Di Erentiating Antecedents of Organizational

JOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, VOL.
19, 15±28 (1998)
Dierentiating antecedents of organizational

commitment: a test of March and
Simon's model
ROGER C. MAYER1 AND F. DAVID SCHOORMAN2
1
Department of Management, Hankamer School of Business, P.O. Box 98006 Waco,
TX 76798-8006, U.S.A.
2
Department of Organizational Behavior & Human Resource Management, Krannert Graduate
School of Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette IN 47907, U.S.A.
Summary Recent theory regarding the nature of organizational commitment suggests that viewing
it as comprised of two dimensions, value commitment and continuance commitment, is
of theoretical and practical value. This ®eld study found the dierential antecedents of
these two commitment dimensions to be consistent with the March and Simon (1958)
framework using the two-dimensional organizational commitment questionnaire from
Mayer and Schoorman (1992). Organizational tenure, retirement bene®ts, education,
and age were more highly correlated with continuance commitment, while felt partici-
pation, perceived prestige, job involvement, and role ambiguity were more highly
correlated with value commitment. Analysis using LISREL 7 supported the pattern
of relationships between the antecedents and the two commitment dimensions. # 1998
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
J. Organiz. Behav. 19: 15±28 (1998)

No. of Figures: 1 No. of Tables: 3 No. of References: 57
Introduction
The nature of employees' commitment to their employing organization has long been a topic of
great interest to organizational researchers. Organizational commitment has been de®ned and
measured in various ways, but the most widely used approach has been that of Porter, Steers,
Mowday and Boulian (1974). They developed the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire
(OCQ) to measure what they concluded was a unidimensional construct (Mowday, Steers and
Porter, 1979).
More recent research has focused on the issue of the multidimensionality of commitment. Angle
and Perry (1981) found two distinguishable dimensions in the OCQ which they labeled `value
commitment' and `commitment to stay'. Intent to quit and actual separation rate both showed
stronger relationships with the commitment to stay dimension, while two measures of eectiveness
We would like to thank David Cole and Ed Conlon for their helpful comments. A version of this paper was presented at
the 1994 Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
CCC 0894±3796/98/010015±14$17.50 Received 21 July 1995

# 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 29 April 1996
16 R. C. MAYER AND F. D. SCHOORMAN
yielded stronger relationships with value commitment. Given Angle and Perry's demonstration
that the dimensions of commitment were dierentially predictive of important organizational
outcomes, it is important to understand the causes of these dimensions of commitment. While
a great deal of research has identi®ed antecedents to the OCQ, the question of which of Angle
and Perry's two commitment dimensions is primarily aected by a given antecedent remains
unanswered. The purpose of this paper is to examine the value of March and Simon's (1958)
motivational framework in clarifying the relationships between commitment antecedents and the
two commitment dimensions. This framework is then used for further construct validation of the
two-dimensional organizational commitment measure (Mayer and Schoorman, 1992).
Re®ning the OCQ
The dierentiation between the commitment dimensions found by Angle and Perry (1981)
re¯ects the basic distinction between two types of commitment noted by a number of researchers
(e.g. Stevens, Beyer and Trice, 1978; Morris and Sherman, 1981; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Mayer
and Schoorman, 1992). Angle and Perry's value commitment' re¯ects a positive, aective
orientation toward the organization. This type of commitment has been variously referred to as
psychological, attitudinal, and aective commitment (e.g. Stevens et al., 1978; Mathieu and
Zajac, 1990; Meyer and Allen, 1984 respectively). Angle and Perry's `commitment to stay' re¯ects
the importance of the inducements±contributions transactions inherent in an economic
exchange. This type of commitment has been referred to as exchange-based, calculative, and
continuance commitment (e.g. Stevens et al., 1978; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Meyer and Allen,
1984, respectively). Although there are some dierences among the terms used within each type
of commitment, the broader distinction between the two types of commitment is the focus of this
research. Following Mayer and Schoorman (1992) and Schechter (1985), the terms value
commitment and continuance commitment will be utilized in this paper.
As Mayer and Schoorman (1992) point out, the distinction between continuance commitment
and value commitment parallels March and Simon's (1958) ongoing decisions to participate and
to produce, respectively. Using this theoretical dierentiation of March and Simon, Schechter
(1985) developed a measure to re®ne the OCQ into two dimensions re¯ecting March and
Simon's decisions to participate (continuance commitment) and to produce (value commitment).
Schechter's study provided evidence that the measure's dimensions are dierentiable. Further, he
found continuance commitment signi®cantly correlated with turnover intent, while value
commitment signi®cantly correlated with self-ratings of performance, extra-role behaviors, and
satisfaction with the organization. Unfortunately, independent outcome data from the organ-
ization (e.g. turnover, ratings of performance) were not collected.
In a 2-year longitudinal ®eld study, Mayer and Schoorman (1992) found Schechter's (1985)
two-dimensional adaptation of the OCQ to be predictive of important behavioral outcomes.
Using con®rmatory factor analysis, they veri®ed that the measures represent distinct dimensions.
In addition to measuring attitudes and behavioral intentions, they collected archival performance
and turnover data over a 2-year period. They found turnover was signi®cantly more correlated
with continuance commitment, while performance, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB)
and satisfaction were signi®cantly more correlated with value commitment. Thus, it appears that
the re®nements to the OCQ based on March and Simon's (1958) model signi®cantly improve its
predictive utility.
# 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav. Vol. 19: 15±28 (1998)
ANTECEDENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT 17
Relationships of Antecedents with

Commitment Dimensions
While a considerable amount of research has examined the relationship between the OCQ and its
antecedents (e.g. Meyer and Allen, 1988; Steers, 1977), it has focused on commitment as a
unidimensional construct. As illustrated later in this paper, many commitment antecedents have
been found to be related to measures of commitment which resemble both value and continuance.
Although attempts have been made to clarify the nature of the antecedent±commitment
relationships, measurement diculties have limited the contributions of earlier eorts. A meta-
analysis by Mathieu and Zajac (1990) illustrates some of the diculties with the measurement of
commitment. These researchers classi®ed commitment measures based on a judgment that they
primarily measured either attitudinal (i.e. value) commitment or calculative (i.e. continuance)
commitment. Their results identify a number of factors (age, education, position tenure, job
involvement, several measures of satisfaction, and intent to leave) to be signi®cantly more related
to attitudinal commitment than to calculative commitment (p. 178). However, theory would
suggest intent to leave should have been more highly correlated with calculative commitment.
Although Mathieu and Zajac hypothesized that both organizational tenure and actual turnover
should be more highly related to calculative than to attitudinal commitment, they found no
signi®cant dierence in these variables' relationships with the type of commitment measured. In
fact, their analyses do not identify a single outcome of commitment to be signi®cantly more
correlated with calculative commitment.
One explanation for the lack of expected results in Mathieu and Zajac's ®ndings is that the
scales which they classify as measuring a given type of commitment do not draw exclusively on
that construct. For example, the 15-item OCQ is classi®ed as measuring attitudinal (value)
commitment, even though it includes calculative (continuance) items as noted above. Similar
concerns have been noted with respect to the validity of calculative measures (e.g. Meyer and
Allen, 1984). Thus, while they are similar and were grouped together in Mathieu and Zajac's
meta-analysis, various measures of a given commitment dimension may tap into somewhat
dierent constructs. This lack of measurement clarity may have altered the relationship between a
particular variable and the two commitment dimensions in Mathieu and Zajac's results. Thus,
further research to clarify the relationship between the antecedents and dimensions of commit-
ment is warranted.
The continued use of the unidimensional OCQ may have reduced the potential contribution of
other recent work. For example, Brett, Cron and Slocum (1995) used the 15-item OCQ to study
the relationship between commitment and performance. Speci®cally, they found that ®nancial
dependence moderated the relationship between commitment and individual performance.
Although theory would suggest that ®nancial dependence should moderate the eects of
continuance commitment more than value commitment, the use of the OCQ precludes this
analysis. The authors suggest that future research `. . . needs to examine how ®nancial require-
ments in¯uence the multiple facets of organizational commitmentÐaective, calculative,
continuance, value . . .' (p. 270).
The predictive clari®cation added to the OCQ by the use of March and Simon's framework
(Mayer and Schoorman, 1992; Schechter, 1985) suggests that the same theoretical framework
may be of value in distinguishing which commitment dimension is primarily aected by a given
antecedent variable. March and Simon argued that the considerations that lead to the decision to
participate are based on the notion of exchange between the individual and the organization. The
inducements provided by the organization are balanced against the contributions required in
order to maintain membership. They proposed that in the context of this inducements/
contributions calculation, two major variables weigh into the participation decision: perceived
desirability of movement and perceived ease of movement. March and Simon dierentiate those
considerations from others that lead to decisions to produce. They suggest that the strength of
identi®cation with the goals and values of the organization leads to the decision to produce.
The main purpose of the current research is to test the validity of March and Simon's
theorizing about the considerations which lead to the two types of motivation. To achieve this,
four variables operationalizing each of March and Simon's two types of motivational decisions
were selected. Speci®cally, organizational tenure, retirement bene®ts, education, and age were
selected to represent participation-related considerations (i.e. continuance), while organization
prestige, job involvement, role ambiguity, and perceived participation were chosen to represent
production-related considerations (i.e. value). In the sections that follow, prior research is
considered which illustrates that the relationships between these antecedents and the two types of
commitment has not always been clear. For each antecedent, March and Simon's model is used
to determine the theoretically relevant dimension of commitment.
Antecedents Primarily Aecting

Continuance Commitment
Desirability of movement
Tenure
A number of researchers have found tenure related to constructs similar to continuance commit-
ment (e.g. Hackett, Bycio and Hausdorf, 1994; Hrebiniak, 1974; Schechter, 1985; Stevens et al.,
1978). However, other studies have found tenure related to constructs more similar to value
commitment (e.g. Brown, 1969; Gregersen and Black, 1992; Hackett et al., 1994; Hall, Schneider
and Nygren, 1970; Hrebiniak, 1974; Koch and Steers, 1978; McFarlin and Sweeney, 1992;
Welsch and LaVan, 1981). Thus, it is unclear from these results which commitment dimension
tenure primarily aects. Using March and Simon's theory, tenure most clearly relates to the
perceived desirability of movement. Increasing tenure is generally associated with increased side
bets (Becker, 1960) which make staying in the organization more attractive. Other mechanisms
also exist through which tenure and continuance commitment should be related. For instance,
continuance commitment should increase the likelihood one would stay with an organizationÐ
thereby increasing tenure. Although one should be cautious about the causal direction it is likely
that tenure and continuance commitment should be positively correlated.
Hypothesis 1: Tenure with the organization will be more strongly (positively) correlated
with continuance commitment than with value commitment.
Retirement bene®ts
March and Simon's theory suggests that accrued bene®ts which would be lost by changing
organizations would reduce the perceived desirability of movement. Retirement bene®ts are a
clear representation of this. An employee who stands to lose important retirement income should
be less willing to give it up than an employee who stands to lose little retirement security. This
positive relationship was supported by the ®ndings of Schechter (1985).
Hypothesis 2: Retirement bene®ts will be more strongly (positively) correlated with

continuance commitment than with value commitment.
Ease of movement
Education
March and Simon also argued that the perceived ease of movement would aect the decision to
participate. To the extent a member perceives that fewer or poorer alternative positions are
available, that member should have a greater amount of continuance commitment (Mobley,
Grieth, Hand and Meglino, 1979; Rusbult and Farrell, 1983; Schechter, 1985). The `signaling'
models in human capital theory suggest that employers use education as a screening device to
select workers who are likely to be more productive (Strober, 1990), so more educated workers
would more easily ®nd alternative employment. Education should enhance the perceived ease of
movement, thus reducing continuance commitment.
Using the OCQ, Steers (1977), Morris and Steers (1980), Angle and Perry (1981), Morris and
Sherman (1981), Mathieu and Hamel (1989), and Dornstein and Matalon (1989) found educa-
tion to be negatively correlated with commitment. However, neither Welsch and LaVan (1981)
nor Igbaria and Siegel (1992) found them to be signi®cantly correlated. Thus, while there is some
inconsistency in previous studies, March and Simon's framework suggests that education should
be negatively related to continuance commitment.
Hypothesis 3: Education will be more strongly (negatively) correlated with continuance
commitment than with value commitment.
Age
Age has been found positively correlated with what is here de®ned as continuance commitment
(e.g. Hackett et al., 1994; Hrebiniak and Alutto, 1972; Hrebiniak, 1974; Meyer, Allen and Smith,
1993), but it has also been found to be correlated with constructs like value commitment
(e.g. Dornstein and Matalon, 1989; Hackett et al., 1994; Koch and Steers, 1978; Mathieu and
Farr, 1991; McFarlin and Sweeney, 1992; Meyer et al., 1993; Steers, 1977; Morris and Steers,
1980; Welsch and LaVan, 1981). Based on March and Simon's framework, one would expect that
increasing age should reduce the perception of acceptable alternatives and perceived ease of
movement, and therefore should increase continuance commitment.
Hypothesis 4: Age will be more strongly (positively) correlated with continuance commit-
ment than with value commitment.
Antecedents Primarily Aecting

Value Commitment
Identi®cation with the organization
Felt participation and perceived prestige
March and Simon (1958) hypothesized several factors to increase a member's identi®cation with
an organization. Such identi®cation should be an important predictor of value commitment.
Among March and Simon's proposed factors are felt participation and perceived prestige of the
organization. While participation is widely accepted as increasing identi®cation, March and
Simon further suggest that an individual will identify more with an organization which the
individual believes is held in high regard by others outside the organization. Schechter (1985)
found participation to be positively correlated with value commitment, and Rhodes and Steers
(1981) found perceived participation signi®cantly correlated with commitment. Fields and
Thacker (1992) and Leana, Ahlbrandt and Murrell (1992) found that involvement in company
problem-solving teams was associated with higher commitment (measured similar to value
commitment). Dornstein and Matalon (1989) and Mathieu and Hamel (1989) found decentral-
ization of decision making correlated positively with the OCQ.
Hypothesis 5: Felt participation will be more strongly (positively) correlated with value
commitment than with continuance commitment.
Hypothesis 6: Perceived prestige of the organization will be more strongly (positively)
correlated with value commitment than with continuance commitment.
Job involvement
According to March and Simon, job involvement should be positively related to value
commitment. Job involvement is the degree to which a person's self-esteem is aected by his or
her work performance (Steven et al., 1978). There is a clear tie between such involvement and the
general category of identi®cation. Stevens et al. (1978), Jamal and Baba (1991), Mathieu and Farr
(1991), and Igbaria and Siegel (1992) all found job involvement positively correlated with
organizational commitment.
Hypothesis 7: Job involvement will be more strongly (positively) correlated with value
Role ambiguity
Finally, March and Simon argue that if an employee is unable to determine what is expected, the
decision to produce is adversely aected. Role ambiguity captures such unclear expectations and
should serve to decrease value commitment. Role ambiguity has been found to be negatively
correlated with the OCQ by Morris and Koch (1979), Morris and Sherman (1981), and Welsh
and LaVan (1981). Similarly, Dornstein and Matalon (1989) found a positive correlation between
role clarity and the OCQ. However, Hrebiniak (1974) found ambiguity to be signi®cantly
negatively correlated with commitment which he de®ned like continuance commitment.
Schechter (1985) found value commitment negatively related to ambiguity, as did Gregersen
and Black (1992) using a similar measure. There is a clear need to specify which dimension is
primarily aected.
Hypothesis 8: Role ambiguity will be more strongly (negatively) correlated with value
The purpose of the present study was to test the motivational framework proposed by March
and Simon (1958) to delineate the speci®c relationships of antecedent variables with the two
dimensions of organizational commitment (see Figure 1). This framework is used as a vehicle for
further construct validation of the two-dimensional organizational commitment questionnaire
(Mayer and Schoorman, 1992) by examining the dierential relationships of the measure's
dimensions with other variables in the nomological net (Cook and Campbell, 1979; Cronbach
and Meehl, 1955). While the hypotheses listed above consider the direction of the relationships
between the antecedents and the commitment dimensions, the ®nal hypothesis relates to the
dierentiability of the two dimensions as operationalized here.
Hypothesis 9: A two-dimensional commitment model will provide a better ®t with the
data than will a unidimensional model.
Methods
Procedure and sample
A ®eld study of employees of a large ®nancial organization was conducted. Employees responded
to two surveys which were separated by 2 months. The ®rst survey measured the antecedents
described earlier in this paper, the second survey measured the two commitment dimensions.
At each wave, employees were given time away from their normal duties to respond to a written
survey in a room set aside for the data collection. Of the 330 employees across ®ve departments
identi®ed for inclusion in this research, 288 (87.3 per cent) responded to the ®rst survey and 228
(69.1 per cent) responded to the second. For purposes of matching surveys between the two waves
and matching to data provided by the organization, respondents were asked to provide their
social security numbers. Use of these numbers allowed 146 responses (50.7 per cent of the ®rst-
wave survey sample) to be matched both between waves and with organizational data. Although
this sample of employees is the same as that described in Mayer and Schoorman (1992), none of
the data on any variables in this study were utilized in that research.
Figure 1. Commitment antecedents
Table 1. Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations of antecedents

Variables Mean S.D. No. of a
items
Value commit. 4.93 1.08 9 (0.89)
Continuance commit. 3.75 1.11 8 (0.81)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Tenure 83.3 72.4 1
2. Retire. bene®ts 3.99 1.74 3 0.56{ (0.83)
3. Education 3.92 1.36 1 ÿ0:26{ ÿ0:40{
4. Age 34.84 9.22 1 0.50{ 0.27{ ÿ0:07
5. Participation 4.09 1.15 5 ÿ0:08 ÿ0:08 0:03 ÿ0:28{ (0.77)
6. Prestige 5.79 0.85 3 0.01 0.04 0.07 0.08 0.27{ (0.81)
7. Job involvement 4.57 0.76 20 ÿ0:01 0.13 0.12 0.02 0.28{ 0.33{ (0.83)
8. Role ambiguity 3.02 1.06 5 0.03 ÿ0:06 0.16 0.01 ÿ0:43{ ÿ0:36{ ÿ0:25{ (0.76)
{ p < 0:01.
Survey respondents ranged in age from 20 to 65 years, with an average age of 34.8 years.
Organizational tenure of the respondents ranged from 10 months to 31.9 years, with an average
of 6.9 years. Of the respondents 62.3 per cent were female, 37.7 per cent were male. Respondents
ranged in level from entry level clerical positions to senior vice-president.
Measures
Survey items were in 7-point Likert-type format unless otherwise noted. Descriptive statistics
for all measures can be found in Table 1. Means and standard deviations were reasonable given
the scaling of the measures. Cronbach alphas are reported for all multi-item scales.
Value commitment and continuance commitment were measured with the two-dimensional
organizational commitment questionnaire (Mayer and Schoorman, 1992; Schechter, 1985).
Tenure with the organization and age were obtained from the organization. Education was
measured by a single Guttman-scale item with seven options ranging from `some high school' to
`greater than Master's degree'. Three items assessed the valence of retirement bene®ts which the
respondent would lose by leaving. An example item is Ìf I left this organization, I would lose a
considerable amount of built-up pension value'.
Four scales, which varied in length from three to 20 items, measured the four proposed
antecedents of value commitment. A 5-item scale from Schechter (1985) measured the perception
that employees can participate in the decision-making process of the organization. The percep-
tion that the employing organization is generally perceived as prestigious was evaluated by three
items written for the present research (e.g. this company is well respected in its ®eld). The 20-item
measure of job involvement constructed by Lodahl and Kejner (1965) was used to measure that
construct, and role ambiguity was assessed by ®ve items based on a measure developed by Rizzo,
House and Lirtzman (1970).
Analyses
Two approaches were used to determine whether the antecedents were dierentially related to
the commitment dimensions as suggested by March and Simon's (1958) theorizing. The ®rst
Table 2. Tests of hypotheses: dierences between correlations

Antecedents r w/ VC r w/ CC Dr df t
CCA}
Tenure 0.09 0.30{ 0.21 184 ÿ3:37{
Retirement bene®ts 0.14 0.49{ 0.35 143 ÿ5:46{
Education ÿ0:14 ÿ0:39{ 0.25 142 3.62{
Age 0.01 0.20{ 0.19 184 ÿ2:95y
VCA||
Participation 0.41{ 0.14 0.27 143 3.97{
Prestige 0.37{ 0.13 0.24 143 3.45{
Job involvement 0.41{ 0.23{ 0.18 143 2.62{
Role ambiguity ÿ0:41y ÿ0:22y 0.19 143 ÿ2:77y

p < 0:05; { p < 0:01; { p < 0:001.
} Continuance commitment antecedents.
|| Value commitment antecedents.
approach considered each antecedent individually by examining the zero-order correlations with
the commitment dimensions and the signi®cance of the dierence of the two correlations between
each antecedent and the two commitment dimensions. The second approach utilized LISREL 7
to simultaneously consider all 10 variables.
Results
Intercorrelations of the antecedents are reported in Table 1. The correlations between each
antecedent and its proposed commitment dimension were as anticipated in the ®rst eight
hypotheses. These correlations can be found in Table 2. However, it can also be seen in Table 2
that for ®ve of the eight antecedents the correlation with the non-proposed dimension was also
signi®cant.
To test hypotheses 1±8 that each of the antecedents will be most strongly correlated with the
proposed dimension, the pairs of zero-order correlations between each antecedent and the two
commitment dimensions were examined. Results of this analysis can also be found in Table 2.
For each of these antecedents, the signi®cance of the dierence between its correlations with the
two dimensions was examined using a test designed for comparing correlations in dependent
samples (Ferguson, 1966). Each of these antecedents was signi®cantly more correlated ( p < 0:01)
with its proposed dimension than with the other commitment dimension. In sum, the ®rst set of
analyses provides support that the dimensions are dierentially related to the antecedent
variables consistent with March and Simon's (1958) model.
LISREL analysis
An analysis was conducted in LISREL 7 to test the ®nal hypothesis concerning the dierential
validity of the commitment measures. For each model, degrees of freedom, chi-squared, goodness
of ®t index, and adjusted goodness of ®t index were generated by the LISREL package. In
addition, the CFI was calculated to compare the models with one another. Model 1 is the
structural null model in which all 10 variables are treated as exogenous variables, the phi and psi
matrices are de®ned as diagonal, and all causal paths are constrained to equal zero. This model
provides a comparison basis for the other models.
The second model re¯ects the proposed commitment model. Here, the phi and psi matrices are
unconstrained. Each of the eight antecedents has a gamma path estimated to its proposed
commitment dimension, and the gamma path to the other dimension is constrained to equal zero.
The third model provides for an examination of the dierentiability of the commitment
dimensions using a nested design. It is identical to the second model except that the non-
proposed gamma paths previously constrained to equal zero are estimated. However, for each
antecedent, both its gamma paths are constrained to be equal to one another. The third model
has the same number of degrees of freedom as the second because in both models there are eight
parameter estimates being generated for the gamma matrix. In this model, each such parameter
estimate is the value produced for two gamma elements. If the value and continuance
commitment dimensions as measured here were re¯ective of the same construct, one would expect
this model to achieve a better ®t with the data than does the proposed model. If the two were in
fact alternative measures of the same construct, it would be expected that a given antecedent
should correlate about the same with either measure of that construct. This model, which forces
the estimates of the two relationships to be equal, should achieve a better ®t than the proposed
model where the non-proposed gamma paths are constrained to equal zero. In other words,
model 3 re¯ects a unidimensional construct of commitment where the measures of value and
continuance re¯ect the same underlying construct.
Results of these analyses are presented in Table 3. The chi-squared statistic indicates the lack of
®t of a model, a higher chi-squared re¯ecting greater discrepancy between the observed and
estimated covariance matrices. Both models 2 and 3 have the same number of degrees of freedom,
but the chi-squared for model 3 is about 2.5 times higher. This indicates that the proposed model
provides a better ®t with the data. The CFI of 0.96 for the proposed model clearly exceeds the
0.90 level deemed by Bentler (1990) as a good ®t. The ®t for model 3, which re¯ects that both
measures tap into a unidimensional commitment construct, failed to meet this criterion. Thus,
both the chi-squared and the CFI indicate a better ®t for the proposed model. The same
conclusion holds for the GFI and the AGFI.
Discussion
The proliferation of research utilizing the OCQ has produced a great number of insights into
the nature of an employee's linkages with an employing organization, but it has also given rise
to some related diculties. More recent work has re®ned the organizational commitment
construct, recognizing that a multidimensional approach to its study is more fruitful. This study
provides a theoretical framework for sorting out the results of this earlier OCQ-based work. The
Table 3. LISREL model comparisons: antecedents models

Model df Chi2 GFI AGFI CFI
1. Null model 45 408.61 0.601 0.512 Ð
2. Proposed, phi and psi free 8 21.13 0.973 0.813 0.96
3. Gamma equality constraints 8 50.68 0.944 0.615 0.88

All models were tested using covariance matrices and using maximum likelihood estimation.
two-dimensional organizational commitment questionnaire used in this study re¯ects two

dimensions of commitment consistent with March and Simon's (1958) framework while
preserving as much of the OCQ as possible. This allows the construct to continue to be re®ned
while capitalizing on the knowledge gained from the dominant approach.
Analyses in the current study which considered the antecedent variables individually and as
groups support the assertion that the commitment dimensions as operationalized in this measure
are distinct from one another. These results support the ®ndings of Mayer and Schoorman
(1992) that a two-dimensional construct representing value and continuance commitment are
both theoretically and empirically distinguishable. While Mayer and Schoorman showed that
these dimensions lead to dierent behavioral outcomes, the current study helps to clarify the
antecedents of the two commitment dimensions based on the March and Simon framework.
Interest in the multidimensionality of commitment has led to three approaches to its measure-
ment (Meyer and Allen, 1984; Mayer and Schoorman, 1992; O'Reilly and Chatman, 1986). One
approach to assessing the relative merit of the measures is to consider their predictive validity,
which is critical from both theoretical and practical standpoints (Kerlinger, 1986; Nunnally,
1978). Much of the published research using Meyer and Allen's measures has been largely based
on factor analyses and cross-sectional analyses (e.g. McGee and Ford, 1987). Evidence which ties
these factors to behavioral outcomes as predicted by the theory is sparse and raises many
questions. For example, Meyer and Allen's measure of continuance commitment has been found
to be negatively correlated with performance (Meyer, Paunonen, Gellatly, Gon and Jackson,
1989). Additional technical concerns with Meyer and Allen's measure have been noted by
Barksdale and Shore (1993) and Vandenberg and Self (1993).
O'Reilly and Chatman (1986) constructed a 12-item measure of Kelman's (1958) three factors
of commitment: compliance, identi®cation, and internalization. In their initial study, they found
these three separable and dierentially related to self-reports of in-role and extra-role behavior,
intent to stay, and turnover. However, further eorts with this measure in a larger study found
only two factors (Caldwell, Chatman and O'Reilly, 1990). Examination of the items in these two
constructs reveals a close correspondence to value commitment and continuance commitment.
More recently, Meyer and Allen proposed normative commitment as a third dimension of
organizational commitment (Allen and Meyer, 1990, 1993; Meyer and Allen, 1991). This type of
commitment is based on personal norms governing how one believes one ought to act. Their
measure of this construct consists of eight items such as Ì was taught to believe in the value of
remaining loyal to one organization'. The organizational referent is decidedly non-speci®c. While
this measure could be expected to correlate with behaviors such as turnover, it deviates from
Porter et al.'s (1974) de®nition of organizational commitment which focused on the person's
relationship with a particular organization (p. 604). While normative commitment can be
expected to aect behavior, its very nature assumes it should be more of a constant across
employers for an individual. Thus, its inclusion as a dimension of commitment to a particular
organization is problematic from a theoretical standpoint, as a number of authors have
stressed the importance of the commitment referent (e.g. Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Morrow,
1983; Reichers, 1985).
Although the present study has provided evidence of the construct validity of the two-
dimensional model of organizational commitment, concerns may be raised regarding the
predictive validity of the measure. Using data collected with the same commitment measure in the
same site as the present study, Mayer and Schoorman (1992) found that value commitment was
signi®cantly predictive of performance (r 0:17, p < 0:01), altruistic organizational citizenship
behaviors (r 0:19, p < 0:01), and a measure of site-speci®c organizational citizenship
behaviors (r 0:32, p < 0:001). None of these outcomes was signi®cantly correlated with
continuance commitment as predicted by the model. Although turnover was signi®cantly

correlated with both continuance commitment (r ÿ0:21, p < 0:001) and value commitment
(r ÿ0:12, p < 0:05), its correlation with continuance commitment was signi®cantly higher
(t274 1:75, p < 0:05). Data for both performance and turnover were collected from archival
records. These ®ndings con®rm the predictive validity of the commitment measure.
To date, Mayer and Schoorman's (1992) is the only multidimensional commitment measure
that has dierentially predicted the important outcome behaviors as theoretically speci®ed. The
current study provides additional evidence for the construct validity of this measure. Given the
interest in the multidimensional measurement of commitment seen in recent literature and the
diculties with the other multidimensional measures, it is apparent that further validation of this
measure is warranted.
One practical implication of this study involves the management of employee attitudes. This
study suggests that attempts to increase one type of commitment may not be expected to aect
both types. For example, an organization which is trying to increase the extent to which members
engage in citizenship behaviors should focus on increasing the value commitment of its members
(Mayer and Schoorman, 1992). The results of this study suggest that this would best be accom-
plished through such mechanisms as increasing participation and job involvement, rather than
through perhaps more costly routes such as increasing the value of pensions.
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JOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, VOL.

19, 15±28 (1998)