Employees' affective commitment to multiple work-related targets: A longitudinal person-centered investigation

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This study uses a person-centered approach to investigate the structure, stability, antecedents, and outcomes of employees' affective commitment to multiple work-related targets. Following Perreira et al.'s (2018) hierarchical representation of commitment, profiles of affective commitment were estimated by considering both global levels of commitment to the work life and specific levels of commitment to organization, supervisor, coworkers, occupation, work, and career. To this end, a sample of 468 individuals working in firefighting stations located in France was surveyed twice over a four-month period. Our results revealed six commitment profiles: (1) Globally Moderately Committed with a Hierarchical-Organizational Orientation , (2) Globally Weakly Committed with a Balanced Orientation , (3) Globally Strongly Committed with an Occupational Orientation , (4) Globally Moderately Committed with a Hierarchical-Supervisor Orientation , (5) Globally Strongly Committed with a Career Orientation , and (6) Globally Strongly Committed with a Social Orientation . Over time, these profiles displayed a high level of within-sample and within-person stability. Global levels of authentic leadership were related to a higher likelihood of membership into profiles displaying higher global levels of commitment (especially those with a social or occupational orientation) than into the other profiles. Levels of perceived health, work efficiency, improvement-oriented behaviors, and job satisfaction also differed across profiles, with some of the worst outcomes found in the Globally Moderately Committed with a Hierarchical-Organizational Orientation profile. • Profiles of commitment to six specific targets and the global work life were longitudinally assessed among 468 workers. • Six profiles varying both in terms of global and specific commitments were identified. • These profiles were replicated across a four-month interval, and profile membership was very stable over time. • Authentic leadership was associated with membership into profiles displaying higher global levels of commitment. • Outcome levels differed across profiles, and were surprisingly the worst in a profile dominated by organizational commitment.