Normative Commitment and Instrumental Attachment as Intervening Variables in the Prediction of Union Participation

Abstract

This study analyzed organizational commitment as a social psychological process in a labor union setting. It proposed that normative commitment and instrumental attachment are variables that intervene between antecedent constructs and union participation as a behavioral outcome and, further, that such commitment and attachment are separate motivational processes that affect behavior differentially. Two competing theoretical models were evaluated, using structural equation analysis of self-report data from a sample of 176 recently unionized public agency employees. The model predicting that normative commitment and instrumental attachment mediate between union participation and four antecedent constructs provided a significantly better fit to the data than did the model predicting that these antecedents relate directly to participation. Path coefficient patterns observed within each model also supported the intervening variable hypothesis. The proposition that normative commitment and instrumental attachment are different processes also was supported by the finding that commitment has stronger links to participation than does attachment. These results are consistent with the identification theory of organizational commitment.

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