Organizational and career-oriented commitment and employee development behaviors
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contrast the foundations of (affective) organizational and career-oriented commitment. Using social exchange theory as a background, organizational commitment is proposed as a mediator between perceived organizational support (POS) and competence development activities and feedback-seeking behavior. Career-oriented commitment, defined as a self-interested orientation toward one’s career, is proposed to mediate a positive relationship between proactive personality and competence development but a negative relationship between proactive personality and feedback-seeking.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 126 employees using one-year time-lagged study in which POS and proactive personality were measured at Time 1, commitment variables at Time 2, and competence development and feedback-seeking at Time 3.
Findings
Organizational commitment mediated a positive relationship between POS and competence development but not feedback-seeking. Career-oriented commitment mediated a negative relationship between proactive personality and feedback-seeking but did not mediate the relationship to competence development. Proactive personality exerted direct and positive effects on competence development and feedback-seeking, but had a negative effect on feedback-seeking through career-oriented commitment.
Practical implications
An implication of these findings is that organizations need to reduce the detrimental effects that the proactivity trait exerts on feedback-seeking through career-oriented commitment. One way to do this is to increase the fit between organizational career opportunities and the career expectations of employees with high career-oriented commitment.
Originality/value
This study indicates that social exchange and self-interest motives act as distinct drivers of organizational and career-oriented commitment, respectively, and that these motives have implications for how individuals learn and socialize in the workplace.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper has been written thanks to a scholarship provided by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) to Afife Basak Ok and funding from the Canada Research Chairs program to Christian Vandenberghe.
Citation
Ok, A.B. and Vandenberghe, C. (2016), "Organizational and career-oriented commitment and employee development behaviors", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 930-945. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-04-2015-0157
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited