Machine Machinations: The Relationship between Technological Innovation and Continuance Commitment of employees in the Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications Organization (PLDT)

Abstract

The study aimed to determine if there is a correlation between a Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications employee’s perceived technological innovation level towards their organization and their continuance commitment level. Correlation between PLDT’s technological innovation level and the two antecedents of continuance commitment were also checked, as well as the correlation between employees’ continuance commitment levels with their organizational tenure. A survey questionnaire containing sets of questions measuring continuance commitment of an employee and the relative innovativeness of an organization was used as the instrument for the study A total of 120 respondents were selected from the Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela branches of the organization, with thirty employees representing each branch. Pearson-r and Spearman-rho tests were administered to test for correlation between the variables in the study. The results of the tests showed that a moderate, positive correlation exists between employees’ perceived technological innovation level towards their organization and their corresponding continuance commitment level. Also, continuance commitment and organizational tenure showed no significant correlation. As for the correlation between antecedents of continuance commitment and PLDT’s perceived technological innovation level, the high sacrifice antecedent showed a significant correlation. On the other hand, the low alternatives antecedent showed a weak correlation towards the variable. The results imply that PLDT employees do not see the recent employee-reducing methods implemented by the company as a consequence of technological innovation as a threat enough for their level of continuance commitment to be affected. They also imply that new employees can attain high levels of embeddedness within the organization comparable to that of long-tenured colleagues.