International Journal of Organizational Leadership

Abstract

This paper aimed at answering the question, how the widely discussed concept of organizational commitment can be clustered. Based on relevant literature on employee commitment, a four-dimensional model of commitment was proposed. The proposed layers included a rational, a behavioral, a normative and an emotional layer, with each of them ranging from the lowest level of commitment – compliance – to the highest level, described as internalization. In order to assess this assumed model, the approach of an empirical study leading up to a confirmatory factor analysis was chosen. Using a wide array of pre-existing questionnaires, a set of items were generated in accordance with the proposed model and tested on a survey of n = 300 participants. Using a R-based confirmatory factor analysis, the proposed factor structure was assessed in terms of its model fit. Analyses however suggest a two-factor model, as only for emotional and behavioral commitment a satisfactory model fit could be shown. An additionally conducted reliability analysis confirmed this result. Therefore, based on the empirical data, a two-factor model of commitment is suggested. It is argued within the discussion of the results, that only the factors emotional and behavioral commitment target actually the relationship between employer and employee, whereas normative commitment depends stronger on the personality and the values of the employee, while rational commitment might be stronger connected to the overall (employment) market situation. Potential recommendations for practitioners are deducted from the findings and possible approaches for future research are presented.