The relevance of cultural value orientations to organizational, supervisor, team, and career commitment

In light of the increasing globalization of markets and organizations, the question arises to what extent cultural differences influence employees' behavior and experience. On an individual level, this study examines the relation of cultural value orientations (individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance) to employees' commitment with a sample of 349 German employees. Multiple foci of commitment are differentiated (organization, supervisor, workgroup, and one's own career) as well as three components (affective, continuance, and normative) for each focus. This complex model of multiple foci and components of commitment is supported by confirmatory factor analyses. In line with the assumptions, results reveal the expected relationships between culture dimensions and commitment. Collectivism is primarily correlated with commitment to the workgroup and the organization. Power distance is related to continuance commitment and uncertainty avoidance is predominantly correlated with continuance and normative commitment to the organization as well as one's own career. Regression analyses show that culture orientations uniquely contribute to the prediction of facets of commitment after controlling for relevant antecedents (transformational leadership, work content, tenure, age). Moreover, collectivism moderates the influence of work content and transformational leadership on organizational commitment. The findings are discussed with regard to future cross-cultural studies.