An Examination of Organizational Commitment in Six Workers' Cooperatives in Scotland

Abstract

This paper describes an exploratory study into organizational commitment in six workers' cooperatives in Scotland. Data was collected using questionnaires and semistructured interviews. The questionnaire was used to gather information about attitudes toward work, social attitudes, and demographic characteristics of the cooperatives' members. The interviews produced more detailed data about motivations for joining cooperatives, and about perceptions of the cooperative environment. The members of the cooperatives appeared to form a highly self-selected group, and produced scores on the scales of organizational commitment that were significantly higher than population norms. The data are interpreted as indicating a close match between the values and goals of the members of the cooperatives and what the cooperatives provided as work organizations. It is argued that this may account for the high organizational commitment scores, using a contingency model of organizational commitment.