Yoash Wiener

Relationships between job, organization, and career commitments and work outcomes: An integrative approach.

Abstract This study deals with two major issues. First, a model of commitment outcomes, simultaneously treating organization, job, and career commitments, was tested in two diverse occupational groups. Consistent with predictions, organizational commitment was strongly related to attachment to the organization, while job commitment was strongly associated with indices of effort and performance effectiveness. Second, a hypothesis derived from a normative view of commitment was tested. It was expected that the overall relationship between commitment and work outcomes would be stronger for staff professionals than for insurance salespersons, since the involvement of the former group with their organization is more normative and value based. The data supported this hypothesis. In addition, an exploratory investigation of the relationship between commitment types and affective outcomes—job satisfaction—was included.

Commitment: A behavioral approach to job involvement☆

Abstract This study views job involvement and commitment as interchangeable labels for the same job behavior. Work commitment behaviors were defined as a special class of socially acceptable work behaviors that exceed formal and/or normative expectations relevant to work. The main purpose of this study was the development of a measure of work commitment based on this definition. A daily record measured the amount of personal time that each subject devoted to work-related activities beyond the required working day. For a sample of 54 female elementary school teachers, the work commitment measure demonstrated moderate correlations with two attitudinal measures of job involvement and a job satisfaction scale. The feasibility and usefulness of defining and measuring involvement behaviorally were demonstrated.

The Value Content of Organizational Mission as a Factor in the Commitment of Members

In a quasi-experimental design, organizational mission was examined as an influence on individual behavior of members. Workers in an organization with a high value-content-mission exhibited higher normative commitment than workers in a control (neutral mission) organization. No differences were found, however, in instrumental commitment. This finding supports the distinction between normative and instrumental processes in a motivational analysis.

Developmental, Emotional, and Interest Factors in Voluntary Mid-Career Change.

Abstract Developmental, emotional, and interest correlates of mid-career change were investigated. The hypotheses were derived from versions of vocational choice and adult development theories. Thirty-eight young and 27 older career changers in business-managerial occupations were compared to 45 young and 40 older vocationally stable controls with respect to several characteristics. Results showed that career changers were characterized by high incongruity, emotional maladjustment, and fear of failure, and low differentiation and consistency of interest. No important age differences emerged. The results lend support to vocational choice theory. Developmental processes were not found to be involved in mid-career change.

The relationship between vocational interests and job satisfaction: Reconciliation of divergent results

Abstract It was hypothesized that congruency of vocational interests with present occupation would be positively related to job satisfaction for long job-tenured employees, and would be unrelated to satisfaction for short job-tenured employees. In two samples of 54 and 47 middle managers, the hypothesis was supported for satisfaction with work and supervision. This differential pattern of correlations may help explain the inconsistent relationship between vocational interests and job satisfaction obtained in past studies.

Relationships between Work Commitments and Experience of Personal Well-Being

It was hypothesized that work commitment is positively related to personal well-being along most of the commitment range. At the top end of the range, however, where “overcommitment” is indicated, a deterioration of well-being was expected. The sample consisted of 257 young, primarily men, retail managers. Analysis indicated a linear relationship between commitment and well-being across the whole range. The findings support the traditional position that personal commitment to central domains of life contributes to well-being. They do not support the hypothesis concerning detrimental effects of “overcommitment.”

Antecedents of Employees' Mental Health: The Role of Career and Work Satisfaction.

Abstract It was hypothesized that individual and situational variables, as a whole, will show stronger relationships with work-related attitudes than with mental health indices. Work-related attitudes, on the other hand, were expected to contribute more strongly to mental health than the individual and situational variables. Results obtained from two groups of staff professionals and retail store managers, using primarily questionnaire data, supported these hypotheses. Career and work satisfaction emerged as the strongest contributors to mental health. Situational variables such as job characteristics, supervisory style, and pay related more strongly to the attitudinal variables than to mental health. This pattern suggests that career and work satisfaction may serve as intervening variables in the relationship between situational variables and mental health.

Interest congruency as a moderator of the relationships between job tenure and job satisfaction and mental health

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of interest-present job congruency as a moderator of the relationship between job tenure and job satisfaction and mental health. In a sample of 54 middle managers, significant moderator effects were found for the mental health indices of self-esteem, life-satisfaction, and overall mental health and for satisfaction with supervision. As expected, these indices correlated positively with job tenure for high congruency individuals. For low congruency individuals, the relationships were expected to be negative. However, the obtained correlations did not differ significantly from zero.

Normative commitment and instrumental attachment as intervening variables in the prediction of union participation

This study analyzed organizational commitment as a social psychological process in a labor union setting. It proposed that normative commitment and instrumental attachment are variables that intervene between antecedent constructs and union participation as a behavioral outcome and, further, that such commitment and attachment are separate motivational processes that affect behavior differentially. Two competing theoretical models were evaluated, using structural equation analysis of self-report data from a sample of 176 recently unionized public agency employees. The model predicting that normative commitment and instrumental attachment mediate between union participation and four antecedent constructs provided a significantly better fit to the data than did the model predicting that these antecedents relate directly to participation. Path coefficient patterns observed within each model also supported the intervening variable hypothesis. The proposition that normative commitment and instrumental attachment are different processes also was supported by the finding that commitment has stronger links to participation than does attachment. These results are consistent with the identification theory of organizational commitment.