Commitment to a Parent Company Versus Local Operation

Abstract

The Commitment to a Parent Company Versus Local Operation measure, developed by Gregersen and Black (1992), is a specialized scale designed to distinguish between two distinct targets of organizational commitment for employees operating in multinational contexts. It addresses the phenomenon of dual organizational commitments that arises when employees, particularly expatriate managers, maintain affiliation with their parent organization (to which they typically return) while simultaneously integrating into and identifying with a separate, local operation or foreign subsidiary.

This instrument is crucial for understanding the complex allegiances formed during both domestic and international assignments, recognizing that the local operation is often distinct in its culture and management from the parent firm, thereby creating separate foci of commitment.

Keywords

Organizational Commitment, Dual Commitment, Expatriate Management, Parent Company, Local Operation, Organizational Behavior, International Assignments, Commitment Foci

Authors

Gregersen, H.B., Black, J.S.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the scale is to provide researchers and practitioners with a tool to empirically separate and measure an employee’s commitment toward the overarching parent organization from their commitment toward the specific local or foreign operation where they are currently assigned. This differentiation is essential because these two forms of commitment may have different antecedents and consequences for employee behavior and assignment success.

The scale was specifically developed in the context of international management to address the need for a nuanced understanding of commitment beyond traditional single-focus measures, acknowledging the unique psychological experience of employees operating across organizational boundaries.

Construct

The scale measures Organizational Commitment, conceptualized as a dual construct. It posits that commitment is directed toward two separable entities: the source organization (Parent Company Commitment) and the operational destination (Local Operation Commitment).

• Parent Company Commitment: Reflects the employee’s emotional attachment, identification, and belief in the values and fate of the headquarters or originating firm.

• Local Operation Commitment: Reflects the employee’s emotional attachment, identification, and belief in the values and fate of the specific subsidiary, local office, or foreign firm where the assignment is based.

Validity

The original research by Gregersen and Black (1992) provided evidence of the measure’s convergent and discriminant validity by examining its correlation with key organizational variables.

Specifically, commitment to the parent organization was found to correlate positively with measures of role conflict and ambiguity, suggesting that strong allegiance to the parent may increase feelings of conflict when local demands clash with headquarter expectations. Conversely, commitment to the local/foreign operation correlated positively with role discretion, indicating that higher commitment to the local context is associated with greater autonomy in performing job duties within that setting. Furthermore, the study established that international experience correlated positively with commitment to the foreign operation, but notably, showed no correlation with commitment to the parent organization, supporting the distinctiveness of the two commitment foci.

Reliability

The reliability of the two subscales was assessed using Coefficient Alpha, demonstrating acceptable internal consistency for both factors in the initial validation study (Gregersen & Black, 1992).

The internal consistency for the four-item scale measuring commitment to the parent company was high, yielding a Coefficient Alpha of .84. The internal consistency for the four-item scale measuring commitment to the local operation was also acceptable, yielding an Alpha value of .72. These results confirm that the items within each factor consistently measure their intended commitment target.

Factor Analysis

A factor analysis of the organizational commitment items performed by Gregersen and Black (1992) strongly supported the hypothesized two-factor structure. The analysis successfully identified two statistically distinct factors, confirming that employees perceive commitment to the parent organization and commitment to the local operation as separate psychological constructs.

• The first factor was composed exclusively of the four items designed to measure commitment to the parent company.

• The second factor was composed exclusively of the four items reflecting commitment to the local operation.

This clear separation of factors provides empirical support for the scale’s ability to differentiate commitment foci, which was the primary goal of its development.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychometric scale

Format: 5-point Likert-type scale

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Expatriate Managers and corporate employees

Age Group: Adult working population

Population Details: Employees engaged in international or domestic assignments requiring affiliation with both a parent company and a specific local operation.

Test Methodology: Quantitative survey administration, typically conducted via paper-and-pencil or online questionnaire.

Keywords

Organizational Commitment, Dual Commitment, Expatriate Management, Parent Company, Local Operation, Organizational Behavior, International Assignments, Commitment Foci

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified

Correspondence Address: Not specified

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was developed and validated in 1992. The items were published in the Academy of Management Journal. Reproduction and use of the items for academic purposes were granted by the Academy of Management via the Copyright Clearance Center, suggesting that specific permissions may be required for commercial use or extensive reproduction.

Test Year: 1992

Reference’s

Gregersen, H.B., & Black, J. S. (1992). Antecedents to commitment to a parent company and a foreign operation. Academy of Management Journal, 35(1), 65-71. The items were sourced from Table 1, p. 75. The content is © 1992 by Academy of Management and was reproduced with permission.

Items of the Commitment to a Parent Company Versus Local Operation

Responses are obtained on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree.

Parent company items:

1. The reason I prefer this parent company to others is because of its values, or what it stands for
2. I really care about the fate of this parent company
3. I talk up this parent company to my friends as a great place to work
4. What this parent company stands for is important to me

Local operation items:

1. What my local firm stands for is important to me
2. I really care about the fate of my local firm
3. I talk up my local firm to my friends as a great group to work with
4. The reasons I prefer this local company to others is because of its values, or what it stands for