The Effect of the Unique Features of Y Generation on Organizational Commitment

In this research, the determinants of the generations and unique characteristics of Generation Y are examined and the effect of this unique characteristics on organizational commitment is investigated. In the introduction part of the research, different features separating the generations from each other were mentioned and the studies done in this subject were examined and the studies and findings of different researchers were evaluated. In the final part of the survey, there is the analysis result of the survey collected from overall Turkey from 8 corporations. Sample size of this research is 267. In order to measure organizational commitment, the scale developed by Allen and Meyer was used (Allen & Meyer, 1993). In order to measure team working, the scale developed by Levi and Slem was used (Levi & Slem, 1995). In order to measure playful spirit at work, the scale developed by Berg was used (Berg, 2011). According to the test results, there is a positive and significant relationship between Workplace fun and Team Working and between Team Working and Organizational Commitment. Contrary to expectation, there is not directly relation between organizational commitment and workplace fun. But work place fun positively effects organizational commitment through team working indirectly. The results of this research are to confirm that employees will be more likely to work in teams if organization environments are established to make them happy and entertained, thereby increasing their organizational commitment.


Introduction
Generations have differences in the way they grow and the environment they are in. These differences show that there are significant differences among generations in both character and working life as well as social life. An important part of the problems arising from the coexistence of different age groups is the result of the differences in perception, method, communication, and application for generations (Howe & Strauss, 1992). The term "generation" is defined as "a group of individuals born in close proximity, who share the same conditions of the same period, so close to each other, and undertake similar responsibilities" (Maxwell, Ogden, & Broadbridge, 2010). One of the important studies on generation differences was conducted by Kupperschmidt. In this study, it is suggested that there are different generations due to the important events that occurred during the development periods of the people. Kupperschmidt suggested that people showed some behavior patterns in the framework of these common experiences that they experienced during their youth (Kupperschmidt, 2000). According to Howe and Strauss, a number of reasons are more important than the date of birth in the formation of generation. These are perceived membership, general beliefs and behaviors and place in history (Howe & Strauss, 2000). Perceived membership is a self-perception that it is a generation of members in adolescence and young adulthood. General beliefs and behaviors are the attitudes towards the onegeneration character (family, business life, politics) and behavior (choices made in matters such as work, marriage, and children). Place in History is the events that are historical events that took place during the period when the generations started to occur (teenage and younger adulthood).
It is seen that people belonging to different generations have different perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors in society. These differences show themselves in many parts of the society. There are very important repercussions of these differences in business environments, education, non-governmental organizations, and politics and even in the family. Now, individuals share their reactions, feelings, desires, objections, happiness, gain, and loss at every opportunity on a number of platforms. And these exchanges are often effective and reach the desired message. These different perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of different generations undoubtedly have important consequences in the business environment. The behavior of employees in firms is different in different generations. The choice of job positions, the placement of candidates in those positions, the promotion of positions and, in short, the effects of the generational differences in all human resource practices are clearly shown. The concept of Generation Y, which is frequently used both academically and in business circles, has begun to be used to express the last rings of generation series. These new generations of individuals are manifested by different perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors in all sections of the society, especially the business environment (Lissitsa & Kol, 2016). This study investigates the effects of the features of Y generation dissociated from other generations on organizational commitment. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used as the statistical method to measure this effect. Results of this study explain the effects of different features of generation Y on organizational commitment.
Silent Generation is also known as the War Generation, is the generation of those who were born between 1925-1945. The world's most characteristic events of this period are the Second World War and the economic upheavals. These years coincide with the one-party years of the Republican Period in Turkey. This generation members are individuals who are very disadvantaged in decision-making, as well as being debatable, inferential and process-oriented. Members of this generation are loyal to the authority, avoiding the initiative and expect directives. They prefer balance and order. They show high respect to their leaders and are traditionists. Technology is slow to adapt. They associate seniority with age. Baby Boomer's are defined as the generation born between 1946-1964(Pekala, 2001), 1944-1960(Arsenault, 2004) and 1943-1960(Families & Work Institute, 2002. Taking into consideration the World War II ending in 1946 and the birth rates falling in the US in 1964, the Baby Boomer's time interval is generally accepted in the literature between 1946-1964.  (1943)(1944)(1945)(1946)(1947)(1948)(1949)(1950)(1951)(1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960) X Generation  Futurists (1980-1999) -This is the decisive event in the United States, the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, women's rights and human rights movements around the world, travel to the Moon and Vietnam War. The Vietnam War is seen as the most significant event between the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers, especially in the US.
X Generation is defined as a generation born between 1965-1978(Pekala, 2001), 1961-1980(Arsenault, 2004) and 1965-1979(Families and Work Institute: 2002 as in different references. The members of this generation have witnessed changes in their gender roles and family structures differently from the previous one. They were usually children of working parents, learned to grow up on their own without going home and going home to school by themselves. For this period in Turkey; Petrol crises, economic straits, 68 generations, university events, left-wing right-wing conflictions and television (the events of television have become much more violent with the entrance into the houses and the negative impacts on society have become traceable to the home) (Mengi, 2011).
Y Generation is differed by their borning years between 1981-2000 (Arsenault, 2004), 1980-today (Families and Work Institute, 2002) and 1979(Pekala, 2001), 1982-2004(Howe and Strauss, 1992 as in different reference. Y Generation is firstly mentioned in 1993 to be able to explain the difference between adults and X Generation (Howe & Strauss, 1992). The letter "Y" from the English sounds the same with the Word "WHY", was used primarily to describe this generation due to the interrogator. The heroes of this generation, police officers, firemen, and mayors of the US September 11, 2001, who grew up watching the armed school raids on television. Patriotic sentiments that have decreased since the Vietnam War have been revived in this generation. In Turkey, the main events that affected this generation were; Rising terrorist acts, Gulf War, Iraq War, internet, globalizing world, social media and mobile phone (Pekala, 2001). Y generation members grew up in a protective and safe environment created by their parents. (Howe & Strauss, 2000). Because of the increased divorce rates they have experienced, the birth control has come to a widespread turnaround, the children of this generation are highly desired by their parents and are very valuable to their parents. This is mainly the reason of their commitment to their parents. The members of Y Generation, are self-centered and self-important because of their way of growing situation (Hills et al, 2012). It can be said that both the upbringing styles and the common experiences they have experienced during the youth period are effective. Erikson believes that the character of an individual is not irreversibly shaped in childhood, but is a stage in which it develops deeply in every aspect of life. According to Erikson, identity is "one's own life of constant and invariable quality, both the integrity of one's inner world and its relation to the outside world and its social and cultural organization" (Elkind, 1978). They grew up in the welfare periods and had intense interest from their families. As a result of the protectionist family and continuous praise, this generation is characterized as self-confident and independent. They actually, from time to time, comes from overcoming difficult problems, becoming (overly) dependent on other people. Perhaps this is the result of being raised by parents who are overly fond of them (Castellano, 2016).
According to a research by the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of family Y generation trusts their family's recommendation (usually their mother), 64 percent need the help of their parents in their day-today work, 73 percent have received financial support from their families during the previous year, and 40 percent are still with their families so that they live together (Pew Research Center, 2007).
According to the study of Wang and Taylor (2011), the family life of Y generation is different from previous generations. When compared with older generations, it is unlikely that this generation will be grown in an environment where parents are still living together. Only 63 percent of the parents of Y have been married in their childhood. When compared to previous generations, this rate is 76 percent for X'ers, 83 percent for baby boomers, and 89 percent for traditionals. In 1960, more than two out of three in 20 randomly selected family members (% 68) were married. Only 26 percent were married in 2008 (Wang & Taylor, 2011). Y Generation also has a working parent like X Generation. However, the age of parenting has increased. This generation, whose parents are very different from previous generation parents, has parents who have a much more active role in their child's growing up under good conditions, getting a good education and being safe. Business, entertainment, and social activities are intertwined. This belt growing with diversity; It does not consider the ethnic differences among people to the extent that they almost disappear. They differ by this feature from X generation (Notter, 2005). Y generation individuals are characterized as social consciousness, focused on human relations, prone to cooperation and desire to learn. These generation members want to have clear instructions on what they do, face-toface job and performance evaluations, ask questions about business and participate in management (McEwan, 2009). The members of this generation, enjoy complex jobs and development embraces clear career goals. They prefer a more complex job instead of a routine job, and they may prefer to change jobs if they are not met. The most important reasons for leaving the workplace are that they will come to that position and have no chance of developing. Y generation workers believe they can change jobs until they reach their target career positions (Kelan et al, 2009). For this reason, we see that companies that are aiming at efficiency in human resource structuring shape business processes according to the characteristics of the new generation. These firms will achieve more successful results if they make adaptations according to the cultural characteristics of the Y generation in Turkey rather than applying the foreign samples exactly while adapting the business processes to the new product (Yüksekbilgili, 2013). Y generation is the first generation to get benefits of technology. Actually, this generation has grown up by technology. Because this generation has been interacting very closely with technology in playing games, in homes and now in their workplaces. When compared to other older generations, this generation thinks differently by means of technology. They approach technology with bottom-up thinking (Wikipedia) and social networking (Facebook), and inconsistency with old top-down models (Hinnsen, 2010). This generation spends more time on social networks and on the Internet than other generations, and also sends more messages. Just like the young baby boom generation, who is proud of not being conservative, the Y belt has its own characteristics. Only half of those change their outlook by making more tattoos, painting their hair in different colors or piercing their bodies to change their appearance, whereas just 21 percent of the over 40's do the same (Pew, 2007).
According to Lower, Generation Y members easily adapt to multitasking. They also have an impatient multicultural and global perspective (Weston, 2006;Sheahan, 2005;Lower, 2008). According to Twenge & Campbell, the Y generation can be described as selfish and narcissistic. They can also easily change jobs (Twenge & Campbell, 2008).
There are extraordinary thoughts. They want to step up their careers in business and have high salary expectations. They prefer workplaces with flexible working practices. They are success oriented (Woodvd, 2008;Hogg, 2012). Individually the members of Y Generation can be described as enthusiastic and technology savvy. Comfortable life is very important, technology is at the center of their lives. Quickly consumes new products coming into the market. 25 percent of the people living in Turkey constitute this generation. In Turkey, half of the labor force in the business world constitutes employees in the generation of Y. This ratio reaches 83 percent in the call center sector and 79 percent in the e-commerce sector. As of 2012, it is seen that just 3,3 percent of the management positions in Turkey were filled by Y Generation (Yasa & Bozyiğit, 2012).
In another study, the basic values of the Y Generation are as follows (Hopkins & Stephenson, 2014): • Self-confidence is high.

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They work with determination to succeed.
They prefer compromise as well as violence.

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Give importance to harmony with social values of their work.

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They do not like routine, they perceive "change" as a normal part of their life, and they even want "change".
• They are creative, and they have a "disproportionate" imagination.

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Their affiliation with the company is low.
As expected, this generation is more open-minded and distinct thinking on changes than the other generations. Y Generation is entering into business life with a different idea about traditional organizational practices, preferring hierarchical teamwork and social circles. Y Generation believes that older generations have better opportunities for education than younger and older adults and that they have more chances to be a high salaried worker than they have. Y Generation is more optimistic about their career than previous generations but thinks more pessimistic about the income situation. Pew (2007) pointed out that less than half of the circle Y Generation believes that they will be as safe as their older generation in material respect; 62 percent of the population believes that it is easier for young adults to be hosted in the 1980s than adults today. Given these material concerns, 64 percent of Y Generation is believed to be the most important life purpose in life (Pew, 2007).
The most important factor in preventing Y Generation employees from leaving work is the company's reputation and image. Career and development opportunities are also important factors. According to Small (2009), the characteristics of Y Generation can be listed as (Small, 2009): • They can do many jobs at the same time, they can easily complete cross-transactions. For example, while watching television, they use other media tools, • Attention time is short, especially when compared with traditional learning methods.

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They have their own virtual etiquette and languages.
• The time they spend on reading is very small. But they learned to read and write at an early age.

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The ability of learning and developing language is weak. They can express themselves more in the internet environment.
• Neural flow and some parts of the brain that adapt to traditional learning methods have not developed sufficiently.
• The brain is configured for fast virtual calls.

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Privacy feelings are weak. They prefer to share their personal thoughts and feelings with their friends on internet sites -even foreigners.
Works more comfortably in digital noises in noisy environments. The Researches conducted in recent years reveals how different Y Generation workers are from their grandfathers. Beginning at the age of 20 and 30, these young employees want flexible working programs from their managers, more "personal time" at work, almost continuous feedback and career advice. On the periphery, they argue that their bosses can learn something from their young employees (Schawbel, 2012). The Y Generation is expressed in the form of a more educated, tech-savvy, human community that has learned everything from information sources and has been trying to discover the world globally (Türk, 2013). Being in a fast-paced environment and fast-paced expectation is one of the features that differentiate them from the older generations. They do not follow traditional office rules and hierarchy (Schawbel, 2012). When compared to other generations, it is necessary to create flexible working hours, to organize trainings that enable them to use internet technologies, to set a vision to operate them, and to provide a strong communication network in order to ensure the commitment of this generation, which is less loyal to the other generations (www.un.org). Y Generation workers want to feel that they are part of society at work. According to Schawbel (2012), nine out of ten prefer a workplace that can be fun and social. Moreover, listening to organizational strategies is a real desire to understand. Rather than a small geared song unaware of any major task, they chose to be at the critical point of the company's vision and to be in the innovation work for the company's progress (Schawbel, 2012). The working style of generation members who are ready to work hard as long as they have trusting and trusting executives can be different from the working styles of other generations (Zemke et al, 2013). Therefore, they are not influenced by traditional hierarchy, titles, and positions in the pyramid structure. They do not make sense to have a strict hierarchy in the workplace as they grow, winnings and losses are always rewarded and presumably because their families patience and listen to them and include them in the decision-making process before making family decisions. The reason for their difficulty in understanding the hierarchy is that they have not grown up with it. Many Y Generation members believe that democracy in the workplace must be prevaling. According to this view, all individuals working at a workplace, regardless of seniority, must be informed of events and given the opportunity to have employees with good ideas (Schawbel, 2012). They find that working more than forty hours a week suits their lifestyle. However, they are trying to change the understanding that this work should be between 9: 00-17: 00 hours. They think, however, that the workplace should be allowed to determine their own time frame. These generation members prefer a flexible approach and argue that as long as the job is done, it should not be taken care that it is done in an office or other environment (Zemke et al, 2013).
In the study conducted by Çemberci et al (2014), it is revealed that there are five dimensions which are dissociated from other generations (X and Baby Boomers). These dimensions are multiple tasking, social media usage, prone to the team working, organizational commitment and workplace fun. In this study three of them has been chosen to form the conceptual model of the study. These are workplace fun, prone to team working and organizational commitment.
Workplace fun has different identification of fun in the workplace in the literature (Tews et al., 2014;Ford 2003). Fluegge (2008) emphasized fun activities are included in task activities. McDowell (2004) highlighted that fun activities are excluded from task activities. Scholars generally focus humor and playfulness when investigating workplace fun. However it is important to note that humor, joking, funny, laughter and fun are similar concepts but their conceptualizations are district. For instance, there is a reaction to humor such as laughter or smiling; however, fun does not have reactions (Plester, 2016). Basically fun shows the pleasant activities in the workplace that provides to contacts and interaction among employees each other. Ford et al (2003) explain workplace fun as a fun work environment that intentionally encourages, initiates and supports a variety of enjoyable and pleasurable activities. Bolton and Houlihon (2009) state that workplace is fun draws on an implied link between, play, fun and laughter and increased corporate performance, in the forms of motivation, creativity and job satisfaction.
In addition to team members' knowledge and skills to work, they should be able to adapt to interpersonal relationships and collective behavior. It is evaluated that the relationships between the persons and the cooperation processes necessitate different skills. In this context, the individual is also required to prepare themselves for teamwork in the areas of individual development. Conflicts around cooperation and coordination in the second main group, defined as process skills, are assessed in the teamwork process (Desimone & Harris, 2002). Teamworking is the ability to work in a harmonious way with a number of people which they have complementary talent to each other and sharing certain goals (Levi & Slem, 1995).

The Relationship between Workplace Fun and Team Working
Workplace fun contributes to establish relationship and interaction among employees (Plester, 2016). It is important for individuals to work with each other in teamwork and be happy with it. This desire is at the forefront of the success of teamwork. In order to establish group cohesiveness in business teams interaction between the team members should be increased (Flanagan & Finger, 2014). Following hypothesis was developed to explain the relationship between workplace fun and team working. H1: Workplace fun affects Team Working positively.

The Relationship between Team Working and Organizational Commitment
Team member is devoted to group success. Therefore being a team will increase the total commitment to the organization (Gibbon, et al., 2002). Team working ability of team members depends on the level of the trust among members. Trust has a positive influence on organizational commitment (Crossman & Lee-Kelley, 2004). Following hypothesis was developed to explain the relationship between team working and organizational commitment.

Research Methods
This research is a quantitative cross-sectional research and five points Likert scale was used in the survey.
After determining the reliability and validity of Likert type ordinal scales structural Equation Model method was used to conduct the analysis. The hypotheses of the theoretical model were tested by this multi-variable statistical method. Structural Equation Model was used due to clarifying direct and indirect relationships between variables in a single model (Meydan & Şeşen, 2011). This method is good for eliminating measurement errors (Byrne, 2010). AMOS and SPSS statistics programs were used for analyses.

Measures and Sampling
In order to measure organizational commitment, the scale developed by Allen and Meyer was used (Allen & Meyer, 1993). In order to measure team working the scale developed by Levi and Slem was used (Levi & Slem, 1995). In order to measure playful spirit at work, the scale developed by Berg was used (Berg, 2011). More than 300 distributed, 267 valid questionnaires were gathered from 8 different organizations throughout Turkey.

Construct Validity and Reliability
After the data purification process 9 items were included in the confirmatory factor analysis. To assess convergent validity, confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the scales by using AMOS 23 (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). CFA results indicated that the model was a good fit: χ2/DF =1.907, CFI=0.984, IFI=0.984, RMSEA= 0.058. CMIN is The Likelihood Ratio Chi-Square Test. The analysis shows the conformity of the initial model and acquired model. A CMIN/DF ratio is under the threshold level of 3 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1990). Furthermore, other fit indices exceeded their recommended thresholds. Table 1 and standardized factor loads of each item are larger than 0.4 and significant. These values show the convergent validity of the scales. To assess discriminant validity, average variance extracted values were calculated. Results are close to or beyond the threshold level (i.e. 0.5) (Byrne, 2010).

Test of Hypotheses
The structural model has been analyzed by using AMOS 23. To test the hypotheses, maximum likelihood estimation methods and the covariance matrix of the items were used. The absolute and relative goodness-of-fit indices of the model were evaluated.

Figure 2. Results of SEM Analysis
In this analysis, the following indices were used: The absolute goodness of fit indices are the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and the χ2 goodness of fit statistic. The relative goodness of fit indices is the comparative fit index (CFI) and the incremental fit index (IFI). As shown in Figure 2, structural model fit indices adequately indicate model fit. χ2/DF value is 1.872 and within threshold levels (i.e. between 2 and 5). CFI and IFI are 0.984 and 0.984 respectively. RMSEA is 0.057. As shown in Table 3, when H1 and H2 are accepted. These results of the hypotheses test indicate a positive and significant relationship between Workplace fun and Team Working and between Team Working and Organizational Commitment.

Conclusion
This paper aimed to empirically investigate the effects of the features of Y generation dissociated from other generations on organizational commitment. In the literature in previous researches, for five dimensions Y generation have been dissociated from other generations (Çemberci et al, 2014). Among three of them which were organizational commitment, workplace fun and team working a conceptual model was formed in this research. According to the hypotheses test, H1 and H2 hypotheses were accepted. Workplace fun positively effects team working. Subsequently, team working positively effects organizational commitment. There is not directly relation between organizational commitment and workplace fun but work place fun positively effects organizational commitment through team working indirectly.
Today the rate of Y generation employees is increasing continuously. Y generation employees are prevailing all the domains of professional life. A good understanding of the expectations of these employees and their distinguishing characteristics from the other generations is important in order to create their organizational commitment. The results of this research are to confirm that employees will be more likely to work in teams if organization environments are established to make them happy and entertained, thereby increasing their organizational commitment.