This comparative analysis, using early 1980s data from management interviews, employee questionnaire surveys, and personnel office employment records in 41 manufacturing plants in Japan and 45 in the United States, explores how employee commitment to the firm is shaped by organizational structure, employment practice, and other attributes of factories. The authors investigate both behavioral and attitudinal dimensions of commitment, measured respectively by quit records and survey responses. The results for both dimensions generally support the model of “welfare corporatism” as a commitment-maximizing organizational form in Japanese and American industrial capitalism. Qualifying that conclusion, however, are several noteworthy differences between the countries: unionization, formal work rules, and on-the-job training, for example, appear to have negative effects on the commitment of U.S. workers that are absent in Japan.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbegglenJames C., and StalkGeorge. 1985. Kaisha: The Japanese Company. New York: Basic Books.
2.
AkerlofGeorge A.RoseAndrew K., and YellenJanet L.. 1988. “Job Switching and Job Satisfaction in the Labor Market.”Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Vol. 2, pp. 495–594.
3.
AldrichJohn H., and NelsonForrest D.. 1984. Linear Probability, Logit, and Probit Models. Beverly Hills: Sage.
4.
AngleHarold L., and PerryJames L.. 1981. “An Empirical Assessment of Organizational Commitment and Organizational Effectiveness.”Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 26, pp. 1–14.
5.
Aoki1988. Information, Incentives, and Bargaining in the Japanese Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6.
AverittRobert T.1968. The Dual Economy: The Dynamics of American Industry Structure. New York: Norton.
7.
BaronJames N., and BielbyWilliam T.. 1984. “The Organization of Work in a Segmented Economy.”American Sociological Review, Vol. 49, pp. 454–73.
8.
BlalockHubert M.Jr.1972. Social Statistics. 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
9.
BlaunerRobert. 1964. Alienation and Freedom: The Factory Worker and His Industry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
10.
BluedornAllen C.1982. “The Theories of Turnover: Causes, Effects, and Meaning.”Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 1. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, pp. 75–128.
11.
BohrnstedtGeorge W.“Reliability and Validity Assessment in Attitude Measurement.” In SummersGene F., ed., Attitude Measurement. Chicago: Rand McNally, pp. 80–99
12.
Bounine-CableJeanDoreRonald, and TapiolaKari. 1988. Flexibility in Japanese Labor Markets: Report of the OECD Team, Paris: OECD.
13.
BrintonMary C.1992. Women and the Japanese Miracle. Berkeley: University of California Press.
14.
Business Week. 1991. “Tough Times, Tough Bosses: The New Breed of CEO in Corporate America.” November 25, 1991, pp. 174–82.
15.
ClarkRodney. 1979. The Japanese Company. New Haven: Yale University Press.
16.
ColeRobert. 1971. Japanese Blue Collar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
17.
ColeRobert1979. Work, Mobility, and Participation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
18.
DoreRonald. 1973. British Factory—Japanese Factory. Berkeley: University of California Press.
19.
DoreRonald1986. Flexible Rigidites. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
20.
EdwardsRichard. 1979. Contested Terrain. New York: Basic Books.
21.
FreemanRichard B.1980. “The Exit-Voice Tradeoff in the Labor Market: Unionism, Job Tenure, Quits, and Separations.”Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 3 (June), pp. 643–73.
22.
FreemanRichard B., and MedoffJames I.. 1984. What Do Unions Do?New York: Basic Books.
23.
FuciniJoseph P., and FuciniSuzy. 1990. Working for the Japanese: Inside Mazda's American Auto Plant. New York: Free Press.
24.
GordonDavidEdwardsRichard, and ReichMichael. 1982. Segmented Work, Divided Workers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
25.
GouldnerAlvin W.1954. Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy. New York: Free Press.
26.
HalabyCharles N.1986. “Worker Attachment and Workplace Authority.”American Sociological Review, Vol. 51, pp. 634–49.
27.
HashimotoMasanori. 1990. “Employment and Wage Systems in Japan and Their Implications for Productivity.” In BlinderAlan S., ed., Paying for Productivity: A Look at the Evidence. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, pp. 245–95.
28.
HerzbergFrederickMausnerBernard, and SnydermanB.. 1959. The Motivation to Work. New York: Wiley.
29.
HirschmanAlbert O.1970. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
30.
JacobySanford M.1985. Employing Bureaucracy. New York: Columbia University Press.
31.
KallebergArne L., and LincolnJames R.. 1988. “The Structure of Earnings Inequality in the United States and Japan.”American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 94, pp. S121–S153.
32.
KallebergArne L., and MarsdenPeter V.. 1993. “Organizational Commitment and Job Performance in the U.S. Labor Force.” In SimpsonIda and SimpsonRichard L., eds., Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 5. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press.
33.
LazearEdward P.1979. “Why Is There Mandatory Retirement?”Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 87, pp. 1261–84.
34.
LevineDavid I.1993. “What Do Wages Buy? Delayed Compensation, Training, and Turnover in the United States and Japan.”Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 38, pp. 462–83.
35.
LincolnJames R., and BootheJoan. 1993. “Unions and Work Attitudes in the United States and Japan.”Industrial Relations, Vol. 32, pp. 159–87.
36.
LincolnJames R., and KallebergArne L.. 1990. Culture, Control, and Commitment: A Study of Work Organization and Work Attitudes in the United States and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
LincolnJames R., and ZeitzGerald. 1980. “Organizational Properties from Aggregate Data: Separating Individual and Structural Effects.”American Sociological Review, Vol. 45, pp. 391–409.
38.
MaddalaG. S.1983. Limited Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
39.
MarshRobert M., and MannariHiroshi. 1977. Modernization and the Japanese Factory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
40.
MathieuJohn E., and ZajacDennis M.. 1990. “A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences of Organizational Commitment.”Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 108, pp. 171–94.
41.
MeyerJohn P.PaunonenSampo V.GellatlyIan R.GoffinRichard D., and JacksonDouglas N.. 1989. “Organizational Commitment and Job Performance: It's the Nature of the Commitment That Counts.”Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 74, pp. 152–56.
42.
MincerJacob, and HiguchiYoshio. 1987. “Wage Structures and Labor Turnover in the United States and Japan.” NBER Working Paper No. 2306.
43.
MowdayRichard T.PorterLyman W., and SteersRichard M.. 1982. Employee-Organizational Linkages. New York: Academic Press.
44.
MuramatsuKuramitsu. 1984. “The Effect of Trade Unions on Productivity in Japanese Manufacturing Industries.” In AokiMasahiko, ed., The Economic Analysis of the Japanese Firm. Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 103–24.
45.
O'ReillyCharlesIII, and ChatmanJennifer. 1986. “Organizational Commitment and Psychological Attachment: The Effects of Compliance, Identification, and Internalization on Prosocial Behavior.”Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 71, pp. 492–99.
46.
PfefferJeffrey, and CohenYinon. 1984. “Determinants of Internal Labor Markets in Organizations.”Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 29, pp. 550–72.
47.
PioreMichael J., and SabelCharles W.. 1984. The Second Industrial Divide. New York: Basic Books.
48.
PorterLyman W.SteersRichard M.MowdayRichard T., and BoulianPaul V.. 1974. “Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Among Psychiatric Technicians.”Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 59, pp. 603–9.
49.
PriceJames L., and MuellerCharles W.. 1981. “A Causal Model of Turnover for Nurses.”Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 24, pp. 543–65.
50.
PughD. S.HicksonD. J.HiningsC. R., and TurnerC.. 1968. “The Context of Organization Structures.”Administrative Science Quartery, Vol. 14, pp. 41–114.
51.
RohlenThomas P.1974. For Harmony and Strength. Berkeley: University of California Press.
52.
ShiraiTaishiro, ed. 1983. Contemporary Industrial Relations in Japan. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
53.
VisserJelle. 1991. “Trends in Trade Union Membership.”OECD Membership Outlook, July, pp. 97–134.
54.
WhitehillArthur M., and TakezawaShinichi. 1968. The Other Worker: A Comparative Study of Industrial Relations in the United States and Japan. Honolulu: East-West Center Press.
55.
WoodwardJoan. 1965. Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice. London: Oxford University Press.
