| Abstract: | Employee self-concept is a critical self-regulatory variable in organizational settings. In this paper, we discuss the relevance of self-concept for organizational commitment, and propose that self-concept levels moderate relationships between commitment and its antecedents. Using an experimental design in which we primed the working self-concept of employed participants, we found support for our hypotheses. Specifically, relationships between affective commitment and its antecedents (organizational support, procedural justice, and company and supervisor satisfaction) were more pronounced for employees with salient collective self-concepts. Alternatively, relationships between continuance commitment and its antecedents (outcome and supervisor satisfaction) were stronger for employees with salient individual self-concepts. We discuss the implications of our findings and suggest directions for future research. |
