Supervisor-Related Commitment Scale

Abstract

The Supervisor-Related Commitment scale, developed by Becker, Billings, Eveleth, and Gilbert in 1996, is a specialized psychometric measure designed to quantify the degree and nature of an employee’s psychological attachment to their immediate supervisor. This measure is crucial in organizational psychology as it differentiates commitment to the supervisor from general Organizational Commitment. The scale is structured around two distinct dimensions: the employee’s identification with the supervisor and the internalization of the supervisor’s values. The instrument is flexible, allowing researchers to adapt the items to assess organizational identification and internalization by merely changing the referent target from “supervisor” to “organization.”

Keywords

Supervisor-Related Commitment, Employee Commitment, Identification, Internalization, Organizational Behavior, Job Performance, Values, Supervisor.

Authors

Becker, T. E., Billings, R. S., Eveleth, D. M., Gilbert, N. L.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Supervisor-Related Commitment scale is to provide a focused assessment of the employee-supervisor relationship within the context of commitment theory. Traditional commitment scales often focus exclusively on the organization as the target, potentially masking the significant influence of the immediate supervisor on employee attitudes and behaviors. This instrument allows researchers and practitioners to isolate the commitment directed specifically toward the supervisory figure.

By measuring commitment along the bases of identification and internalization, the scale facilitates a deeper understanding of why employees feel attached to their supervisors, moving beyond mere compliance or economic necessity. This distinction is particularly useful for predicting nuanced outcomes such as specific job performance ratings, which may be more closely tied to the quality of the immediate supervisory relationship than to broad organizational loyalty.

Construct

The scale measures the overarching construct of Supervisor-Related Commitment, which is defined by two theoretically distinct, yet correlated, dimensions:

• Supervisor-Related Identification: This dimension captures the extent to which an employee defines themselves in terms of their relationship with the supervisor. High identification means the employee feels a sense of oneness or belonging, often experiencing the supervisor’s successes and criticisms as their own.
• Supervisor-Related Internalization: This dimension reflects commitment based on the perceived congruence between the employee’s personal values and the values, goals, or mission represented by the supervisor. Attachment is maintained because the supervisor embodies principles the employee deeply believes in.

Validity

Validity evidence for the scale was established through several analyses in the original 1996 study. The two sub-dimensions, identification and internalization, were found to be positively correlated, suggesting that while they are conceptually distinct bases of commitment, they often coexist within the employee-supervisor relationship.

Crucially, the study demonstrated strong discriminant validity. Using Confirmatory factor analysis, the researchers confirmed that commitment directed toward a supervisor is empirically separate from commitment directed toward the organization. Furthermore, in multivariate analyses, both supervisor-related identification and internalization proved to be positively correlated with objective employee performance ratings. In contrast, the measure of general organizational commitment did not exhibit this positive correlation with performance in the same analyses, underscoring the predictive utility and distinct validity of the Supervisor-Related Commitment scale regarding job outcomes.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the Supervisor-Related Commitment scale was assessed using Coefficient alpha in the initial research by Becker et al. (1996). The results indicated high levels of reliability for both sub-dimensions of the scale.

• For the supervisor-related commitment based on identification, the Coefficient alpha was 0.85.
• For the supervisor-related commitment based on internalization, the Coefficient alpha was 0.89.

These values suggest that the items within each dimension are highly consistent in measuring their respective underlying constructs.

Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the scale was supported by the use of Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). This analysis was essential for determining the distinctiveness of the constructs measured. The CFA results provided empirical support for the two-factor structure of supervisor commitment (identification and internalization) and confirmed that these two factors were statistically independent of organizational commitment, even when the same item structure was used with a different referent target. This confirmed the scale’s ability to measure commitment directed at specific foci within the workplace.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychological Scale / Organizational Commitment Measure

Format: Self-report questionnaire

Language Available: English (Original Publication)

Population Group: Employees / Working Adults

Age Group: Adult (Typically 18+)

Population Details: Developed primarily for use in organizational settings to study the dynamics between employees and their immediate supervisors.

Test Methodology: Responses are obtained using a 7-point Likert-type scale where 1 represents strongly disagree and 7 represents strongly agree.

Keywords

Supervisor-Related Commitment, Job Performance, Employee-Supervisor Relationship, Value Congruence, Identification, Internalization, Organizational Psychology.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not available.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not available.

Correspondence Address: Not available in source text.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1996.

Permissions: The items were originally published in the Academy of Management Journal. The source documentation indicates that the items were reproduced with permission of the Academy of Management for use in a textbook format via the Copyright Clearance Center. Researchers or practitioners intending to use the scale for new research or commercial purposes should contact the Academy of Management for current permissions and licensing details.

Reference’s

Becker, T. E., Billings, R. S., Eveleth, D. M., & Gilbert, N. L. (1996). Foci and bases of employee commitment: Implications for job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 39(2), 464-482.

Items of the Supervisor-Related Commitment scale

Responses are obtained using a 7-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree.

Supervisor-related identification items:

1. When someone criticizes my supervisor, it feels like a personal insult
2. When I talk about my supervisor, I usually say “we” rather than “they”
3. My supervisor’s successes are my successes
4. When someone praises my supervisor, it feels like a personal compliment
5. I feel a sense of “ownership” for my supervisor

Supervisor-related internalization items:

6. If the values of my supervisor were different, I would not be as attached to my supervisor
7. My attachment to my supervisor is primarily based on the similarity of my values and those represented by my supervisor
8. Since starting this job, my personal values and those of my supervisor have become more similar
9. The reason I prefer my supervisor to others is because of what he or she stands for, that is, his or her values