Relational and economic antecedents of organisational commitment

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the most important dimensions and antecedents of the employee's commitment to the firm using a multidisciplinary perspective.

Using a national sample of 285 employees working in different firms, the research reported here portrays the paths which link the economic and relational antecedents of commitment with the dimensions of organizational commitment. A structural equations analysis is performed.

It was found that the most effective way to get normative commitment and thus make the employee continue working in the same firm is to engender affective commitment. And affective commitment is determined mainly by interaction between the firm and its employees (participation, flexibility and information exchange). Employee gender, level of studies, offspring and firm size and belonging to a group show a moderating effect on the global model.

Information has only been collected from the employee and only in Spain. Hence, it would be interesting to collect information from the firm, supervisors and managers and to replicate the study in other cultural and labour contexts.

This research shows the most important ways for an organisation to get their employees' commitment. In this sense, relational norms are essential to retain employees in the firm.

A multidisciplinary perspective is adopted to improve the understanding of employee‐firm relationships. It is one of the few studies that include relational norms and opportunism to explain organisational commitment. Besides, the paper offers an exploratory study of the moderating effects of firm and employee characteristics on the global model.