Impact of employees’ internal factors and job performance on organizational commitment in government organizations during COVID-19: Evidence from Kuwait

Abstract

Modern hiring practices based on qualification, gender discrimination, person-job fit, and life satisfaction can allow employees to perform effectively and significantly contribute to organizational commitment. Thus, the study aims to develop and test a structural model that integrates the relationships between overqualification, life satisfaction, person-job fit, employees’ job performance, and organizational commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic in the public organizations of Kuwait. The person-job fit theory was applied to obtain fair results. Thus, the data were collected from 275 employees working in healthcare institutions, the education sector, and the Ministry of Defense in Kuwait. Overall, the results show a significant and direct impact of overqualification and life satisfaction on employees’ job performance; accordingly, employees’ job performance also affects organizational commitment. Thus, results indicate that person-job fit negatively affects employees’ job performance. Surprisingly, employees’ job performance mediates the relationship between overqualification, life satisfaction, and organizational commitment. However, employees’ job performance does not mediate the relationship between person-job fit and organizational commitment. The current paper contributes to understanding the broad impact of overqualification, life satisfaction, and employees’ job performance on organizational commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly in public organizations.