Organizational Commitment Measure

Abstract

The Organizational Commitment measure is a concise, six-item scale developed specifically for use in large-scale sociological and psychological research, notably its inclusion in the 1991 General Social Survey (GSS). Its primary objective is to assess the overall commitment levels employees feel toward their organization. The measure prioritizes parsimony, making it highly suitable for extensive survey research where minimizing respondent burden is crucial. The conceptual foundation for these items stems from the seminal American-Japanese work commitment study conducted by Lincoln and Kalleberg (1990), and the scale was validated in the context of gender differences by Marsden, Kalleberg, and Cook (1993).

Keywords

Organizational commitment, work attitudes, employee loyalty, General Social Survey, scale validation, job satisfaction, workplace relationships.

Authors

The items were conceptually derived from the work of Lincoln and Kalleberg (1990). The specific six-item measure was utilized and validated in the context of the GSS by Peter V. Marsden, Arne L. Kalleberg, and C.R. Cook (1993).

Purpose

The central purpose of the Organizational Commitment measure is to quantify the degree of psychological attachment and loyalty an individual holds toward their employing organization. This scale was designed to be highly efficient, utilizing only six items to capture the core construct of commitment, thereby ensuring rapid administration in large-sample contexts where comprehensive multi-dimensional measures are impractical.

Its utility lies in its ability to serve as a robust, yet brief, indicator of organizational commitment in studies that investigate complex relationships between organizational variables, demographic factors, and employee outcomes. The brevity of the scale ensures minimal imposition on participants, a requirement essential for inclusion in omnibus surveys like the General Social Survey.

Construct

The scale measures overall organizational commitment. This construct is generally defined as an employee’s affective attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization. While more complex models exist, this six-item measure is intended to capture a unidimensional, general index of the construct.

The items focus specifically on behavioral intentions and affective states related to loyalty, effort (willingness to work harder), and alignment of personal values with organizational values. This conceptualization reflects a broad measure of dedication and attachment in the workplace, making it a valuable tool for sociological and organizational research.

Validity

Validity evidence for this measure was established through correlational analysis reported by Marsden et al. (1993). The scale demonstrated expected patterns of association with various workplace and personal factors, supporting its construct validity.

Specifically, the measure of commitment correlated positively with desirable professional attributes, including holding a higher position of authority, possessing greater job autonomy, and experiencing higher-quality workplace relationships. Conversely, commitment showed negative correlations with detrimental factors, such as the use of non-merit reward criteria, increased workplace size, and the frequency of reported job-home conflict, aligning with established theoretical expectations regarding employee dedication and retention.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the six-item measure was assessed using Coefficient alpha (Cronbach’s Alpha). In the analysis conducted by Marsden, Kalleberg, and Cook (1993), the scale yielded a reliability coefficient of .78.

This value indicates acceptable internal consistency for a brief, six-item scale utilized in large-sample social science research. This level of reliability confirms the measure’s consistency in assessing the underlying construct of organizational commitment across diverse populations.

Factor Analysis

Given the design mandate of the scale—to achieve maximum parsimony for use in large-scale surveys—the instrument is generally assumed to possess a unidimensional factor structure. Although the primary source content does not explicitly detail a dedicated factor analysis, the items are constructed to represent a singular, overall measure of commitment.

Researchers typically utilize the scale by creating a composite score, either by summing or averaging the six responses (after reverse-scoring Item 2), thereby treating the measure as a single factor reflective of the psychological bond between the employee and the organization.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale (Attitude and loyalty assessment)

Format: Six items utilizing a 4-point Likert-type scale.

Language Available: Primarily English (used in the U.S. General Social Survey).

Population Group: Employed adults/Workforce participants.

Age Group: Typically adults (18+).

Population Details: Respondents in large-scale social surveys, such as the 1991 GSS, representing a broad cross-section of the American working population.

Test Methodology: Pencil-and-paper or interview-based survey administration.

Keywords

Parsimony, organizational behavior, employee attitudes, General Social Survey (GSS), commitment scale, psychometrics, workforce.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Correspondence Address: Correspondence related to the 1993 validation study may be directed to the authors affiliated with that research at the time of publication.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The items were utilized in the 1991 General Social Survey, drawing from the prior academic work of Lincoln and Kalleberg (1990). Since the scale items were published in the context of the GSS data, they are generally considered available for non-commercial academic research use, provided that the original sources (Marsden et al., 1993) are appropriately cited.

Test Year: 1991 (Year of inclusion in the GSS); items derived from pre-1990 research.

Reference’s

Lincoln, J. R., & Kalleberg, A. L. (1990). Culture, control, and commitment: A study of work organization and work attitudes in the United States and Japan. Cambridge University Press.

Marsden, P. V., Kalleberg, A. L., & Cook, C.R. (1993). Gender differences in organizational commitment: Influences of work positions and family roles. Work and Occupations, 20(3), 368-390. Copyright© 1993 by Sage Publications, Inc. Items were taken from Table 1, p. 376. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc.

Items of the Organizational Commitment measure

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Responses are obtained on a 4-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, and 4 = strongly agree.

1. I am willing to work harder than I have to in order to help this organization succeed
2. I feel very little loyalty to this organization (R)
3. I would take almost any job to keep working for this organization
4. I find that my values and the organization’s are very similar
5. I am proud to be working for this organization
6. I would turn down another job for more pay in order to stay with this organization.

Items denoted with (R) are reverse scored.