational culture attributes of the mission have got a moderate rating from the
respondents (mean value 3.71). Besides, they also agreed that the university has a strategic
direction that was clear to them. Moreover, the respondents moderately agreed on the presence
of long-term purposes, and directions of the university with a mean value were 3.55. On the
contrary, respondents believed that the university did not create excitement and motivation for
employees (mean of 2.77).
Generally, the overall mean of organizational culture attributes of the mission was low (mean of
3.28). The grand-mean of all organizational culture attribute components (employee
involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission of the organization) was 3.15. This result
was below the mean point of 3.40 that portrayed, the practice of organizational culture in the
university was not appropriate to the respondents.
Respondents also rated a low rating on the affective commitments of employees. They were not
comfortable staying in the organization due to a lack of compatibility of individual values with
organizational goals. Furthermore, employees lack moral obligation and loyalty to work in the
university. In the same vein, employees had the interest to leave their organization and join

62

other organizations if they get the advantage. They also believed that the university did not
deserve their loyalty.
The continuance aspect of organizational commitment of employees was also low. It was not
very hard for respondents to leave their job right now if they wanted to do. Furthermore, if the
employees leave university, too much of their life would not be disturbed. Similarly, right now,
staying with their job at ECSU is a matter of necessity as much as desires were low. Generally,
the overall mean of organizational commitment employees (affective, normative, and
continuance) have been a mean of 3.03. It implied that respondents did not believe that ECSU
employees did not commit themselves to their organization.

Respondents also rated on the organizational performance of the university. The moderate
positive rating of respondents was on students get respect from the academic and administrative
staff in the university (3.52), and the university offers services for students & trainees in the
shortest possible time (3.50). In contrast, the first three disagreements on their rank include,
ECSU employees are satisfied by their organization performance (1st), ECSU Students have a
good image of their university (2nd), and the university serves the community effectively
through research &consultation (3rd).

Respondents moderately rated on the university that offers several new services such as new
courses, programs, curriculum & training (3.53). On the contrary, respondents indicated that
communication in various levels of a university was not smooth and productive, the university
facilities were not in proportion to the number of students & trainees, and the university deploys
academic staff not based on its standards.

Respondents have also rated the first three top dissatisfactions on the learning and growth
perspective of the university. The first was top management unable to encourage staff to receive
awards, such as patents, excellence awards. The second discontent was top management unable
to deal seriously with the staff suggestions. And the last was top management has limited
contribution and involvement to capacitate all the staff to develop competencies. The average
mean of learning and growth items was 2.92. It portrayed that the respondents were dissatisfied
with the learning and growth perspective of the university. Concerning the financial aspects of
the university, the respondents rated low. The first three low rating includes top management
unable to encourage staff and students to get annual grants (1st), investment in human resources

63

was not a priority for the university (2nd), and the university did not encourage more efficient
use of financial resources (3rd). Generally, the grand mean of organizational performance
(customer, internal process, learning and growth, and financial-perspective) of the university
was a mean 3. The data indicated that respondents were dissatisfied with the organizational
performance practice of the university.
The result of hypothesis testing in structural equation modeling portrayed that the effect of
organizational culture on organizational performance of the Ethiopian Civil Service University
was positive and statistically significant. Besides, the cultures of the university have a positive
and statistically significant effect on the organizational commitment of employees. Furthermore,
the organizational commitment of employees also has a positive and statistically significant
impact on the organizational performance of the university.

The overall effect of organizational culture and employee organizational commitment jointly
explain 61.8 percent of organizational performance. Besides, the culture of the university
explained 32 percent of academic and administrative staff commitments for their organization.
Generally, the effects of organizational culture and organizational commitment of employees of
the university individually and jointly had a substantial impact on the organizational
performance of the university.
5.2 Conclusions
The overall mean of employee involvement in organizational culture attributes of the university
had a mean of 3.12. This result indicated that respondents were dissatisfied with their limited
participation in their organization. Hence, it is difficult for the university to achieve its desired
goals without the proper involvement of the respective employees. The consistency attribute of
the organizational culture of the university has a mean of 2.95. The data indicated that the rating
by the respondents was low. The university is in-consistent in approach to do business and the
set of values that govern.

The adaptability attributes of the organizational culture of ECSU was rated by the respondents
with a mean value of 3.23. The mean showed that the university lack energy and commitment to
accommodate changes raised from the internal and external environment. The situation might
be a manifestation of the inability to encourage innovation by mobilizing the employees in the
organization.

64

The respondents rated organizational culture attributes of the mission with a mean value of 3.71.
It was a moderate rating by respondents. They also have a positive rating on the clarity of
strategy and the presence of long-term purposes and direction of the university (mean value of
3.55), while, the mean of creating excitement, and motivation by the university to the
employees was 2.77. The data indicated that the university was unable to make excitement and
motivate employees properly to achieve the desired mission of the organization.

Generally, the overall mean of organizational culture attributes of the mission was 3.28. The
result indicated that the level of mission-oriented practice in the university was low. Besides,
the grand mean for all organizational culture attribute components (employee involvement,
consistency, adaptability, and mission) was 3.15. The result portrayed that the practice of
university culture was not appropriate to the respondents.

The affective commitment of the respondents of the university had a mean of 3.12. The result
indicated that low. Employees were not comfortable to stay in the organization due to a lack of
compatibility of individual values with organizational goals. The overall mean of the normative
commitment of respondents was 2.94. The data indicated that employees lack moral obligation
and loyalty to stay in the university. The situation leads employees to join another organization
if they get the advantage.

The continuance aspect of the organizational commitments of an employee was rated a mean of
3.02 by the respondents. The result portrayed that respondents had low ratings. It further
indicated that the associated cost to leave the university is low. It is possible to conclude that
employees are waiting to quit the organization at a minimum cost if they come across other
organization jobs. The grand mean of organizational employee commitment components
(affective, normative, and continuance) was a mean of 3.03. It indicated that the organizational
commitment of employees was low. It is impossible to expect a tremendous endeavor from the
employees to achieve organizational goals with low commitment.

Respondents of the university rated that students get respect from the academic and
administrative staff in the university with a mean of 3.52. They also believed that the university
offers services for students & trainees in the shortest possible time (mean of 3.50). These

65

showed that respondents rated a moderate rating of such university performance. On the
contrary, respondents rated their dissatisfaction with the three aspects of customer perspective
performance. These included respondents believed that the performance of their organization
was low, students do not have a positive image of their university, and the university did not
serve the community effectively through research and consultation. If such things happen, it is
difficult for the organization to sustain to accomplish its mandate.

Respondents rated the university course delivery that it offers several new services such as new
courses, program, curriculum & training (mean of 3.53). The result indicated that the rating was
moderate. On the other hand, a respondent rated with a mean of 2.99 on communication in
various levels of a university was not smooth and productive. It showed that proper
communication in an organization hierarchy was problematic. The respondents rated that top
management of the university unable to encourage staff to receive awards such as patents,
excellence awards. The top-level management of the university also unable to deal seriously
with the academic and administrative staff suggestions, and has limited contribution and
involvement to capacitate all the employees to develop their competencies. Hence, it is possible
to conclude that the relationship between top-level management and employees might not have
the initiative to go forward with innovation and creativity.

The overall mean of learning and growth items was 2.92. It portrayed that the respondents were
dissatisfied with the learning and growth perspective of the university. Concerning the financial
perspective of the university, respondents’ mean of the rating was 2.99. The result indicated that
respondents were not dissatisfied with the financial perspective of the university. The top
management of the university unable to encourage staff and students to get annual grants,
investment in human resources was not a priority for the university, and the university did not
encourage more efficient use of financial resources.

The effect of organizational culture on organizational performance was positive and statistically
significant. It implied that to raise the performance of an organization, it is necessary to improve
the organizational culture of the university. The organizational-culture of the university had a
positive and statistically significant effect on employees’ organizational commitments. It is
possible to conclude that to raise the organizational commitment of employees, it is also
necessary to work and lay a foundation on the culture of the university.

66
The joint effect of organizational culture and employee organizational commitments explained
61.8 percent of the organizational performance of the university. The data implied that
organizational culture and employee organizational commitments explained the majority
organizational performance of the university. Generally, the effects of organizational culture
and employees’ commitment individually and jointly have a substantial impact on the
organizational performance of the university. In nutshell, if the university wants to boost its
performance, it is significant to work on both organizational culture and organizational
employee's commitment.

5.3 Recommendations
 Respondents were dissatisfied by their participation in their organization. Hence, the
university better to design a genuine not symbolic mechanism to participate in
employees on their and organization affairs.
 The university is inconsistent in approach to do business and the set of values that
govern. The university should establish a consistent approach to do business and respect
the expected university values with accountability and transparency
 The university has a low tendency to accommodate changes. Changes are inevitable in
the contemporary world. Hence, the top-level management with the Board of the
university should entertain the internal and external environment pressure by designing a
mechanism that encourages the employees of the university.
 The motivation of the university to encourage innovation was low. Hence, the university
needs to mobilize its employees towards innovation by benchmarking other similar
universities.
 The university was unable to create excitement and motivate employees properly to
achieve its desired goals. The university is expected to encourage employees with
financial and non-financial rewards from internal and external financial sources.
 v The grand mean for all organizational culture attribute components (employee
involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission) was below expected. The
university should revisit the way, values, norms of the organization by full commitment
to entertain the desired culture.
 Employees lack moral obligation and loyalty to stay in the university. The situation
 leads employees to join another organization if they get the advantage. Hence, the

67

university with its employees should find the major causes of lower morale and intention
of leaving their organization, and take remedial actions.
 The associated cost of employees to leave Ethiopian Civil Service University was low.
The university should increase the cost of leaving university employees by providing
further education by developing various schemes that benefit employees.
 Respondents believed that ECSU students do not have a positive image of their
university. The university should identify the reasons why students lack a positive
attitude toward the university and act on the same. It needs to create awareness for the
students to change their negative attitudes. Furthermore, it is necessary to establish
alumni of the students to understand the problems of the university and students.
 The university did not serve the community effectively through research &consultation.
The university needs to identify the main problems associated with community service
and take remedial action based on the finding.
 v Respondents rated positively on the university currently offered courses and new
services such as program, curriculum &training. The university should maintain such
types of course delivery by entertaining the needs of customers.
 Respondents believed that communication in various levels of a university was not
smooth and productive. The university should establish and maintain proper academic
culture communication channels with accountability and transparency.
 v Respondents perceived that top management unable to deal seriously with the staff
suggestions. The university management should exercise and permit academic autonomy
to the academics staff with accountability and transparency. The university staff
expected to exercise their rights based on the proclamation of Civil Service and Higher
Education. Furthermore, the assignment of a top-level management position in the
university based on merit rather than political anointment.
 Respondents dissatisfied by top management that they were unable to encourage staff
and students to get annual grants. The university should find finance from internal and
external sources to make employees and students benefited from the grant by conducting
 research
 The effect of organizational culture has a positive and statistically significant impact on
organizational performance. The university should work on the cultures of the

68

organization such as employee involvement, adaptability, consistency, and mission of

the organization to enhance its organizational performance.
 Organizational culture has also a positive and statistically significant effect on
employees’ commitments. ECSU should work on organizational culture to boost the
commitment of the employee.
 The joint effect of organizational culture and employee organizational commitments
explained 61.8 percent of organizational performance of the university. Hence, the
university should work on both cultures of the organization and employee commitment
to enhancing university performance.

5.3.1 Recommendation for Further Research

First, there is limited research conducted on the mediating role of employee's organizational
commitment between the relationship between organizational culture and organizational
performance. This limitation is more pronounced in the context of developing nations in general
and in Ethiopia in particular. The recommendation forwarded in this study is used for Ethiopian
Civil Service University. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct further research in different
organizations to broaden research in various contexts.

Secondly, there are different models and frameworks of organizational culture used to examine
the relationship of organizational culture with organizational performance. Such models include
Edger Schein, Robert Cooke’s, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Denison, and Kim Cameron and
Robert Quinn models. This research used the Denison model to estimate the effect of
organizational culture on organizational performance besides, further research on the same
organization using different models to get a deep understanding and to check whether the result
is consistent or not.

Finally, the relationship between organizational culture and organizational performance is not
only affected by employee commitment but also by other variables. These may include
leadership, innovation, job satisfaction, quality management practice, and knowledge
management. The variables affect the relationship between organizational culture and
organizational performance as mediating and moderating variables that need further studies to
get a deep understanding of the subject.

69

References

Addisalem, Z. (2019). The Effect of Organizational Culture on Organizational Performance:

The Case of Bank of Abyssinia: Unpublished Thesis Submitted to Addis Ababa
University, School of Commerce in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Business Leadership.
Ahmed, M. &Shafiq, S. (2014). The Impact of Organizational Culture on Organizational
Performance: A Case Study of Telecom Sector: Global Journal of Management and
Business Research: Global Journals Inc. (USA)
Akhtar, I. (2016). Research Design

Allen, N. J., and Meyer, J.P.,(1990). The Measurement and Antecedents of Affective:
Continuance and Normative Organizational Commitment to the Organization. Journal
of Occupational Psychology, Vol.63, p.1-18Based on the Competing Values Framework
(3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social
psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of
personality and social psychology, 51(6), 1173.
Bonaparte, W. J. (2008). The impact of organizational citizenship behavior and organizational
commitment on organizational performance (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation).Nova
Southeastern University, Florida, United States.
Boon, O. K., &Arumugam, V. (2006). The influence of corporate culture on organizational
commitment: Case study of semiconductor organizations in Malaysia. Sunway
Academic Journal, 3, 99–115.
Cameron, K.S. and Quinn,R.E.(2011). Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture. San
 Francisco: Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint.
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: based
on the competing values framework: Addison-Wesley Publishing.
Çelik, H. E., &Yılmaz, V. (2013).Lısrel 9.1 ileYapısalEşitlikModellemesi. Ankara:
AnıYayıncılık.

70

Chilla, H. ,Kibet, Y & Douglas, M. (2014). Effects of Organizational Culture on Organizational

Performance in the Hospitality Industry. International Journal of Business and
Management Invention ISSN (Online): 2319 – 8028.
Civelek, M, E. (2018). "Essentials of Structural Equation Modeling". Zea E-Books.64.
https://digitalcommons. unl.edu /zeabook /64
Cohen,J.(1988). Statistical Power Analysis of Behavioral Science (2nd Edition) Hillsdale
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Cooke, R. A. (1989). Organizational Culture Inventory, leader's guide. (2nd ed.) Plymouth, MI:
Human Synergistic
Dejene, D. (2011). The Practices and Prospects of Knowledge Management in Ethiopian
Knowledge-Intensive Organizations: The Case of Ethiopian Civil Service College and
Ethiopian Management Institute (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University).
Demis, M. (2017).Assessment of the Implementation of Performance Appraisal System in
Ethiopian Public Universities in the Case of Ethiopian Civil Service University and
Kotebe Metropolitan University.
Denison, R.D.and Neale, S.W. (2011). Denison organizational Survey Facilitator Guidline.
Denison consulting LLC
Denison, D. R, & Mishra, A. K. (1995). Toward a theory of organizational culture and
effectiveness. Organization Science, 6(2), 204–223
Denison, D. R. (1984).Bringing corporate culture to the bottom line. Organizational Dynamics,
13(2):5-22.
Denison, D.R. (1990). Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness. John Wiley: New
 York, NY.
DesalegnWorku (2016). Leadership Behavior in CBE and Its Effect on Employee Performance:
The Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment. A Thesis Submitted to School of
Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University for Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
of the Degree of Executive Master in Business Administration in Management (EMBA)
Fakhar, S., Iqbal, I., & Gulzar, M. (2014). Impact of Organizational Culture on Employees Job
Performance: An Empirical Study of Software Houses in Pakistan Journal of Business
Studies Quarterly, 5(2).

71

Hagot, A (2017). Influence Of Job Satisfaction On Organizational Commitment of Employees

At Ethiopian Management Institute: A Thesis Submitted To Addis Ababa University
College of Business and Economics School of Commerce Office of Graduate Studies

Hajima.B. (2018). The Effect of Organizational Culture on Employee performance: A Case of

Addis Ababa Abattoirs: Unpublished thesis Submitted to Addis Ababa University,
School of Commerce in Partial Fulfillment for the Award of Masters of Arts Degree in
Human Resource Management.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2014). A primer on partial least squares
structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Sage.

Hair, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Mena, J. A. (2012). An assessment of the use of
partial least squares structural equation modeling in marketing research. Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, 40(3), 414-433.

Hattangadi, V. (2017). Edgar Schein’s three levels of organizational culture. http://

drvidyahattangadi.com/ Edgar-Scheins-three-levels-organizational-culture (accessed on
September 26, 2020)
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related
Values, Beverly Hills, CA, Sage Publications.
Huajuan He(2012). Determinants of Customer's Complaint Intention of Nanning's (China)
 Retail Store. A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the
Degree of Master of Business Administration at University of the Thai Chamber of
Commerce.
Indiya, G. D., Obura, J., &Mise, J. K. (2018).Effect of Organization Culture on organization
Performance on Public Universities in Kenya. Information Technology Management,
21(3), 1-14
Irefin, P., & Mechanic, M. A. (2014). Effect of employee commitment on organizational
performance in Coca Cola Nigeria Limited Maiduguri, Borno State. IOSR Journal of
Humanities & Social Science, 19(3), 33–41.
Isorait, M.(2008). The Balanced Scorecard Method: From Theory to Practice:
IntelektinëEkonomika intellectual Economics 2008, No. 1(3), and P.18–28

72

Kamau, P. (2019). Corporate culture and organizational performance: A case of Mayfair casino,
Nairobi city county, Kenya: Global Journal of Commerce and Management Perspective.
Department of Human Resource Management, School of Business, Kenyatta University.
Kamau, PM &Wanyoike, RW (2019). Corporate culture and organizational performance: A
case of Mayfair casino, Nairobi city county, Kenya: Global Journal of Commerce and
Management Perspective: Department of Human Resource Management, School of
Business, Kenyatta University

Kandula, S. R. (2006). Performance Management, New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India private
limited.
Kaplan, R.S. & Norton, D.P. (1992) "The balanced scorecard measures that drive
performance." Harvard Business Review, January-February 1992, 71-79
Kashefi, M. A., Mahjoub Adel, R., RahimiGhasem Abad, H., HesabiAliklayeh, M. B.,
KeshavarzMoghaddam, H., &Nadimi, G. (2013).Organizational commitment and its
effects on organizational performance. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary
Research in Business, 4(12), 501–510.
Kothari, C., R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. 2nd revised ed. New
Delhi: New Age International.
Kotter, J. &Heskett, J. (1992).Corporate culture and performance. New York: Free Press.
Kumar, S. &Upadhaya,G. (2017). Structure Equation Modeling Basic Assumptions and
Concepts: A Novices Guide. International Journal of Quantitative and Qualitative
Research Methods Vol.5, No.4, pp.10-16.
Lawler, E., & McDermott, M. (2003). Current performance management practices.
WorldatWork Journal, 12(2), 49-60

Meyer JP, Allen NJ. (1997).Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research, and application.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage;
Meyer,J.P., Allen,N.J., and Smith,C.A.,(1993). Commitment to Organizations and
Occupations: Extension and Test of a Three-Component Model. Journal of Applied
Psychology, Vol.78, P.538-551
Michal, A. (2018). The Effect Of Organizational Culture On Job Performance: The Case Of
Giz-Ethiopia Office Addis Ababa University School Of Commerce.Unpublished thesis

73

Submitted to Addis Ababa University, School of Commerce in Partial Fulfillment for

the Award of Masters of Arts Degree in Human Resource Management
Moullin, M. (2003).Defining performance measurement.Perspectives on Performance, 2(1), 3-
15
Muijs, D. (2010). Doing quantitative research in education with SPSS.Sage.
Nadler, D. & Nadler, M. B. (1998). Champions of change: How CEOs and their companies are
mastering the skills of radical change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Neely, A. D. (1998). Beyond Balance: Three Key Roles for Measurement. BusinessIntelligence
Conference, London
Nicklas D.W. and Janz B.D, (2010): Organizational culture: another piece of theIT-
Business alignment puzzle.
Nikpour,A. (2017).The impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: The
mediating role of employee’s organizational commitment. International Journal of
Organizational Leadership, (6) 65-72
Omukaga, A.A (2016). Effects of Organizational Culture on Employee Performance at AON
 Limited, Nairobi, Kenya. A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration,
School of Business, University of Nairobi
Peters,T.J&Waterman,R.H.(1999). In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's, Best-Run
Companies. New York: Harper and Row Publishing Company Inc.
Pfeffer (1994) ,Hellen.A.Challa, Dr. Yusuf Kibet, Dr Musiega Douglas “International Journal of
Business and Management Invention ISSN(Online): 2319-8028
Saffold, G.(1998). Culture Traits, Strength, and Organizational Performance: Moving beyond
Strong Culture. The Academy of Management Review, 13:546-558
Saiyadin, M S. (2003). Human Resource Management, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing
Company Ltd, New Delhi.

Saunders M, Lewis P, Thornhill A. (2007).Research methods for business students. Great

Britain, Prentice Hall 2007; 5thedition.

Schein, E. H. (1986). What you need to know about organizational culture. Training

74

and Development Journal, 40, 30-33.

Schein, E. H. (1993). Legitimating Clinical Research in the Study of Organizational Culture.

Journal of Counseling & Development, 71, 703-708.

Schein, E. H. (1991). Organizational Culture and Leadership (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley
& Sons, Inc

Schein, E. H (1985), Organizational Culture and Leadership, Jossey-Bas, San Francisco, CA

Schein, E.H. (2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership.

Schein, E.H. (2016). Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco, Josey-Bass, John
Selvalakshmi, V. & K Guru, K. (2017). Organizational Cultural and Organizational
Performance: Bridging the Quandaries: International Journal of Applied Research 3(4):
658-660
Singh, P., & Das, G. S. (1978).Organizational culture and its impact on commitment to work.
Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 13(4), 511–524.
Slocum, J. W. (2005). Managing corporate culture through reward systems.Academy of
Management Executive, 19, 130–138.
Stalk, G. (1988). Time - the next source of competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review,
1988, Jul-Aug, 41-51.
T aib, C, A. & M oh amm ed, H, A. ( 2016). Qu ali ty M an agement Practices,
Organiz atio nal L earn ing, Org anizat ional Cul ture, and Org aniza tion al
P erformance in Iraqi High er Educ ati on I nst itution: An Instr ument De sign:
Art icle in In ternat ional Journa l of Appli ed Bu siness and Ec onom ic Rese arch
Venkatraman,N.,&Ramanujam,V.(1986). Measurement of Business Performance in
Strategy Research: A Comparison Approaches. Academy of Management
Review,11,801-814.
Wambugu,L.(2014).Effects of Organizational Culture on Employee Performance (Case Study
of Wartsila - Kipevu Ii Power Plant): European Journal of Business and Management.
Vol.6, No.32.Wiley 7 Sons, Inc. The USA

75

Z aid atol, A.and Ba ghe ri,A (2009), Entr epren eursh ip as a Cen ter : Ana lysis of
En trepr ene urial Self Effici ency and In ternat ional of Univ ersity S tud ent,
Eu rope an Jou rnal of Soci al Sci enc e 9 (2)338- 346
 76

Annex 1

Addis Ababa University

Sex Male Female

Your staffs Academic Administrative
Educational level BA/BSC MA/MAS PhD
Service at ECSU in a year <1 1-5 6-10 >10
School of Graduate Studies, College of Business and Economics

Department of Public Management

 Questionnaire for Ethiopian Civil Service University Employees

Dear Respondent

I am Aleazar Ali conducting research on “organizational culture and its effect on organizational
performance of Ethiopian Civil Service University with the mediating role of employee
organizational commitment. The main objective of the research is to examine the direct and
indirect effect of organizational culture on organizational performance of Ethiopian Civil
Service University. The data to be gathered will be used in writing my masters degree thesis.
The success of this study however depending on your genuine responses. So you are kindly
requested to fill the questionnaire. There is no right or wrong answers and what is required is to
give your idea about level of personal opinion to each item. All your answer to the questions
will be kept strictly confidential, you as individual will not be identified, and you do not need to
write your name.

Thank you for your cooperation in Advance!

Part I: The following statements are regarding your personal information. Please indicate by
putting tick mark () in the box in front of each variable in the optional items.

Table 1 Demographic Information

77
Key: 1=Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Neutral 4=Agree 5=Strongly Agree Rating
I. Employees Involvement 1 2 3 4 5
Decisions in ECSU are made at the levels where right information is available
ECSU employees believe that they can have a positive impact to their organization
Employees of ECSU participate on their issue & there is clear mechanisms to happen such
participation
Cooperation across different parts of the organization is encouraged in ECSU
Teamwork in ECSU is used to get work done, rather than hierarchy
ECSU employees work like they are part of a team
There is a continuous investment to develop the skills of employees
The capabilities of employees are viewed as an important source of competitive advantage
Authority is delegated in the university so that employees can act on their own
II. Consistency
Managers of ECSU practice what they are preaching
There is a consistent set of values that govern the way of ECSU
There is an ethical code that guides employees behavior and tells right from wrong
When disagreements occur in ECSU, employee work hard to achieve a "win-win" solutions
There is a clear agreement among employees regarding the right way & the wrong way to do
things in the ECSU
It is possible to reach consensus in ECSU, even on conflicting issues
Employees from different parts of the ECSU share a common perspective
It is easy to coordinate projects across different parts of the ECSU
The approach to do business is very consistent in the university
III. Adaptability
Improved ways to do work are continually adapted
Different parts of the organization cooperate to create change
ECSU respond to both internal and external changes in the business environment
Customers comment leads to changes and influences decision making
Employees of ECUS understand customers needs
Customers inputs directly influences company's decisions
Innovation is encouraged at ECSU
Learning is an important objective in a day-today work of the company
ECSU view failures as an opportunity for learning and improvement
IV. Mission
ECSU has a clear mission that gives meaning and direction
ECSU strategic direction is clear to me
There is a long-term purpose and direction of the ECSU
Leaders set goals that are ambitious, but realistic

Part II: The following table describes statements under each of the basic dimensions of
organizational culture (i.e. Employees involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission of
organization). There are five options beside each statement listed. Therefore, you are kindly
requested to put “√” under the value that describes your opinion. The choices are ranged from
strongly disagree to strongly agree. Rate 1 for strongly disagree, 2 for disagree, 3 for neutral, 4 for
agree and 5 for strongly agree

78
ECSU continuously track its progress against the stated goals
There is widespread agreement about the goals of the ECSU
Employees have a shared vision of what the organization will look like in the future
ECSU creates excitement and motivation for employees

If you have any comment on organizational culture of the university, please write it in the blank

space
..........................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
 79

Part III:
Employees’ The following
Organizational table describes statements about the basic dimensions of employees’
Commitment
organizational commitment (i.e. affective, continual and normative commitment). There are five

Key: 1=Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Neutral 4=Agree 5=Strongly Agree Rating

I. Affective commitment 1 2 3 4 5
I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career at ECSU
I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own
I feel ECSU as part of my family
I am emotionally attached to ECSU
ECSU has a great deal of personal meaning for me
I feel a strong sense of belonging to ECSU
II. Normative Commitment
I feel as obligation to stay with ECSU
Even if it is my advantage to join other organization , I feel it would be right to stay at ECSU
I would feel guilty if I left ECSU now
This organization deserves my loyalty
I would stay my organization right now because of my sense of obligation to it
I owe a great deal to ECSU
III. Continuance Organizational Commitment
It would be very hard for me to leave my job at ECSU right now even if I wanted to
Too much of my life would be disrupted if I leave my ECSU
Right now, staying with my job at ECSU is a matter of necessity as much as desire
I believe I have too few options to consider leaving ECSU
One of the few negative consequences of leaving my job at ECSU would be the scarcity of
available alternative elsewhere
One of the major reasons I continue to work at ECSU is that leaving would require
If you have any comment
considerable please write it in the blank space
personal sacrifice
options beside each statement listed. Therefore, you are kindly requested to put “√”under the
option that describes your opinion.

............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
 ............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................

80

Key: 1=Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Neutral 4=Agree 5=Strongly Agree Rating

I. Customer Perspective 1 2 3 4 5
The university conducts an annual survey to examine student level of satisfaction
The university uses students feedback to improve performance
ECSU employees are satisfied by their organization performance
Students get respect from the academic and administrative staff in the university
The university offers services for students & trainees in the shortest possible time.
The university is enthusiastic to provide high-quality services
ECSU Students have a good image on ECSU
The university-trained highly qualified students who could contribute to society
The university serves the community effectively through research & consultation
II. Internal Process Perspective
The ECSU offers several new service such as new courses, program, curriculum & training
The university provides an acceptable ratio of academic staff to students.
The ECSU offers all the facilities as required in proportion to the number of students& trainees.
Communication in various levels of a university is smooth and productive
The university deploys academic staffs based on university standards
III. Learning and Growth Perspective
Top management encourages staff to receive awards such as patents, excellence awards
Top management dealing seriously with the staff suggestions
Top management is enthusiastic in adapting to new technology and new ideas.
Top management contributes to the involvement of all the staff to develop competencies.
Top management encourages academic staff to increase research productivity.
Academic excellence is top management objective (through an increasing publish articles in
journals, scientific conferences, and scientific awards)
Top management creates a mechanism to provide short term training for the staffs
Top management creates an opportunity of long term training for the staff to increase their rank
IV. Financial Perspective
The university gets an increase in the funding rate from time to time
Investment in human resources is a priority for the university
Top management encourages staff and students to get annual grants.
Most of the financial resources are deployed for the core process (teaching & learning) of ECSU
The university encourages more efficient use of financial resources
Part IV: The following table describes statements regarding ECSU performance attributes that can
be measured by balanced scorecard perspectives (customer, internal process, learning & growth,
and Financial Perspectives). There are five options beside each statement listed. Therefore, you are
 kindly requested to put “√”under the option that describes your opinion based on the key given in
the table.

Organizational Performance

..................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
If you have any comment please write it in the blank space

81

Annex 2
 Interview Guide for Key Informants
This interview guide has been designed to collect data on “The effect of organizational culture
on organizational performance in Ethiopian Civil Service University with the mediating role of
employees’ organizational commitment. The researcher is a second Degree student of Public
Management and policy analysis at Addis Ababa University. The purpose of this interview is for
the academic fulfillment at the second degree level and you will be treated with confidentiality.
Thank you
1. To what extent are organizational culture practiced in your organization?
 Employees involvement
 Organization consistency
 Organization adaptability and
 Organization mission
2. If you believe that your organization practice organizational culture is good/bad what are the
major reasons?

3. Do you believe that your organization employees are committed to their work?

 Affective commitment
 Normative commitment
 continuance commitment

4. If you believe that there is Employees organizational commitment or lack commitment in your
organization, why is so?

5. How do you evaluate the Balanced Scorecard practice of measuring organization

performance?

 Customer satisfaction
 Internal process
 Learning and growth
 Budget use
6. If your organization performance practice is good/bad what are the major reasons behind that?

82