Yanan Lin

Abstract

This study aims to find out the relationship between perceived external prestige and employee commitment in Chinese hospitals. It also takes into account the impact of professional pride, fear of customer retaliation and perceived organizational support.

320 questionnaires were collected from 7 hospitals in Northern China, including 3 public hospitals and 4 private hospitals.

The findings show that perceived external prestige, professional pride and perceived organizational support are positively related to employee commitment. Fear of personal attack is negatively related to employee commitment of nurses. Perceived organizational support has a positive impact on professional pride.

This study contributes to reputation literature in showing the impact of perceived external prestige on employee commitment in Chinese hospitals. It also fills the literature gap that not just reputation of hospital is important, but also the reputation of the profession significantly influences employee commitment. This study firstly tests the link from fear of customer retaliation to employee commitment in a Chinese hospital context, which contributes to employee commitment literature by taking into account the external stakeholders (customers). The link from perceived organizational support and employee commitment adds evidence to social exchange theory in a Chinese context.

Theoretical implications for future research and practical implications for managers in Chinese hospitals are proposed, based on findings from this study.