Supervisor-Related Commitment scale

Description

This measure, (Supervisor-Related Commitment) developed by Becker, Billings, Eveleth, and Gilbert (1996), describes employee commitment to a supervisor. The measure has one dimension that describes identification with a supervisor and a second describing internalization of the same values as the supervisor. The same items can be used to measure and compare organizational identification, and internalization by substituting  organization  as the referent target (Becker et al., 1996).

Reliability

Coefficient alpha was .85 for supervisor-related commitment based on iden­ tification. Alpha was .89 for supervisor-related commitment based on inter­ nalization (Becker et al., 1996).

Validity

Supervisor-related identification and internalization were positively cor­ related (Becker et al., 1996). Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that commitment to a supervisor and commitment to the organization are empiri­cally distinct. In multivariate analyses, both supervisor-related identifica­tion and internalization were positively correlated with employee perfor­mance ratings, but organizational commitment was not (Becker et al., 1996).

Source

Items

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

Supervisor-related identification items:

1. When someone criticizes my supervisor, it feels like a personal insult
2. When I talk about my supervisor, I usually say “we” rather than “they”
3. My supervisor’s successes are my successes
4. When someone praises my supervisor, it feels like a personal compliment
5. I feel a sense of “ownership” for my supervisor

Supervisor-related internalization items:

6. If the values of my supervisor were different, I would not be as attached to my supervisor
7. My attachment to my supervisor is primarily based on the similarity of my values and those represented by my supervisor
8. Since starting this job, my personal values and those of my supervisor have become more similar
9. The reason I prefer my supervisor to others is because of what he or she stands for, that is, his or her values