Organizational commitment and compliance: a study on the discriminant validity between constructs

The organizational commitment is one of the most investigated topics of research in the field of organizational behavior and the genesis of its importance lies in recognizing the broad explanatory power of the construct. Given the apparent overlap reported in the literature between the affective and the normative dimensions of commitment, it has been proposed the construct of organizational compliance to differentiate committed workers from obedient ones. This article aims to establish the boundaries between the constructs of organizational commitment and consent. The study consisted of a cross-sectional survey with 994 workers from different organizations and production segments. The analysis suggests evidence of discriminant validity between consent, affective commitment and normative commitment. This can be observed in the different effect size of socio demographic variables on commitment and consent and the low correlation between consent and normative base of commitment (r=240).

组织承诺（organizational commitment）是组织行为学领域最受关注的研究主题之一，其重要性的根源在于该构念具备广泛的解释力。鉴于已有文献报道，组织承诺的情感维度（affective commitment）与规范维度（normative commitment）之间存在明显重叠，有学者提出组织顺从（organizational compliance）这一构念，以区分真正具有组织承诺的员工与仅被动服从管理的员工。本文旨在厘清组织承诺与顺从（consent）构念之间的边界。本研究采用横断面调查法，调研了来自不同组织与生产领域的994名员工。分析结果显示，顺从、情感承诺与规范承诺三者之间具备区分效度。这一点可通过以下现象得到验证：社会人口统计学变量对承诺与顺从的效应量存在差异，且顺从与组织承诺的规范基础之间的相关性较低（r=240）。