Japanese Psychological Research 1998, Volume 40, No. 4, 198 205 Special Issue: Japanese social life in transition A study of antecedents of organizational commitment MASAO TAO Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University, Yoshida-hommachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8317, Japan HIROTO TAKAGI Department of Human Relations, Faculty of Letters, Koka Women s College, Nishikyogoku-Kadonocho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8317, Japan MASAHIRO ISHIDA Faculty of Commerce, Fukuoka University, Nanakuma, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan KEI MASUDA Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-hommachi, Kyoto 606-8317, Japan Abstract: Various theories of organizational behaviors suggest that there should be significant relationships between the work-related variables and commitment to an organization. This study shows that, for a sample of 203 Japanese industrial workers, four components (attachment, internalization, normative, and continuance) of organizational commitment are predicted by organizational climate, supervisory behavior, organizational tenure, and role clarity. Implications for future research are discussed. Key words: organizational commitment, organizational climate, role clarity, organizational tenure, supervisory behavior. Many researchers are paying great attention to organizational commitment (OC). The concept of OC is considered as useful in predicting employees behavior and in drawing up a blueprint of an organization. The importance of studying OC seems to be recognized widely (Aranya, Kushnir, & Valency, 1986; Tao, 1997). Many studies have examined its definition (DeCotiis & Summers, 1987; Morrow, 1983; O Reilly & Chairman, 1986; Reichers, 1985; Takagi, 1997), antecedents (Angle & Lawson, 1993; Luthans, Baack, & Taylor, 1987; Masuda, 1997; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990), and consequences (Ishida, 1997; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). To measure the degree of OC, various scales have been developed (e.g., Allen & Meyer, 1990; McGee & Ford, 1987; O Reilly & Chairman, 1986; Porter, Steers, Mowday, & Boulian, 1974). For example, the OCQ (Organizational Commitment Questionnaire) developed by Porter et al. (1974) is considered quite reliable and is used in many studies. However, this scale s validity is mainly supported in studies carried out in Western countries. As 1998 Japanese Psychological Association. Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
A study of antecedents of organizational commitment 199 Randall (1993) pointed out, there is no evidence that the OCQ or other scales developed in Western countries have validity in other countries, including Japan. It is said that Japanese-style management is changing. Lifetime employment and the seniority system are no longer typical. In such a situation, we can guess that employees attitudes toward their companies will be changing. Traditionally, Japanese workers are considered to have great loyalty to their companies. This loyalty has driven the development of these companies, and, without it, Japan s rapid economic growth would doubtless not have been achieved. In a series of studies, Sekimoto and Hanada (1985, 1986, 1987) attempted to understand OC in Japan. For example, Sekimoto and Hanada (1985) constructed a scale consisting of 24 items and extracted four components (internalization of goal, norm, and value of the organization; willingness to remain in the organization; willingness to work for the organization; calculative commitment) of OC. However, their scale was based on the OCQ, which many researchers have criticized recently. Since Sekimoto and Hanada s studies, various other studies focusing on OC have been conducted. The wide range of items examined in these should be included in our current understanding of OC in Japan. Following these considerations, Takagi, Ishida, and Masuda (1997) constructed a scale to measure OC by referring to previous studies (Allen & Meyer, 1990; Alvi & Ahmed, 1987; Cook & Wall, 1980; McGee & Ford, 1987; Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993; Reilly & Orsak, 1991; Sekimoto & Hanada, 1985; Werbel & Gould, 1984) and extracted four components. The first component, interpreted as the attachment component, consisted of six items (e.g., I am glad that I chose this company to work for over others). The second component, interpreted as the internalization component, consisted of nine items (e.g., I am dedicated to this company). The third component, interpreted as the normative component, consisted of five items (e.g., I think it doesn t look right if I quit this company). The fourth component, interpreted as the continuance component, consisted of four items (e.g., one of the reasons I continue to work for this company is that leaving would require considerable sacrifice) (for more detailed information, see Takagi et al., 1997). Takagi et al. (1997) found that only the internalization component of OC varied with status, tenure, age, sex, and marital status. In general, these results were consistent with ones obtained in many previous studies. They also mentioned that although attachment, internalization, and continuance components seemed to be relatively independent of culture, the normative component might reflect the value and the way of thinking shared in a culture. So, the normative component would be key to understanding OC in Japan in future studies. In this study, we attempted to clarify the antecedents of these four components of OC. If OC predicts the future of an organization, it is essential to know the factors which improve or impair its components. In previous studies, as antecedents of OC, demographic factors (DeCotiis & Summers, 1987), work characteristics (Steers & Spencer, 1977), organizational climate (Stone & Porter, 1975; Welsch & LaVan, 1981), role (Witt & Beorkrem, 1991), and the degree of personorganization fit (Reichers, 1986; Vancouver & Schmitt, 1991; Wiener, 1982) have been examined. Among these variables, in this study, we examined the influences of some demographic variables, organizational climate, supervisory behavior, and role upon each component (attachment, internalization, normative, and continuance) of OC. Method Data for this research came from 203 employees (150 males, 50 females, and 3 unknowns) working in various companies in Japan. Questionnaires were handed to participants in meetings, such as a training program, held at their companies. Participants were asked to complete and return the questionnaires directly to the researcher.
200 M. Tao, H. Takagi, M. Ishida, and K. Masuda The purpose of this research was to investigate the influences of demographic variables or other work-related variables upon OC. So the questionnaire covered demographic variables, OC, and some work-related variables. Except for the demographic variables, responses were given on a five-point scale ranging from agree to disagree. Demographic variables Demographic variables included in the questionnaire were organizational tenure, the experience of working at other companies, job level, the present section, position tenure, age, sex, marital status, and work specialty. Organizational commitment This was measured by the four scales obtained by Takagi et al. (1997) (see Appendix). They were used to measure attachment, internalization, normative, and continuance components. Organizational climate Organizational climate consists of various components such as group cohesiveness, autonomy, and communication. In this study, we focused on group cohesiveness to investigate its impact on OC. We selected items to measure the relationships among colleagues to evaluate the organizational climate. For this purpose, we referred to Campbell and his colleagues scale (Campbell, Dunnette, Lawler, & Weick, 1970) and used eight items for our questionnaire. Supervisory behavior For measurement of supervisory behavior, we referred to Schriesheim and Kerr s scale (Schriesheim & Kerr, 1974) and used ten items for our questionnaire. Role conflict and role clarity For measurement of role conflict and role clarity, we referred to Rizzo and his colleagues scale (Rizzo, House, & Lirtzman, 1970) and used 12 items for our questionnaire. In addition to these scales, we measured work motivation, job involvement, career commitment, and job satisfaction. Because the purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents of OC, we did not include variables that were categorized by Mathieu and Zajac (1990) as correlates of OC in the analysis reported here. 1 Results We conducted a multiple regression analysis in order to examine what variables predicted the four components of OC previously mentioned. Predictors included in the analysis were organizational climate, supervisory behavior, role conflict, role clarity, and demographic variables. These variables have been proved to be significant predictors of OC in previous studies (DeCotiis & Summers, 1987; Stone & Porter, 1975; Welsch & LaVan, 1981; Witt & Beorkrem, 1991). Stepwise methods were adopted in this analysis. Table 1 presents a summary of the regression analysis. Table 1 shows that attachment was predicted by organizational climate and supervisory behavior (R 2 =.183). Organizational climate was the stronger predictor of this component. Internalization was predicted by organizational climate, organizational tenure, and role clarity (R 2 =.224). The contributions of organizational climate and organizational tenure were almost equal and greater than that of role clarity. Normative commitment was predicted by organizational climate and role clarity (R 2 =.052). Organizational climate was a positive predictor while role clarity was a negative one. However, only a small portion of the variance was explained by these variables. We can see that organizational climate was the only significant predictor of continuance commitment (R 2 =.032). The contribution of this variable was negative and very small. 1 It is hard to say whether these variables are antecedents or consequences of OC. We do not think that they have no impact on OC, but wish to discuss in detail the causality of these four variables and OC in the future research.
A study of antecedents of organizational commitment 201 Table 1. Multiple regression analysis of organizational commitment (standardized coefficients) Predictors Attachment Internalization Normative Continuance Age Gender Marital status Organizational tenure 0.262** Position tenure Job level Organizational climate 0.316** 0.264** 0.216** 0.179* Supervisory behavior 0.180* Role conflict Role clarity 0.167* 0.152* R 2 0.183 0.224 0.052 0.032 Only significant coefficients are shown: * p.05, ** p.01. Discussion In this study, we attempted to clarify the predictors of four components (attachment, internalization, normative, and continuance) of OC. Four variables (i.e., organizational climate, supervisory behavior, organizational tenure, and role clarity) were found to have significant impacts on OC. Organizational climate Multiple regression analysis showed that organizational climate was the significant predictor of all four components. This variable was based on relationships with colleagues in the organization. So the results implied that employees who positively perceived relationships with colleagues showed high levels of attachment, internalization, and normative commitment. In other words, having good relationships at the workplace heightened these three components of OC. Similar results were reported in previous studies. For example, Yoon, Baker, and Ko (1994) examined the relationships between interpersonal attachment (IA) and OC. They divided IA into horizontal and vertical, and found both elements had a significant impact on OC. OC was measured by three items (identification, loyalty, and intention to leave). Also, Welsch and LaVan (1981) found positive relationships between organizational climate and OC. They measured OC with Porter s scale. Further, DeCotiis and Summers (1987) examined the relationships among OC, organizational climate and other job-related variables. Path analysis clarified that cohesiveness, a component of organizational climate, had a significant positive impact on OC. Decotiis and Summers (1987) measured OC with six items mainly related to emotional attachment. Our findings are new in that organizational climate was found to have significant positive impacts upon various aspects, not only the emotional aspect, of OC. Conversely, the influence of organizational climate on continuance commitment was negative. This result is difficult to interpret, but we might speculate as follows. Continuance commitment is based on a perception of the costs of leaving the company. When employees feel negatively about relationships with colleagues at the workplace, and seriously think of quitting the company, they might ask themselves, Why do I belong to this company?, and the answer would be, Because I need to do so. Thus, negative relationships may make employees pay greater attention to these costs and remind themselves of the costs which they would have to pay in quitting the company. These perceived costs might increase continuance commitment toward the company. When employees have good relationships, they are not likely to think of quitting the
202 M. Tao, H. Takagi, M. Ishida, and K. Masuda company, so the costs would not be salient to them. However, the variance explained was very small. It will be important to examine other antecedents of continuance commitment not considered in this study. In Japan, we could conclude, organizational climate, especially relationships with colleagues, is a critical factor in influencing various aspects of OC. Supervisory behavior Supervisory behavior was another significant predictor of attachment. As with organizational climate, this variable was based on personal relationships. It is therefore interesting that these two variables were both significant predictors of attachment. Perhaps personal relationships in the workplace establish the basis of employees affect toward their companies. Organizational tenure Organizational tenure had a significant positive influence on internalization. This result seems to be easy to understand because internalization is the component which grows gradually as time passes. In other words, it cannot be established in a short period. Role clarity Role clarity also had significant positive influence on internalization. If their role is clear, employees can more easily make an effort for their company. Conversely, if it is unclear, it will be a serious obstacle to employees working harder. Thus role clarity can be seen as necessary to keep the employees internalization at a high level. On the other hand, role clarity had significant negative influence on normative commitment. It is hard to interpret this result, but we may speculate as follows. If role clarity is high, namely their role is not ambiguous, it is easy for employees to concentrate on their job. It may also reduce normative commitment to their companies. Conversely, if role clarity is low, namely their role is ambiguous, it is hard for employees to keep directing their efforts toward the assigned roles. In other words, role ambiguity may direct their attention outside their job. We examined the correlation between role clarity and job involvement, and found a significant positive relationship (r =.24, p.01). So we can guess that role ambiguity reduces employees job involvement, and it shifts employees perception about the reason why they remain and work in their companies from a job-related one to a jobunrelated one. Namely, when role is ambiguous, something that does not have a direct relation with their job or work might be important in accounting for them remaining with their companies. This might result in a greater significance of the normative aspect, namely consideration for others including their families, relatives, neighbors, and colleagues. We have to bear in mind that this interpretation is speculative. Anyway, the variance explained was not great. If normative commitment is one of the demographic factors, like personality trait, as Angle and Lawson (1993) stated, it is not surprising that this commitment is relatively independent of the variables in the present analysis. As Allen and Meyer (1990) pointed out, few researchers have examined the antecedents of normative commitment. Further examination of such antecedents, including socialization, suggested by Wiener (1982), of this component is warranted. Conclusions Although the results, except for the negative relationship between role clarity and normative commitment, were generally consistent with reports of previous studies (e.g., Matheiu & Zajac, 1990), we must mention one inconsistent point. Previous studies showed that organizational tenure was related more strongly to continuance commitment than to affective commitment (Angle & Lawson, 1993; Hackett, Bycio, & Hausdorf, 1994), however, it had a significant relationship only with internalization in this study. It is difficult to see why organizational tenure did not have a significant effect on continuance commitment here. As Table 1 shows, organizational climate alone was a significant predictor of continuance
A study of antecedents of organizational commitment 203 commitment, and the variance explained was very small. This suggests that other determinants of continuance commitment have yet to be identified. The main finding of this study was the significant impact of organizational climate on OC. It was interesting that this variable was the common predictor of all the components. This result suggests the importance of human relationships in the workplace for employees commitment toward their companies. This study has some limitations. We cannot generalize the results obtained without conducting studies by collecting data from other, larger samples. Further, we have to conduct comprehensive studies that include other antecedents of OC, especially the normative and continuance components. Then we can clarify more critical determinants of these two components of OC. References Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 1 18. Alvi, S. A., & Ahmed, S. W. (1987). Assessing organizational commitment in a developing country: Pakistan, a case study. Human Relations, 40, 267 280. Angle, H. L., & Lawson, M. B. (1993). Changes in affective and continuance commitment in times of relocation. Journal of Business Research, 26, 3 15. Aranya, N., Kushnir, T., & Valency, A. (1986). Organizational commitment in a male dominated profession. Human Relations, 39, 433 448. Campbell, J. P., Dunnette, M. D., Lawler, E. E., & Weick, K., Jr. (1970). Managerial behavior, performance and effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill. Cook, J., & Wall, T. (1980). New work attitudes measures of trust, organizational commitment and personal need non-fulfillment. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53, 39 52. DeCotiis, T. A., & Summers, T. P. (1987). A path analysis of a model of the antecedents and consequences of organizational commitment. Human Relations, 40, 445 470. Hackett, R. D., Bycio, P., & Hausdorf, P. A. (1994). Further assessment of Meyer and Allen s (1991) three-component model of organizational commitment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 15 23. Ishida, M. (1997). The consequences of organizational commitment. In M. Tao (Ed.), A study of company-man: Theory and practice of organizational commitment. Kyoto: Kyoto University Press. (In Japanese.) Luthans, F., Baack, D., & Taylor, L. (1987). Organizational commitment: Analysis of antecedents. Human Relations, 40, 219 236. McGee, G. W., & Ford, R. C. (1987). Two (or more?) dimensions of organizational commitment: Reexamination of the affective and continuance commitment scales. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 638 641. Masuda, K. (1997). The antecedents of organizational commitment. In M. Tao (Ed.), A study of company-man: Theory and practice of organizational commitment. Kyoto: Kyoto University Press. (In Japanese.) Mathieu, J. E., & Zajac, D. M. (1990). A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 171 194. Meyer, J. P., Allen, N. J., & Smith, C. A. (1993). Commitment to organizations and occupations: Extension and test of a three-component conceptualization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 538 551. Morrow, P. C. (1983). Concept redundancy in organizational research: The case of work commitment. Academy of Management Journal, 8, 486 500. O Reilly, C., & Chairman, J. (1986). Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effects of compliance, identification and internalization on prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 492 499. Porter, L. W., Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T., & Boulian, P. V. (1974). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among psychiatric technicians. Journal of Applied Psychology, 59, 603 609. Randall, D. M. (1993). Cross-cultural research on organizational commitment: A review and application of Hofstede s value survey module. Journal of Business Research, 26, 91 110. Reichers, A. E. (1985). A review and reconceptualization of organizational commitment. Academy of Management Review, 10, 465 476. Reichers, A. E. (1986). Conflict and organizational commitments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 508 514.
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A study of antecedents of organizational commitment 205 7. I feel myself to be part of this company. 8. I m not willing to work hard just for this company. 9. I get upset when people say bad things about this company. Normative 1. I m afraid of what others might say against me if I quit this company. 2. I think it doesn t look right if I quit this company. 3. I would feel guilty if I left my company now. 4. I would lose face with my family and relatives if I left this company. 5. I would not leave this company right now because I have a sense of obligation to the people in it. Continuance 1. One of the reasons I continue to work for this company is that leaving would require considerable sacrifice. 2. The reason I continue to work for this company is the scarcity of available alternatives. 3. I would not be able to leave this company right now even if I wanted to. 4. I am afraid of what might happen if I quit this company.