Influence of Organisational Culture on Employee Commitment in Plateau State Civil Service

Organisational culture shapes the values, behaviours, and commitment levels of civil servants, and examining this relationship in the Plateau State civil service, North Central Nigeria, provides important insights for public sector management reform. This study examined the influence of organisational culture on employee commitment in the Plateau State civil service, with data collected from 250 civil servants across five state ministries in Jos. Organisational culture was assessed using four dimensions: clan culture, adhocracy culture, market culture, and hierarchy culture, adapted from the Competing Values Framework. Employee commitment was measured along affective, normative, and continuance dimensions using Allen and Meyer's scale. Multiple regression analysis was employed. Results showed that clan culture (collaborative, employee-oriented) had the strongest positive effect on affective commitment (beta = 0.49, p < 0.001). Hierarchy culture was negatively associated with affective commitment (beta = -0.28, p < 0.01), though it positively predicted normative commitment. Market culture was a significant positive predictor of continuance commitment (beta = 0.34, p < 0.01). Civil servants with more than 10 years of service showed higher normative commitment regardless of culture type. Overall organisational culture explained 53.7% of variance in affective commitment. The study concludes that the current hierarchy-dominant culture in Plateau State ministries undermines employee emotional attachment and recommends culture change programmes that infuse collaborative and purpose-driven values into the civil service environment. Keywords: organisational culture, employee commitment, Competing Values Framework, Plateau State civil service, public sector management