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INTRODUCTION
In an attempt to ascertain the status of commitment research, Meyer and Allen (1991) conducted a comprehensive review of the organizational commitment literature. They determined that an employee simultaneously experiences commitments to the organization that are based on emotional attachment (affective commitment), a feeling of obligation to the organization (normative commitment and perceptions that the costs of leaving the organization are prohibitively high (continuance commitment). Meyer and Allen suggested that researchers could better understand an employee's relationship with an organization by analyzing all three components simultaneously.
Because of the conceptual distinctions between the three components of commitment, Meyer and Allen (1991) also proposed that affective, normative, and continuance commitment should develop from different causes, and should result in different attitudinal and behavioral consequences. Using measures of the component constructs developed by Allen and Meyer (1990), researchers have explored--and mostly confirmed--differences in the antecedents and/or outcomes of the component constructs (Dunham, Grube, & Castenada, 1994; Hackett, Bycio, & Hausdorf, 1994; Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993; Randall, Fedor, & Longnecker, 1990; Allen & Meyer, 1990).
However, while research investigating the three-component model has tended to emphasize the exploration of differences among the component constructs, the Meyer and Allen (1991) model also predicts commonalities among affective, normative, and continuance commitment. One important commonality is the notion that each component should have an effect on an employee's intentions, and decision, to remain a member of the organization. According to Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993): "Employees with a strong affective commitment remain with the organization because they want to, those with a strong continuance commitment remain because they need to, and those with a strong normative commitment remain because they feel they ought to do so" (p. 539).
But, despite the centrality of these propositions, little research has been conducted to test them, and the evidence from the few studies that have done so is inconclusive. Whitener and Walz (1993) used structural equation modeling to explore the independent relationship between affective and continuance commitment and turnover intentions. They reported that affective commitment had a significant, negative effect on intent to quit the organization, but continuance commitment had no significant effect on intent to quit. Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993) conducted a multiple regression analysis using modified versions of the...