Chapter
3
Organizational
Commitment
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT
Organizational
commitment
is
defined
as
the
desire
on
the
part
of
an
employee
to
remain
a
member
of
the
organization.
• Organizational
commitment
influences
whether
an
employee
stays
a
member
of
the
organization
or
leaves
to
pursue
another
job.
• It
is
important
to
acknowledge
that
turnover
can
be
both
voluntary
and
involuntary
(quitting
and
being
fired)
• Employees
who
are
not
committed
to
their
organization
engage
in
withdrawal
behaviour,
defined
as
a
set
of
actions
that
employees
perform
to
avoid
the
work
situation
–
behaviours
that
may
eventually
culminate
in
quitting
the
organization.
WHAT
DOES
IS
MEAN
TO
BE
“COMMITTED”?
FORMS
OF
COMMITMENT
• Affective
commitment,
defined
as
a
desire
to
remain
a
member
of
an
organization
due
to
an
emotional
attachment
to,
and
involvement
with,
that
organization.
• Continuance
commitment,
defined
as
a
desire
to
remain
a
member
of
an
organization
because
of
an
awareness
of
the
costs
associated
with
leaving
it.
• Normative
commitment,
defined
as
a
desire
to
remain
a
member
of
an
organization
due
to
a
feeling
of
obligation.
• Organizational
commitment
depends
more
than
just
“the
organization”.
o People
aren’t
always
committed
to
companies,
they’re
also
committed
to
the
top
management
that
leads
the
firm
at
a
given
time,
etc.
o We
use
the
term
focus
of
commitment
to
refer
to
the
various
people,
places,
and
things
that
can
inspire
a
desire
to
remain
a
member
of
an
organization.
AFFECTIVE
COMMITMENT
• Employees
who
feel
a
sense
of
affective
commitment
identify
with
the
organization,
accept
that
organization’s
goals
and
value,
and
are
more
willing
to
exert
extra
effort
on
behalf
of
the
organization.
• Employees
who
are
affectively
committed
to
their
employer
tend
to
engage
in
more
interpersonal
and
organizational
citizenship
behaviours.
• Because
affective
commitment
reflects
an
emotional
bond
to
the
organization,
it’s
only
natural
that
the
emotional
bonds
among
co-‐workers
influence
it.
• The
erosion
model
suggests
that
those
employees
with
fewer
bonds
will
be
the
most
likely
to
quit
the
organization.
• The
social
influence
model
suggests
that
employees
who
have
direct
linkages
with
“leavers”
will
themselves
become
more
likely
to
leave.
CONTINUANCE
COMMITMENT
• Continuance
commitment
exists
when
there
is
a
benefit
associated
with
staying
and
a
cost
associated
with
leaving
• With
high
continuance
commitment
making
it
very
difficult
to
change
organizations
because
of
the
steep
penalties
associated
with
the
switch.
• One
factor
that
increases
continuance
commitment
is
the
total
amount
of
investment
that
an
employee
has
made
in
mastering
his
or
her
work.
• Another
factor
is
a
lack
of
employment
alternatives.
• The
correlation
between
continuance
commitment
and
work
outcomes,
other
than
turnover,
tends
to
be
characterized
as
negligible.
• Continuance
commitment
focuses
on
personal
and
family
issues
more
than
the
other
two
commitment
types
• Embeddedness
summarizes
a
persons
link
to
the
organization
and
the
community,
his
or
her
sense
of
fit
with
that
organization
and
community,
and
what
he
or
she
would
have
to
sacrifice
for
a
job
change.
NORMATIVE
COMMITMENT
• Normative
commitment
exists
when
there
is
a
sense
that
staying
is
the
“right”
or
“moral”
thing
to
do.
• The
sense
that
people
should
stay
with
their
current
employer
may
result
from
personal
work
philosophies
or
more
general
codes
of
right
and
wrong
• One
way
to
create
a
feeling
that
the
employee
is
in
the
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