Affective organizational commitment, self‐concept, and work performance: A social comparison perspective

• Published in: International journal of selection and assessment Vol. 30; no. 3; pp. 411 - 426
• Main Authors: Tang, Wei‐Gang, Vandenberghe, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2022
• Subjects: affective organizational commitment; Employees; self‐concept; social comparison; work performance
• ISSN: 0965-075X; 1468-2389
• DOI: 10.1111/ijsa.12381

Using two studies and four samples, we introduce new forms of assimilative and contrastive affective organizational commitment (AOC) from a social comparison perspective and examine their distinctiveness from traditional AOC. We further explore the interplay among assimilative and contrastive AOCs and the self‐concept in predicting specific performance outcomes. Study 1 used two samples (Ns = 181 and 655) aimed at developing the measures of assimilative and contrastive AOC and found them to be distinct from traditional AC. Study 2 tested the idea that the self‐concept (collective vs. individual) would influence how strongly assimilative versus contrastive AOC would predict helping behavior versus task proficiency as performance outcomes. Using two samples (Sample 1 N = 192; Sample 2 N = 246) with multisource data from subordinates and supervisors, Study 2 found that controlling for traditional AOC, the relationship between assimilative AOC and employee helping behavior was stronger and positive at high levels of the collective self‐concept (Sample 1) and that the relationship between contrastive AOC and employee task proficiency was marginally stronger and positive at high levels of the individual self‐concept (Sample 2). Our findings bear implications for theory and practice and present openings for future research. Practitioner points We developed new measures of affective organizational commitment from a social comparison perspective indicating that employees assess their level of commitment relatively to that of coworkers. The new measures of comparative affective commitment uniquely predict reduced turnover intention. The new forms of comparative affective commitment predicted different dimensions of work performance depending on whether employees prioritized collective goals versus individual goals.