Employee commitment to the implementation of flexible manufacturing systems

Empirically examines the factors contributing to employee commitment in the implementation of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), a class of highly automated manufacturing systems. Identifies and categorizes a number of employee commitment elements from diverse disciplines into five factors, using a confirmatory factor analysis approach. A linear regression analysis was performed with the perceived level of employee commitment to FMS implementation as the dependent variable and five factors including educational opportunity, job discretion, management support, job security, and financial incentives as the explanatory variables. In the regression analysis, the educational opportunity factor entered the model, suggesting that it is a significant factor constituting employee commitment for successful FMS implementation.