121
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Theobjective
This study aims to investigate Swedish seafarer’s
attitudes totheirworkandoccupation.Thestudy is
undertakeninresponse to theneeds oftheshipping
industry to recruit and to improve retention of
qualified onboard crew. The two main areas of
enquiry are seafarers’ motivation at work for the
specific shipping company (organizat
ional
commitment), and seafarers’ motivation for working
in their particular occupation (occupational
commitment).Thestudyisbasedonasampleof1,309
seafarerstaken year2010fromtheSwedishRegister
ofSeafarers.
2 BACKGROUND
2.1 Intimesofflaggingout
In2010,theyearoftheseafarer,theshippingindust
ry
hadbeen hit hardbythe ongoing financial crisis.In
Sweden, worries were exacerbated by a wave of
foreign registration of ships. Compared to 2009, the
Swedish‐registered merchant navy had declined by
12,5 percent, calculated as ships of 300 gross tonnes
and above (Lighthouse, 2010). Most likely the
situation was felt most keenly by Swedish ratings
beca
use the opportunities to compete with other
nationalitieswerefurtherconstrainedbythewaveof
flagging out. It was argued that among Swedish
seafarers only senior officers could feel relatively
Swedish Seafarers’ Commitment to Work in Times of
Flagging out
C.Hult&J.Snöberg
KalmarMaritimeAcademy,LinnaeusUniversity,Sweden
ABSTRACT:Thisstudytakesitsdepartureinthedifficultiestorecruitandretainqualifiedseniorseafarersin
the Swedish shipping sector. The study focus is on seafarers’ motivation at work for the specific shipping
company (organizational commitment), and seafarers’ motivation towards their occupation (occupational
commitment),inti
mesofflaggingout.Itwashypothesizedthattheyoungestseafarersandtheoldestmaybe
mostsensitivetoforeignregistrationofships.Statisticalanalyseswereemployed,usingasurveymaterialof
1,309 Swedish seafarers randomly collected in 2010 from a national register of seafarers. The results of the
analysesshowtha
tflagging‐outimposesasignificantdeclineinorganizationalcommitmentforallseafarers.
Thisdeclineisrelatedtotheperceptionofthesocialcompositionofcrew.Inaddition,theoldestseafarers(age
55+) demonstrate diminished occupational commitment under a foreign flag. This decline is related to the
degree of satisfaction with the social security structure. Occupational commitment am
ong the youngest
seafarers(age19‐30)isnotaffectedbythenationalityofflag.However,thistypeofcommitmentisdecreasing
by the time served on the same ship. This effect is partly related to a decline in satisfaction with the work
content.Intheconcludingdiscussion,thefindingsarediscussedinmoredet
ailsandrecommendationsareput
forward.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 8
Number 1
March 2014
DOI:10.12716/1001.08.01.14
122
secure in light of current developments. (Swedish
Employment Service Maritime 2010: 21). However,
thesituationhasmostlikelyhadadampeningeffect
ontheenthusiasmofallSwedishseafarersregardless
ofrank.
2.2 Difficultieswithrecruitmentandretentionof
seafarers
One lingering problem for the Swedish shipping
sectorhas to
do with the recruitingandretaining of
qualified and experienced onboard personnel
(Swedish Maritime Administration, 2010: 4). A
common estimate has been that the average time a
Swedish ship’s officer remains in the occupation is
only eight years (Swedish Employment Service
Maritime, 2010: 10; Swedish Maritime
Administration,2010:17).
Another
problemisthat the sector suffers with a
large proportion of employees who are approaching
theendoftheiractivecareersintheSwedishshipping
sector.Theaverageageofonboardpersonnelroseby
11 percent between 2006 and 2009 (Swedish
EmploymentServiceMaritime,2010:8).
Thus, we find two rather
disparate trends in the
Swedishshippingsector;onethatisgraduallymaking
thelabourmarketforSwedishseafarerssmaller,and
one that makes it more difficult for ship‐owners to
recruitandretaineducatedseafarers.Thequestionwe
needtoaskishowtheseafarers’commitmenttotheir
workand
occupationisaffectedinthisdevelopment?
3 RESEARCHANDTHEORETICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
3.1 Researchonattitudestowork
Quantitative studies on seafarers’ attitudes to work
aresparselyoccurring.However,takingabroadlook
around we find a number of studies from different
partsoftheworld(e.g.Guoetal.,2005;Turker
&Er,
2007;Guoet al.,2010;Sencila etal.,2010;Panet al.,
2011). We also find that there has been some
particularinterestin thecruisesector, dependingon
the belief that happy service staff tend to produce
happycustomers(e.g.Larsenetal.,2012;Testa,2001;
Testa
etal.,2003;Testa&Mueller,2009).
In Sweden, studies on seafarers and their
occupationhavebeenmainlybasedoninterviewsand
observations,withfocusonsubjectslikeseafaringlife,
culture, stress, fatigue, and safety. There are,
however, three Swedish studies with quantitative
approaches.TwoSwedishstudiesarefocusingonjob
satisfaction onboard merchant ships (Werthén, 1976;
Olofsson, 1995). Only one study are focusing on
commitmenttoworkandoccupation(Hult,2012).
Of course, job satisfaction and commitment to
work are related phenomena, but the terms are far
from synonymous. By definition, commitment to
work encompasses a certain measure of motivation
and dedication from the individual, which is not
necessarilythecasewithjobsatisfaction(c.f.Steers&
Porter,1987: 29;Steers, 1984: 132). Jobsatisfaction is
customarily regarded as an emotional response to a
work situation (Steers, 1984: 428‐444). Accordingly,
jobsatisfactionmaybemorecorrectlyregardedasone
underlying
factor for the development of work‐
relatedcommitments(Steers,1984:442;Hult,2005).
3.2 Organizationalcommitment
Organizational commitment has to do with loyalty
anddedication inthe specificjob andtothe specific
work organization. Research has indicated an
important relationship between this type of
commitment and employee turnover (e.g.
Steers,
1977). Organizational commitment is driven mainly
bywhatpeoplefeeltheygetoutofthejobandhow
far this aligns with individual preferences. If work‐
related preferences and perceived conditions agree,
the individual is expected to express a high level of
dedicationandloyalty(Hult,2005).
Earlier research has
shown that perceived non‐
financial gains have a stronger positive impact on
loyalty and dedication at work than perceived
financial gains (Hult, 2005). But rather than
differentiating between financial and non‐financial
factors, the distinction in this research tradition is
between internal and external factors. With internal
factors we refer
to rewards one receives within the
work–suchasasenseofwell‐beingandpridefrom
the feeling that one is doing good and important
work. With external factors we refer to rewards one
receivesforworkperformed –suchaspayandother
benefits (Hackman and Lawler, 1971;
Lincoln &
Kalleberg,1990:98).Thisdoesnotmeanthatexternal
factorsarelessimportant,buttheir positiveeffectson
commitment tend to be relatively short‐lived
(Herzbergetal.,1993:70‐83).
3.3 Occupationalcommitment
If organizational commitment has to do with the
specifics of working life, occupational commitment
hastodowiththegeneralitiesforanoccupation.Like
in organizational commitment there is a more
qualitativeandemotionaldriver,whichistheaspect
that has been given the most attention in earlier
research (c.f. Lee et al., 2000). It is, for example,
primarily within an occupation that people can
developasenseofstatusandidentity.Earlierresearch
showsthatthedurationofeducation,age,andyears
invested in the occupation have positive effect on
occupationalcommitment(Nogueras,2006).
It has been reported that perceptions of social
quality and of leadership quality in the work
organization influence occupational commitment
(VanderHeijdenetal.,2009). Apositive correlation
between occupational commitment and perceived
autonomyatwork has also been reported (Giffords,
2009). There are also reports of a strong correlation
between commitment to the occupation and
commitmenttotheorganization(Leeetal.,2000).In
other words, if people have
a long, thorough
professionaleducation,aremotivatedintheirday‐to‐
dayworkandhappywiththeirspecificjobs,theycan
be expected to demonstrate a strong emotional
relationshiptotheiroccupations.
123
However, occupational commitment differs from
organizationalcommitmentinthatsatisfactionwitha
specific workplace may be low even while
identificationwith the occupation is high. It is more
difficulttoimaginethattheoppositesituationwould
be particularly common, although it is entirely
possible that higher satisfaction with the occupation
also strengthens commitment to the specific
workplace. In most cases it is probably also much
easier to switch workplace and remain in the same
occupationthan the reverse, which might contribute
to a tendency to direct dissatisfaction towards the
particular job rather than the occupation. Research
has in any case
shown that strong occupational
commitment restrains decisions to leave a job
(Nogueras,2006).
3.4 Expectationsofthestudy
In this study we may expect to find differences in
commitment depending on age. It has been shown
that older people generally express greater loyalty
towardstheirworkthandoyoungerpeople(Mathieu
&Zajac,1990;Guoetal.,2005;Hult,2012).Herewe
needtoconsiderthatageisintertwinedwiththetime
accumulated in certain work situations which
theoretically can have both positive and negative
effects on attitudes depending on individual
experiencesinthejob.
With respect to the Swedish situation
of foreign
registrationofships,ithasbeenarguedthatseafarers
are“vulnerabletoexploitationandabuse”astheyare
employees in what is called “the world’s first
genuinely global industry” (ILO, 2012). Seafarers
have been advised to always be aware of what flag
the ship is flying and “where necessary,
ask for
assistance to find out what are the laws of that flag
State”(ITF,2012).Ithasbeenindicatedthatflagging‐
out can pose significant damage to seafarers
commitment to their work (Hult 2012), but the
mechanismsatworkherehasnotyetbeenstudiedin
detail.
Hypothetically, the
youngest seafarers and the
oldest may be most sensitive to foreign registration.
Whenitcomestotheyoungestagegroup,ithasbeen
questionedwhetherwecouldexpectyoungpeopleto
put their faith in a sector that continuously seeking
themostconvenientflag(SBF,2010).Whenitcomes
tothe
oldestagegroup,ithasbeenpointedoutthat
social security and especially the forthcoming
retirement income can become a disappointment
underforeignflag(Sjömannen,2011:12‐17).
Thus, we may expect that the flag state have the
greatest efect on organizational and occupational
commitmentin the youngest and oldest
agegroups.
Basedonearlierresearch wemayexpect thateffects
of flag state are independent of other indicators of
nationality, such as working in a nationally mixed
crew(Guoetal.,2005).
4 METHOD
4.1 Collectionofdata
This study is based on a sample taken from the
Swedish Register
of Seafarers using unrestricted
randomselection ofdeck and engineeringpersonnel
forthemen,andof cateringpersonnel forbothmen
and women. Because women still are strongly
underrepresented among deck and engineering
personnel, all women from these departments were
drawnintotheframework.
Thedatawerecollectedviapostal
surveysduring
the period of 8 March to 8 September 2010. The
questionnaire was based on pre‐existing
questionnaires from the International Social Survey
Programme,WorkOrientationsIIIstudy(ISSP,2005).
Additionalitemswerealldevelopedwiththeoretical
connections to earlier research on work related
commitment. When appropriate, the items were
adaptedtothespecificsoftheseafaringoccupation.
The final material consists of 1,309 respondents
with an answering rate of 54%. After control of
different aspects, such as gender, age, onboard
position, trade area, and type of ship, the material
was found representative for Swedish seafarers on
Swedish‐controlledships.
Although sufficient demographic and work‐
related representativity, it is (as always) difficult to
estimatethelikelinessofnon‐responseeffects onthe
attitudinalrepresentativity.Aneducatedguesswould
be that people who take great interest in their work
maybemorelikelythanotherstocompletethistype
ofquestionnaireand
thereforebeover‐representedin
thesample.Ifso,theattitudinalpatternsfoundinthe
analysis would still be correct, but the levels of
commitment would be slightly overestimated (i.e.
Hult&Svallfors,2002).
4.2 Processingofdataandanalysis
The Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS) were
used throughout the
analysis. The dependent and
explanatoryindiceswereconstructedusingPrincipal
Component Analysis (PCA) and control for internal
reliability. In order to control for the influence of
different and competing variables, multiple
regression analysis (OLS regression), allowing
adjusted effects, were used in several steps of the
analysis.
Thedependentvariablesareall
basedonattitude
questions expressed as statements on which
respondentswereaskedtotakeapositionbyselecting
a fixed option on a five‐point Likert Scale, from
strongly agree to strongly disagree. After mapping the
pattern of latent factors underlying a number of
different indicators, using PCA, the appropriate
indicators for occupational and organizational
commitmentcameoutasshowninTable1.
All indicators above were recoded so that 0
denotestheoptionthatentailsthelowestcommitment
and 4 the highest. The indicators were then
summarized within two separate indices; one
representing organizational commitment and one
representing occupational
commitment. To facilitate
124
interpretation of the results, each index is then
divided by its maximum values and multiplied by
100.Each indexis thuspermittedto vary between0
and100.
Table1.Dimensionsofcommitment
_______________________________________________
OccupationalCommitment,indicators:
Therearequalitiestotheseafaringoccupationthat
Iwouldmissinanotheroccupation.
Theseafaringoccupationispartofmyidentity.
Theseafaringoccupationisnotjustajob,itisa
lifestyle.
Ifeelproudofmyoccupationasaseafarer.
Iwouldprefertoremainintheseafaring
occupationevenifIwereofferedajobwith
higherpa
yonland.
_______________________________________________
OrganizationalCommitment,indicators:
IamwillingtoworkharderthanIhavetoinorder
tohelptheshippingcompanyIworkfor
succeed.
Iamproudtobeworkingformyshipping
company.
Iwouldturndownanot
herjobthatofferedquitea
bitmorepayinordertostaywiththisshipping
company.
_______________________________________________
Table 2 presents the mea
n value and standard
deviation for each index. The high mean value and
the low standard deviation for occupational
commitmentindicatesthatseafarersarequiteunited
intheirhighcommitmentto,andidentificationwith,
theseafaringoccupation.Cronbach’sAlphaisatestof
theinternalcorrelationamongtheindicat
orsineach
index – the higher the value (between 0 and 1), the
more reliable the index. Both indices turn out
sufficientlystable.
Table2:Workattitudesindex–Swedishseafarersin2010
_______________________________________________
Occupational Organizational
commitment commitment
_______________________________________________
Meanvalue(0‐100)71.7 50.3
Standarddeviation16.78 20.81
Cronbach’sAlpha0.820.73
_______________________________________________
5 RESULTS
5.1 Age,timeandcommitment
In Figure 1 we can see how organizational and
occupational commitments are distributed among
fourage categories:age 19‐30, 31‐42,43‐54,and 55+.
Thereisaweakincreaseinoccupationalcommitment
betweenthetwoyoungestcategoriesandbetweenthe
two oldest. Moving to organizational commi
tment,
we find a considerably stronger and pronounced
linearincreasebyagecategory.However,thistypeof
commitmentisconsistentlyweakerthanoccupational
commitment.
For obvious reasons, the measure of age is often
intertwined with different aspects of investment in
time.Inourcasethisisillustratedwiththenumberof
years seafarers have worked at sea, how long they
haveworkedintheirpresentpositions,howlongthey
haveservedontheirpresentships,andhowlongthey
have been working for their specific shipping
companies.Inordertocontrolforundesiredlevelsof
collinearit
y between these va
riables, a Variance
Inflation Factor (VIF) test was made for models in
Figures2‐4.InnocasetheVIFvaluereachedover2,7
indicatingfullyacceptablelevelsofcollinearity.
In Figures 2‐3 the effect
s of all types of invested
timeonoccupationalandorganizationalcommitment
are displayed. Dark bars indicate statistical
significance. Positive effects ascend from the 0 line
and negative effects descend. Each bar shows the
average effect for one year. The chart’s 0‐line thus
represents the av
erage position at one year’s less
investedtime.Becausetheeffectsrepresentedbythe
chartreferto an average value change per year, the
effectsarealsosmall–butevensmalleffectsbecome
significantifthetendencyissufficientlystable.
For both types of commitment it becomes clear
that significant effect
s are positive in direction.
Invested years at sea show a positive effect on both
occupational and organizational commitment. The
latter type of commitment is also positively affected
byyearsincompany.
After examination of each age group (not shown
here) it became clear that only occupational
125
commitmentisvitiatedbyanegativeandsignificant
age‐relatedeffectfrominvestedtime.Figure4reveals
the surprisingly strong negative effect per year
invested on the ship in the 19‐30 age group (other
aspectsoftimearecontrolledfor,notshown).
5.2 Age,nationalityandcommitment
Astoucheduponinthei
ntroduction,thereisastrong
internationalelement to shipping. This element may
or may not be a source of misunderstandings and
conflicts.Whenitcomestothenationalityoftheflag,
it may also, for the Swedish seafarers, be a case of
dissatisfactionwithunfamiliarorganizationalfeatures
if the flag is not Swedish. Accordingly, the
moti
vationaleffectoffactorssuchasthenationalityof
crewandflagneedtobeinvestigatedwithmutually
control.
In Figure 5 it can be seen tha
t seafarers’
organizationalcommitmentisstronglyandnegatively
affectedwhentheshipisflyingaforeignflag.Thisis
trueevenwhen nationalityofcrew iscontrolled for.
Thus, loyalty and commitment to the employer are
considerably higher among seafarers on Swedish‐
flagged ships. No effect
s of nationality, other than
thatofflag,reachsignificance.
When it comes to occupational commitment, on
theotherhand,itbecameclearthatthenationalityof
crewand flaglack generalimpact(notshownhere).
However, investigation of each age group revealed
interesting figures for the oldest age group. This is
displayedinFigure6,werewefindalargenegative
effectofforeignflaginthe55+agecategory.Clea
rly,
older seafarers demonstrate less interest in the
seafaringoccupationiftheirshipisflagged‐out.
5.3 Explainingtheresults
Whentryingtoexplaindifferencesincommitment,it
is a good idea to start with cont
rolling for
respondents’ workplace position. This is because
positionsoftenentaildifferencesinperceptionofthe
work content. Figure 7 shows those onboard‐
positions, for the age category 19‐30, where the
declinein occupational commitmentdue to invested
time on ship is most pronounced. Here we can see
tha
titisjuniordeckofficersandcateringratingsthat
displaythemostpronounceddeclinerelated totime
invested on ship. However, multivariate statistical
tests (not shown here) revealed that time on ship
impose a significant effect on occupational
commitment in its own right, i. e. independently of
onboard‐position,andalsooftypeofshipandtra
de‐
area.
The same procedure was conducted concerning
the finding tha
t foreign flag pose a significant and
negative effect onorganisationalcommitmentforall
ages.Figure8showsthatseniordeckofficers,junior
deckofficers,juniorengine officers,anddeckratings
are those onboard positions that display the most
pronounced decline in commitment due to foreign
flag. However, mult
ivariate tests (not shown) made
clearthatalsotheeffectofflagstateremainsignificant
andindependentlyofonboardposition.
126
Thefindingthatforeignflaghasasignificantand
negative effect on occupational commitment for the
age category 55+, was also tested with onboard
position.Figure9tellsusthatthestrongesteffectsare
found among senior deck officers, junior engine
officers and deck ratings. Multivariate tests (not
shown)madecleartha
ttheinitial effectofflagstate
remain significant and independent of onboard
positionconcerningtheagecategory55+.
Thus, in order to properly explain the observed
impediments for organizational and occupational
commitment, we need to turn our attention to
differences in the degree to which seafarers valuate
different aspects of their job related to the extent to
whichtheaspectsareperceivedsatisfiedatwork.
Table3.Cronbach’sAlpha,Explanatorydimensions
_______________________________________________
Importance Howwell
ofthetheaspects
aspects aresatisfied
_______________________________________________
Socialsecuritystructure:0.650.59
Jobsecurity
Beingusefultosociety
Goodleadership
Aunionthatlooksoutformembers’interests
Goodrelationswiththelandorganization
_______________________________________________
Socialcompositiononboard: 0.810.71
Carefullyconsideredgendercomposition
Carefullyconsideredagecomposition
Carefullyconsideredethniccomposition
_______________________________________________
Jobcontentonboard: 0.700.75
Goodcareeropportunity
Interestingtasks
Autonomy
Skillsdevelopment
_______________________________________________
The material contains several statements
concerningtheimportanceandperceivedsatisfaction
with various aspects of the job. After mapping the
patternoflatentfactorsthreeappropriatedimensions
(eachcontaining importanceofand satisfaction with
theaspects)cameoutaspresentedinTable3.
All indicators were summarized within separate
indices and divided by their ma
ximum values and
multipliedby20sothattheexplanatoryvariablescan
vary between 0 not important (valuations) and not
satisfied(perceptions),to20veryimportant(valuations)
and <