924694

research-article20202020
SGOXXX10.1177/2158244020924694SAGE OpenNaz et al.

Original Research

SAGE Open

A Study in the Relationship Between

April-June 2020: 1­–20
© The Author(s) 2020
DOI: 10.1177/2158244020924694
https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020924694

Supportive Work Environment journals.sagepub.com/home/sgo

and Employee Retention: Role of

Organizational Commitment and
Person–Organization Fit as Mediators

Shumaila Naz1,2 , Cai Li1, Qasim Ali Nisar2,

Muhammad Aamir Shafique Khan1, Naveed Ahmad3,
and Farooq Anwar4

Abstract
The main aim of the study was to empirically investigate the mediating role of organizational commitment (OC) and person–
organization fit (POF) between the causal relationship of supportive work environment (SWE) and employee retention (ER).
One thousand questionnaires were sent to the targeted population included employees of all chains of multinational fast-food
brands (restaurants) in Lahore, Pakistan. The restaurants were selected from clusters by using a cluster sampling technique.
Questionnaires were comprised of multiple items adopted from former studies to obtain responses using quantitative
methodology. For statistical analysis and to test the proposed hypothesis, the partial least squares (PLS) structural equation
modeling (SEM) technique was employed through Smart PLS 2.0 M3 software. The study’s findings elucidated that SWE has
a positive and significant association with ER. In addition, OC and POF acted as mediators between the relationship of a
SWE and ER. This study presented implications for human resource (HR) practitioners that they should endure developing
mechanisms for imparting a SWE to foster healthy exchange relationships with people, which in turn will result in ER. This
article significantly contributed to the extant literature on the relationship of the SWE and ER while highlighting the critical
factors to be noticed for retaining key employees. This study also explicated the limitations and scope for further research.

Keywords
supportive work environment, organizational commitment, person–organization fit, employee retention, perceived
organizational support

Introduction The hospitality sector is progressing massively during

recent years. According to the “Fast Food Industry Analysis—
In today’s knowledge-intensive and highly competitive era, Cost & Trends” (2018), over the globe, this sector gives
retention of organizational people is becoming the major around US$570 billion in revenue. The fast-food sector is the
global challenge confronted by the organizations (Aguenza second largest sector in Pakistan, accounting for 27% for its
& Som, 2018). Human resource management (HRM) has worthy production. Pakistan occupies the world’s eighth
been evolved as an integral factor that is crucial for obtaining largest market concerning fast food and food-related busi-
a competitive edge (Kaushik et al., 2013). Employees’ turn- ness. The hospitality sector generates 16% of the total
over harms organization performance due to the exemption
of a talented workforce from the employing organization 1
Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, P.R. China
(Guchait & Cho, 2010). With the emergence of strategic 2
The Superior College, Lahore, Pakistan
HRM, retention of the best people is considered as a critical 3
Karakoram International University, Gilgit, Pakistan
role of HRM (Bhatnagar, 2007). Past research delineates 4
The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan
various retention practices such as job empowerment, job
Corresponding Author:
enrichment, monetary and non-monetary rewards, training Cai Li, School of Management, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road,
and development prospects, job climate, and work–life bal- Zhenjiang 212013, Jiangsu, P.R. China.
ance (Aguenza & Som, 2018; Ghosh et al., 2013). Email: gscaili@ujs.edu.cn

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of
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(https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
2 SAGE Open

employment in the manufacturing sector, with a forecasted validates and provides practical shreds of evidence to mod-
180-million consumers (Noor, 2016). The estimated employ- els of SET and TOE in case of employees working at the
ment figure indicates the number of employees required to food sector in Pakistan.
retain in the growing industry. Given the assertion on the
importance of retaining talent in the Pakistan food sector,
Literature Review
this article attempts to find strategies for employee retention
(ER). Today, organizations are primarily focusing on how to attract
According to Guchait and Cho (2010), more than 80% of and retain key workforce (Aguenza & Som, 2018). Due to
employees would like to work in a healthy and supportive increased gaps in the employees’ demand and supply,
environment. Thereby, it is becoming important to provide a employers are striving hard to retain valued people (Guchait
supportive work environment (SWE) to retain talented per- & Cho, 2010). According to the TOE (March & Simon,
sonnel (Ghosh & Sahney, 2011). A SWE is a significant ante- 1958), employees are rewarded with an expectation that they
cedent of ER (Richman et al., 2008). Many scholars have will be likely to stay with the organization to contribute
cited the necessity to sustain the learning culture and a better equally in exchange relationships. Support obtained from
working climate for promoting the best professionals colleagues, supervisors, and workplace reinforces positive
(Boswell et al., 2017). The existence of SWE is mandatory work behaviors and attitudes such as OC and satisfaction
for employers to maintain desirable development and profits with the job (Luthans et al., 2008). Research proclaimed that
(Luthans et al., 2008). employees relation with peers and supervisor has strong pre-
In the context of employee turnover, what are the prede- dictive ability to account changes in the SWE (Ma Prieto &
cessor of organizational commitment (OC) and perceived Pilar Pérez-Santana, 2014). Based on the literature (Kundu
organizational support (POS) has been a fundamental query & Lata, 2017), SWE is measured with respect to the per-
in the domain of behavioral science. Scholars are intriguing ceived climate (PC; Kennedy & Daim, 2010), supervisory
to examine the interplay of OC invariant change contingen- relationship (SR; Rhoades et al., 2001; Umamaheswari &
cies (Y. Chang et al., 2015; Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002). OC Krishnan, 2016), peer-group interaction (PG; Ghosh &
is a job attitude that is closely related to employee participa- Sahney, 2011), and POS (Ghosh & Sahney, 2011; Rhoades
tion, retention, and employee performance (Metin & Asli, et al., 2001).
2018; Sharma & Dhar, 2016). Person–organization fit (POF) According to Boswell et al. (2017), a SWE refers to the
is another foremost component that leads toward decreasing climatic component that includes supervisory/peer support,
intention to turnover. Individuals perceiving high POF are obstacle, and prospect to apply learned behavior in the work-
more likely to satisfied with the job and, consequently, do place. ER shows employers’ intentions to maintain organiza-
not intend to leave and reverse the relationships which are tional stability by keeping older employees in their
held valid (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005; Verquer et al., 2003). organizations. Person–organization fit (POF) denotes the
Organizational behavior (OB) scholars agreed that the extent integration between an individual and the organization and
of fit between two parties is favorable and vital for both in specifies the extent to which an individual and the corporate
terms of performance and employer turnover (Mathieu et al., occupy similar factors to satisfy each other’s requirements
2016). A complete diagnostic analysis is obligatory to match (Boon, 2017). OC reflects that employees feel emotionally
a fit between organization culture and individual personality bonded and psychologically associated with an organization
and values to avoid employee turnover (Rostiana, 2017). (Meyer & Allen, 1997).
The research aims to cover the gap in the previous litera-
ture stream by empirically testing the impact of a SWE on
SWE and ER
OC and POF among employees, simultaneously predicting
the effects of OC and POF on ER. This study is underpinned A deliberate review of the literature indicates that supportive
with two approaches, such as social exchange theory (SET; organizational practices have considerable consequences on
Blau, 1964) and theory of organizational equilibrium (TOE; employee turnover (AbuAlRub et al., 2016). The debate on
March & Simon, 1958), asserting the belief that employee how SWE influences employee intentions and behaviors is
will be committed with an organization and stay to recipro- still subject to query. According to Ma Prieto and Pilar Pérez-
cate the supporting treatment by the organization. This study Santana (2014), organizational people have positive feelings
responds to the call of the previous research (Kundu & Lata, of support and stimulation in a SWE. SWE enhances the
2017) by fortifying the broader view of a SWE where OC employees’ interest in their jobs, thereby increasing their
and POF play the role of mediators to resolve the issue of performance (Ma Prieto & Pilar Pérez-Santana, 2014).
ER in the challenging service sector of Pakistan. Many stud- Different scholars ascribe variant factors that may influ-
ies focus on testing direct relationships; however, this study ence one’s intention to stay with the organization. According
bridge gap by empirically testing sequential relationships of to Hytter (2007), workplace practices, for instance, compen-
SWE, POF, and OC toward ER. Thus, contributing signifi- sation, supervisory styles, career development activities,
cantly to deliberation on ER theory and strategies. It further employee training and growth, physical working
Naz et al. 3

environment, and work–life balance, are positively related to people by influencing their commitment level (Rhoades
ER. As these practices give employees the signals that they et al., 2001) which ultimately creates the desire to perform
are being valued, therefore, Ramlall (2003) has purported productively and stay with the organization. Therefore, based
that such kind of perceived SWE encourages the employee on the above previous research, the following hypothesis can
intentions to retain. Others view that managers are retained be anticipated:
in organizations due to interpersonal relationships (Bamel
et al., 2013) and a well-developed environment (Ghosh & Hypothesis 1 (H1): SWE has a significant positive asso-
Sahney, 2011). Few others claim that supportive workplace ciation with ER.
factors such as encouragement, motivation, and job pres-
sures are positively related to ER (Kyndt et al., 2009).
Another study propagates that organizations utilize an effec-
SWE and OC
tive leadership style to establish a supportive environment A variety of studies have cited diverging views on the asso-
(Lancaster & Di Milia, 2015). ciation between work environment and OC. According to
A great number of studies have cited the supervisor’s sup- Luthans et al. (2008), desirable employee outcomes, for
port and peers’ support as predominating predictors of ER. instance, OC, and job satisfaction can be attained through a
For instance, one study suggests that supervisory support at supportive environment which employees may obtain while
the workplace may diminish stress and persuade an increased interacting with colleagues, direct supervisors, and other
level of job satisfaction (van Dierendonck et al., 2002) and counterpart departments. Others suggest that employees feel
employee intentions to retain (Eisenberger et al., 2002). The advantageous and committed in a work environment that
supervisor’s behavior significantly influences subordinate promises ownership to them (Miller et al., 2001). Similarly,
absenteeism (van Dierendonck et al., 2002). Another research Kline (2008) has stated that employee ownership (in any
view that positive supervisor rapport with their subordinates form) is positively linked to commitment. As per the research
is formed through sharing feedback and information, perfor- carried out by Wells and Thelen (2002), the provision of sub-
mance appraisal, appreciation, mutual exchange, reliability, stantial personnel policies and delegation of power on the
and assistance, which indicate support to the greater degree workplace stimulate employees’ energy to commit with
of retention (Ghosh & Sahney, 2011). Peers’ support is also employers for a longer period. Some other insist perfor-
proved to be a strong predictor of retention (Ng & Sorensen, mance monitoring, feedback from management, and the
2008). Participation and acknowledgment from higher man- supervisor–subordinate relationship do not only reduce stress
agement give employees the perception that the organization levels rather also give rise to job satisfaction and OC (Firth
is supportive (Kirkland et al., 2017; Kurtessis et al., 2017). et al., 2004). In addition, OC is predicted by various work-
Such POS influences employees’ emotions, attach them psy- related environmental variables, namely, supervisor support,
chologically with the organization, and reinforce them to promotional chances, colleagues relationship, prevalent
stay longer. Hereby, POS (a component of SWE) is empiri- working conditions (Richards et al., 1994), social support
cally considered as an antecedent of people’s behavioral (Haggins, 2011), POS (Casper et al., 2002), and opportunity
intentions (Saks, 2006). to participate in decision-making (Subramaniam & Mia,
It is assumed that the lack of agreement on which com- 2001).
mon factors can be attributed to ER is due to the unique con- Employees’ trust in their supervisors fosters OC (Gilbreath
text of a particular industry and country. To bridge the gap & Benson, 2004; Perry, 2004), which cannot be earned with-
and conclude, therefore, this study aims to contribute to the out a positive supervisory role. The supervisory role is con-
deliberation on which factors influence ER in the fast-food sidered most important for organizational performance and a
industry of Pakistan. Majority researchers have discussed large number of studies empirically evident that healthy
role of PC, SR, PG, and POS individually, but this study pro- superior–subordinates relationship enhances employee’s
vides contextualized perspective of SWE in bundle form of job-satisfaction (Newsome & Pillari, 1992), thereby leading
four dimensions (PC, SR, PG, and POS) as suggested in ear- to increased OC (Landsman, 2008). Supportive and innova-
lier study (Kundu & Lata, 2017). To our limited knowledge, tive culture (Lok et al., 2005) are positively linked to com-
no study is found which measures impact factors of SWE mitment. Henceforward, an organization should attempt to
(PC, SR, PG, and POS) on ER in challenging fast-food res- find ways to foster a healthier working environment to sus-
taurants of Pakistan though a few studies are found in the tain improved relationships with workers (Levi, 2002).
western context. On the contrary, Maqsood (2011), in his study on the work
Undergrounding with SET and TOE, people who perceive environment, ascertains that supervisor support is not related
greater support from their employer organizations are more to continuance commitment, which is one form of OC. The
likely to sense obligation to their organizations and recipro- debate continued on which factors may embark influence in
cate their exchange relations by staying for a longer period. determining one’s commitment toward the organization. To
(Eisenberger et al., 2002; Presbitero et al., 2016). These theo- date, scholars have introduced different factors influencing
ries proliferate how an organization emotionally attaches OC. The debate instigates authors to try to close the gap by
4 SAGE Open

analyzing the interplay of variables of SWE (PC, SR, PG, (Harden et al., 2018). Scholarly work inveterate that OC is
and POS) in the combined form on OC in the food sector of positively associated with ER (Carmeli & Weisberg, 2006;
Pakistan. Firth et al., 2004; Neininger et al., 2010; Rostiana, 2017;
Based on the assertion of SET, people who receive higher Saraih et al., 2017) invariant contexts. Authors aim to seek
support from their employer organization are more likely to whether staff working at food restaurants like to stay due to
reciprocate the organization while expressing a sense of their commitment or other factors may significantly affect
affiliation, loyalty, and OC (Eisenberger, 2015; Kurtessis their intentions to stay. As a result of this, the following
et al., 2017). According to TOE, the employee is provided a hypothesis can be postulated:
good working environment in an expectation that feelings of
support and care will give rise to employee’s commitment Hypothesis 3 (H3): OC has a significant positive associa-
toward the organization to equalize employer and employee tion with ER.
relationship (Valentine et al., 2002; Vanaki & Vagharseyyedin,
2009). Hence, based on the discussion mentioned above, the Mediating Role of OC Between SWE
following hypothesis can be postulated:
and ER Relationship
Hypothesis 2 (H2): SWE has a significant positive asso- Previous studies have empirically demarcated that a SWE is
ciation with OC. a predictor of OC (Rhoades et al., 2001) and ER (Eisenberger
et al., 2002). Employees are more intended to stay if they
perceive working environment is favorable and are less
OC and ER likely to stay if they perceive working environment is unfa-
Organizations are striving hard and intriguing to hire and vorable to them (Ghosh et al., 2013). Moreover, individuals
retain human capital as staffing and retention are key issues are less likely to find other jobs if a philosophy of commit-
in a competitive era (Kundu & Lata, 2017). The tight labor ment is prevalent, which is a positive outcome of SWE, and
market enforces organizations to retain valuable trained lack of commitment level brings a desire to leave the organi-
human resources (Guchait & Cho, 2010). ER plays a signifi- zation (Firth et al., 2004). Consequently, this infers that OC
cant role in evaluating the strength of the culture of any orga- may mediate the relationship between a SWE and ER. The
nization (Kennedy & Daim, 2010). Individuals are more simultaneous impact of numerous exogenous variables,
inclined to retain in those organizations where they are including SWE and OC, on retention of employees, has been
highly involved as engaged employees have more learning tested significantly by recent studies (Eisenberger, 2015;
attitudes (Bhatnagar, 2007). Employee engagement is Kurtessis et al., 2017; Luthans et al., 2008).
derived from one of the forms of OC referred to affective Conferring to SET and TOE, support gained from super-
commitment (Richman et al., 2008). visors leads toward perceived organization support, which
OC is a signal of an employee’s desire to stay with the enables employees to commit with their employing organi-
organization (Bulut & Culha, 2010). People with high com- zation and, thereby limiting the desire to quit since people
mitment demonstrate loyalty, emotional connection with job tend to reciprocate positively to management support
and recognize themselves with organizational objectives (Eisenberger et al., 1990). Majority studies concentrate their
(Bulut & Culha, 2010). OC is gaining scholars’ attraction attention on examining the direct effect of work environment
due to its strength to yield functional outcomes for both the on ER. Only a few studies contemplate that OC mediates the
employees and organization (Mowday et al., 1982) and has relationship between work environment and ER (Juhdi et al.,
been studied as both an imperative organization related pre- 2013; Paré & Tremblay, 2007; Samgnanakkan, 2010) in non-
decessor and outcome (Meyer & Allen, 1997; Meyer et al., Asian context. Therefore, to bridge the gap, the study aims to
2002). OC is the prominent predictor of intentions to turn- check the mediating role of OC in the link between SWE and
over (Saraih et al., 2017; Umamaheswari & Krishnan, 2016), ER in the Asian context. Henceforth, the above literature
and it is negatively associated with turnover (Cooper-Hakim leads us to postulate the following hypothesis:
& Viswesvaran, 2005).
As an outcome, OC emerges from desirable work experi- Hypothesis 4 (H4): OC mediates the relationship between
ences, satisfaction from job, trust in supervisors, and attrac- SWE and ER.
tive compensation (Meyer et al., 2002). Previous work has
also demarcated that there is a connection between high-
SWE and POF
commitment human resource practices and advantageous
organizational outcomes, for example, improved organiza- In context of SET, a rapport between POS and POF lies in the
tion production, excellence, profits (Zhong et al., 2016), fact that an employee whose socio-emotional needs are
employee performance and positive job attitudes (Li et al., appreciated and compensated feels indebted to recompense
2019; Salah Ud Din Khan et al., 2017). A great amount of the organization by performing beyond job descriptions, and
research has been performed on intent to leave or turnover meeting all explicit and implicit organizational demands
Naz et al. 5

thus, in turn, exchanging ideology and maintaining POF two sides employee and the employer (Das & Baruah, 2013).
(Kristof-Brown et al., 2005). The positive supervisory role is Putting adequately fit people and strategically integrating
an indispensable part of a psychologically and emotionally them in the corporate culture improves the competitive edge
fit work climate (Gilbreath & Benson, 2004). As the supervi- of organizations and decreases employee turnover (Dawson
sor can guide and train their staff on how to achieve organi- & Abbott, 2011).
zational goals and values. Interactionist intellectuals view An effective POF infers that the person’s needs are pri-
that few climatic elements, for instance, supervisory provi- marily met, and the organizational demands are fulfilled
sion for creativity and delegation of power at work climate, (Boon, 2017; Lauver & Kristof-Brown, 2001). Underpinning
should enable an employee to show creativity at work (B. with TOE, employees will find less inducement to leave the
Zhang & Morris, 2014; X. Zhang & Bartol, 2010). Some of employer as they feel indebted to show higher commitment
the investigators explain POF as a goal analogy with top to the organization and to get equilibrium in the equation (Y.
management or coworker (Boon, 2017; Vancouver & Chang et al., 2015). These decisions can also be associated
Schmitt, 2006). with the norm of reciprocity or SET (Blau, 1964; Harden
POS (a factor of SWE) is an individuals’ inmost percep- et al., 2018). For illustration, as long as people and the orga-
tion that the organization cares about their wellbeing, respects nizations are satisfied with the preferences, requirements,
their opinions, realizes their work outcome, and in exchange, hopes, and aspirations, employees will continue to be com-
provides appreciation, facilitates, and meets their socio-emo- mitted and stay with the extant organization and vice versa.
tional needs (Eisenberger, 2015; Eisenberger et al., 2002). In Recent research has rendered assurances in support of the
fact, on the basis of law of reciprocity (SET and TOE), belief that POF is positively related to OC and is negatively
employee with POS obtains socio-emotional resources from connected to employee turnover intentions (Kirkland et al.,
employer organization, which in turn lead employee to trust 2017; Rostiana, 2017). Henceforth, based on the above lit-
and become adaptive toward organizational goals, values, erature, the following proposition can be formulated:
and culture and so give rise to compatibility between the
these two constructs, that is, POS and POF (Karatepe, 2012; Hypothesis 6 (H6): POF has a significant positive asso-
Kristof-Brown et al., 2005). Employees’ POS promote an ciation with ER.
intangible factor of exchange between two parties, that is,
support from both peers and management give birth to inno- The Mediating Role of POF Between
vative work behavior at the workplace, which is the desirable
work-related outcome (Ma Prieto & Pilar Pérez-Santana,
SWE and ER Relationship
2014). When work outcomes are met, employees’ efforts are Previous researchers’ views, one of the prominent works in
appreciated which stimulates employees to stay congruent psychology is to observe the person’s perceptions of the
with set organizational values and goals. Thereby, based on external environment and whether it is aligned to their expec-
the discussion mentioned above, the following proposition tations (Kirkland et al., 2017). It is the significantly evident
can be demarcated: fact that factors of the work environment influence people’s
behavior (Das & Baruah, 2013; Kyriakidou & Ozbilgin,
Hypothesis 5 (H5): SWE has a significant positive asso- 2004). A SWE creates a desire for discretionary behaviors
ciation with POF. and actions such as employees exhibit organizational citizen-
ship behavior (Gilbreath, 2004) and tend to behave as desired
(Ma Prieto & Pilar Pérez-Santana, 2014). If employees are
POF and ER
positioned in a working environment that is “fit” to them,
Research delineates POF as the similarity index between the they tend to feel leisure and amusement in performing their
organization culture and the value system of employees duties at work. The opposite holds for those employees who
(Boon, 2017). POF measures to what extent an employee are positioned in working environments that are not “fit” to
tries to be congruent with the organization’s values, goals, them. The occurrence of mismatch between two parties, that
objectives, and mission (Lauver & Kristof-Brown, 2001). is, employer organization and employee, leads to subpar
Lack of value–goal congruence between two parties, that is, employee performance (Westerman & Yamamura, 2007;
employee and employer, decreases one’s satisfaction, mostly Zhong et al., 2016) and such average below performance will
by violating his expectations, thereby provoking his inten- not be appreciated and rewarded. When employees’ needs
tions to leave the organization (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005). are not met, they will intend to leave the organization.
POF is gaining the attention of many practitioners as it is Underscoring the SET, social climates express an amalga-
a vital facet of employment and therefore connected to orga- mation of job attitudes, emotions, and behaviors which regu-
nizational retention, selection criteria, and job attitudes and late quality of life in an organization, and the way one
outcomes (Resick et al., 2007). This concept is reliant on the perceives the work environment determine to a large extent
belief that organizational performance and person productiv- the way one will act in that work setting (Lancaster & Di
ity will progress as a result of values similarity between the Milia, 2015), as perception is a predictor of behavior. POF is
6 SAGE Open

an important antecedent of career/job choice as employees Therefore, the stream of these perspectives endorses to visu-
choose those organization whose values are congruent to alize commitment behavior as an element of equitable
their values (Kim et al., 2016; Kurtessis et al., 2017) and are exchange between an organization and its employees. This
more inclined to retain in such organizations (Aguenza & idea is rooted in the philosophy of motivation, which entails
Som, 2018) and less likely to stay with not best suited. that both parties are bounded in an exchange relationship
Although this seemingly linear relationship would appear to (Lin, 2017). Employees’ perception of SWE motivates indi-
support the traditional models of turnover, POF scholars test viduals to be committed with the organization and stay to
the SWE–POF, and POF–ER relationships independently reciprocate the fair treatment by not quitting. When employ-
instead of concurrently. Therefore, to support sequential path ees feel they are treated with care and given SWE, then they
flow to turnover intentions, researchers need to simultane- reciprocate the support through commitment and stay for a
ously examine the combined effects of SWE and POF on ER. longer period.
It is contemplated that the deficiency of theoretical founda- The TOE advocates that an employee’s intention to stay in
tion has prevented empirical investigations of these sequen- the organization is balanced with the rewards provided by
tial relationships. This study attempts to investigate that the company and anticipated input from an employee (March
liking to work for certain organizations depends on the simi- & Simon, 1958). Based on SET and TOE, SWE signals an
larity between people’s insights of themselves and an organi- organization’s interest in maintaining a long-term relation-
zational image. The symmetry of values satisfies employees’ ship with its employees, and also takes care of the socio-
spiritual needs and encourages them to stay. Thereby, based emotional needs by providing benefits and rewards and push
on the above literature, the following supposition can be them in the aspects of the exchange. Following the norm of
delineated: reciprocity (SET), an individual working in the SWE obtains
socio-emotional resources that force him or her to believe
Hypothesis 7 (H7): POF mediates the relationship and become conducive to values of the organization in turn
between SWE and ER. moving to better value congruence between the employer
and employee (Karatepe, 2012). When both parties’ needs
are met, the employer will try to retain them and employees
Theoretical Consideration will not intend to leave the workplace.
The study contributes to the extant literature by presenting a
contextualized perspective of the SWE and the critical prob-
Methodology
lem of retention of the employee in Pakistan. In particular,
first, the research started with the theoretical recognition of Population and sample. The targeted population included
studied variables, later tested empirically through develop- employees of all chains of multinational fast-food brands
ing a structural model (Figure 1), and assessed how factors of (restaurants) in Lahore, Pakistan. This study used sampling
SWE are affecting the ER. in two steps. First, the restaurants were selected from clusters

H1

Supportive Work
environment (SWE) H2 H3
Organizational
Perceived climate
Commitment
Supervisory Employee
relationship
H4 Retention
Peer group interaction
Perceived H5 H6
organizational Person Organization Fit

support

H7

Figure 1. Research model

This proposed model is underpinned with two theories, by using a cluster sampling technique. District Lahore was
such as SET (Blau, 1964) and the TOE (March & Simon, divided into five clusters (five tehsils of district Lahore), and
1958). SET postulates that OC is driven by employees’ per- then two clusters were selected randomly refer to Appendix
ception of the employer’s commitment and support from (A and B). After selecting clusters, employees were selected
them (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005; Eisenberger, 2015). by applying a simple random sampling technique in the
Naz et al. 7

Table 1. Sample size calculation.

Clusters in Pakistan Selected restaurants Target population Sample size Questionnaires distributed
Lahore Cant 20 1370 151 625
Lahore City 25 1715 90 375
Total 45 3,085 341 1000

second step from selected clusters. Table 1 summarized that remaining 5.9% (14) belonged to the age group of 45+ years.
the total population of the selected restaurants in selected Meanwhile, 71.5% (171) of respondents had permanent job
clusters was 3,085. Krejcie and Morgan (1970) described positions, while 15.5% (37) were on the contractual nature of
that if the population is more than 3,000, a minimum sample employment, and the remaining 13% (31) of participants
size of 341 is enough. Meanwhile, as a rule of thumb, the were Internees in their respective restaurants. The results
sample size of a minimum 300 usually provided reliable relating to employees’ length of service found that 22.6%
results. For the purpose of ensuring the minimum 341 (54) of participants had up to 1-year job experience, 32.2%
respondents, a total of 1,000 and questionnaires were distrib- (77) of participants had 2 to 5 years of experience, while
uted in the selected restaurants. Moreover, the required sam- 15.5% (37) had 6 to 10 years of experience, and the remain-
ple was proportionate to the total number of elements in each ing 29.7% (71) had 10+ years of job experience.
cluster. As shown in Table 1, they were calculated by divid-
ing the sample required by the total population size in each
cluster and then multiplying it with the total sample size. Measures
SWE had been scaled on four multiple items such as PC
Data Collection Procedure (Kennedy & Daim, 2010), SR, PG (Ghosh & Sahney, 2011),
and POS (Rhoades et al., 2001). PC was measured on three
Restaurants (multinational fast food chains) were selected to items. One item of the scale on PC includes “employees are
examine the relationship between SWE and ER. The survey treated with respect.” The SR was measured on seven items.
questionnaire method was used to collect the data from employ- One of the items for a SR constitutes “supervisor is reliable and
ees. Prior to collect data from the participants, many proce- trustworthy.” PG was measured on eight items. For measuring
dures had to be fulfilled. First, a letter of recommendation for PG, one example of an item includes “people socialize with the
the data collection and request letter to obtain the list of co-workers even outside the Job.” POS was measured on eight
employees were sent to selected restaurants. After that, selected items. An example item on POS consists “my organization
restaurants were requested to participate, but only 45 restau- cares about my well-being.” OC was measured on nine items
rants agreed to participate in the study. An introductory and scale adopted from the 15 items Organizational Commitment
approval letter was sent to the concerned authorities of the Questionnaire (OCQ) Scale (Mowday et al., 1979). One item
selected restaurants to explain the objective of the study, and as an example was “for me; this is the best of all possible orga-
after their formal acceptance, data were collected by using the nizations for which to work.” The POF had been measured on
personally administrated survey methods. After having an four items scale developed by Netemeyer et al. (1997). One
appointment with the “Human Resource Departments,” the example of an item was “I feel that my personal values are a
selected restaurants were visited to collect their responses. Data good fit with this organizational culture.” ER had been mea-
were collected in two phases. In the first phase, only 168 par- sured on four items scale adopted from the Michigan
ticipants responded. Questionnaires were distributed again in Organizational Assessment Questionnaire (Cammann et al.,
selected restaurants to meet the required sample size. Therefore, 1983). An example item was “I would hate to quit this job.” All
in Phase 2, 71 participants participated and responded to survey these latent variables were measured on a 5-point Likert-type
questionnaire. The distribution and collection of the question- scale ranging from 1 “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree.”
naires took almost 4 months to be completed. All the constructs used in the study show a satisfactory level of
reliability and validity. A pilot study has not been performed
Sample Demographics because the study’s instrument is well established and adopted.
Furthermore, items of constructs such as SWE and ER have
This section deals with the demographic characteristics of been used in the service context as well (Kundu & Lata, 2017).
respondents. Results showed that out of 239 employees,
82.2% (198) were male and 17.2% (41) were female. The
findings reported that the majority of employees were aged Results
25 to 35 years. The survey accounted for 50.6% (121) of
Statistical Analysis and Hypotheses Testing
employees were being in that age group. Although 35.1%
(84) of employees were of ages less than 25 years old, 8.4% After completing the data collection step, both inferential
(20) of participants were the age group of 35 to 45, and and descriptive statistics were applied for analysis. For data
8 SAGE Open

Table 2. Full collinearity VIFs.

Factor F1 F2 F3 F4
No CMB 2.424 1.536 1.440 1.585
No CMB 2.041 1.985 2.149 1.976
No CMB 2.176 1.740 2.032 2.122

Note. VIFs = variance inflation factors; CMB = common method bias.

coding, preliminary data screening and descriptive profile, were administered by researchers (S. J. Chang et al., 2010;
SPSS version 24 was used. Structural equation modeling Podsakoff et al., 2003). As a pre-remedial step, all the labels
(SEM) technique was used to test the hypotheses. According in the questionnaire were removed and various types of the
to Hair et al. (2014), there are two further domains and varia- scale were also employed.
tions in SEM that are covariance-based structural equation A study by Kock (2015) discussed the CMB in the domain
modeling (CB-SEM) and partial least squares structural of SEM by using PLS approach (PLS-SEM). This study rec-
equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Previously, studies widely ommend that common method variance could be assessed
used CB-SEM, although both approaches (PLS-SEM and with the full collinearity test in the context of SEM. Based on
CB-SEM) have similar roots (Hair et al., 2012). In recent a study by Kock (2015), this study used this practical
years, PLS-SEM is adopted as a vigorous statistical tool due approach to identify CMB with the help of variance inflation
to its distinct methodological and statistical features that factors (VIFs) engendered by a full collinearity test. The val-
make it a potential alternative to CB-SEM (Hair et al., 2011, ues of VIFs higher than 3.3 indicate that the model may be
2012; Henseler et al., 2014). This study attempted to predict filthy by CMB. Hence, if values of VIFs with full collinear-
and explain the study constructs with the help of underpin- ity test are lower than 3.3, model could be deemed as free of
ning theories. PLS-SEM is a useful tool when the major CMB. As shown in Table 2, the findings of this study revealed
objective of applying structural modeling is the explanation that all the values of VIFs for all constructs are lower than
and the prediction of constructs (Hair et al., 2016). It is 3.3 that indicated that there is no contamination of CMB in
deemed as a flexible approach for model building (Ringle this study. Therefore, it is summed up that CMV was not a
et al., 2005). It also makes fever demands regarding sample problem in the study.
size as compared with other techniques and it does not
require normally distributed data (Hair et al., 2016), and this
Non-Response Bias
study used this technique to avoid data normality issues.
Previous studies also purported that statistical properties of Non-response bias refers to the error that a scholar is sub-
PLS-SEM also offers greatly robust estimations with normal jected to exhibit when assessing a sample because some types
data as well as non-normal distributional data (Hair et al., of survey respondents are not fully represented due to non-
2016, 2017, 2018, 2014). Meanwhile, PLS-SEM was used response problem (Berg, 2002). Therefore, there is a need to
because the purpose of this study was more toward predic- conduct the non-response bias analysis for this study. As
tion rather than theory testing. A study by Hair et al. (2011) shown in Table 3, participants were separated into two inde-
also revealed that PLS-SEM could be a “silver bullet” to esti- pendent samples based on their response to survey question-
mate the theoretical models. Hence, based on the above char- naires about four main survey variables (ER, OC, POF, and
acteristics and arguments, this study focused on PLS-SEM SWE). One of the standard methods to check the non-response
for the assessment of measurement and structural model and bias which is adapted for this study is to make the comparison
used Smart PLS 3 software. of responses who responded to the questionnaires early in
first phase of data collection, and those who responded to the
questionnaires late in second phase. Hence, those who
Common Method Bias (CMB) responded to questionnaires in first phase are, in fact, a sam-
Common method variance (CMV) denotes the variance ple of non-respondents to the first distributed questionnaires
which can be attributed to measurement method instead of and are presumed that they are representative of the non-
attributing it with the construct to which measures are sup- respondent group. The confirmation of the explanation above
posed to represent (Podsakoff et al., 2003). While conduct- could be deduced from Table 3.
ing a research, variations are likely to be problematic
because independent and dependent variables are assessed
Descriptive and Correlation Analysis
by the self-reported data of the same person (Podsakoff
et al., 2003; Richardson et al., 2009). Common method vari- This study used descriptive statistics to describe the charac-
ance is quite possible because data are collected from only a teristics of the data. Table 4 presents the descriptive statistics
single respondent. To reduce CMV pre and post remedies of the study variables. It shows the mean values, standard
Naz et al. 9

Table 3. Results of independent samples t-test for non-response bias.

Levene’s test for equality

Constructs Groups Mean SD of variances
Employee retention Early responses 3.4866 .74938 .146
Late responses 3.3380 .64101
Organizational Early responses 3.6144 .71503 .050
commitment
Late responses 3.4225 .62336
Person–organization fit Early responses 3.4509 .76275 .102
Late responses 3.1514 .54687
Supportive work Early responses 3.6912 .58283 .060
environment
Late responses 3.4751 .45597

Table 4. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis.

Constructs Mean SD ER SWE OC POF

Employee retention 3.442 .720 1
Supportive work environment 3.627 .556 .454** 1
Organizational commitment 3.557 .693 .540** .650** 1
Person–organization fit 3.361 .717 .489** .630** .644** 1

Note. SWE = supportive work environment; ER = employee retention; OC = organizational commitment; POF = Person–organization fit.
**p < .05.

deviations, and correlation coefficients of all understudy delineated that the AVE lies in the range between .515 and
variables. The mean values of all constructs are ranged .675. CR demarcated the extent to which the latent construct
between 3.44 and 3.627. Table 4 also signifies the correlation could be measured through the observed construct (Tseng &
between understudy variables. This correlation matrix iden- Tsai, 2011). In this study, CR value lies between the range of
tifies that a SWE has a highly significant positive correlation .801 and .868, which was higher than the minimum value of
with OC (r = .650, p < .05). Moreover, all constructs are .6 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). Thereby, this study confirmed the
positively and significantly correlated with each other. convergent validity of hypothesized constructs, as shown in
Table 5, which presented the findings of the measurement
model.
Validity and Reliability Discriminant validity assessed the extent to which one
Construct validity affirms to what extent the measure is fit to latent variable was accurately dissimilar to other latent vari-
tap the actual concept as theorized (Hair et al., 2010). ables (Hair et al., 2010). Henceforward, the current research
According to Ramayah et al. (2011), any item having a load- espoused the “multitrait-multimethod matrix” to check dis-
ing of higher than .5 on two or more components considered criminant validity (Henseler et al., 2015). As reflected in
to be having significant cross-loadings. Following this, the Table 6, the HTMT ratios (heterotrait-monotrait ratio) were
items for OC (OC 2, 3, 6), ER (ER 2), supervisory relation estimated to appraise the discriminant validity. The study
(SR 2), and peer-group interaction (PG 1, 2, 3, 8) were omit- followed on the cut off the value that the “Heterotrait-
ted. The PLS algorithm analysis was performed again to get Monotrait ratio” should be “less than .85” to propagate dis-
the new loadings and cross-loadings as represented in Table 5 criminant validity (Kline, 2008). It might be believed that no
and Figure 2. It was witnessed that all the items of a particu- issue of discriminant validity emerged as all the values of the
lar construct loaded highly only on its particular construct; measured variables were less than .85.
however, they loaded lower on the other construct, thereby As a previous practice, Cronbach’s alpha had been sig-
validating construct validity. nificantly considered as a technique to measure reliability;
Convergent validity attempted to measure whether the however, it was prone to criticism due to its lower bound
items that were related to a particular variable converge or value, which undervalued the actual reliability (Peterson and
establish a great quantity of variance in common and can be Kim, 2013). Therefore, CR could be used as an alternative,
measured through average variance extracted (AVE) and as its value was slightly greater than Cronbach’s alpha value.
composite reliability (CR; Hair et al., 2010). Findings The study mainly used a criterion of CR to check inter-item
10 SAGE Open

Table 5. Confirmatory factor analysis.

Constructs Second order Items Loadings Alpha CR AVE

POS POS1 .791 .817 .868 .524
POS2 .699
POS3 .645
POS4 .751
POS5 .703
POS6 .744
PC PC1 .814 .759 .862 .675
PC2 .832
PC3 .818
PG PG4 .708 .686 .809 .515
PG5 .766
PG6 .735
PG7 .656
SR SR1 .646 .81 .864 .515
SR3 .797
SR4 .766
SR5 .683
SR6 .716
SR7 .689
SWE .885 .851 .59
Perceived organizational support .741
Perceived climate .751
Peer group interaction .724
Supervisory relationship .849
POF POF1 .773 .671 .801 .51
POF2 .482
POF3 .813
POF4 .742
ER ER1 .603 .641 .804 .579
ER3 .743
ER4 .583
OC OC1 .755 .84 .882 .555
OC4 .818
OC5 .756
OC7 .654
OC8 .736
OC9 .742

Note. SWE = supportive work environment; ER = employee retention; CR = composite reliability; AVE = average variance extracted; POS = perceived
organizational support; PC = perceived climate; SR = supervisory relationship; POF = person–organization fit; OC = organizational commitment;
PG = peer-group interaction.

consistency. However, in this case, Cronbach’s alpha values that satisfactory level of reliability is depends upon on how a
lied between the range of .641 and .885. The lowest values of measure is being measured. He also proposed that reliability
alpha in the following cases .686 for PG, .671 for POF, and values that were greater than .60 are considered sufficient to
.641 for ER still met the cutoff value of .5 to .7, reflecting accept.
moderate reliability (Perry et al., 2004). A study by Perry CR did not take effect from extant items number in each
et al. (2004) identified that reliability is considered moder- scale and rather deployed item loadings extracted from the
ate, if it lies in the range of .50 to .70. There are other studies tested casual model (Barroso et al., 2010). As shown in
that also reported low alpha value (α < .70) and justified that Table 5, CR values of all the factors range from .801 to .882
lowest factor loading is not a major issue until unless it is exceeding the threshold value of .6 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988).
above .50 (Hair et al., 2016; Tavakol & Dennick, 2011). Based on the criterion of CR, it could be said that the mea-
Moreover, another study by Nunally (1978) also highlighted surement scale was reliable.
Naz et al. 11

Figure 2. Measurement model assessment.

Table 6. Discriminant validity heterotrait-monotrait ratio.

Latent variables ER OC PG POF POS PC SR

ER
OC .702
PG .517 .604
POF .746 .67 .674
POS .653 .666 .561 .707
PC .429 .668 .574 .624 .506
SR .472 .699 .689 .657 .522 .761

Note. ER = employee retention; POS = perceived organizational support; PC = perceived climate; POF = Person–organization fit; OC = organizational
commitment; PG = peer-group interaction; SR = supervisory relationship.

Assessment of Structural Model After computing the path estimates in the structural
model, a bootstrap analysis was calculated to evaluate the
The structural model signifies the understudied hypothesis in statistical significance of the path coefficients. PLS–SEM
the proposed research model, reflecting the relationship structural model was deployed to statistically examine the
between multiple latent variables. The variance can explain interaction between exogenous and endogenous constructs
the goodness of the theoretical model explained (R2) of the (Lowry & Gaskin, 2014). SWE is significantly and posi-
dependent variables and the significance of all path estimates tively associated with ER (β = .469; t = 7.44; lower limit
(Chin, 2010). The variance explained (R2) for each dependent [LL] = .348, upper limit [UL] = .596), OC (β = .696; t =
variable is demonstrated in Table 7. As populated in table 7, 21.027; LL = .632, UL = .763), and POF (β = .653; t =
there are three dependents variables in total. R2 denoted that 15.131; LL = .563, UL = .738). The findings delineated that
SWE explained 37.5% variations in ER, 48.5% variations in H1, H2, and H5 are supported. H3 purported that there is a
OC, 42.7% variations in POF. The path coefficient range is significant positive effect of OC on ER. Results (Table 7)
more than .1, which is assumed acceptable (Lohmöller, 1989); identified a positive association of OC on ER (β = .223; t =
therefore, this study satisfies the cut off value. 3.15; LL = .087, UL = .366). H6 shows a positive
12 SAGE Open

Table 7. Path coefficients.

Hypothesis Relationship Std. beta SE t-values p-values LL UL Decision R2 f  2 VIF Q2 (blind folding)

H1 SWE ≥ ER .469 .063 7.44 <.05 .348 .596 Supported .375 .006 2.195 0.193
H2 SWE ≥ OC .696 .033 21.027 <.01 .632 .763 Supported .485 .941 1 0.246
H3 OC ≥ ER .223 .071 3.15 <.01 .087 .366 Supported .034 2.354
H5 SWE ≥ POF .653 .043 15.131 <.01 .563 .738 Supported .427 .745 1 0.2
H6 POF ≥ ER .364 .079 4.608 <.01 .214 .515 Supported .1 2.116

Note. SWE = supportive work environment; ER = employee retention; OC = organizational commitment; POF = Person–organization fit; LL = lower
limit; UL = upper limit; VIF = variance inflation factors.

Figure 3. Structural model assesment.

association of POF on ER (β = .364; t = 4.608; LL = .214, Mediation Results

UL = .515). Thereby, the findings of the study supported all This study applied the PLS technique (Wold, 1985) due to its
five proposed hypotheses. As can be seen in Figure 3, t-val- ability to assess complex multivariate direct and indirect
ues are reflecting hypothesized relationships. effects models (Hair et al., 2013), such as in this study.
Effect size (f2) identified that OC and POF exerted a During PLS analysis, the step of bootstrap is performed to
small effect on ER. SWE also has a small effect on ER and examine the indirect effects (Chin, 2010) statistically.
OC. However, SWE influenced highly on POF. A cross-
validated measure Q2 was used to assess the predictive Role of OC as the mediator in the relationship between SWE and
accuracy of the tested model. It used to measure to what ER. Results disclosed in Table 8 shows that OC mediates the
extent the tested model predicted the data of deleted cases. relationship between SWE and ER (β = .155; t = 3.025; LL
As per threshold, Q2 > 0 confirmed that there was no issue = .061, UL = .264) thus providing evidence to support H4.
of blindfolding and was used for calculating predictive rel- As indicated by Preacher and Hayes (2008), the indirect
evance (Geisser, 1974; Stone, 1974). Findings suggested effects, as shown in Table 8 (LL = .061, UL = .264), had not
that all Q2 values were greater than zero ranging from .193 included a zero in between denoting the existence of media-
to .361. The criterion of VIF inferred that its values should tion between relations of two latent variables. The result sup-
be less than 5, which was satisfied with the results of this ports the mediating effect of OC (H4) between SWE and
study as its values were ranging from 1 to 2.354. Since pre- ER, which infers that there is an indirect effect of SWE on
dictors were not highly correlated with each other, there ER via OC. The method proposed by the past scholar (Baron,
was no issue of multicollinearity. 1986) was implied to estimate further whether constructs
Naz et al. 13

Table 8. Indirect effect.

Hypothesis Relationships Std. beta SE t-values p-values LL UL Decision

H4 SWE ≥ OC ≥ ER .155 .051 3.025 p < .01 .061 .264 Supported

H7 SWE ≥ POF ≥ ER .238 .051 4.692 p < .01 .14 .345 Supported

Note. WE = supportive work environment; ER = employee retention; OC = organizational commitment; POF = Person–organization fit; LL = lower
limit; UL = upper limit.

relationship is fully or partially mediated. The findings been conceptualized and framed as a strong predictor of ER,
expressed that the actual direct effect of SWE to ER was sig- thereby supporting H1. This finding is in communion with
nificant (β = .469; t = 7.44, p < .05). However, the study earlier studies on ER (Lingard & Francis, 2006). This posi-
found that when the mediating effect of OC is included the tive association between SWE and ER infers that a SWE
significance becomes smaller (β = .155, t = 3.025, p < .01). keeps employees safe from stress and burnout and brings
As such, the direct relationship between SWE and ER was a positive attitude and behavior due to felt obligation of work
significant and indirect relationship between SWE and ER support from supervisor and coworkers. Based on the asser-
after adding the mediating variable of OC is also significant. tion of the theory of equilibrium and SET, POS reinforces
Thus, it confirmed that OC partially mediates the association people to stay for a longer tenure to meet balance and social
between SWE and ER. exchange relationships. A happy workplace attracts people to
retain with employing organization (Ramlall, 2003) and
Role of POF as the mediator in the relationship between SWE reduces attrition rates. Supportive work climate (Ramlall,
and ER. POF mediates the relationship between SWE and 2003) and open channel for communication with managers
ER (β = .238; t = 4.692; LL = .14, UL = .345) thus provid- (AbuAlRub et al., 2016) promote the positive job attitudes of
ing evidence to support H7. As indicated by Preacher and people toward their organization (Gilbreath & Benson,
Hayes (2008), the indirect effects, as shown in Table 8 (LL = 2004), and decrease intentions to turnover (Guchait & Cho,
.14, UL = .345), had not included a zero in between denoting 2010). SWE is not only fostered by one’s supervisor but also
the existence of mediation between relations of two latent with positive interactions with colleagues both inside (office,
variables. The result supports the mediating effect of POF cafeteria) and outside (parks, restaurants) the organization.
(H7) between SWE and ER, which infers that there is an This leads us to believe that a flexible, friendly, and SWE
indirect effect of SWE on ER via POF. The method proposed should be promoted to attract, retain, and encourage compe-
by (Baron, 1986) was implied to estimate further if there is a tent employees (AbuAlRub et al., 2016), in particular, fast-
full or partial mediation. The findings expressed that the food restaurants of Pakistan where job switching for pay
original direct effect of SWE to ER was significant (β = raises is common practice.
.469; t = 7.44, p < .01). However, the study found that when Findings demonstrate that SWE is positively associated
the mediating effect of POF is included, the significance with OC thus supporting H2. This view is congruent with
becomes smaller (β = .238, t = 4.692, p < .01). As such, the previous work on SWE (Y. Chang et al., 2015). Supportive
direct relationship between SWE and ER was significant and HR practices, for instance, involvement in decision-making,
indirect relationship between SWE and ER after adding career development prospects, and equality of rewards act
mediating variable of POF is also significant. Thus, it con- as driving forces for OC. Employees feel committed to their
firmed that POF partially mediates the association between job if they are communicated and listened by supervisors
SWE and ER. and peers (Reed et al., 2016). The findings are consistent
with the theory of equilibrium and SET perspective holding
people stay committed and attach affective emotions with
Discussion
their organizations to pay off and reciprocate the rewards
In a service industry, ER presents a critical challenge and and support received from the environment. Supervisory
contributes pragmatically in organizational success. This and peers support may increase employee’s emotional satis-
study seeks to identify the positive role of SWE in determin- faction arousal and intrinsic motivation. The positive feel-
ing ER in employees of fast-food restaurants. Less emphasis ings that employees’ emotional needs are met and their
has been given on finding the mediating interplay of vari- wellbeing is taken care of are perceived as gratitude and
ables in the relationship between SWE and ER. This study obligation. Employees reciprocate in the form of OC to bal-
attempts to fill the gap by empirically intriguing such a rela- ance the exchange favors obtained from the working
tionship through the mediating role of OC and POF. This environment.
study measures SWE with the help of variables, namely, PC, The study has found support for H3, indicating that OC is
SR, PG, POS. The path analysis shows strong evidence that positively related to ER. This result is in line with other
a SWE has a significant positive influence on ER. SWE has scholars (Harden et al., 2018; Saraih et al., 2017) who have
14 SAGE Open

found an inverse relationship between commitment–turnover Implications of the Study

intention. OC plays the role of mediator in the relationship
between SWE and ER, thus supporting H4. This is similar to This study has made many practical implications for human
previous scholar’s findings (Juhdi et al., 2013; Samgnanakkan, resource practitioners in the fast-food sector in Pakistan.
2010). Indeed, the supervisor’s feedback, fair appraisal, First, HR professionals should seek to understand the
information sharing, participation in problem-solving, for- changing facets of SWE and strategically develop and
giving, and a favorable attitude caring and friendly environ- employ SWE practices in a bundle/set for retaining talented
ment make employees feel indebted and committed. The employees. Because the conclusions of the study elucidated
feelings of indebtedness and belongingness force them to that when organizational people are supported by supervi-
remain with the organization to reciprocate a supportive sors, peers, climate, and organization, they become more
environment. committed, feel obligated and thereby, reciprocate the
The findings of this study entail support for a positive social exchange relationships, do not intend to leave the
relationship between a SWE and POF as established in H5. organization and stay longer voluntarily. Second, in the
Favorable work climate and caring culture foster expecta- same way, sharing and promoting a strong organizational
tions from employees to indulge themselves in such activi- culture with their workers may encourage the emotional
ties that are well fit with those of organizational values. and psychological attachment to the organization, and the
Therefore, employees having a higher level of POF are more best human talent could be retained for a longer time
inclined to involve in activities that are preferred by their (Mathieu et al., 2016). Third, this study tries to amalgamate
peers, superiors, and organizations and, in turn, receive a fit between people’s and organizations’ values through
higher desirable reinforcements from them in the form of POF to reduce turnover intentions. Since a good fit is
acknowledgment, recognition, support, and rewards. Thus, advantageous for both the employer and employee, thereby
subsequently, the positive appraisal will also intensify the recruiters should use those selection tools/measures that
employees’ emotions of engagement and confidence at work may assess candidates’ characteristics and hire only those
and motivate them intrinsically (X. Zhang & Bartol, 2010) applicants who proved themselves the best match and show
and meet organizational expectations from them. This expla- value congruence. Fourth, keeping in view the likely posi-
nation advocates that SWE and POF mutually reinforce each tive effect of SWE on employee attitude such as OC and
other in a two-way sequential form. ER, employers should provide conducive environment by
The findings of this study support a positive relationship adopting strategic HRM practices, for instance, involve-
between POF and ER as tested in H6. This result is coincid- ment in decision-making, healthy relationships with
ing with the earlier research that POF stimulates people to employees, compensation, training, career-oriented oppor-
stay for a longer duration (Lauver & Kristof-Brown, 2001). tunities, and work–life balance to increase ER (Presbitero
This view is generally acceptable because people join those et al., 2016). Organizations should not adopt traditional HR
organization that represents the best fit to their personalities practices rather they should apply customized HR practices
and provides ample chances to adhere to their own values that can meet both employer and employee needs. According
system, and as a result of internal satisfaction gained from to the results of study’s implications, following motiva-
environment, they are more inclined to retain in such organi- tional HR retention strategies can be used to implement
zations (Kundu & Gahlawat, 2016; Kundu & Lata, 2017) and SWE and promote commitment, that is (a) performance
are less likely to stay with not best matched. feedback, trust, acknowledgment, information sharing, and
Furthermore, the construct of POF acts as a mediator in the fair appraisal by supervisor; (b) idea sharing on job-related
relationship between SWE and ER, hence supporting H7. The issues, problem-solving, teamwork, informal gathering,
positive effect of a SWE on ER is likely to reduce for employ- and leisure time outside the organization with peers; and (c)
ees who perceive their skills, capabilities, personal values, caring and helpful behavior, and favorable and tolerable
and characteristics are not fit with organizational philosophy attitude by organization.
and requirements. An employee with a lower level of per- This article also contributes theoretically by providing a
ceived POF finds it difficult to socialize himself with peers contextualized perspective of SWE in bundle form of four
and is less expected to respond with positive emotions dimensions (PC, SR, PG, and POS). It tries to examine the
because of mismatch of personal values with organizational combined effects of the variables of SWE on ER through
values. Such employees do not feel a strong sense of belong- POF and OC. It additionally confirms and delivers practical
ing, disagree with this organization’s policies, and unable to evidence to models of SET and TOE in case of employees
find meaningfulness of staying with the organization. On the working at the food sector in Pakistan. It adds to the current
contrary, individuals with a high level of POF are likely to body of literature on ER and SWE. The results imply that
enjoy time with colleagues, appreciate working environment, SWE can be used as a successful retention strategy if employ-
and exhibit intrinsic motivation to stay connected. Therefore, ees and organizations have a compatible goal. Results further
it is assumed that POF provides a suitable mechanism via advocate that people will retain in an organization if they feel
which the positive effect of SWE passes on ER. committed due to prevalent SWE.
Naz et al. 15

Limitations and Future Research engagement, employee performance, knowledge sharing

behavior, organizational citizenship behavior) as outcomes
Similar to other studies, this article is also not free from of SWE, would be a good idea.
limitations. Such limitations provide avenues for future
research. One of the main limitations is data are received
from respondents assuming that respondents give accurate
Conclusion
responses, and they are well familiar with their employing In the knowledge-intensive era, retention of higher perform-
organization. Employees’ biased responses toward their ers is becoming a challenging task for organizations to suc-
organization can undermine the truthiness of facts. Another ceed (Aguenza & Som, 2018). This study demarcates that
limitation is perceptions and demands of people may vary there is a significant positive relationship between the exog-
according to their norms, economic conditions, and country. enous variable of SWE and the endogenous variable of ER.
Therefore, there could be a generalizability issue if demands In addition, it also reveals that OC and POF act as mediators
in one country are not necessary for another country. This in the relation between the SWE and ER. Many scholars
research has been conducted only in the hospitality industry have widely studied the construct of retention of employees,
of Lahore. There is a need to ensure validity across varied yet it is necessary to have a deeper insight to explore predic-
work contexts by conducting the same research in multiple tors and interplay of mediating factors to cover the literature
industries, cities, and countries. The next limitation is the gap. Thus, the study investigates phenomena while provid-
use of a cross-sectional design, which is likely to include ing evidence to theories of SET and TOE via empirically
common method variance. However, it has been tried to testing the proposed model to add in the current body of
reduce by using remedies as cited in MacKinnon (2011). To knowledge. The results indicate that OC and POF with their
get better results, a longitudinal design can be adopted out organization proliferate their probability of staying with
to ensure the causality of the relationship between latent them. The proliferation of the organizational social (PG, SR)
variables. Inclusion of other variables, for example, posi- and technical subsystem (POS) carry organizational success
tive job attitudes and behaviors (job satisfaction. employee and ER (Ghosh et al., 2013).

Appendix A
Lists of Multinational Fast Food Chains in Lahore City (Cluster 1).

No. List of selected fast food chains No. of branches

1 McDonalds 3
2 KFC 4
3 Subway 2
4 Hardee’s 3
5 Domino’s 4
6 Burger King 3
7 Pizza Hut 5
8 Dunkin Donuts 1
Total selected chains 25

Appendix B

Lists of Multinational Fast Food Chains in Lahore Cantt (Cluster 2).

No. List of selected fast food chains No. of branches

1 McDonalds 5
2 KFC 3
3 Subway 2
4 Hardee’s 3
5 Burger King 2
6 Pizza Hut 5
Total selected chains 20
16 SAGE Open

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Declaration of Conflicting Interests Bhatnagar, J. (2007). Talent management strategy of employee
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Ethical Approval org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_53-1
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Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct by the
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American Psychological Association (APA). All participants gave
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ing on organisational commitment. International Journal
the Jiangsu University exempted the research for ethical approval,
of Training and Development, 14(4), 309–322. https://doi.
as it was a survey-based study. Although the authors are affiliated
org/10.1111/j.1468-2419.2010.00360.x
to Chinese institution, they are Pakistani by the origin and are con-
Cammann, C., Fichman, M., Jenkins, G. D., & Klesh, J. (1983).
ducting the study under the supervision of a Chinese professor.
Michigan Organizational assessment questionnaire. In S.
Human resources and branch managers of restaurants gave consent
E. Seashore, E. E. Lawler, P. H. Mirvis, & C. Cammann
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measures, and practices (pp. 71–138). New York: Wiley-
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Funding tions among three professional groups of employees. Human
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