Effects of team and organizational commitment – A longitudinal study

Retention management, i.e., keeping qualified employees, is a top priority for contemporary organizations. Commitment, and especially team commitment, can be the key to mastering this challenge. There is a lack of longitudinal research concerning the development and the direction of the effects of team commitment over time. In a longitudinal field-study design with three points of measurement, a total of 360 employees in 52 semi-autonomous industrial teams were surveyed over a period of three years. On the one hand, organizational commitment showed stronger effects on organization-related criteria (job satisfaction and intention to leave). These effects were consistent over the three points of measurement. Team commitment, on the other hand, affected team-related criteria (team performance and altruism). Longitudinal analyses confirmed the effects of organizational commitment on job satisfaction and intention to leave, and of team commitment on team performance and altruism. Moreover, these effects increased over time. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Theoretical background Keeping employees commited to the organization is a top priority for many contemporary organizations (Hausknecht, Rodda, & Howard, 2009; Hunziger & Biele, 2002; Reiche, 2008). Especially in times of crises and job cuts, committing top performers to the organization becomes a challenge (Hunziger & Biele, 2002). Organizations which fail to accomplish this will have reduced resources for the capability of competing in the future (Rappaport, Bancroft, & Okum, 2003). Top performers are not limited to higher management, but can be found at all levels of an organization. Organizational commitment is one of the main reasons for these employees to stay (Hausknecht et al., 2009). However, in large organizations or after mergers or acquisitions, employees’ commitment to the organization as a whole may be questionable (Riketta & Van Dick, 2005; Van Dick, 2004; Van Dick & Riketta, 2006). In these cases, team commitment can be a key to retention management (cf. Hausknecht et al., 2009). While organizational commitment has been subject to extensive research, team commitment has rarely been investigated. There is a particular lack of research on longitudinal effects of team commitment (Riketta & Van Dick, 2005). Individuals identify with social groups that are familiar and similar to them (Van Knippenberg & Van Schie, 2000). Team members spend most of their organizational lives in the context of their team, which leads to higher familiarity and cohesion within rather than between teams (Moreland & Levine, 2001). Moreover, teams have a stronger direct influence on their members than does the organization (Anderson & Thomas, 1996). This makes teams be more salient in employees’ everyday lives than the organization as a whole (Riketta & Van Dick, 2005). Research has shown that employees are more committed to their team than to the organization (Riketta & Van Dick, 2005). Organizational commitment affects relevant outcomes, e.g., employees’ turnover intentions, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and job satisfaction (Mathieu & Zajac, 0001-8791/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2010.01.009 * Corresponding author. Fax.: +011 49 531 391 8173. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Lehmann-Willenbrock). Journal of Vocational Behavior 76 (2010) 567–579