(Abbot, G. White, F. & Charles, M., 2005) Linking Values and Organizational Commitment - A Correlational

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531
The
British
Psychological
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (2005), 78, 531–551
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Linking values and organizational commitment:

A correlational and experimental investigation
in two organizations
Geoffrey N. Abbott1, Fiona A. White2* and Margaret A. Charles2

1
Faculty of Economics and Commerce, Australian National University, Australia
2
School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Australia
The aim of the two studies was to confirm and clarify the relationships between values
and components of organizational commitment (OC) in two organizations. Study
1 extended the work of Finegan (2000) by investigating antecedents of OC in terms of
personal and perceived organizational values while controlling for the effects of tenure.
Study 2 involved a field experiment to investigate the consequents of OC in terms of
turnover intention, how such intention varies as a function of the values of the
alternative employer, and how it is related to the different components of OC. The
results of Study 1 provide support for the argument that perceived organizational
values are drivers of values-based OC, but that unlike the related components of
affective and normative OC, continuance OC may not be values-based. Study 2’s results
indicated that turnover intention was higher in a company supporting vision values, and
that affective OC acted as a buffer against interest in alternative employment. Together
these findings imply that companies adopting prosocial values, such as vision, self-
direction, and humanity may enhance affective and normative OC, and thus
performance.
Values have been defined as desirable, trans-situational goals, varying in importance, that
serve as guiding principles in people’s lives (Schwartz, 1992). They are drivers of
behaviour (Rokeach, 1973), including workplace behaviour (Schwartz, 1999). Dose
(1997) observes that ‘so much of our time is spent in a working environment, work values
are particularly significant and salient’ (p. 236). Much values research has focused on how
individuals, groups, organizations, and cultures differ in the values they hold, and how
these differences affect behaviour. Recent work by Schwartz and Bardi (2001)
investigated similarities among value priorities. They found that some ‘pan-cultural
motivational values, including: benevolence (preservation and enhancement of the
welfare of people with whom one is in frequent contact), self-direction (independent
thought and action, choosing own goals), and universalism (understanding, appreciation,
* Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Fiona White, School of Psychology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
(e-mail: fionaw@psych.usyd.edu.au).
DOI:10.1348/096317905X26174
532 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.
tolerance and protection for the welfare of all people), were consistently rated across
cultures as being more powerful than other types of values. If there is a general tendency
in human nature to favour these pan-cultural values, then it follows that organizations that
adopt them are likely to receive a positive response from their employees in the form of
improved motivation and enhanced performance.
Another factor found to be a predictor of behaviour in organizations is
organizational commitment (OC). OC has been defined as a psychological link
between the employee and the organization that makes it less likely the employee will
voluntarily leave the organization (Allen & Meyer, 1996). The commitment that an
employee has to an organization has consistently been found to be related to critical
workplace behaviours. The nature and direction of the relationships are complex and
depend on context and the variables under consideration (Mathieu & Zajack, 1990),
including the form of commitment (Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002).
Increasingly, OC has been viewed as a multidimensional construct (Allen & Meyer,
1996; Finegan, 2000; Virtanen, 2000; Yousef, 2003). Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993)
identified three components of OC: affective OC denotes ‘emotional attachment to,
identification with and involvement in the organization’; normative OC refers to ‘a
perceived obligation to remain in the organization’; and continuance commitment
denotes ‘the perceived cost associated with leaving the organization’ (Meyer et al.,
2002, p. 21).
However, there has, however, been debate about the number of components of OC.
Although generally found to be distinct factors, affective and normative OC have been
found to be consistently highly and positively correlated, and both have been shown to
be predictors of positive organizational behaviour, including increased work
performance and satisfaction, tenure and attendance (Meyer et al., 2002). Continuance
OC, on the other hand, has been found to be unrelated to affective OC and negatively
related or unrelated to positive organizational behaviours.
The only similarity between the three components of OC appears to be related to
lower turnover intention, or ‘withdrawal cognitions’ (Meyer et al., 2002). Allen and
Meyer (1996) claim that OC refers to a psychological state that binds the individual to
the organization. The question has been raised whether or not continuance OC is a
form of commitment at all since there is no psychological bind involved (Brown,
1996; Virtanen, 2000). Continuance OC may simply describe a behaviour of
continuing in an organization because circumstances require it. There is even some
doubt as to whether continuance OC is related to lower turnover intention. The
results of the meta-analysis conducted by Meyer et al. suggest that there is not a
strong relationship. This calls into question whether continuance OC can be
unambiguously viewed as a form of OC. Overall, Finegan’s (2000) work provided
further evidence that continuance OC is a fundamentally different construct from
affective OC as it was found to be related to different workplace values than affective
or normative OC.
Value types and organizational commitment

Finegan (2000), using the McDonald and Gandz (1991) taxonomy of values, found
that perceived organizational values – the values that the employee believes the
organization holds – did to some extent predict employees’ levels of commitment.
However, different value types predicted different commitment components.
Values and organizational commitment 533
The patterns found by Finegan are important when the Schwartz and Bardi (2001)
pan-cultural value types are considered. Of particular interest is the finding that
affective and normative OC were higher when employees perceived the organization
to have values of humanity (e.g. courtesy and cooperation) and vision (e.g. creativity
and openness). Affective OC was also predicted by the interaction of personal and
organizational vision values. The basis for this was Edwards’ (1991) model for
person–organization fit, which includes predictors of personal values, organizational
values, and the interaction of personal and organizational values. The model also
includes quadratic terms to allow for non-linear relationships. Finegan’s finding
regarding affective OC is consistent with person–organization fit theory (Cable &
Judge, 1996). However, in contrast to affective OC, continuance OC was predicted by
employees’ beliefs that their company valued bottom-line issues (e.g. economy and
diligence) and adherence-to-convention (e.g. obedience and formality).
Overall, it would appear that when organizations are perceived as representing
values consistent with benevolence and vision, the results indicating higher levels of
affective and normative commitment are encouraging for organizations, employees, and
society in general. At a time when company ethics are gaining headlines, the finding that
organizations could generate more positive workplace behaviours by giving priority to
these values is promising. Equally encouraging is the finding that companies that
emphasize convention and bottom-line issues may be less successful in generating
positive workplace behaviours. Given that bottom-line values and diligent employees
are crucial to the success of an organization, it is more than likely that there would be
negative consequences for a workforce where diligence is championed over moral
integrity.
Schwartz and Bardi’s (2001) pan-cultural values theory explains the reason why
vision and humanity values might promote affective and normative commitment. The
vision and humanity values generally match the pan-cultural value types of benevolence,
universalism, and self-direction. Schwartz and Bardi, consistent with Maslow (1959),
argue that benevolence, self-direction, and universal types of values are those that meet
fundamental human needs. Maslow’s theory suggests that these values are related to self-
actualization at the top of the needs hierarchy. For example, Schwartz and Bardi propose
that some gratification of the individual needs and desires of group members (self-
direction) is critical, provided it does not undermine group goals. Otherwise, individuals
would become frustrated and refuse to contribute to group goal attainment. Schwartz
and Bardi further draw on self-determination theory to provide a related explanation for
the high importance of benevolence, universalism, and self-direction values across all
human societies. Self-determination theory proposes that relatedness, community,
autonomy, and personal growth are the major psychological needs whose fulfilment is
intrinsically satisfying.
Finegan’s (2000) findings are consistent with Schwartz and Bardi’s (2001) values
theory and indicate that a general human preference for benevolence, universalism, and
self-direction may translate into changes in workplace behaviours. This may occur
through affective and normative OC. If further research confirms the general direction
of those findings, then it follows that organizations could increase the levels of affective
and normative OC, and thus positive workplace behaviours, in their employees through
espousing and practising value-types of benevolence, universalism, and self-direction.
Extending Finegan’s research on the relationship between values and organizational

commitment
Finegan’s (2000) innovative study negotiated the various methodological issues
regarding values measurement, organizational commitment, and person–organization
fit. It is important to note that Finegan found that components of OC were best
predicted by perceived organizational work values, and were not well predicted by
personal work values or the fit between personal and organizational work values. It is
tempting to highlight Finegan’s results and recommend that companies give priority to
humanity and vision and less to ‘bottom-line’ concerns. However, while Finegan’s
results are consistent with values and organizational commitment theory, they cannot
be justifiably generalized from a single study.
A methodological issue in organizational psychology is that studies of one
company, even if there are a large number of participants, produce results for a
sample of N ¼ 1 organization. Organizations develop their own cultures and also
tend to attract people with similar characteristics, including values (Schneider, 1987).
Finegan’s (2000) sample was a single commercial petrochemical factory in one
country. Therefore, as a first step, it is necessary to replicate her methods in different
types of organizations. In the present study, to enable investigation of the generality
of the values-OC relationships, we recruited participants from two organizations:
a social welfare organization (in the not-for-profit sector) and a communications
agency (in the government sector). Importantly, these organizations are from different
sectors to the sector represented in Finegan’s study and are from different sectors to
each other, thus permitting a valuable empirical extension of knowledge. In addition,
Finegan’s sample had an abnormally high mean tenure, and tenure is one variable
that has been shown to have a moderating effect on OC (Mathieu & Zajack, 1990;
Wright & Bonett, 2002). Including tenure as a separate variable is theoretically
important in order to determine whether the relationships observed in Finegan’s
study remain significant when controlling for possible confounding effects of years of
service with the organization.
Although our methods were based on those of Finegan, we did not anticipate that
Finegan’s results would be replicated exactly in different organizations because of the
power of organizational culture and climate (Virtanen, 2000). However, we did expect
some general patterns that are consistent with the values and OC theories discussed
above.
STUDY 1
The aim of Study 1 was to investigate whether the relationships between perceived
organizational values and components of OC reported in Finegan’s study would be found
in two non-commercial organizations. Thus, we predict the following:
Hypothesis 1a. Organizational values in the two organizations will form clusters similar to
those found by Finegan (2000) and consistent with Schwartz’s (1992) values hierarchy.
Hypothesis 1b. Affective and normative commitment will be positively related to perceived
organizational values clusters of humanity and vision, consistent with benevolent and self-direction
aspects of Schwartz and Bardi (2001) value types.
Hypothesis 1c. Continuance commitment will be positively related to values that are
consistent with the conformity, tradition, and security aspects of Schwartz and Bardi’s (2001)
value types.
Method
Participants
Participants were selected from two organizations in Sydney, Australia. The two
organisations were: a government communications agency with 1,000 employees, and a
social welfare organization with a strong religious affiliation and 3,000 employees. Each
organization provided a random sample of 350 full-time employees with a minimum
tenure of 11 years. From the communications agency, 146 people returned completed
questionnaires (42%), while 135 were received from the welfare organization (39%).
These response rates are typical of mail-return questionnaire methods. The
communications agency sample comprised 50% male and 50% female, with a mean
age of 38.4 years (SD ¼ 10:4). Mean tenure was 7.7 years (SD ¼ 6:1). The welfare
organization sample comprised 45% male and 55% female, with a mean age of 43.4 years
(SD ¼ 12:1). Mean tenure was 5.8 years (SD ¼ 4:8).
Measures
Values
Following the procedure used by Finegan (2000), participants were asked to rate rather
than rank order the 24 values from the McDonald and Gandz (1991) values taxonomy,
on a scale from 1 (not important) to 7 (very important). Two sets of 24 value
statements were prepared: one for participants to rate personal values (‘How important
is each of these values to you?’), and the other for them to rate their perceptions of their
organization’s values (‘How important is each of these values to your organization?’). An
example of a statement that was rated for its perceived importance to self and to
organization is ‘working long and hard to achieve results’. Reliabilities of the subsets of
values used in the present study are reported in Table 2.
Organizational commitment
Organizational commitment was assessed using Meyer et al.’s (1993) 18-item,
3-component Organizational Commitment Scale. Respondents indicated level of
agreement with statements about attitudes to their organization, on a scale of 1–7,
where 1 ¼ strongly disagree and 7 ¼ strongly agree. This scale has reliabilities across
many studies of .82 for affective commitment, .73 for normative commitment and .76 for
continuance commitment (Meyer et al., 2002). Reliabilities of the commitment
components in the present study are reported in Table 2.
Procedure
Questionnaires were distributed by internal mail with return-addressed envelopes, and
order of the questionnaires was counterbalanced. The study outline was included
advising participants that (a) participation was voluntary, (b) responses were
confidential, and (c) they may be asked to attend a short follow-up session (see Study 2).
Results
Overview of data analysis
Study 1 adopts a two-part fieldwork design to identify common clusters of personal and
organizational values that can then be examined for relationships with components of
OC. The aim of the first part was to identify a model of value clusters that would provide
an acceptable fit for personal and organizational values across the communications
agency and the social welfare organization, and to conduct nested model comparisons
to test for invariance across the two organizations. If the model is found to be invariant
across organizations, then it would be more meaningful to carry out subsequent
analyses for one combined sample. If the model differed across organizations, then
analyses would be based on the two separate samples. The aim in the second part was to
investigate relationships between the value clusters and components of OC using
hierarchical regression analysis with personal and organizational values and indices of
person–organization fit as predictors.
Value clusters
Using AMOS structural equation modelling software (Arbuckle, 2003), a confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA) of Finegan’s (2000) 4-factor, 17-item solution of the McDonald and
Gandz (1991) taxonomy of values was not able to be fitted due to multicolinearity
problems. The bottom-line factor reported by Finegan was highly correlated with the
convention factor (specifically, r ¼ :91 for the welfare organization) suggesting that it
would be parsimonious to combine these into a single conservatism factor.
Consequently, we returned to the original 24-item pool of the McDonald and Gandz
taxonomy and conducted principal components analysis to guide in the selection of
items for a 3-factor solution. Further analyses and reduction of cross-loadings and
redundant items reduced this to a solution based on 13 items. The resulting three
clusters of values can be interpreted as factors of humanity, vision, and conservatism.
The humanity factor was associated with the values consideration, cooperation,
courtesy, and forgiveness. The vision factor was associated with adaptability, creativity,
initiative, and development. The conservatism factor was associated with cautiousness,
economy, formality, obedience, and orderliness.
Tests for invariance of the factor structure across organizations were conducted
separately for personal and organizational values. Confirmatory factor analysis was first
conducted on each organization, for both personal and organizational values, to
establish that the proposed model was an acceptable fit to the data. The following
indices were used for evaluating the fit of the model to the data: x2/df (acceptable
value , 3), goodness of fit index (GFI), comparative fit index (CFI; acceptable values
should be at least .90), and root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA;
acceptable values , .08; Kline, 1998).
In these analyses of the baseline model, all loadings were unconstrained, following
the procedure recommended by Byrne (2001, 2003). All factor loadings as reported in
Table 1 were statistically significant. A test of overall fit of the baseline model was carried
out across organizations, resulting in the following fit indices: for personal values,
x2 ¼ 193:195, df ¼ 124, x2 =df ¼ 1:56, GFI ¼ :91, CFI ¼ :93, RMSEA ¼ :045; for
organizational values, x2 ¼ 258:81, df ¼ 124, x2 =df ¼ 2:09, GFI ¼ :88, CFI ¼ :90,
RMSEA ¼ :062. Accordingly, the baseline model can be considered an acceptable fit to
the data. As illustrated from the fit indices reported in Table 1, the model was a better fit
for personal values than for perceived organizational values. However, to enable
computation of interaction of values for person–organization fit, and given the

acceptable fit of the baseline model across organizations, the reported variables were
retained for both personal and organizational factors.
Nested-model comparisons indicated that the baseline model fitted the data equally
well across organizations, in that the factor loadings or measurement models did not
differ significantly for personal values, x2 ¼ 9:52, df ¼ 10, p ¼ :483, and for
organizational values, x2 ¼ 13:37, df ¼ 10, p ¼ :119. Although it appears in Table 1
that the model is a better fit for the communications agency than welfare organization,
the difference is not statistically significant. Assuming the factor loadings to be the same
across organizations, the test for structural differences in the factor covariances yielded:
for personal values, x2 ¼ 11:30, df ¼ 6, p ¼ :08, and for organizational values,
x2 ¼ 16:19, df ¼ 6, p ¼ :01. Thus, the structural model and, the correlations between
the factors differed significantly across organizations for organizational values. These
outcomes are not surprising insofar as they indicate that the relationships between
values pertaining to humanity, vision, and conservatism may be similar across people in
general, but may differ across organizations. Given the differences in relationships
between the factors across organizations, subsequent analyses were conducted for each
organization separately.
Participant scores were computed for each scale for personal values and perceptions
of organizational values using unit weighting of the initial value item questionnaire
responses and, then averaging the totals across items so that means are reported out of
seven to maintain comparability across factors. Correlations between factors based on
unit weightings, reliabilities as indicated by Cronbach’s alpha, and descriptive statistics,
are reported in Table 2. The two organizations were perceived differently by their
employees on each of the value clusters, with the welfare organization perceived as
having higher levels of humanity, vision, and conservatism than the communications
agency. Employees in the communications agency rated themselves as having greater
vision than those in the welfare organization.
These results partially support Hypothesis 1a. The vision and humanity clusters are
very similar to the clusters found by Finegan (2000) and are compatible with the
Schwartz (1992) values of benevolence, self-direction, and universalism. The
conservatism cluster contains a mixture of values from the two clusters found by
Finegan including concern with bottom-line issues and adherence to convention, and is
consistent with Schwartz’s values of conformity and tradition (Devos, Spini, & Schwartz,
2002).
Organizational commitment
The reliabilities, means, and correlations between the components of the Meyer, Allen
and Smith (1993) OC scale are reported in Table 2 and are comparable to those
established by Meyer et al. (2002) in their meta-analysis of organizational commitment
studies. Employees of the two organizations did not differ significantly on affective OC,
but those in the communications agency scored significantly higher on continuance OC
(t ¼ 2:28, df ¼ 279, p , :05), and lower on normative OC than those in the welfare
organization (t ¼ 22:4, df ¼ 279, p , :05).
The relatively high correlation between affective and normative OC is often reported
(Meyer et al., 2002), and is present in both organizations. The pattern of relationships
among the other subscales differs for the two organizations. In the communications
agency, continuance OC and affective OC are negatively related, but are unrelated in the
538
Table 1. Standardized regression weights (factor loadings) for values in two organizations
Personal values Perceived organizational values
Communications Welfare Communications Welfare

Factor Value agency organization agency organization
Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

Humanity Consideration .629 .681 .869 .769
Cooperation .698 .886 .908 .848
Courtesy .675 .792 .848 .861
Forgiveness .505 .439 .659 .597
Vision Adaptability .374 .596 .500 .561
Creativity .740 .641 .682 .837
Development .698 .684 .827 .745
Initiative .448 .686 .724 .706
Conservatism Cautiousness .560 .499 .427 .531
Economy .647 .671 .270 .596
Formality .684 .532 .404 .383
Obedience .746 .735 .662 .581
Orderliness .728 .670 .653 .482
Model fit indices
x2 =df ðdf ¼ 62Þ 1.351 1.765 2.311 1.863
GFI .921 .901 .871 .896
CFI .952 .907 .898 .908
RMSEA .049 .076 .095 .080
Note. GFI ¼ goodness of fit Index; CFI ¼ comparative fit Index; RMSEA ¼ root mean squared error of approximation; N ¼ 144 for the communications agency
and N ¼ 133 for the welfare organization.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations among value clusters and components of commitment for the two organizations
Measure M SD AC NC CC PH PV PC OH OV OC
Communications agency (N ¼ 144)

1. Affective (AC) 4.54 1.1 (.72) .14 2.01 .15 .19* .28* .21*
#
2. Normative (NC) 3.65 1.2 .57* (.76) 2 .03 2.02 .30* .19* .27* .30*
3. Continuance (CC) 3.98# 1.2 2.26* .03 (.77) 2 .02 .05 .02 2.14 2 .15 2.04
Personal values
4. Humanity (PH) 6.23 0.61 .14 2 .03 2.02 (.72)
5. Vision (PV) 6.14# 0.63 2.01 2 .02 .05 .38* (.64)
6. Conservative (PC) 4.68 1.1 .15 .30* .02 .39* .18* (.80)
Organizational values
7. Humanity (OH) 5.13# 1.4 .19 .19 2.14 .23* .10 .35* (.89)
8. Vision (OV) 5.12# 1.3 .28* .27* 2.15 .21* .20* .033* .74* (.78)
9. Conservative (OC) 4.91# 0.95 .21* .30* 2.04 .19* .19* .48* .29* .21* (.60)
Welfare organization (N ¼ 133)
1. Affective (AC) 4.62 1.1 (.75) .19* .24* .25* .47* .42* .11
2. Normative (NC) 4.00# 1.2 .69* (.77) .18* .22* .19* .36* .33* .13
3. Continuance (CC) 3.65# 1.2 .04 .28* (.77) .16 2.08 .14 2.02 .02 .05
Personal values
4. Humanity (PH) 6.23 0.59 .19* .18 .16 (.78)
5. Vision (PV) 5.97# 0.73 .24* .22* 2.08 .24* (.75)
6. Conservative (PC) 4.83 1.1 .25* .19* .14 .40* .28* (.75)
Organizational values
7. Humanity (OH) 5.51# 1.2 .47* .36* 2.02 .33* .33* .36* (.84)
8. Vision (OV) 5.42# 1.1 .42* .33* .02 .34* .40* .40* .56* (.80)
9. Conservative (OC) 5.39# 0.9 .11 .13 .05 .32* .41* .53* .29* .19* (.64)
Values and organizational commitment
Note. Where *p , :05 and #indicates a significant difference between groups in an independent samples t test; Cronbach alpha reliabilities are on the diagonal in
bold.
539
welfare organization. Normative and continuance OC are positively related in the

welfare organization, but are unrelated in the communications agency.
Relationships between values and organizational commitment

From the pattern of bivariate correlations reported in Table 2, it can be seen that
organizational values of humanity and vision are positively related to affective and
normative OC. Relationships between personal values and affective and normative OC
are more prevalent in the welfare organization, suggesting aspects of person–
organization fit.
For each organization, hierarchical regression analyses were performed, investi-
gating relationships between the value clusters and OC, and incorporating indicators of
person–organization fit. One potential confounding variable in the prediction of OC is
tenure. Those who have been with an organization for longer may be more committed.
To establish whether values and person–organization fit can predict commitment
independently of years of service, tenure was entered as a covariate in each analysis.
Predictor variables in the analyses, with tenure entered into the model, were:
organizational and personal values, followed by indicators of person–organization fit,
namely, the interaction between organizational and personal values, and quadratic terms
to allow for non-linearity of effects. Value scores were centred to reduce problems
associated with multicolinearity (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, 2003; Tabachnick &
Fidell, 2001). Results of the regression analyses are reported in Table 3. Results were
interpreted only if the increase in variability (R 2-change) accounted for at each step was
statistically significant.
Affective organizational commitment (OC)

It was hypothesized that perceptions of organizational vision and humanity should be
positively associated with affective OC. As can be seen in Table 3, for both organizations,
perceived organizational humanity and vision were significant predictors of affective
OC, with higher levels of affective OC for higher levels of organizational humanity and
vision, thus supporting Hypothesis 1b. In the social welfare organization, tenure was
positively associated with affective OC when humanity values were held constant, and
aspects of person–organization (P-O) fit also predicted affective OC. The positive
interaction term indicated that the relationship between organizational humanity and
affective OC increased as levels of personal humanity increased. An unexpected finding
was that in the communications agency, conservatism also predicted affective OC, both
in terms of perceived organizational conservatism and P-O fit, with a stronger
relationship between organizational conservatism and affective OC with higher levels of
personal conservatism.
Normative organizational commitment (OC)

It was hypothesized that normative OC, which tends to be strongly related to affective
OC, would show a similar pattern of results to that found for affective OC. Normative OC
reflects a sense of obligation to the organization. As seen in Table 3, perceived
organizational vision was a significant predictor of normative commitment, and was the
only outcome that was consistently significant across organizations. Perceived
organizational humanity also predicted normative OC in the welfare organization. In
the communications organization, personal and perceived organizational conservatism,
Table 3. Hierarchical regression analyses: Predicting components of commitment from personal and organizational values types for the two organizations
Affective commitment Normative commitment Continuance commitment
Humanity Vision Conservatism Humanity Vision Conservatism Humanity Vision Conservatism
Communications agency (N ¼ 144)

Model 1
Tenure .07 .06 .07 2 .08 2.08 2 .06 .09 .10 .08
Organization .17* .30* .20* .21* .28* .20* 2 .17 2 .19* 2 .08
Person .12 2 .05 .07 2 .09 2.09 .21* .01 .10 .03
R2 .06* .09* .06* .05 .08* .12* .04 .04 .01
F 2.86* 4.47* 3.08* 2.37 4.08* 6.55* 1.69 2.15 0.60
Model 2
Tenure .09 .04 .10 2 .07 2.06 2 .04 .07 .12 .06
Organization .12 .40* .20* .19 .30* .20* 2 .14 2 .26* 2 .09
Person .16 2 .12 .07 2 .12 2.15 .19* .01 .13 .04
Organization2 2 .07 .17 2 .10 2 .03 .01 2 .05 .04 2 .14 .03
Person2 .02 2 .01 2 .10 2 .08 2.12 2 .19* .03 2 .01 .16
Person £ Org .11 2 .07 .32* .03 2.06 .27* 2 .08 2 .01 2 .32*
DR 2 .01 .02 .06* .01 .02 .05* .01 .02 .07*
F 0.57 0.98 3.29* 0.30 0.92 2.77* 0.32 0.71 3.42*
Welfare Organization (N ¼ 133)

Model 1
Tenure .19* .14 .15 .08 .05 .06 .29* .32* .31*
Organization .48* .36* 2 .03 .36* .28* .04 2 .04 2 .01 2 .06
Person 2 .02 .12 .25* .03 .12 .16 .11 2 .04 .13
R2 .26* .21* .09* .15* .13* .04 .11* .10* .11*

F 15.07* 11.1* 4.00* 7.44* 6.17* 1.72 5.44* 4.99 5.52*
Model 2
Values and organizational commitment
Tenure .19* .13 .13 .09 .05 .06 .30* .31* .30*
Organization .43* .29* .05 .31* .24* .05 .01 .02 2 .03
Person .01 .19 .18 .01 .21* .17 .01 2 .04 .11
541
542
Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.
Table 3. (Continued)
Affective commitment Normative commitment Continuance commitment
Humanity Vision Conservatism Humanity Vision Conservatism Humanity Vision Conservatism
Organization2 2 .09 2 .03 2 .01 2 .11 .01 .12 .08 .09 .02
Person2 2 .05 .01 2 .12 2 .12 .07 .06 2 .12 2 .01 2 .12
Person £ Org .22* .20 .23 .14 .19 2 .05 2 .11 .09 .01
DR 2 .05* .03 .03 .03 .05 .01 .02 .02 .01
F 2.77* 1.77 1.52 1.50 2.50 0.56 1.17 0.87 0.53
Note. *p , :05; variables presented are standardized regression coefficients (betas).

and their interaction, were positively associated with normative OC but with a non-
linear aspect to the relationship. Although organizational humanity made a significant
independent contribution to the prediction of normative OC in the communications
organization in the first stage in the analysis, the overall model was not statistically
significant.
Continuance organizational commitment (OC)

It was hypothesized that continuance OC would be predicted by values of conservatism
rather than vision and humanity. In the social welfare agency, the only predictor of
continuance OC was tenure, with more years of employment predicting higher levels of
continuance OC. This might seem an unsurprising finding, however, tenure was not
related to continuance OC in the communications organization. In this organization,
there was a significant interaction between personal and organizational conservatism
that predicted continuance OC, with higher levels of personal conservatism associated
with a negative relationship between organizational conservatism and continuance OC.
Hypothesis 1c was, therefore, only partially supported.
Personal values of humanity and vision made no significant contribution to any of the
components of organizational commitment. Personal values of conservatism were
related to components of OC but not consistently across organizations.
Discussion
In Study 1, a baseline model with three value clusters provided a good fit for both
personal and organizational values. Although it was not a direct replication of the four
value clusters found by Finegan (2000), on a conceptual level, there was an obvious
consistency. The vision and humanity clusters were equivalent to those found by
Finegan. The conservatism cluster was essentially a combination of the Finegan bottom-
line and adherence-to-convention clusters. The important observation is that the vision
and humanity clusters found in this study and in Finegan’s were within the pan-cultural
value clusters of self-direction, benevolence, and universalism of Schwartz and Bardi
(2001). Pan-cultural values theory gives a rationale as to why the humanity and vision
values might be drivers of positive workplace behaviours, in that there is a general
tendency for people to give priority to these values. The fact that the value clusters
differed slightly when compared with Finegan’s might be due to the different
organizational contexts and the non-commercial focus of the organizations in the
present study. It is possible that researchers trying to replicate these results may need to
refer to the original pool of 24 values to find clusters that fit their data with different
organizations, however, this can only be established with further replications. This
context-sensitive approach would accord with Schwartz’s (1992) view that ‘studies
combining our abstract level of (values) measurement with contextually specific
measures would increase our understanding of how values enter into concrete decision
making’ (p. 47).
The value clusters enabled an exploration of the values-OC link. Regression analyses
allowed the testing of the hypothesis that affective and normative OC could be
predicted by perceived organizational vision and humanity values, as found by Finegan
(2000). There was consistent evidence in both organizations that this was the case, thus
supporting Hypothesis 1b.
The result in the communications agency that perceived organizational conservatism

and the interaction between personal and organizational conservatism predicted
affective commitment ran directly counter to our expectations. One possible
explanation is that there was some specific aspect of the organizational context that
produced this result. Although a government sponsored organization, the communi-
cations agency can and does raise commercial revenue, and there has been an increasing
focus on commercial concerns. However, the stated priority remains the organizational
mission with humanity and vision values.
Perceived organizational values alone did not predict continuance OC in either of the
two organizations. This finding is contrary to the findings reported by Finegan (2000). In
the communications agency, for each OC component there is a significant person £
organization interaction with conservatism. The findings for affective and normative OC
indicate that the more conservative the person is and the more conservative they
perceive their organization, the more committed in terms of involvement in, and
obligation towards, the organization. For continuance OC, however, a contrary pattern
is found such that those who are more conservative reveal less continuance OC as they
perceive higher levels of conservatism in the company. The relationship found here
might have been organizationally specific as it was found only in the communications
agency. Overall, perceived organizational values do appear to be the most consistent
predictor of organizational commitment, more so than personal values or the fit
between personal and organizational values.
The inclusion of tenure in the regression analyses provided an additional insight.
Tenure predicted continuance commitment in the social welfare organization, but it was
not a significant predictor of any OC component in the communications agency. This
seems to confirm suggestions that tenure may be related to commitment, but that the
nature of the effect is contextual (e.g. Wright & Bonett, 2002). It is interesting to note in
this regard that Finegan’s participants, with a mean tenure of 20 years, scored between
our two organizational samples in continuance OC, but were noticeably higher in
affective and normative OC, suggesting that increased tenure may be related to affective
and normative OC under some circumstances. Fine-detailed patterns of results that are
specific to a particular organization, however, are not directly of interest, except insofar
as they stand as a caution against generalizing from results found in a single organization.
STUDY 2
An experimental test of the values–OC relationship
Considering the overall values–OC links reported in Study 1 and in Finegan (2000), we
can make two observations. Firstly, there does seem to be a pattern in the link between
affective and normative OC and the pan-cultural values, although the patterns are not
completely consistent and organizational context can emerge as an important influence.
Secondly, continuance OC does not seem to be related to values in any consistent way.
To expand our perspective on these relationships an experimental component is
now included to examine behavioural consequences arising from values and
commitment. A key behavioural variable in industrial/organizational psychology
research used to measure an employee’s level of commitment is turnover intention
(Meyer et al., 2002). To test the differential effect of perceived organizational values on
turnover intention in a naturalistic setting, participants were presented with
descriptions of different company profiles and informed that there was a position
potentially available for them. Such a situation taps into participants’ real sense of
commitment by asking them to indicate interest in employment offered by an

external company intending to recruit staff whose skill and personal profiles
matched those of the individual. In an attempt to maximize differential attractiveness
of the companies, the value clusters of vision and conservatism were used. These
value clusters were hypothesized to be the most likely to have robust and different
effects on behaviour as they were the values most clearly related to organizational
commitment (Finegan, 2000), and are also from different dimensions of Schwartz’s
(1992) values structure. If there is a general tendency to be motivated more by
values of vision, humanity, and self-direction than by values of conservatism and
tradition, then greater interest should be shown in an offer of employment from an
organization whose profile is consistent with the vision values. Thus, we predict the
following:
Hypothesis 2a. Higher levels of interest in external job interviews will be shown for an
organization whose value orientation is towards vision, humanity, and self-direction
rather than towards conservatism.
It has been claimed that turnover, whether considered in terms of withdrawal

cognitions, turnover intention, or actual turnover, is the one link between the three OC
components. Meyer et al. (2002) reported uniformly negative correlations between
turnover and all three OC components, with affective OC having the strongest negative
correlation followed by normative OC and continuance OC. However, in an earlier
study, Allen and Meyer (1996) found that although turnover intention was consistently
negatively related to affective and normative OC, it was often positively related to
continuance OC. These findings suggest that the continuance OC–turnover intention
relationship is quite complex and, therefore, do not necessarily support the view that
turnover is consistently related to all three OC components. However, if it is ‘an
inherent aspect of the commitment construct that each component should decrease,
not increase, the propensity of leaving’ (Stinglhamber, Bentein, & Vandenberghe, 2002,
p. 125), then we would expect to see a negative relationship between each OC
component and turnover intention. Thus,
Hypothesis 2b. Higher levels of OC will act as buffers against turnover intention, and
will result in lower interest in external job interviews regardless of values attributed to
the external organization.
Method
Participants
Respondents who completed the Study 1 questionnaires were invited to participate in a
short follow-up session with the researcher 6 weeks after the initial questionnaires were
administered. There were 86 people who agreed to continue (56% of Study 1 participants)
from the communications agency, and 81 (57%) from the welfare organization.
Demographic profiles of these samples reflected the Study 1 samples. The communications
agency sample consisted of 42% males, mean age 38.3, mean tenure 7.0 years; the social
welfare agency consisted of 51% males, mean age 42.6, mean tenure 5.5 years.
Materials
Value profiles for two fictitious companies were developed using values clusters
suggested by the Finegan (2000) study and principal components analyses in Study 1.
The values were expressed as though they were from company publications. Company
1 represented values from the vision cluster, and Company 2 represented values from
the conservative cluster. Wording of values in the profiles was modified slightly from the
original questionnaires (while retaining the meaning) to minimize the possibility of
participants linking the profiles to the Study 1 values.
A 7-point scale was used to measure the dependent variable interest in external job
interview where 1 ¼ ‘I would definitely not agree to attend the interview at all,’ and
7 ¼ ‘I would certainly agree to attend the interview,’ where high scores reflect high
interest. A single-item response was considered appropriate to encourage participants
to see the question as a company information-gathering tool rather than a psychology
research measurement instrument.
Procedure
Participants were interviewed individually or in groups of up to five. Pilot testing
indicated that the group situation did not alter participants’ reactions to the exercise.
The researcher gave participants consent forms, and a job preference questionnaire to
provide an apparent purpose for the interview. When the forms were completed, the
researcher explained that the research was sponsored by a major recruitment agency
that had two clients who were potentially interested in interviewing them. Participants
were informed that details about pay and conditions were not yet available but would be
appropriate to the skills and experience of individuals, thus providing a control for these
variables. The researcher provided participants with a fax from the recruitment
company that included two company profiles of vision and conservative values (see
Appendix). Participants were asked to indicate on a scale of 1 (low) to 7 (high) how
interested they would be in attending a job interview with each company if, they were
to receive an approach. The researcher then explained the deception to the
participants.
Pilot testing of the deception (N ¼ 17) revealed that participants believed that the
job offers were genuine and responded accordingly. Some expressed disappointment
when the deception was revealed. In the debriefings in the full fieldwork study, only one
participant indicated that he did not believe that the job scenario was genuine.
Results
Turnover intention as a function of the organization’s value profile
Hypothesis 2a predicted that participants would show greater interest in an
organization expressing values consistent with vision rather than with conservatism.
Mean level of interest shown in the company with a vision profile was 5.5 (SD ¼ 1:5) for
participants in the communications organization, and 4.9 (SD ¼ 1:8) for those in the
social welfare agency. The corresponding means for the company with a conservative
profile were 4.5 (SD ¼ 1:5) and 3.9 (SD ¼ 1:8). To test for differences in expressed
interest between external organizations a 2 £ 2 ANOVA was conducted, where the
repeated measures variable was type of company profile (vision or conservative) and the
between-subjects variable was participants’ organization. There was a significant effect
of type of company profile, evidenced by stronger preference for the external company
with vision values than for the more conservative company, Fð1; 165Þ ¼ 50:8, p , :01.
These results provide support for Hypothesis 2a. The main effect of participant’s
organization was also statistically significant, with employees of the communications
agency showing stronger overall interest than those of the welfare organization,
Fð1; 165Þ ¼ 7:11, p , :01. The interaction effect did not approach statistical
significance.
Turnover intention and OC

In contrast to Hypothesis 2a where OC was free to vary, Hypothesis 2b predicted that
employees who were more committed to their organization would express lower
turnover intention regardless of values of the external organization. OC component
scores were those obtained in Study 1. For the combined sample, bivariate correlations
between turnover intention and OC revealed a statistically significant negative
relationship with affective OC for both types of external organization (r ¼ 2:17 vision
company, r ¼ 2:18 conservative company, p , :01; see Table 4). For normative OC, the
correlations were negative, as predicted, but were not statistically significant.
Continuance OC was unrelated to turnover intention. When the correlations are
considered separately for each organization, different patterns of relationships emerged
in the different organizations. Normative OC predicted lower turnover intentions for the
company expressing vision values among those in the communications agency, and
affective OC significantly predicted lower turnover intention only for the conservative
company among those in the welfare organization (see Table 4). In the analyses to
follow, the interest is in determining whether OC acts as a buffer against competing
offers. In particular, we were interested in whether the three OC components make
independent contributions in accounting for variability in turnover intention. If this is
so, it should hold regardless of one’s current organization. However, given the differing
pattern of outcomes across organizations in Study 1 and in Table 4, the possibility that
any relationships may hold differently in different organizations will be investigated by
including current organization £ OC interactions in the analysis. Accordingly, the
model tested included repeated measures on the dependent variable, and turnover
Table 4. Correlations between the three organization commitment (OC) components and turnover
intention as expressed by interest in external employment
Affective Normative Continuance

OC OC OC
Combined sample (N ¼ 167)

Vision company 2.17* 2.14 .06
Conservative company 2.18* 2.10 .08
Communications organization (N ¼ 86)
Vision company 2.15 2.25* .11
Conservative company 2.09 2.06 2 .09
Welfare organization (N ¼ 81)
Vision company 2.17 2.01 2 .03
Conservative company 2.23* 2.10 .18
Note. *p , :05.
intention for the two types of company. The predictors were participant’s organization,
OC component scores (centred), and OC £ organization interactions.
The effects of major interest in the analysis were those involving the OC
components. Affective OC was the only statistically significant OC component, with
higher levels of affective OC associated with lower turnover intention on average,
B ¼ 20:27, Fð1; 159Þ ¼ 3:9, p ¼ :05, thus, partially supporting Hypothesis 2b. The
main effects for type of company (vision vs. conservative) and for participant’s
organization were statistically significant (F ¼ 39:3 and 5.3, respectively, df ¼ 1; 159),
demonstrating that the effects of external company values on turnover intention remain
when controlling for commitment to current organization. Although none of the two-
way organization £ OC interaction terms ere was statistically significant, there were
two significant three-way interactions involving external company type and current
organization,: one with normative OC and the other with continuance OC. These are of
theoretical interest only insofar asbecause they indicate that the difference in interest
between types of external companies for employees who are currently in different
organizations is related to different aspects of OC.
Discussion
In Study 2, further investigation of the relationship between values and work-related
behaviours was undertaken by presenting employees with offers of employment from
external organizations that differed in their value profiles. Although employees in the
welfare agency showed lower overall turnover intention than those in the
communications agency, both groups maintained a preference for the vision company
over the conservative company. This implies that the values represented by the vision
statements (e.g. self-direction) are more important to employees than the values
consistent with convention and stability, thus extending Schwartz and Bardi’s (2001)
observation that vision values can serve as motivators to the organizational context.
The relationships between OC components and employee turnover intention were
also investigated. In an experiment conducted in a naturalistic setting, higher levels of
affective OC were associated with lower levels of turnover intention for external
organizations. In the combined analyses, employees with higher affective OC are more
likely to remain with their current organization regardless of the value (vision or
conservative) structure of the external organizations offering alternative employment.
There were no main effects for normative or continuance OC, although for normative
OC, the results were always in the predicted direction. For continuance OC, the results
tended more to be in the opposite direction to that predicted. The pattern of
correlations between the OC components and turnover intention is consistent with that
reported by Meyer et al. (2002), with affective OC being most highly correlated followed
by normative OC and continuance OC. One way to interpret this pattern is that the
emotional involvement salient in affective OC is stronger than the obligation aspect of
normative OC and the cost of leaving aspect of continuance OC when acting as a buffer
against turnover intention.
The higher order interactions involving normative and continuance OC suggests that
the relationship between these components of OC and turnover intention are not
straightforward, and will differ according to organizational context.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
These two studies confirm and clarify the link between work values and organizational
commitment, finding that the values–OC link appears to be robust across different types
of organizational contexts. Study 1 confirmed that affective and normative OC, with
their associated performance benefits, were related mainly to perceived organizational
humanity and vision values, consistent with the prosocial value clusters of benevolence,
self-direction, and universalism. Employees build affective and normative OC by
connecting their own values to the perceived values of their current organization, and
this is more likely to happen when the organization’s values lie within prosocial clusters
such as vision and humanity. Experimentally, as shown in Study 2, affective OC acted as a
buffer against interest in external employment, regardless of the value structure of the
external organization. The buffering effect of normative OC was in the predicted
direction whereas continuance OC provided no such protection. In both studies,
continuance OC seemed to be operating very differently from affective and normative
OC. In Study 1, continuance OC was not consistently related to any of the perceived
organizational values and was unrelated to turnover intention in Study 2. Together, these
results throw further doubt upon the status of continuance OC within the
organizational commitment construct.
In order to continue to develop a better understanding of organizational
commitment, Mathieu and Zajack (1990) have recommended that a greater number
of studies need to be conducted with employees sampled from a wide variety of
organizations. A major strength of the current design is that it allowed for a form of
triangulation between the two organizations in the present study and the Finegan
(2000) study. In the present study, the two organizations were very different culturally,
although both had social justice missions that were, in turn, different from the
commercial company studied by Finegan. Our aim was to investigate the commonalities
what is common across organizations with regard to the values–OC link. Theory needs
to be tested amongst a variety of organizations with different cultures, mission
statements, and values in order to accurately assess the general trends. However,
combined analyses should take into account the danger of ‘washing out’ organizational
context. For example, a combined analysis of the two organizations tested in the present
study would have reported a similar pattern of results in terms of the perceived
humanity and vision values predicting affective and normative OC, but would have
averaged out the specific indicators of person–organization fit. General trends in results
may be interesting from the theoretical point of view, but from the applied perspective,
it may be more important when developing organizational values and strategies to know
how the pattern of results changes with different organizational contexts.
One purpose of industrial/organizational psychology research should be the
enhancement of employee well-being and organizational effectiveness (Anderson,
Herriot, & Hodgkinson, 2001). Anderson et al., voice concerns that research is drifting
away from a pragmatic science and is often irrelevant. In conducting this study, we
aimed to draw together values and OC research and test it in the field to produce
information that would be useful to organizations and their employees. Our findings–
along with Finegan’s (2000) – suggest that companies may be able to increase affective
and normative OC through promoting humanity, vision, self-direction, and universalism.
If higher-order values were more prominent in company value priorities, it would be
encouraging news for (1) employees, through improved work environments
and opportunities, (2) for companies, through better performance, and (3) possibly for
society generally through a resultant improvement in corporate ethics.
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Received 23 June 2003; revised version received 17 September 2004
Appendix
Stimulus material for Study 2
My research is sponsored by PDI, one of Australia’s leading recruitment agencies. I have
agreed to assist PDI in an initial recruitment screening process for two of their client
companies. At this stage, these companies wish to know about interest in their
company. However, because of my agreement with your company and the university,
I cannot provide details of the recruiting companies or the actual positions. I am
permitted to tell you about the sorts of companies they are. PDI has faxed me the
profiles, which you will see under Company 1 and Company 2. Can you see them?
Please read them carefully.
Company 1
We are open and direct with each other.
We take active steps to encourage the development of our employees.
Employees are expected to take the initiative and grasp opportunities.
We see our future success in valuing new ideas and innovation.
Company 2
We maintain proud traditions anchored on considerable success.
We protect our future by responsibly and carefully managing resources.
Our workplace is stable and organized – you will enjoy the comfort of knowing what
is expected from you.
We see future success in taking sound business decisions that will not put our
impressive record at risk.
For each company, I would like you to indicate how interested you would be in
attending a job interview with the company if they were to make contact with you.

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Copyright © The British Psychological Society

Linking values and organizational commitment:

Geoffrey N. Abbott1, Fiona A. White2* and Margaret A. Charles2

532 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

Value types and organizational commitment

Values and organizational commitment 533

534 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

Extending Finegan’s research on the relationship between values and organizational

Values and organizational commitment 535

536 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

Values and organizational commitment 537

computation of interaction of values for person–organization fit, and given the

Personal values Perceived organizational values

Communications Welfare Communications Welfare

Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

and N ¼ 133 for the welfare organization.

Communications agency (N ¼ 144)

540 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

welfare organization. Normative and continuance OC are positively related in the

Relationships between values and organizational commitment

Affective organizational commitment (OC)

Normative organizational commitment (OC)

Affective commitment Normative commitment Continuance commitment

Humanity Vision Conservatism Humanity Vision Conservatism Humanity Vision Conservatism

Communications agency (N ¼ 144)

Welfare Organization (N ¼ 133)

R2 .26* .21* .09* .15* .13* .04 .11* .10* .11*

Humanity Vision Conservatism Humanity Vision Conservatism Humanity Vision Conservatism

Note. *p , :05; variables presented are standardized regression coefficients (betas).

Values and organizational commitment 543

Continuance organizational commitment (OC)

544 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

The result in the communications agency that perceived organizational conservatism

Values and organizational commitment 545

commitment by asking them to indicate interest in employment offered by an

It has been claimed that turnover, whether considered in terms of withdrawal

546 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

Values and organizational commitment 547

Turnover intention and OC

Affective Normative Continuance

Combined sample (N ¼ 167)

548 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

Values and organizational commitment 549

550 Geoffrey N. Abbott et al.

Values and organizational commitment 551

Received 23 June 2003; revised version received 17 September 2004

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