| Discretionary effort (DE) is energy over which an individual has control, beyond that which is minimally required by the organization, expended pro-organizationally (to benefit the organization), consistent with organizational goals and requiring both a behavioral as well as a cognitive expenditure by the individual. The major question motivating this study was, “what relationships exist between DE and the previously established measures of organizational commitment (OC), psychological attachment (PA) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)?” A Discretionary Effort Scale (DES) was developed and integrated into a larger, 64-item Workplace Questionnaire (consisting of items from established measurement: tools for OC, PA and OCB) and administered to 212 members of three business organizations (using both paper-and-pencil and electronic versions of the Questionnaire). Using principal components analyses, the original 15-item DES was reduced to a 10-item scale loading on two, key factors: In Role DE (IRDE) and Extra Role DE (ERDE). Analysis of results generally supported positive correlations between DE and OC, DE and PA, and DE and OCB. Analyses of relationships between IRDE (and ERDE) and specific components of the other dimensions (OC, PA, OCB) yielded patterns and results consistent with the nature of the constructs. The very early, rudimentary findings (1983) regarding levels of DE exhibited by workplace members were replicated in this study. The construct of DE does appear to merit further attention as one that may offer researchers and organizational managers opportunity for a better understanding of the relationship between organizational members and their organizations. |
