Evaluating the multi-dimensional view of employee commitment: a comparative UK–Chinese study

Abstract

This study evaluates the contribution of the multiple constituencies of commitment framework to the explanation of work attitudes and behaviours among samples of manufacturing workers in the United Kingdom (UK) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Our findings suggest that the organization, the supervisor, co-workers and the union were seen by respondents as separate commitment foci. Consistent with the ‘compatibility hypothesis’, the relationship between commitment and outcome was stronger where the constituency focus was matched. However, the ‘cultural hypothesis’, on the greater salience of person- or group-based commitments in the PRC context, was generally not accepted. The findings are discussed in the light of the comparative cultural and industrial relations contexts of the two countries.

Keywords:

• Multiple commitments
• People's Republic of China (PRC)
• cross-cultural research

Acknowledgements

We thank the Hong Kong Research Grants Council for providing financial support under the Competitive Earmarked Research Grant scheme (grant number PolyU 5234/02H; project code B-Q623), and to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for financial support under a Central Research Grant (project code G-T415).