The Effect of Organizational Commitment and E-training on E-tourism Job Performance

Abstract

E-tourism combines e-commerce and Information Technology (IT) in the tourism industry. It can be defined as the investigation, strategy, application and implementation of e-commerce solutions and IT in the travel, leisure, and tourism industry. Training is required to update the skills and knowledge of employees. This learning is mandatory for performance enhancement of job-related tasks. Training and development also strives to increase organisational commitment, which can be defined as an effective connection with the organisation that encourages the employee to work productively as well as to continue to work with the organisation. Organisational commitment can be characterised by the willingness of employees to contribute to the objectives of the organisation. Previous works in the literature have investigated e-training and development and its correlation with e-tourism performance. However, the impact of organisational commitment on the relationship between e-training and development and e-tourism performance, particularly in a virtual team setting, is not well understood. Therefore, this paper investigates the mediatory role of organisational commitment on e-training and IT project performance for virtual teams working in the e-tourism field. The primary objective of this paper is to prove that improvement in e-training and development and organisational commitment of e-tourism virtual teams will also improve the job performance of the virtual teams. This work is justified from the needs of current organisations that are embracing a more virtual working environment, with the aim of catering to detached workforces—internally and externally—that communicate through IT and thus further improve organisational performance. The results help determine whether or not e-training and development helps employee participation in training programs and their perceptions towards it. The findings also prove that organisational commitment is a crucial factor affecting the productivity and efficiency of employees in the workplace.