Emotional bonds with supervisor and co-workers: Relationship to organizational commitment in China's foreign-invested companies

Abstract

This study investigates the contribution of the emotional bond a Chinese worker has with his supervisor and with his co-workers in accounting for employees' organizational commitment in foreign-invested enterprises. Applying a five-factor component model of organizational commitment in a sample of 1160 industrial employees, the paper indicates that emotional bonds with both supervisor and co-workers are related to normative commitment and active continuance commitment. Furthermore, emotional bonding with co-workers accounts for passive continuance commitment, while an emotional bond with a supervisor is associated with affective and value commitment. These findings highlight and demonstrate the importance of personal relationships in shaping the linkage between employees and firms in China. Practical implications for human resource management in Chinese foreign-invested enterprises are discussed.

Keywords:

• Active continuance commitment
• affective commitment
• Chinese employees
• co-workers
• emotional bonds
• foreign-invested enterprises
• normative commitment
• passive continuance commitment
• supervisors
• value commitment