COMMITMENT IN ORGANIZATIONS:
ACCUMULATED WISDOM AND NEW DIRECTIONS
Forthcoming Book for the SIOP Frontiers Series
Howard J. Klein, Thomas E. Becker, and John P. Meyer, Editors
Relation to the Commitment Conference
Our original intent was to publish a “best of the conference” compilation. However, we
explored the possibility of doing a book on Commitment book as part of SIOP’s Frontier series
and could not pass up the opportunity to do so. In working with the Frontiers Board, the scope
and purpose of the book did evolve into a broader treatment of workplace commitments. As
such, few if any of the book chapters directly reflect the presentations made at the conference.
We also did not limit ourselves to conference participants in identifying chapter authors, but we
were heavily influenced by contributions made at the conference in identifying potential authors.
Goals of the Book
The objective of this book is to provide an up-to-date review of theory, research, and
research methodology as it pertains to commitment in organizations, and to use that accumulated
wisdom to provide theoretical advances and directions for future research. The implications of
that wisdom for organizational policies and practices will also be examined. Further, we will
consider how the realities of the modern workplace are changing the way we need to think about
and study commitments in the workplace.
The book will be of primary interest to academic faculty and graduate students who study
commitment in all of its various foci and forms, and who teach courses that focus on or include
commitment. The book could serve as the core reading for a graduate seminar, as well as an
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excellent source of reference. While the primary disciplines of interest would be industrial and
organizational psychology, organizational behavior, and to a lesser extent human resources
management, commitment constructs appear in a number of other literatures. Those other
disciplines include but are not limited to decision making (commitment to decisions), industrial
relations (union commitment), organizational design (commitment to change), strategy
(commitment to a strategy), marketing (customers’ commitment to products), counseling
psychology (interpersonal commitment), sports psychology (commitment to exercise and
conditioning routines), and political science (commitment to positions, candidates, parties).
While the focus of the book is on theory and research rather than practice, the book will likely
also have appeal to practitioner psychologists interested in retention, turnover, loyalty,
engagement, and other important organizational consequences of commitment.
Tentative Table of Contents
Preface - Editors
SECTION 1: THE MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF COMMITMENT
Chapter 1 - The Relevance of Commitment in the Changing World of Work
John P. Meyer, The University of Western Ontario
Chapter 2 - Conceptual Foundations: Construct definitions and theoretical
representations of workplace commitments
Howard J. Klein, Janice C. Molloy, & Joseph T. Cooper, The Ohio State University
Chapter 3 - Commitment’s Place in the Literature
Michael Riketta, Aston University
Rolf Van Dick, Goethe University Frankfurt
Chapter 4 - Commitment across Cultures
S. Arzu Wasti & Çetin Önder, Sabanci University
SECTION 2: MULTIPLE FOCI OF COMMITMENT
Chapter 5 - Organizational Commitments
Christian Vandenberghe, HEC Montreal
Chapter 6 - Interpersonal Commitments
Thomas E. Becker, University of Delaware
Commitment in Organizations 3
Chapter 7 - Action Commitments
Mitchell J. Neubert & Cindy Wu, Baylor University
SECTION 3: BUILDING AND MAINTAINING COMMITMENTS
Chapter 8 - Individual Influences
Mindy E. Bergman, Justin K. Benzer, & Jaime B. Henning, Texas A&M University
Chapter 9 - Social Influences
Sandy J. Wayne, University of Illinois at Chicago
Jacqueline A-M. Coyle-Shapiro, London School of Economics and Political Science
Robert Eisenberger, University of Delaware
Robert C. Liden, University of Illinois at Chicago
Denise M. Rousseau, Carnegie Mellon University
Lynn M. Shore, San Diego State University
Chapter 10 - Organizational Level Antecedents and Consequences of Commitment
Patrick M. Wright & Rebecca A. Rheinhardt, Cornell University
SECTION 4: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
Chapter 11 - Measurement of Commitment
Stephen Jaros, Southern University
Chapter 12 - Methodological Issues and Opportunities: What Evils Lurk in the Shadows
of Commitment Research?
Robert J. Vandenberg & Laura J. Stanley, University of Georgia
SECTION 5: INTEGRATION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Chapter 13 - Advancing Commitment Theory
Editors
Chapter 14 - Accumulated Wisdom and New Directions
Editors
Content Overview
The book will include a preface written by the editors to introduce and summarize the issues
addressed by the chapter authors. The remainder of the book will be divided into five sections
with between two and four chapters per section. Section 1 (The Meaning and Relevance of
Commitment) will provide a context for discussion in the remainder of the book by addressing
several broad issues including (a) the relevance of commitment in the modern workplace, (b) the
history, meaning, and primary theories of commitment, (c) the uniqueness of commitment as a
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construct and its relation to other important concepts in the I/O literature, and (d) the adequacy
and relevance of current theory and research for understanding commitment across cultures.
Section 2 (Multiple Foci of Commitment) is included to acknowledge the multiple
organizational, interpersonal, and behavioral foci of commitment in the modern world of work.
Separate chapters will address commitment theory and research at three levels: organizational
(e.g., organizational, union, professional commitment), interpersonal (e.g., supervisor, team
commitment), and action (e.g., commitment to goals, decisions, change initiatives). An important
consideration in these chapters will be the potential for compatibility and conflict among
multiple commitments.
Section 3 (Building and Maintaining Commitments) will focus on key factors involved in
the development and maintenance of commitment and, by implication, the potential destruction
of these commitments (e.g., through violation of psychological contracts). Separate chapters will
address the antecedents of commitment at three levels: individual (e.g., values, personality, and
person-environment fit), social (e.g., interpersonal trust, group relations, perceived support), and
organizational (e.g., organizational culture, strategy/structure, human resource management
practices). Authors will be encouraged to include some discussion of potential compatibilities
and conflicts among antecedents within and across levels.
Section 4 (Methodological Issues and Challenges) will focus on methodological issues of
relevance to the research discussed in the preceding chapters. The measurement of commitment
is a major issue that has implications for all commitment research, past and future, and will
therefore be the primary focus of one of the two chapters in this section. The second chapter will
address research methods and data analytic strategies more generally. Although it will include a
critique of existing methods and their implications for the interpretation of research findings, the
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emphasis will be on new developments in design and analysis and how these can be applied in
future research to achieve the objectives outlined in the concluding section of the book.
Section 5 (Integration and Future Directions) will include two chapters. The first is intended
to present a unified theory of commitment that can be used to integrate current research findings,
address the gaps in our knowledge identified in the preceding chapters, and serve as a guide for
future research. The concluding chapter will provide a summary of the book and offer an agenda
for future research. The summary will be organized around the five major themes described in
the preface, but will also acknowledge new themes that emerge as the book develops. The
research agenda will be based on the unified theory presented in the preceding chapter.