The Committed Service Crew – The Impact of Passenger Proximity on Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

The present study focuses on the pattern of organizational commitment and job satisfaction among seafarers working on passenger vessels, compared to those working on board other types of ships. The dependent variable in the study is organizational commitment. Work position, age and job satisfaction are used as independent variables. The question posed in this study is whether the pattern of organizational commitment and job satisfaction differ depending on the proximity to passengers. The material is based on a survey sent to a random sample of seafarers in the Swedish Transport Agency’s register of seafarers. It has been analyzed with descriptive statistics and multivariate regressions comparing the two categories of vessels. The results show that organizational commitment is higher on passenger vessels, while the effect of job satisfaction on organizational commitment is slightly higher for ships that do not carry passengers. For managers in the service department, the level of commitment is to a higher extent dependent on job satisfaction. Development and communication of career options and opportunities for the service crew is suggested as a way to enhance organizational commitment and job satisfaction among this group.

Keywords

• committed service crew
• organizational commitment
• job satisfaction
• passenger
• ship crews
• swedish seafarers
• international social survey programme (issp)
• statistical package social science (spss)