The Effects of Innovation Climate on Employee Job Satisfaction and Affective Commitment: Findings from Public Organizations

This article tests the effects of innovation climate on two major employee attitudes, employee job satisfaction and affective commitment, using 2017 Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) data ( n = 83,943). The Australian Public Service (APS) is a suitable context because the APS prioritizes and is concerned with both innovative activities and employee attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction and affective commitment). To develop hypotheses, this study applies insights from different theories, including perceived organizational support (POS), self-determination theory (SDT), empowerment, employee engagement, and job engagement. The empirical results of the structural equation models (along with robustness checks) demonstrate that innovation climate has a statistically significant and positive effect on both job satisfaction and affective commitment and that job satisfaction positively mediates this relationship. For policy makers, these findings suggest an innovation climate can be an important tool to increase employee job satisfaction and commitment.