Mediating Role of Job Involvement in Relationship between Job Characteristics and Commitment of Personnel in Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University

The aim of this study was to determine the mediating role of job involvement in the relationship between job characteristics and components of commitment of employees. The study population included all of employees (acacemic and administrative staff) in Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University (N=420) in 2013-2014 academic year, of whom 204 were selected by stratified random sampling. The research was conducted with a correlational method. They were assessed by Sims, Szilagyi and Keller (1976) job characteristics, Allen and Meyer (1991) organizational commitment and Kanungo (1982) job involvement questionnaires. Data were analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling. Results showed that there was a significant relationship between each of the components of job characteristics and job involvement (p<.01). Also, the results of structural equation modeling showed that job involvement played a mediating role between the various components of the task, attitude, interpersonal relationships and friendship as well as affective and normative commitment. According to the study, for the increasement of employees’ organizational commitment and involvement, and improvement of their job performance and productivity, managers should pay more attention to employees’ perceptions of their job characteristics and provide an opportunity for building friendship relationships in workplace.