AbstractsPsychology

Nonprofit Human service assistants provide much of the direct care for the most vulnerable and disenfranchised populations (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003; Cleary et al., 2006.) Their high turnover rates compromise service quality and increase nonprofit costs (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003; Baumeister & Zaharia, 1987; Durlak & Roth, 1983; Mor Barak, Nissly, & Levin, 2001; Rutowski, Guiler, & Schimmel, 2009). To ensure client services are effective, nonprofit leaders need to identify strategies to enhance human service assistant’s organizational commitment. This qualitative study explored how human service assistants perceived their organizational commitment and the experiences that impacted their organizational commitment. From the interviews with 21 human service assistants, a grounded theory emerged illustrating the factors that foster organizational commitment. Human service assistants arrived at their agency with experiences, characteristics, and/or personal circumstances that may have influenced their commitment. Once employed, the nonprofit environment provided experiences that fostered organizational commitment. The culmination of these experiences resulted in participants feeling valued by the organization or I matter. Feeling they mattered was the core condition for organizational commitment.