Christian Vandenberghe

Employee Commitment and Motivation: A Conceptual Analysis and Integrative Model.

Theorists and researchers interested in employee commitment and motivation have not made optimal use of each others work. Commitment researchers seldom address the motivational processes through which commitment affects behavior, and motivation researchers have not recognized important distinctions in the forms, foci, and bases of commitment. To encourage greater cross-fertilization, the authors present an integrative framework in which commitment is presented as one of several energizing forces for motivated behavior. E. A. Lockes (1997) model of the work motivation process and J. P. Meyer and L. Herscovitchs (2001) model of workplace commitments serve as the foundation for the development of this new framework. To facilitate the merger, a new concept, goal regulation, is derived from self-determination theory (E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 1985) and regulatory focus theory (E. I. Higgins, 1997). By including goal regulation, it is acknowledged that motivated behavior can be accompanied by different mindsets that have particularly important implications for the explanation and prediction of discretionary work behavior.

The role of change in the relationship between commitment and turnover: A latent growth modeling approach

Through the use of affective, normative, and continuance commitment in a multivariate 2nd-order factor latent growth modeling approach, the authors observed linear negative trajectories that characterized the changes in individuals across time in both affective and normative commitment. In turn, an individuals intention to quit the organization was characterized by a positive trajectory. A significant association was also found between the change trajectories such that the steeper the decline in an individuals affective and normative commitments across time, the greater the rate of increase in that individuals intention to quit, and, further, the greater the likelihood that the person actually left the organization over the next 9 months. Findings regarding continuance commitment and its components were mixed.

The role of HRM practices, procedural justice, organizational support and trust in organizational commitment and in-role and extra-role performance

Taking the social exchange perspective, we examine the process (black box) linking human resource practices and organizational commitment and superior rating performance. Using procedural justice, organizational support and trust, as relational exchange mechanisms, we evaluate which such complex psychological states mediate the relationship between HRM practices and performance. On the basis of a sample of 1,219 employees from a Canadian hospital, our results indicate that HRM practices can stimulate greater in-role and extra-role performance if they are perceived as signs of support and procedural justice. Consequently, we find that that the sole implementation of HRM practices, however innovative they may be, does not suffice to improve behavioral performance. Our study thus contributes to a better understanding of the ‘black box’ phenomenon that links HRM practices to organizational performance indices. Because of the number of psychological states studied, our research enriches knowledge of the social exchange mechanisms.

A closer look at the relationship between affective commitment to supervisors and organizations and turnover

We examined the relationships of affective organizational commitment and affective commitment to supervisors with turnover intentions and actual turnover, using three independent samples of employees. In Sample I (N = I72) and Sample 2 (N = I86), affective organizational commitment and affective commitment to supervisors were found to exert independent negative effects on turnover intentions. Moreover, in both samples, affective commitment to supervisors was more strongly related to turnover intentions when affective organizational commitment was low. In Sample 3 (N = 431), affective commitment to supervisors was the single significant predictor of actual turnover and interacted with affective organizational commitment such that its effect was stronger when affective organizational commitment was low. The implications of these findings for the understanding of the commitment―turnover relationship are discussed.

Leadership styles across hierarchical levels in nursing departments.

BACKGROUND Some researchers have reported on the cascading effect of transformational leadership across hierarchical levels. One study examined this effect in nursing, but it was limited to a single hospital. OBJECTIVES To examine the cascading effect of leadership styles across hierarchical levels in a sample of nursing departments and to investigate the effect of hierarchical level on the relationships between leadership styles and various work outcomes. METHODS Based on a sample of eight hospitals, the cascading effect was tested using correlation analysis. The main sources of variation among leadership scores were determined with analyses of variance (ANOVA), and the interaction effect of hierarchical level and leadership styles on criterion variables was tested with moderated regression analysis. RESULTS No support was found for a cascading effect of leadership across hierarchical levels. Rather, the variation of leadership scores was explained primarily by the organizational context. Transformational leadership had a stronger impact on criterion variables than transactional leadership. Interaction effects between leadership styles and hierarchical level were observed only for perceived unit effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS The hospitals structure and culture are major determinants of leadership styles.

Organization-, supervisor-, and workgroup-directed commitments and citizenship behaviours: A comparison of models

The purpose of this study was to test two competing theoretical models explaining the relationships between affective commitment to the organization, the supervisor, and the workgroup, and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) specifically directed toward these foci. Drawing on cohesion theory, the first model stated that commitment to the organization is a key mediating variable intervening between “local” commitments and OCB (Hunt & Morgan, 1994). Building on Lewins (1943) field theory and the notion of psychological proximity, the second model proposed that commitment to the most proximal focus should mediate the effect of commitment to more distal entities on OCB. Data drawn from a sample of blue-collar workers and their supervisors in an iron and steel company indicated that the model of a proximal mediation best represented the relationships between commitments and OCB.

An Examination of the Cross-Cultural Validity of a Multidimensional Model of Commitment in Europe

This study examined the validity of a multidimensional model of employee commitment in Europe. The study was conducted using a sample of employees working for the translation department of the European Commission, located in Brussels. The survey questionnaire included measures of affective and normative commitment to the organization, the occupation, the work group, and Europe; continuance commitment to the organization and the occupation; and intent to quit. Participants (N = 580) pertained to 12 European nationalities and responded to a French or an English version of the questionnaire. Results showed that (a) for normative and continuance commitment, the organizational and occupational foci were not empirically distinguishable and that (b) both the commitment model and the relationships between commitment components and intent to quit were culturally invariant. On the other hand, evidence also emphasized the importance of considering multiple commitment components in predicting intent to quit. The implications of these findings are discussed.

A Multilevel Model of Transformational Leadership and Adaptive Performance and the Moderating Role of Climate for Innovation

Using a multilevel framework, we hypothesized that (a) individual perceptions of transformational leadership and (b) team-level transformational leadership climate would be positively related to individual adaptive performance. We also hypothesized that a stronger climate for innovation would enhance the association between transformational leadership and adaptive performance at the individual level. Hierarchical linear modeling conducted on data collected from 120 employees belonging to 35 teams and their managers in an organization operating in the aerospace industry confirmed our predictions. The significance and relevance of these findings for future research on transformational leadership and adaptive performance are discussed.

The benefits of justice for temporary workers

This study tested a multidimensional model of organizational justice in the context of contingent employment. Based on previous conceptual and empirical research, the authors generated the following predictions. First, they predicted that the data would be consistent with a four-factor model of organizational justice, including distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice. Second, distributive justice was expected to predict outcome satisfaction. Third, procedural justice was expected to predict commitment to the temporary organization, though the authors anticipated that this relationship would be mediated by perceived organizational support. Finally, informational and interpersonal justice were thought to predict commitment to ones staffing agent, but this effect was expected to be mediated by trust. These predictions were tested on a sample of 162 employees of a temporary staffing agency. Findings generally supported the predictions, though there were also some unexpected results.

Transactional and Transformational Leadership in Nursing: Structural Validity and Substantive Relationships

Confirmatory factor analysis in a large sample of nurses (N = 1059) working in Belgium was conducted to examine the dimensionality and nomological validity of Basss (1985) transactional and transformational leadership model. Three transactional factors (Passive and Active management-by-exception, and Contingent reward) and three transformational factors (Charisma, Intellectual stimulation, and Individualized consideration) from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X-rater) were examined. Results showed that the six-factor solution displayed the best absolute fit indices. However, because of high interscale correlations and lack of differential relationships with criterion variables, transformational facets and Contingent reward could reasonably be combined to form a single factor, Active leadership. Complementary analyses conducted to detect potential higher-order factors in the MLQ model revealed that Active leadership is best viewed as a second-order factor subsuming transformational and Contingent reward leadership.