Organizational commitment and job satisfaction: A quantitative investigation of the relationships between affective, continuance, and normative constructs

Traditionally only the main effects, also known as the independent effects, of the three commitment forms have been considered when evaluating the consequences of organizational commitment. The argument has been presented that theory as well as prediction is compromised when independent effects are considered at the exclusion of interacting effects. Prior to this research it was unknown whether the interactional effects of the three forms of organizational commitment are truly non-redundant and multiplicative. This research addressed the gap in knowledge in understanding the extent to which job satisfaction is related to affective, continuance, and normative commitment. The purpose of this research was to provide an analysis of the extent to which job satisfaction is related to affective, continuance, and normative commitment. Using Meyer and Allen's (2004) Three Component Model (TCM) Employee Commitment Survey and Spector's (1997) Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), the currently employed adult population within the U.S was surveyed. Utilizing Zoomerang's RTM database, 423 completed surveys were collected. This quantitative investigation of the relationships between affective, continuance, and normative constructs resulted in several key findings. First, using predictive analytics rather than explanatory statistical modeling, it was determined that by using the main independent effects of affective, continuance, and normative commitment, without any interactional effects considered, job satisfaction can be predicted with 47.96% accuracy for out-of-sample data points. The result of using all three main independent effects is a 12.24% increase in predictability of job satisfaction as compared to using only the affective commitment main effect. Second, when using the three forms of organizational commitment to predict job satisfaction, it was determined that multiplicative interactional effects actually reduce the predictability of job satisfaction. Finally, the predictability of job satisfaction from organizational commitment is only 26.72%. However, when using the main independent effects of affective, continuance, and normative commitment together, the predictability of job satisfaction increases to 47.96%. That is, using affective, continuance, and normative commitment main effects to predict job satisfaction results in a 79.49% improvement over using organizational commitment to predict job satisfaction.