Social Support of Colleagues, Employee Loyalty, and Organizational Commitment in Microfinance Institutions: The Case of MFIS of the West Region of Cameroon

Abstract

This study assesses the effects of the different dimensions of the social support of colleagues on the loyalty and commitment of micro finance personnel in the west region of Cameroon. We also examine the two-way relationship between organizational loyalty and commitment of the employees. To attain these objectives, we apply structural equations modeling to analyses data on 200 microfinance employees. The results obtained show that the loyalty of personnel to the organization is determined by the social emotional and professional support of colleagues. However, these variables do not explain the organizational commitment of these employees. We also find that in spite of the positive effect of loyalty on commitment, there is a negative effect on personnel loyalty in microfinance establishments. The latter finding is unexpected but can be explained by the particularities of the context or population of this study. We thus recommend that companies who wish to increase the level of commitment of their personnel to the organization to promote gregarious work.