A unique survey archive of U.S. Army officers’ affective commitment and continuance commitment over a 4-year time period presents an opportunity to test multiple research questions about the extent to which organizational commitment profiles change and their relationship with the occurrence and timing of turnover. These results begin to reconcile competing theories about the stability of commitment and complement theories of organizational attachment, withdrawal, and turnover. First, multigroup latent profile analyses revealed the structure of commitment profiles was relatively consistent across five samples from the same organization. Second, latent transition analysis revealed more within-sample and within-person temporal stability of commitment profiles over a 4-year time period than less stability. Third, value-based profiles assessed at one time period were associated with lower turnover rates and higher organizational tenure compared to weak commitment profiles. Likewise, when predicting the timing of turnover with survival analysis, value-based profiles had a lower turnover hazard and higher survival probabilities over time relative to weak commitment profiles. Additionally, employees who transitioned from a value-based profile to a weak commitment profile had a higher turnover hazard and lower survival probabilities compared to employees who moved in the opposite direction. These findings have implications for turnover theories, as well as applied implications for the timing of interventions designed to enhance organizational commitment and reduce turnover.
AkaikeH.1987. Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika, 52: 317-332.
2.
AllenN. J.MeyerJ. P.1990. The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63: 1-18.
3.
AsparouhovT.MuthénB.2014. Auxiliary variables in mixture modeling: Three-step approaches using Mplus. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 21: 329-341.
4.
BauerD. J.CurranP. J.2003. Distributional assumptions of growth mixture models: Implications for overextraction of latent trajectory classes. Psychological Methods, 8: 338-363.
5.
BeckK.WilsonC.2001. Have we studied, should we study, and can we study the development of commitment? Methodological issues and the developmental study of work-related commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 11: 257-278.
6.
BeckerH. S.1960. Notes on the concepts of commitment. American Journal of Sociology, 66: 40-53.
7.
BenteinK.VandenbergR.VandenbergheC.StinglhamberF.2005. The role of change in the relationship between commitment and turnover: A latent growth modeling approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90: 468-482.
8.
BergmanM. E.2006. The relationship between affective and normative commitment: Review and research agenda. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27: 645-663.
9.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2014. Current employment statistics and job openings and labor turnover survey. http://www.bls.gov/jlt/2013revisionjo.txt. Accessed March 18, 2016.
10.
ChenG.PloyhartR. E.ThomasH. C.AndersonN.BlieseP. D.2011. The power of momentum: A new model of dynamic relationships between job satisfaction change and turnover intentions. Academy of Management Journal, 54: 159-181.
11.
ChoiD.OhI.ColbertA. E.2015. Understanding organizational commitment: A meta-analytic examination of the roles of the five-factor model of personality and culture. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100: 1542-1567.
12.
GellatlyI. R.MeyerJ. P.LuchakA. A.2006. Combined effects of the three commitment components on focal and discretionary behaviors: A test of Meyer and Herscovitch’s propositions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69: 331-345.
13.
GriffethR. W.HomP. W.GaertnerS.2000. A meta-analysis of antecedents and correlates of employee turnover: Update, moderator tests, and research implications for the next millennium. Journal of Management, 26: 463-488.
14.
HarrisB. C.WochingerK.SchwartzJ. P.ParhamL.1993. Longitudinal research on officer careers: Volume 1. Technical manual for 1988-1992 surveys (ARI Research Product 93-10). Alexandria, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (AD 273 187).
15.
HoltomB. C.TiddS. T.MitchellT. R.LeeT. W.2013. A demonstration of the importance of temporal considerations in the prediction of newcomer turnover. Human Relations, 66: 1337-1352.
16.
HomP. W.MitchellT. R.LeeT. W.GriffethR. W.2012. Reviewing employee turnover: Focusing on proximal withdrawal states and an expanded criterion. Psychological Bulletin, 138: 831-858.
17.
HunterF. T.RachfordD. L.KellyD. R.DuncanD.1987. US Army Research Institute Officer Longitudinal Research Data Base (OLRDB) user’s manual (No. ARI-RP-87-25). Alexandria, VA: Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences.
18.
JohnstonM. W.GriffethR. W.BurtonS.CarsonP. P.1993. An exploratory investigation into the relationships between promotion and turnover: A quasi-experimental longitudinal study. Journal of Management, 19: 33-49.
19.
KabinsA.XuX.BergmanM. E.BerryC. M.WillsonV. in press. A profile of profiles: A meta-analysis of the nomological net of commitment profiles. Journal of Applied Psychology. doi:10.1037/apl0000091
20.
KamC.MorinA. J.MeyerJ. P.TopolnytskyL.2016. Are commitment profiles stable and predictable? A latent transition analysis. Journal of Management, 42: 1462-1490.
21.
KleinH.MolloyJ.BrinsfieldC.2012. Reconceptualizing workplace commitment to redress a stretched construct: Revisiting assumptions and removing confounds. Academy of Management Journal, 37: 130-151.
22.
LeeT. W.MitchellT. R.1994. An alternative approach: The unfolding model of voluntary employee turnover. Academy of Management Review, 19: 51-89.
23.
LittleR. J. A.RubinD. B.2002. Statistical analysis with missing data (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
24.
MaertzC. P.Jr.CampionM. A.2004. Profiles in quitting: Integrating process and content turnover theory. Academy of Management Journal, 47: 566-582.
25.
MaertzC. P.Jr.GriffethR. W.2004. Eight motivation forces and voluntary turnover: A theoretical synthesis with implications for research. Journal of Management, 30: 667-683.
26.
MagidsonJ.VermuntJ. K.2002. Latent class modeling as a probabilistic extension of k-means clustering. Quirk’s Marketing Research Review, 20: 77-80.
27.
McLachlanG.PeelD.2000. Finite mixture models. New York: John Wiley.
28.
MeyerJ. P.AllenN. J.1991. A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 1: 61-98.
29.
MeyerJ. P.AllenN. J.1997. Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research and application. London: Sage.
30.
MeyerJ. P.BeckerT. E.van DickR.2006. Social identities and commitments at work: Toward an integrative model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27: 665-683.
31.
MeyerJ. P.HerscovitchL.2001. Commitment in the workplace: Toward the general model. Human Resource Management Review, 11: 299-326.
32.
MeyerJ. P.KamC.GoldenbergI.BremnerN. L.2013. Organizational commitment in the military: Application of a profile approach. Military Psychology, 25: 381-401.
33.
MeyerJ. P.ParfyonovaN. M.2010. Normative commitment in the workplace: A theoretical analysis and re-conceptualization. Human Resource Management Review, 20: 283-294.
34.
MeyerJ. P.StanleyD. J.HerscovitchL.TopolnytskyL.2002. Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61: 20-52.
35.
MeyerJ. P.StanleyL. J.ParfyonovaN. M.2012. Employee commitment in context: The nature and implication of commitment profiles. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80: 1-16.
36.
MeyerJ. P.StanleyL. J.VandenbergR. J.2013. A person-centered approach to the study of commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 23: 190-202.
37.
MitchellT. R.HoltomB. C.LeeT. W.SablynskiC. J.ErezM.2001. Why people stay: Using job embeddedness to predict voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 44: 1102-1121.
38.
MitchellT. R.LeeT. W.2001. The unfolding model of voluntary turnover and job embeddedness: Foundations for a comprehensive theory of attachment. In StawB. (Ed.), Research in organizational behavior: 189-246. Oxford, England: Elsevier Science.
39.
MorinA. J.MaïanoC.NagengastB.MarshH. W.MorizotJ.JanoszM.2011. General growth mixture analysis of adolescents’ developmental trajectories of anxiety: The impact of untested invariance assumptions on substantive interpretations. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 18: 613-648.
40.
MoritaJ. G.LeeT. W.MowdayR. T.1989. Introducing survival analysis to organizational researchers: A selected application to turnover research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74: 280-292.
41.
MowdayR. T.PorterL. W.SteersR. M.1982. Employee-organization linkages: The psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. New York: Academic Press.
42.
MuthénB.MasynK.2005. Discrete-time survival mixture analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 30: 27-58.
MuthénB.MuthénL. K.2000. Integrating person-centered and variable-centered analyses: Growth mixture modeling with latent trajectory classes. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 24: 882-891.
45.
NylundK.2007. Latent transition analysis: Modeling extensions and an application to peer victimization. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
46.
NylundK. L.AsparouhovT.MuthénB.2007. Deciding on the number of classes in latent class analysis and growth mixture modeling: A Monte Carlo simulation study. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 14: 535-569.
47.
PetrasH.MasynK.2010. General growth mixture analysis with antecedents and consequences of change. In PiqueroA.WeisburdD. (Eds.), Handbook of quantitative criminology: 69-100. New York: Springer.
48.
PloyhartR. E.VandenbergR. J.2010. Longitudinal research: The theory, design, and analysis of change. Journal of Management, 36: 94-120.
49.
RusbultC. E.FarrellD.1983. A longitudinal test of the investment model: The impact on job satisfaction, job commitment, and turnover of variations in rewards, costs, alternatives, and investments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68: 429-439.
50.
SchneiderB.1987. The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40: 437-453.
51.
SchwartzG.1978. Estimating the dimension of a model. Annals of Statistics, 6: 461-464.
52.
ScloveL.1987. Application of model-selection criteria to some problems in multivariate analysis. Psychometrika, 52: 333-343.
53.
SingerJ. D.WillettJ. B.2003. Applied longitudinal data analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.
54.
SomersM. J.1996. Modelling employee withdrawal behaviour over time: A study of turnover using survival analysis. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 69: 315-326.
55.
SomersM. J.2010. Patterns of attachment to organizations: Commitment profiles and work outcomes. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83: 443-453.
56.
StanleyL.VandenbergheC.VandenbergR.BenteinK.2013. Commitment profiles and employee turnover. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 82: 176-187.
57.
SteelR. P.2002. Turnover theory at the empirical interface: Problems of fit and function. Academy of Management Review, 27: 346-360.
58.
ThoresenC. J.KaplanS. A.BarskyA. P.WarrenC. R.de ChermontK.2003. The affective underpinnings of job perceptions and attitudes: A meta-analytic review and integration. Psychological Bulletin, 129: 914-945.
59.
TrembleT. R.Jr.PayneS. C.FinchJ. F.BullisR. C.2003. Opening organizational archives to research: Analog measures of organizational commitment. Military Psychology, 15: 167-190.
60.
VandenbergR. J.LanceC. E.1992. Examining the causal order of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Journal of Management, 18: 153-167.
61.
WastiS. A.2005. Commitment profiles: Combinations of organizational commitment forms and job outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67: 290-308.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
