© Ibadan Journal of the Social Sciences Volume 12, Number 2, September 2014 Investigating the Dimensions of Organizational Commitment among Male and Female Employees in Financial Firms in Nigeria Catherine Chovwen Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State The survey investigated the factors that relate to the three dimensions of organisational commitment among female and male employees in Financial Institutions. One hundred and eighty three participants responded to the questionnaires which were distributed to gather relevant information on the variables of interest. The predictions made were tested using regression analysis and results showed that role conflict and role ambiguity significantly contributed to affective, continuance and normative commitment among males and females. However, role ambiguity and role conflict had significant impact on both affective and normative commitment among females as revealed by their beta weights. On the other hand, for males, the contribution of role conflict and ambiguity were not as significant as observed in the results. Findings were discussed and recommendation made in line with observed results. Key words: Role conflict and ambiguity, affective, continuance and nonnative commitment. Introduction Organizations that have goals to achieve require satisfied and happy staff (Oshagbemi, 2000). The ability of any organization to achieve its goals is a function of its ability to attract and retain competent, loyal and satisfied staff. Organisational commitment has been found to be of great importance to every work environment, because it is believed to be the psychological component which binds individual to his/her workplace and makes them happy with their job (Lee and Jamil, 2003). Meyer and Allen's (2007) research indicated that there are three "mind sets" which can characterize an employee's commitment to the organization: affective, continuance and normative commitments. Affective commitment is defined as the employee's positive emotional attachment to the organization. Meyer and Allen (1997) define affective commitment as the "desire" component of organizational commitment. An employee who is affectively committed strongly identifies with the goals of the organization and desires to remain a part of the organization. This employee commits to the organization because he/she "wants to". Continuance commitment is the "need" component or the gains versus losses of working in an organization. "Side bets," or investments, are the gains and losses that may occur should an individual stay or leave an organization. An individual may commit to the 249 DOI: 10.36108/ijss/4102.21.0211