Commitment in a changing world of work

The Canadian workplace is undergoing extensive changes that have the potential to alter dramatically the psychological commitments that employees experience with regard to their work. The purpose of this article is to ex:amine the interplay between these changes and employee commitment. We begin by outlining a well-established three-component model of commitment and identifying some of the changes taking place in the world of work. The potential impact of these changes on employee commitment is then discussed with respect to three selected themes: changes in the nature of employees' commitment to the organization, changes in the focus of employees' commitment, and the multiplicity of employer-employee relationships within organizations. Finally, we discuss the implications of the changes in commitment for both practitioners and researchers within the field of I-O psychology.