| A major interest of managers is to encourage their employees to achieve job-related objectives that go beyond formal job-role requirements. Researchers have shown some interest in the concept of commitment because increased levels of commitment appear to contribute to such desirable outcomes as improved job performance. However, relatively little attention appears to have been devoted to the behavioral commitment of employees to their jobs, in contrast to their commitment to their organization. This study developed and validated a measure that assessed behavioral job commitment, conceptualized as the extent to which an employee actively engages in voluntary extra-role behaviors aimed toward enhancing the employee's job, is willing to make personal sacrifices on behalf of the job, and is unwilling to leave the job. The study examined the distinction between behavioral job commitment, organizational commitment, and cognitive job involvement. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 was a content validation and confirmatory factor analysis to examine the psychometric properties of the measure of behavioral job commitment, and to assess the convergent and discriminant validity of the job commitment, organizational commitment, and job involvement measures. Study 2 used the validated measure of job commitment to test a model showing the relationships between job commitment and other antecedent variables, with job performance as an outcome variable. There were 231 and 180 participants in the confirmatory factor analysis and in Study 2, respectively. Results showed that job commitment, organizational commitment, and job involvement were separate but related constructs. Results also showed that proactive behavior and perceived responsibility on the job had a positive influence on job commitment. Implications for the use of the measure of behavioral job commitment in research and management are discussed. |
