The Effect of Perceived Organizational Support on Organizational Commitment and Job Performance in Staff of Sport and Youth Head Offices of Western Provinces of Iran

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of perceived organizational support on organizational commitment and job performance in the staff of Sport and Youth head offices of western provinces of Iran. The statistical population included all staff of Sport and Youth head offices of western provinces of Iran (N=203). Based on the Morgan sample size table, 130 subjects were selected as the statistical sample. 34 subjects in Kermanshah physical education head offices, 38 in Hamedan, 29 in Kordestan and 29 in Ilam were selected using stratified sampling method. To collect data, a personal profile questionnaire as well as three standard questionnaires including perceived organizational support questionnaire of Eisenberger et al. (1986), Allen and Mayer's organizational commitment questionnaire (1990) and Motowidlo and Van Scotter's job performance self-assessment questionnaire (1994) were used. The validities of these questionnaires were estimated in several national and international studies. In a pilot study on 30 subjects of Sport and Youth head office of Kermanshah, reliabilities (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) of perceived organizational support, organizational commitment and job performance questionnaires were 0.84, 0.83 and 0.88 respectively. To describe the data, descriptive statistics were used and for inferential analysis of the data, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Pearson correlation coefficient and structural modelsin SPSS and PLS software were used at P≤0.05. Results showed a positive significant relationship between perceived organizational support and organizational commitment (r=0.71, P≤0.01) and job performance (r=0.87, P≤0.01). Also, there was a positive significant relationship between organizational commitment and job performance (r=0.67, P≤0.01). Moreover, results showed that perceived organizational support has a significant effect on organizational commitment (r=0.778) and job performance (r=0.857); however, organizational commitment had no significant effect on job performance. Finally, with regard to the importance of organizational commitment and job performance, it is recommended that managers and supervisors of sport organizations should support their staffs so that they have committed staff with higher job performance.