An investigation of the antecedents and consequences of organizational commitment in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the meaningful determinants and consequences of organizational commitment in Turkish banks. Specifically, the impact of age, sex, education, and tenure of an individual, and the centralization and formalization of an organization on organizational commitment; and the effect of organizational commitment on the intention to leave an organization were investigated. 283 employees from eleven different banks participated in this study. The questionnaires which were used to measure the variables were the Turkish translated version of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (Porter, Steers, Mowday, & Boulian, 1974) the Formalization Scale developed by Osdiken (1979) and the shortened version of the Aston's Formalization Scale modified by S6zen (1985). Intention to leave the organization and the other variables measured by self-report. The results of this study showed that the degree of formalization and centralization of the organization and the age of the individual are significant determinants of organizational commitment. The type of bank in which the employee works is found to be related to perceived centralization and formalization, and thus is also a significant determinant of organizational commitment. Organizational commitment is found to be a determinant of the intention to leave the organization and of the intention to look for alternative jobs.