Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
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by virtue of the costs that they feel are associated with leaving (Meyer & Allen,
1984, p. 375). In accordance with previous studies, organizational commitment
is composed of two commitments, namely affective and continuance. Affective
commitment is positive feelings of identification with, attachment to, and
involvement in, the work organization (Meyer & Allen, 1984, p. 375).
Employees with strong affective commitment remain because they want to.
Employees with strong continuance commitment remain because they need to
(Allen & Meyer, 1990). Organizational commitment may fluctuate over an
employees lifetime (Morrow, 1983, p. 495). Job involvement is a belief
descriptive of the present job and tends to be a function of how much the job can
satisfy ones present needs Kanungo (1982, p. 342). It appears to demonstrate
a moderate level of stability (Morrow, 1983, p. 495). PWE and career
commitment are also relatively stable; organizational commitment can be
subject to manipulation; and job involvement is moderately changeable
(Morrow, 1983).
2.1. Models of W ork Commitment: Interrelationships among Commitment
Constructs
Employees may develop multiple forms of work commitment. They may
experience varying degrees of work commitment toward different aspects of
a work setting. Efforts to understand the commitment forms an employee
develops and their interrelationships can be traced to Morrows (1983). In an
attempt to deepen the understanding of the strength and direction of the
relationship between forms of work commitment, scholars (e.g., Cohen, 1999,
2003; Morrow, 1993; Randall and Cote, 1991) proposed models of work
commitment. We discuss here two key work commitment models, those of
Morrow (1993) and Randall and Cote (1991), that explored the interrelation
ships among these work commitment constructs.
Based on her facet analysis study in 1983, Morrow (1993) identified five
universal forms of work commitment: PWE, career commitment, job
involvement, affective organizational commitment, and continuance
organizational commitment. Randall and Cotes (1991) model examined
somewhat different constructs of work commitment: PWE, work group
attachment, organizational commitment (affective commitment), career salience,
and job involvement. Four of these constructs (PWE, career salience, affective
organizational commitment, and job involvement) correspond to four of the
universal constructs of work commitment (PWE, job involvement, career
commitment, and affective organizational commitment) that were suggested by
Morrow (1993). In addition, Randall and Cote (1991) used only one aspect of
organizational commitment, namely affective organizational commitment.
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A. B eh av io r M odality
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questionnaires were returned. The respondents average age was 46.6 years
(S.D. 9.24); 11 were women, and 79.4 percent held at least bachelors degree.
Their average tenure in their present organization was 11.47 (S.D. 9.13).
The data used here was collected as a larger research project aiming at
managers' attitudes toward work. Therefore, the questionnaire has not been
designed according to the mapping sentence. However, we've recognized in the
questionnaire elements of two of the facets: modality and object. Most of the
combinations of these two facets were found in the questionnaire.
Variables
We assessed work commitment foci by using well-established measures
appeared in the literature. Protestant work ethic (PWE) was assessed by the 17item scale developed by Mirels and Garrett (1971). Sample items are: Most
people who do not succeed in life are just plain lazy, and I feel uneasy when
there is little work for me to do. The measure was assessed on a five-point scale
(ranging from 1 = strongly disagree, to 5 = strongly agree). Career commitment.
This measure was assessed by a scale developed by Blau (1985). Sample items
are: I like this profession too much to give it up, and I am disappointed with
being a CEO (reverse scored). The measure was assessed on a five-point scale
(ranging from 1 = strongly disagree, to 5 = strongly agree). Job involvement.
This measure is based on a 10-item scale developed by Kanungo (1982). Sample
items are: The most important things that happen to me involve my present
job, and Most of my personal life goals are job-oriented. The measure was
assessed on a seven-point scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 =
strongly agree. Affective organizational commitment. This measure is based on
the scale developed and validated by Allen and Meyer (1990). Sample items are:
I really feel as if this organizations problems are my own, and I do not feel
like part of the family at my organization (reversed item). The measure was
assessed on a seven-point scale (ranging from 1 = strongly disagree, to 7 =
strongly agree). Continuance organizational commitment. This measure is based
on the 8-item scale developed and validated by Allen and Meyer (1990). Sample
items are: Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as
much as desire, and Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided
I wanted to leave my organization now. The measure was assessed on a sevenpoint scale (ranging from 1 = strongly disagree, to 7 = strongly agree).
Normative organizational commitment. This measure is based on the 8-item
scale developed and validated by Allen and Meyer (1990). Sample items are:
I think that people these days move from company to company too often, and
If I got an offer for a better job elsewhere it would not feel right to leave my
organization. The measure was assessed on a seven-point scale (ranging from
1 = strongly disagree, to 7 = strongly agree).
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5. R esults
The structural hypotheses were tested by means of an SSA computer program,
which maps the variables as points in an Euclidean space of two or more
dimensions. The geometrical configuration appears in Figure 1. Observing the
map, we can identify four circular areas, spread from the center to the periphery.
Each number in Figure 1 represents the corresponding item in the questionnaire.
For item list refer to Table 1.
Table 1: Item list. Numbers correspond with the points in Figure 1
''''''-'-..-.moJa/ity
object
Job
Work
Career
Organization
Cognitive
Affective
6, 7, 8
17
4, 5
16, 22
2
9, 10
3,1
11
Instrumenta/
Va/ue
14
18, 19, 20, 21
12, 13
15
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6. Discussion
The main objective of the present study was to suggest a facet definitional
framework for the work commitment domain and test it empirically. We
suggested a mapping sentence that formally defines the domain and
hypothesized that the total structure, as exhibited in the SSA analysis, would be
a radex structure. The present study examined two of the three facets defined in
the mapping sentence: modality and object. One facet specifies the four behavior
modalities: instrumental, cognitive, affective, and value. The second facet
describes the four types of objects the commitment is aimed at: job, work, career
and organization.
The findings support the structural hypotheses. The results indicated that
multiple commitment measures may provide more comprehensive information
concerning individual's work commitment than a single general measure.
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The findings indicate that a clear distinction should be made between four
types of objects: job, work, career and organization. The commitment of
individuals toward these four types of objects can be different. The elements of
the modality facet were ordered from center to periphery as hypothesized. The
instrumental modality, which has a strong affinity with the underlying actionoriented nature of work commitment, was located in the central region of the
domain. The adjacent elements were those dealing with values. This modality
has lower affinity with the action-oriented nature of work commitment than
instrumental modality, but still stronger than affective and cognitive modalities
that were found in the periphery.
In sum, the multifaceted approach employed in this study enables to
examine a structured definitional framework of work commitment, which
despite of growing interest lack such a definition.
One limitation of the study may be considered. The data used in this
analysis were collected previous to the facet design. Therefore, only two of the
three facets could be examined and some combinations of the two facets could
not be found among the questionnaire items. The present results may stimulate
further research that will use the complete mapping sentence in order to
systematically develop an empirical tool that will represent all the three facets
and their elements.
R eferences
Allen, N.J., & Meyer, J.P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of
affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization.
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Becker, T.E. 1992. Foci and bases of commitment: Are they distinctions worth
making? Academy o f Management Journal, 35, 232-244.
Blood, M.R. (1969). Work values and job satisfaction. Journal o f Applied
Psychology. 53, 456-459.
Blau, G.J. (1985). The measurement and prediction of career commitment.
Journal o f Occupational Psychology. 58, 277-288.
Cohen, A. (1999). Relationships among five forms of commitment: An
empirical assessment. Journal o f Organizational Behavior. 20, 285-308.
Cohen, A. (2003). Multiple commitments in the workplace: An integrative
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Elizur, D. (1979). Assessing achievement motive of American and Israeli
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