The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ)

The organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) helps measure employees’ organizational commitment. It is a 15-item scale developed by Mowday, Steers and Porter ( Mowday et al., 1979) and uses a 5-point Likert type response format, with 3 factors that can describe this commitment:

• willingness to exert effort,
• desire to maintain membership in the organization, and
• acceptance of organizational

(1) strongly disagree: (2) moderately disagree: (3) slightly disagree: (4) neither disagree nor agree: (5) slightly agree: (6) moderately agree: (7) strongly agree. An “R” denotes a negatively phrased and reverse-scored item.

No	Aitem
1.	I am willing to put in a great deal of effort beyond what is normally expected in order to help this organization be successful.
2.	I talk up this organization to my friends as a great organization to work for.
3.	I feel very little loyalty to this organization. (R)
4.	I would accept almost any type of job assignment in order to keep working for this organization.
5.	I find that my values and the organization’s values are very similar.
6.	I am proud to tell others that I am part of this organization.
7.	I could just as well be working for a different organization as long as the type of work was similar. (R)
8.	This organization really inspires the very best in me in the way of job performance.
9.	It would take very little change in my present circumstances to cause me to leave this organization. (R)
10.	I am extremely glad that I chose this organization to work for over others I was considering at the time I joined.
11.	There’s not too much to be gained by sticking with this organization indefinitely. (R)
12.	Often. I find it difficult to agree with this organization’s policies on important matters relating to its employees. (R)
13.	I really care about the fate of this organization.
14.	For me, this is the best of all possible organizations for which to work.
15.	Deciding to work for this organization was a definite mistake on my part. (R)

 

Organizational Commitment Scales (OCS)

Instructions

Listed below is a series of statements that represent feelings that individuals might have about the company or organization for which they work. With respect to your own feelings about the particular organization for which you are now working, please indicate the degree of your agreement or disagreement with each statement by circling a number from 1 to 7 using the scale below.

1 = strongly disagree 2 = disagree

3 = slightly disagree 4= undecided

5 = slightly agree 6 = agree

7 = strongly agree

Original Version (Allen & Meyer, 1990)

 

Dimensi	Aitem
Affective Commitment Scale	I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization.
	I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it.
	I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own.
	I think that I could easily become as attached to another organization as I am to this one. (R)
	I do not feel like ‘part of the family at my organization. (R
	I do not feel ’emotionally attached to this organization. (R)
	This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me.
	I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization. (R)
Continuance Commitment Scale	I am not afraid of what might happen if I quit my job without having another one lined up. (R)
	It would be very hard for me to leave my organization right now, even if I wanted to
	Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to leave my organization now
	It wouldn’t be too costly for me to leave my organization now. (R)
	Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as much as desire.
	I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization
	One of the few serious consequences of leaving this organization would be the scarcity of available alternatives
	One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that leaving would require considerable personal sacrifice -another organization may not match the overall benefits I have here.
Normative Commitment Scale	I think that people these days move from company to company too often.
	I do not believe that a person must always be loyal to his or her organization. (R)
	Jumping from organization to organization does not seem at all unethical to me. (R)

 

	One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that I believe that loyalty is important and therefore feel a sense of moral obligation to remain.
	If I got another offer for a better job elsewhere I would not feel it was right to leave my organization.
	I was taught to believe in the value of remaining loyal to one’s organization.
	Things were better in the days when people stayed with one organization for most of their careers.
	I do not think that wanting to be a ‘company man’ or ‘company woman’ is sensible anymore. (R)

 

Revised Version (Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993)

Dimensi	Aitem
Affective Commitment Scale	I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization.
	I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own.
	I do not feel like ‘part of the family at my organization. (R
	I do not feel ’emotionally attached to this organization. (R)
	This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me.
	I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization. (R)
Continuance Commitment Scale	Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as much as desire.
	It would be very hard for me to leave my organization right now, even if I wanted to.
	Too much of my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to leave my organization now.
	I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization.
	If I had not already put so much of myself into this organization, I might consider working elsewhere.
	One of the few negative consequences of leaving this organization would be the scarcity of available alternatives.
Normative Commitment Scale	I do not feel any obligation to remain with my current employer. (R)
	Even if it were to my advantage, I do not feel it would be right to leave my organization now.
	I would feel guilty if I left my organization now.
	This organization deserves my loyalty.
	I would not leave my organization right now because I have a sense of obligation to the people in it.
	I owe a great deal to my organization.

 

Note. (R) indicates a reverse-keyed item. Scores on these items should be reflected (i.e., 1 =7, 2 = 6, 3

= 5, 4 = 4, 5 = 3, 6 = 2, 7 = 1) before computing scale scores.