Self-Reported Changes in Organizational Commitment : The Relationship between Present Organizational Commitment and its Perceived Changes over Time

Abstract

A sample of 188 university employees was surveyed about present levels of organizational commitment and beliefs about changes in commitment over time. Both present levels of commitment and self-reported increases in each of the three forms of commitment (i.e., affective, continuance, and normative) were negatively associated with turnover intention, with present levels of commitment producing correlations of a significantly greater magnitude. In a simplified model, all present forms of commitment combined with age were found to be significant predictors. A moderation effect was found for continuance commitment, in that as magnitude of beliefs about continuance commitment increasing over time grew, so did the negative relationship of continuance commitment to turnover intention. This effect was only found at low levels of present continuance commitment. Sequential polynomial regression revealed nonlinear relationships of tenure with each form of commitment. Cubic models were adopted for both affective and normative commitment while a quadratic model was adopted for continuance commitment.