Multiple foci and bases of commitment in a Chinese workforce

Abstract

We evaluate the contribution of multiple foci and bases of commitment in explaining work attitudes and behaviours in a Chinese workforce. Findings suggest that the organization, supervisor, co-workers and the union were seen by respondents as separate commitment foci, along with both the affective and instrumental bases. Affective commitments were related differently to organizational and union citizenship behaviours and withdrawal cognitions, providing some evidence of a matching of focal commitments and outcomes. Instrumental commitments were less successful in predicting outcomes, apart from organizational withdrawal cognitions. Our findings provide additional evidence on the utility of the multiple commitments perspective in the Chinese context, extending previous studies to include union commitment and providing some initial support for the inclusion of instrumental-based commitments.

Keywords:

• affective commitment
• China
• instrumental commitment
• multiple commitments
• organizational citizenship behaviour
• union citizenship behaviour

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 the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for financial support under a Central Research Grant (project code G-T415).