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Based on London’s (1983) and London and Mone’s (1987) theory of career
motivation and the extrawork literature, a hypothesized model of the antecedents
and outcomes of career commitment was proposed and tested. Data obtained
using structured questionnaires from a sample of teachers and nurses in Singapore
(N = 510) were analyzed using LISREL. Results of the LISREL analysis indicate
that the model did not fit the data although work role salience, organizational
commitment, career satisfaction, and organizational opportunity for development
emerged as significant antecedents of career commitment. The only extrawork
variable, family supportive activity, was not significantly related to career com-
mitment directly. In terms of outcomes of career commitment, career commitment
was significantly and positively related to skill development and negatively to
career and job withdrawal intentions but was not significantly related to work
quality. Implications of the failure of the model to fit the data for London’s and
London and Mone’s theory are discussed and hypotheses for the model’s revision
are suggested. 0 IW2 Academic Press, Inc.
In view of the centrality of work and the social value attached to work,
most individuals would at some point in their lives make the decision to
participate in the world of work. One of the foci of research interest in
work and work-related experiences is the processes through which indi-
viduals become committed to work, as evidenced in the proliferation of
work commitment concepts (Morrow, 1983). Of the five work commitment
concepts identified by Morrow (1983), relatively well-developed measures
exist for the value, job, organizational, and union foci (Morrow and Wirth,
1989), but the career focus lags developmentally. Although aspects of
careers, for example career choice and career development, have been
extensively studied (Holland, 1966; Super, 1957), there is a paucity of
work on career commitment. Rising levels of education and the weakening
of sex-role boundaries (Greenhaus, 1987), as well as the recognition that
The authors are grateful to Cherlyn Granrose and two anonymous reviewers for comments
on an earlier version of the manuscript, and to Francis Pavri for assistance with the LISREL
analysis. Correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed to Samuel Aryee, Faculty
of Business Administration, National University of Singapore, 10, Kent Ridge Crescent,
Singapore 0511.
288
OOOl-8791/92 $5.00
Copyright 0 I!992 by Academic Press, Inc.
All tights of reproduction in any form reserved.
ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF CAREER COMMITMENT 289
tained from the Ministry of Education and six high schools were ap-
proached to participate in the survey. In the case of the nurses, letters
requesting permission to conduct the survey were sent to the Directors
of Nursing in six hospitals all of whom agreed to participate in the survey.
In each of the 12 organizations that participated in the survey, a liaison
was appointed and made responsible for the distribution and collection
of questionnaires. In order to effectively respond to respondents’ queries,
each liaison was thoroughly briefed on the objectives of the survey as
well as its technical details. A letter explaining the objectives of the survey,
the voluntary nature of respondent participation, and guarantee of
anonymity and confidentiality of responses was attached to each
questionnaire.
A total of 650 questionnaires were distributed to a random sample of
teachers and nurses. Completed questionnaires were returned sealed to
the liaison in separate envelopes and were later collected by the authors.
Of the 650 questionnaires, 510 were returned for a response rate of 78.5%.
The modal respondent was in the 37-50 age bracket (48%) and was
married (72%). The majority of the nurses (81%) had a secondary ed-
ucation while the bulk of the teachers had a first degree (56.7%). How-
ever, all respondents were graduates of the relevant local training institutes
so the teachers were certified teachers and the nurses were State Regis-
tered Nurses. The majority of respondents had at least 10 years experience
in both organization and career role.
Measures
Career commitment. Career commitment was measured using a 7-item
scale developed by Blau (1988). Responses were on 5-point Likert format
ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree” and were
summed and averaged to create a scale score. Blau (1985) reported his
career commitment scale to have an internal consistency of .87 and .85
on two occasions 7 months apart and a test-retest reliability of .67. Sample
items include “I definitely want a career for myself in the teaching/nursing
profession” and “If I could do it all over again, I would not choose to
work in the teaching/nursing profession” (reverse scored). The ar reli-
ability in this study is .83.
Work-role salience. Work-role salience was measured using a lo-item
version of a measure developed by Greenhaus (1971). Responses were
on a 5-point Likert format ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5)
“strongly agree.” Because of possible conceptual overlap between some
of the work role salience items and those of career commitment, 4 of the
work role salience items were dropped from the scale. Noe et al. (1990)
reported an internal consistency reliability of .84 for the short version (6
items) of Greenhaus’ (1971) scale. Sample items in the 6-item scale used
here include “Work is one of the few areas in life in which you can gain
ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF CAREER COMMITMENT 295
real satisfaction” and “It is difficult to find satisfaction in life unless you
enjoy your job.” The scale’s (Y reliability in this study is .65.
Organizational commitment. Organizational commitment was measured
using Porter and Smith’s (1970) 9-item scale. Responses were on a 5-point
Likert format ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree.”
Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979) have provided evidence for the con-
struct validity of this scale. Sample items include “I really care about the
fate of this organization” and “I am proud to tell others that I am part
of my organization.” The a reliability of the scale in this study is .89.
Career satisfaction. Career satisfaction was measured using a 5-item
scale developed by Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley (1990). They
reported an (Yreliability of .88 for the scale. Responses were on a 5-point
Likert format which ranged from (1) “very dissatisfied” to (5) “very
satisfied.” Sample items include “I am satisfied with the progress I have
made toward meeting my goals for income” and “I am satisfied with the
progress I have made toward meeting my goals for advancement.” The
scale’s (Y reliability in this study is .86.
Organizational support. Organizational support was measured by a 7-
item scale adapted from the organizational support for updating subscale
of Far-r, Dubin, Enscore, Kozlowski, and Cleveland’s (1983) Work De-
scription Questionnaire for Engineers (WDQE). Farr et al. (1983) did
not provide reliability evidence for the WDQE. Responses were on a 5-
point Likert format ranging from (1) “very inaccurate” to (5) “very ac-
curate.” Sample items include “My organization is concerned with the
professional growth of teachers/nurses” and “My organization rewards
the efforts of teachers/nurses to keep up with developments in teach-
ing/nursing.” The scale’s cx reliability in this study is .82.
Household coping mechanism. Household coping mechanism was mea-
sured using an g-item scale. The items were drawn from Steffy and Jones’
(1988) household coping mechanism scale. They reported an (Y reliability
of .70 for their scale. Responses were on a 5-point Likert format ranging
from (1) “very inaccurate” to (5) “very accurate.” Sample items include
“Enlists assistance such as baby sitters and cleaning help” and “Evaluates
which activities are most important and schedules time accordingly.” The
scale’s (Y reliability in this study is .94.
SkilZ development. Skill development was measured using a 4-item scale
designed specifically for this study. Responses were on a 5-point Likert
format ranging from (1) “never” to (5) “nearly all the time.” Sample
items include “Keeping up with developments in teaching/nursing” and
“Attending training and/or skills development programs relevant to my
career as a teacher/nurse.” The (Y reliability of the 4-item scale in this
study is .81.
Work challenge. Work challenge was measured using a 4-item scale
developed by Bacharach, Bamberger, and Conley (1990). Bacharach et
296 ARYEEANDTAN
al. (1990) reported an (Yreliability of .77 for their scale. Responses were
on a 5-point Likert format ranging from (1) “very inaccurate” to (5) “very
accurate.” Sample items include “Management sets challenging goals”
and “In this organization, we set very high standards for performance.”
The (Y reliability of the scale in this study is .72.
Spouse support. Spouse support was measured by a 4-item scale de-
veloped for this study. Suchet and Barling (1986) reported an (Y reliability
of .78 for a conceptually similar 4-item scale. Responses were on a 5-
point Likert format ranging from (1) “very inaccurate” to (5) “very ac-
curate.” Sample items include “My spouse puts up with some inconven-
iences (e.g., arriving home late) as a result of my career role” and “My
spouse encourages me to improve my skills in order to have a successful
career.” The scale’s (Y reliability in this study is .86.
Work quality. Work quality was measured using a 4-item version of a
respondents’ generated measure reported by Randall, Fecor, and Longe-
necker (1990). Responses were on a 5-point Likert format ranging from
(1) “very inaccurate” to (5) “very accurate.” Sample items include “I
usually pay attention to details at work” and “I do my work completely
and thoroughly.” Randall et al. (1990) reported an a! reliability of .82 for
their 5-item scale. In this study, the (Y reliability of the 4-item scale is
.81.
Career withdrawal intentions. Career withdrawal intentions were mea-
sured using a 3-item scale developed by Blau (1985, 1988). Blau (1985)
reported an internal consistency of .87 and .85 on two occasions 7 months
apart and a test-retest reliability of .57 for the scale. Responses were on
a 5-point Likert format ranging from (1) “very unlikely” to (5) “very
likely.” The items are “Thinking about leaving the teaching/nursing
profession, ” “Intention to look for a different profession,” and “Intention
to stay in the teaching/nursing profession for some time” (reverse-scored).
In this study, the scale’s (Y reliability is .91.
Job withdrawal intentions. Job withdrawal intentions were measured
using a 3-item scale developed by Blau (1985, 1988). For this scale, Blau
(1985) reported an internal reliability coefficient of .70 and .73 on two
occasions 7 months apart and a test-retest reliability of .60. Responses
were on a 5-point Likert format ranging from (1) “very unlikely” to (5)
“very likely.” The items comprising the scale are “Thinking of quitting
the job, ” “Intention to search for another job,” and “Intention to quit
the job.” The scale’s LYreliability in this study is .95.
Analysis
The means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations of the
latent variables were computed and the hypothesized causal model of the
antecedents and outcomes of career commitment proposed in Fig. 1 was
ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF CAREER COMMITMENT 297
RESULTS
Table 1 presents the parameter estimates of the measurement model.
All the item loadings are high and above S, indicating the construct
validity of the scale items as measures of the variables used in the model.
The zero-order correlations, means and standard deviations of the vari-
ables are presented in Table 2. The mean scores for the variables were
above average and the low standard deviations indicate consensus in the
experience of these variables. The zero-order correlation coefficients be-
tween the antecedents and career commitment ranged from low to mod-
erately high. With the exception of work quality, the correlation coeffi-
cients between career commitment and the outcome variables were
significant and in the expected directions.
The results of the LISREL analysis are reported in Fig. 2. All the direct
paths to career commitment were significant and positive with the excep-
tion of the hypothesized direct path from family supportive activity. The
variables with direct significant paths to career commitment were work-
role salience (path coefficient = .422, p < .Ol), career satisfaction (path
coefficient = .378, p < .Ol), organizational opportunity for development
(path coefficient = .438, p < .Ol), and organizational commitment (path
coefficient = S75, p < .Ol).
Figure 2 shows significant positive path from career commitment to skill
development (path coefficient = .320, p < .Ol) and significant negative
paths from career commitment to career withdrawal intentions (path co-
efficient = - .687, p < .Ol) and job withdrawal intentions (path coeffi-
cient = - .374, p < .Ol). Career commitment is not significantly related
to work quality.
The four criteria commonly used to evaluate the fit of a structural model
to the data are the $/degrees of freedom, goodness of fit index, adjusted
goodness of fit index, and the root mean square. The values for each of
these criteria shown in Fig. 2 fall short of the range of acceptability which
therefore implies that the model does not represent an acceptable fit to
the data. The significant paths and the implications of the failure of the
model to fit the data for London’s and London and Mone’s theory will
be discussed in the next section.
298 ARYEE AND TAN
TABLE 1
Career Commitment Model Measurement Results
* p < .05.
** p < .Ol. P
z
0.422
(M.01)
Skill development
0.078 , Organizational
commirment
Career withdrawal
Job withdrawal
intentions
DISCUSSION
The objective of this study has been to advance the career focus of
work commitment by using LISREL to test a hypothesized model of the
antecedents and outcomes of career commitment based on London’s and
London and Mone’s theory among a sample of teachers and nurses in
Singapore. While most of the hypothesized relations in the model received
support, the model did not represent an acceptable fit to the data. Work-
role salience emerged as a significant predictor of career commitment.
This finding supports London’s theoretical formulations and is consistent
with the findings of Noe et al. (1990). Work-role salience also has been
noted to be related to a variety of career issues (Mark & Stead, 1990)
and for that reason, it is important to understand the determinants of
work role salience.
As hypothesized, organizational opportunity for development showed
both a significant direct path to career commitment and indirectly, through
organizational commitment. The significant path from organizational op-
portunity for development to career commitment is consistent with the
findings of Pazy (1988) and also with the theoretical work of London. As
work challenge is an observed variable for the latent construct of orga-
nizational opportunity for development, it may be argued that our finding
also is consistent with that of Noe et al. (1990). They reported a significant
positive relation between job characteristics and the three dimensions of
career motivation.
Career satisfaction showed a significant direct positive relation with
career commitment but was not indirectly related to career commitment
through organizational commitment. The significant direct positive rela-
tion between career satisfaction and career commitment is consistent with
Hall’s (1971) proposition that career success, conceptually similar to career
satisfaction, is related to career subidentity development. Thus, individuals
able to achieve their career goals are therefore career satisfied and more
likely to identify with their career role. The nonsignificant path from career
satisfaction to organizational commitment could be because the present
sample identify only with their career role and not necessarily the orga-
nizational context within which they perform their career role.
As hypothesized, organizational commitment showed a significant pos-
itive path to career commitment. This finding provides support for Lon-
don’s proposition and it is consistent with Blau’s (1985) finding of a
significant positive relation between organizational and career commit-
ments. As earlier explained, organizations that project or promote the
ideals of an occupation and instill these ideals in their employees may,
as a result, enhance both organizational and career commitments. This
could be interpreted as congruence between the goals of the organization
302 ARYEEANDTAN
and the culture of the occupation from which an individual has been
recruited.
The second part of the model examined the outcomes of career com-
mitment. As reported in Fig. 2, with the exception of work quality, the
hypothesized relations between career commitment and the outcomes
received support. Career commitment is significantly and positively related
to skill development. This finding supports London’s proposition and
Noe’s (1987) that theoretically relates career commitment to the moti-
vation to learn. Career commitment also showed a significant negative
relation to career and job withdrawal intentions. The implication is that
career dissatisfaction or lack of career success may prompt employees to
consider withdrawing from a career in an occupation (Rhodes & Doering,
1983) or to seek opportunities in another organization. The finding relating
career commitment to career withdrawal intentions is consistent with
Blau’s (1985) finding, but not with his finding pertaining to job withdrawal
intentions.
Contrary to London’s proposition, career commitment was not signif-
icantly related to work quality. It may well be that work quality is not
the result of commitment so much as the result of one’s abilities and
skills. Therefore, being committed does not necessarily mean improved
work quality while lack of commitment to a career need not necessarily
mean work quality will suffer. Perhaps work quality has an organizational
focus (Randall et al., 1990).
In spite of the preceding discussion, the model did not represent an
acceptable fit to the data. Noe et al. (1990) also sought to identify cor-
relates of career motivation but their independent variables only accounted
for a moderate proportion of the explained variance in their sample’s
career motivation. As the model tested here was mainly inspired by Lon-
don’s theory the failure of the model to fit the data has implications for
his theory. Since no one study can possibly include all the variables iden-
tified in London’s and London and Mone’s theory, there should be con-
tinuous efforts to isolate situational variables suggested by the theory as
a basis for building and empirically verifying a parsimonious model. In
effect, London’s theory ought to be seen as a useful starting point in
generating knowledge; strategies for enhancing both career commitment
and career motivation should await the empirical verification of the sug-
gested parsimonious model.
Based on the results reported in Fig. 2, some preliminary suggestions
could be offered for building a parsimonious model to test the utility of
London’s and London and Mone’s theory. Although career satisfaction
was hypothesized to affect career commitment both directly and indirectly
through organizational commitment, the latter hypothesis was not sup-
ported. A revised model of career commitment may only need to indicate
a direct path from career satisfaction to career commitment. Second,
ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF CAREER COMMITMENT 303
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