Employees’ intrinsic motivation to learn and affective organizational commitment: The mediating effect of informal learning

The purpose of this research was to investigate the structural relationships among intrinsic learning motivation, informal learning, and affective commitment to organizations. Specifically, we tested the effects of employees’ intrinsic learning motivation and informal learning on affective commitment and the mediating effect of informal learning on the relationship between intrinsic learning motivation and affective commitment. Data collected from a sample of 393 employees from Korean stock companies were used in the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. The results suggested that employees’ intrinsic learning motivation and engagement of informal learning activities positively influence employee affective commitment to the organization. Moreover, it turned out that informal learning mediated the influence of intrinsic learning motivation on affective commitment. Based on findings of this study, implications for research and practice were discussed.