Dimensions of commitment: an examination of worker-organization linkages in a large bureaucracy

This study is an assessment of the relative importance of sociodemographic, structural, and attitudinal variables in accounting for organizational commitment. A block-recursive model is used to conceptualize the relationship between the independent variables and organizational commitment.

The sample for the study is drawn from payroll rosters of employees of a large state university and comprises two subsamples: classified staff (permanent) employees and non-student hourly wage (temporary) employees. Sociodemographic characteristics, structural conditions of their employment, and their underlying attitudes toward work in general and toward their employer are measured through the use of an anonymous questionnaire. Data were collected from 416 employees.

The study finds no significant differences in the two subsamples regarding degrees of various dimensions of commitment or in determinants of organizational commitment. It is hypothesized that the absence of any major differences between the two groups may be explained by the currently unstable employment conditions for all workers regardless of their employment status.

Research findings indicate that, while all three blocks of variables are Statistically significant predictors of organizational commitment, the attitudinal block accounts for most of the variance in organizational commitment. This is especially true for hourly wage workers, for whom only attitudinal variables explain much of the variance in organizational commitment. Managers wishing to maximize organizational commitment among employees are advised to consider the tremendous impact of attitudinal factors on employee commitment.

This research demonstrates that in the coming decades, researchers must develop and utilize research methodologies that take into account the broad range of worker-organization relationships. The task of contemporary sociologists of work involves the clarification of work-related concepts, the development of more precise measures of those concepts, and a research methodology that accommodates a broad range of worker-organization linkages.