Predictors of organizational involvement : a test of the generality of Etzioni's (1961) compliance relations
Date
1989
Authors
Meilak, John Vincent
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Abstract
The primary aim of this study was to test the generality of Etzioni' s (1961) compliance relations
(between particular kinds of organizational power and involvement) over different ranks of a
variety of organizations whose members were relatively free to stay or leave. A secondary aim
was to compare organizational power to other predictors of involvement suggested in the literature.
Four hundred and sixty-six members of 85 groups were solicited from 27 local business,
health, welfare, and educational organizations. In addition, for each group, to provide a check on
members' replies to some questions, the researcher and (most often) two administrators and two
outsiders familiar with the group provided their own ratings of group-level variables.
The organization measures used in the analyses were administrator-reponed organizational
power (coercive, remunerative, and normative) and organization size. Group measures included
observers' reports of the group's cohesion and its members' self-assertiveness, member-reponed
group goals (relational and altruistic), and group size. Individual characteristics included age, sex,
education level, plans for future education, time in the organization, opportunity for advancement,
opportunities elsewhere, union membership, achievement motivation, personal autonomy, and
liking for change. Alienative and moral involvement were confounded but their composite (net
commitment) was distinct from calculative involvement Hierarchical regression analyses were
carried out with the two kinds of involvement as dependent variables, at both the group and
individual levels of analysis. The relevant kind of organizational power was entered first, followed
by other organization, group, and individual characteristics. Finally, interactions between
each kind of organizational power and members' achievement motivation were investigated.
The individual-level analyses were the most infonnative because all appropriate variables were
considered. Remunerative power tended to increase calculative involvement among low achievers,
and this was secondary only to the overall negative effect of achievement motivation at
high levels of total power. Also tending to reduce calculative involvement were high altruistic
group goals, a liking for change, age, high normative power exercised over high achievers, small
organization size,low personal autonomy, and low coercive power. Net commitment tended to be
increased most by a conjunction of low coercive and high normative power, followed by age,
opportunities elsewhere, low personal autonomy, opportunity for advancement, small organization
size, and high achievement motivation.
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