Organizational Commitment Scale

Description

The Organizational Commitment Scale (OCS), developed by Balfour and Wechsler (1996), uses nine items to measure three dimensions of overall organizational commitment: commitment based on affiliation or pride in the organization, commitment based on identification with the organization, and commitment based on satisfactory exchange with the organization resulting in appreciation of the individual by the organization. It has been used to measure organizational commitment of public sector employees (Balfour & Wechsler, 1996).

Reliability

Coefficient alpha values were .81 for affiliation commitment, .72 for iden­ tification commitment, and .83 for exchange commitment (Balfour & Wechsler, 1996; Kacmar et al., 1999).

Validity

Kacmar et al. (1999)  found  through  confirmatory  factor  analysis  that the three-dimensional model of the OCS fit the data better than a one­ dimensional version. The OCS and the 15-item Organizational Commit­ ment Questionnaire were also found to be empirically distinct. The subscales for the identification, affiliation, and exchange dimensions were related somewhat differently to antecedents and consequences of organiza­ tional commitment in a multivariate path model. For example, affiliation was negatively related to age, but identification and exchange commitment were not. Commitment based on identification and exchange was negatively related to job involvement, whereas commitment based on affiliation was positively related to job involvement (Kacmar et al., 1999).

Source

Balfour, D., & Wechsler, B. (1996). Organizational commitment: Ante­ cedents and outcomes in public organizations. Public Productivity and Management Review, 29, 256-277. Copyright © 1996 by Sage Publications, Inc. Items were taken from Appendix B, p. 273. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc.

Scale items

Responses are obtained on a 7-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree.

Identification commitment items:

1. I am quite proud to be able to tell people who it is that I work for
2. What this organization stands for is important to me
3. I work for an organization that is incompetent and unable to accomplish its mission (R)

Affiliation commitment items:

4. I feel a strong sense of belonging to this organization
5. I feel like “part of the family” at this organization
6. The people I work for do not care about what happens to me (R)

Exchange commitment items:

7. This organization appreciates my accomplishments on the job
8. This organization does all that it can to recognize employees for good performance
9. My efforts on the job are largely ignored or overlooked by this organization (R)

Items denoted with (R) are reverse scored.