Human resource practices, the relationship between locus of control and employee outcomes

Abstract

This paper explores the effect of human resource practices on the relationship between locus of control and employee outcomes. Personality is a stable characteristic that employees bring to the work place. It is presumed that locus of control will influence employee outcomes but the strength of its effect will be influenced by the implementation of human resource practices in the organization. Human resource practices were expected to moderate these relationships. Predicted relationships were drawn from prior theory that identified how human resource practices influence employee outcomes and on how locus of control affected employee outcomes. The individual’s locus of control was evaluated based on the external and internal continuum. Employee outcomes studied were job satisfaction, trust, employee commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. Results obtained from 181 questionnaires from respondents in Kenyan public corporations indicated that human resources practices influenced the relationship between locus of control with job satisfaction, employee commitment, trust and organizational citizenship behaviors. Data were analyzed using multiple regression and the moderating effect was shown by the changes in r values. Implications for theory and managerial practice are given.