|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Employee Commitment
Resolving some Issues
CHARLES W. MUELLER
University of Iowa
JEAN E. WALLACE
University of Iowa
JAMES L. PRICE
University of Iowa
There has been a recent upsurge of interest among sociologists in the organizational commitment of employees, with loyalty and intent to stay identified as distinct forms that this commitment can take. This article argues that progress in understanding organizational commitment will not be made until conceptual and empirical distinctions among various forms of employee commitment are recognized and demonstrated. With this as the objective, it was hypothesized that loyalty and intent to stay are conceptually and empirically distinct from each other as well as from two other forms of employee commitment: work commitment and career commitment. This was tested with confirmatory factor analysis and was supported across a variety of tests. Construct validation was obtained by supporting the hypothesis that the two forms of organizational commitment but not work or career commitment are less stable during the initial employment period but then stabilize with tenure. Finally, predictive validity was established for intent to stay by demonstrating that it predicted quit behavior, or turnover, but loyalty, work commitment, and career commitment did not. Implications for studying organizational commitment within the context of substantive sociological issues are discussed.
Work and Occupations, Vol. 19, No. 3,
211-236 (1992)
DOI: 10.1177/0730888492019003001
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
E. D. Giffords
An Examination of Organizational Commitment and Professional Commitment and the Relationship to Work Environment, Demographic and Organizational Factors
Journal of Social Work,
October 1, 2009;
9(4):
386 - 404.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. Sieben
Does training trigger turnover - or not?: The impact of formal training on graduates' job search behaviour
Work Employment Society,
September 1, 2007;
21(3):
397 - 416.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. R. Brooks and J. P. Wallace
A discursive examination of the nature, determinants and impact of organisational commitment
Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources,
August 1, 2006;
44(2):
222 - 239.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Wilson
Race and Job Dismissal: African American/White Differences in Their Sources During the Early Work Career
American Behavioral Scientist,
May 1, 2005;
48(9):
1182 - 1199.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. C. McKay
Securing Commitment in an Insecure World: Workers in Multinational High-Tech Subsidiaries
Economic and Industrial Democracy,
August 1, 2004;
25(3):
375 - 410.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. B. McBrier and G. Wilson
Going Down?: Race and Downward Occupational Mobility for White-Collar Workers in the 1990s
Work and Occupations,
August 1, 2004;
31(3):
283 - 322.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. W. Perry
The Relationship of Affective Organizational Commitment with Supervisory Trust
Review of Public Personnel Administration,
June 1, 2004;
24(2):
133 - 149.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. Hult
Organizational Commitment and Conflicting Values: The Impact of Systems of Norms in Six Western Countries
International Journal of Comparative Sociology,
October 1, 2003;
44(5):
408 - 443.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. W. Westerman, M. D. Nowicki, and D. Plante
Fit in the Classroom: Predictors of Student Performance and Satisfaction in Management Education
Journal of Management Education,
February 1, 2002;
26(1):
5 - 18.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. W. MUELLER, S. DE COSTER, and S. B. ESTES
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Unanticipated Consequences of Modern Social Control in Organizations
Work and Occupations,
November 1, 2001;
28(4):
411 - 446.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. M. Mulinge
Employer Control of Employees: Extending the Lincoln-Kalleberg Corporatist Model of Satisfaction and Attachment
Human Relations,
March 1, 2001;
54(3):
285 - 318.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. M. McDUFF and C. W. MUELLER
The Ministry as an Occupational Labor Market: Intentions to Leave an Employer (Church) Versus Intentions to Leave a Profession (Ministry)
Work and Occupations,
February 1, 2000;
27(1):
89 - 116.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J.-E. Johanson
Intraorganizational Influence: Theoretical Clarification and Empirical Assessment of Intraorganizational Social Influence
Management Communication Quarterly,
February 1, 2000;
13(3):
393 - 425.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. C. Nyhan
Increasing Affective Organizational Commitment in Public Organizations: The Key Role of Interpersonal Trust
Review of Public Personnel Administration,
July 1, 1999;
19(3):
58 - 70.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. W. MUELLER, A. FINLEY, R. D. IVERSON, and J. L. PRICE
The Effects of Group Racial Composition on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Career Commitment: The Case of Teachers
Work and Occupations,
May 1, 1999;
26(2):
187 - 219.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. Ryan and K. A. Macky
Downsizing Organizations: Uses, Outcomes and Strategies
Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources,
December 1, 1998;
36(2):
29 - 45.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. E. Wallace
Becker's Side-Bet Theory of Commitment Revisited: Is It Time for a Moratorium or a Resurrection?
Human Relations,
June 1, 1997;
50(6):
727 - 749.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. W. MUELLER, E. M. BOYER, J. L. PRICE, and R. D. IVERSON
Employee Attachment and Noncoercive Conditions of Work: The Case of Dental Hygienists
Work and Occupations,
May 1, 1994;
21(2):
179 - 212.
[Abstract]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. L. Kalleberg and A. Mastekaasa
Firm Internal Labor Markets and Organizational Commitment in Norway and the United States
Acta Sociologica,
January 1, 1994;
37(3):
269 - 286.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. V. MARSDEN, A. L. KALLEBERG, and C. R. COOK
Gender Differences in Organizational Commitment: Influences of Work Positions and Family Roles
Work and Occupations,
August 1, 1993;
20(3):
368 - 390.
[Abstract]
|
|
|
|
|
